Leaving Bali, Indonesia on Day # 59, first stop was the Hard Rock in the Bali airport. The employees were hilarious and we couldn’t get a picture without them. Collected pin #74.
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| Bill entertained them with his guitar playing. |
We overnighted in Singapore at the VERY convenient Crown Plaza Hotel right at the airport - no more than a football field’s inside walk from the arrival terminal. Our flight to Nadi, Fiji was the next night so we had the next day to explore the city\state of Singapore, a modern, pristine multi-culture place. Asians, Arabs, and Indians all co-exist in districts of the city and eagerly open their shops and restaurants to tourists. After a one-hour $3 ride on the ultra-modern train from the airport to city center we chose Chinatown for a great Chinese lunch and beers.
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| These fruits called durian were forbidden on the trains, they were like medieval weapons. |
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Shopping on Japanese street in Singapore, which was famous
for Japanese prostitutes pedaling
their trade to help out the military efforts back before WWI.
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Back to the airport in time to enjoy a few hours in the Fiji Airways lounge and then in the air for the nine-hour long flight southeast to the Fiji Islands, arriving mid-morning the next day. The final leg of this rather long journey was a one-hour flight to the island of Savusavu where our home for the next six nights awaited, the Savasi Island Resort.
The Fiji Islands is an archipelago nation comprised of about 300 islands, one-third of them inhabited. It is about 3,000 miles southwest from Hawaii in the South Pacific Ocean. It unquestionably is the most beautiful tropical place we’ve ever seen. We splurged on a clifftop villa with our own sizable plunge pool and the most spectacular scenery unfolded below. This was an all-inclusive place (except for the booze) and the meals were just outstanding. We ordered each day for the next day’s three meals and had a wide selection of stuff to choose from. This resort is on its own little island that is accessible by a small causeway from the larger island of Savusavu, actually the second largest island in the Fiji Island group. There’s really not a whole lot to report on the sightseeing because we did none. Our days were spent sitting by the pool, relaxing, enjoying the spectacular scenery and most of all going on three different dive trips with two dives each. The diving is beyond description and can only be conveyed by the pictures below. Fiji is known for its world class diving and it did not disappoint.
This is the terminal for all domestic flights.
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| First view of our island, Savusavu |
Our resort, Savasi Island Resort
Names on the board!
So sweet!
Pathway to our secret beach
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| View from our balcony |
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| Our splash pool at night |
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| Special setting for dinner our first night |
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| Sunsets were gorgeous |
The second night we were there while having a cocktail at the bar we heard very familiar southern dialects, and after striking up a conversation with this couple, we discovered that they were from none other than Madison, Alabama and were also at the resort for the diving. Joe is a urologist in Huntsville and Jackie is an educator in the Madison system. We enjoyed hanging out with them a couple of nights for dinner as well as on the dive trips. It really is a small world to run into these two -10,000 miles away from our former hometown.
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| Joe, Jackie and us. |
Our final night in Fiji was spent back on the main island of Vita Levu to make sure we caught our plane the following morning to Hawaii to begin the “sad” trip eastward and home to Harbor Island, SC. For dinner, we took a taxi to a beach area nearby and enjoyed the sunset and a beer and actually had a fantastic Mexican\Korean (yeah...doesn’t sound right) meal. There, we got to experience local Fijian life on a Saturday night!
So ... our time in Fiji went very quickly and was a perfect way to wrap up the last segment of this around the world trip. We will report once more on our final two-day stop in Hawaii to see the Pearl Harbor and will also reveal our “trip by the numbers” which we are sure all you readers have been anxiously waiting to read. With all that being said, here’s the best way to share with you our time at this beautiful, special place, the Fiji Islands:
We went into town and visited the local market and to the grocery to buy beer and wine for the week since our all inclusive resort did not include alcohol.
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| Taro, type of potato, about $15USD |
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| These are sweet potatoes, huge! |
Visit to the boiling pools. Locals brings their foods here and put them in the pools of boiling water to cook them. It didn't look very sanitary to is.
Back at the resort we made our way to the beach.
Fiji boasts impressive blowholes, natural formations where ocean waves force water through openings in the rock, creating dramatic water spouts. The force of the waves and the unique rock formations combine to produce spectacular displays. The blowholes, often found near crevices and lava tubes, offer a unique spectacle, especially when the tide and waves are high. We put a coconut in the hole and watched it pop out in the top of the water.
Beautiful!!!! Collin with 2 ‘l’s! -Kim
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