After leaving Navini we were dropped off back at the airport where we picked up our rental car. We also checked in about our missing bag – unsurprisingly they don’t have anything like it in their system. By the time we left for Pacific Harbour it was late afternoon and it turned out to be a bit farther than expected. The sun went down about half way there so the e=second half of the drive was in the dark. So a little bit about driving in Fiji. Not only was it the first time driving on the left side of the road in 4 years when we were in the Cook Islands, but it’s a bit nuts. The roads are fairly organized but it’s a two lane road for almost the whole 2.5 hour trip. Other drivers are constantly passing on the double yellow and either speeding or going really slow. There are constantly people walking along the side of the road, as well as various farm animals like cows and goats that occasionally wander onto the road as well.
We finally arrived at the house we were supposed to be staying at to find the gate locked and no one around. Since we didn’t have phones that worked there we decided to go teh the nearby resort to get some dinner and borrow their phone. After getting in touch with the Airbnb host, he met us as the restaurant to give us the keys and get us straightened out.
We spent the next day playing in the pool which was cold. Like you needed a wetsuit cold, although it didn’t seem to bother Hopscotch much. We headed down to the beach the following morning, but the rain had returned so we didn’t get to play much. It also happened to be a national holiday to celebrate the rugby team winning the country’s first ever gold (or any) medal at the Olympics. Our flight was at 8:45 am the next day so we headed back to Nadi to stay at a hotel closer to the airport. The drive back was beautiful as the road wound along the coast between ocean on the left and the lush green mountainsides on the right. We stopped about half way the the Kula Eco Park where we got to see some of Fiji’s native animal and plant life. We all held Ben, and native iguana and Kelly and even Hopscotch held one of the native boas. After a quiet the night at the hotel it was time to finally leave for New Zealand!
Kiwi Bound 