Jill and Tim's travels

Jill is up early and goes for a walk up the steep hill and right around the rocks. Photos of sea slugs and crabs.

Shower and then off to breakfast, usual fare. Back to the room and finish packing our bags and then we read. Jill cashed in some money to buy a table cloth and bracelets and found out our transfer pickup is now 12:15pm, not 1:00pm as advised on the phone yesterday.

No swimming today (don’t want to travel with wet togs).

We check out at 11:00am and pay our residual bill of $60 FJD. Not too bad.

At 12:05pm the bus turns up, just after Jill has headed back to video the Sundance by the pool. On the bus, then a few other pickups and we arrive at the airport around 2:30pm. It’s a slow check -in due to baggage belt not working and then through security and immigration before we reach the international terminal. We have some Burger King and a last Fiji Bitter before waiting for the flight. It’s supposed to leave at 4:55pm, but as we get closer to boarding time, they announce it is late arriving.

We do eventually leave about 5:30pm and head off towards Melbourne. Jill reads, I watch a couple of movies on my phone (Bullet Train and How to please a woman). We get in about 10:15pm, so a little late, get our duty free alcohol then pass through immigration and to the baggage carousel. My bag doesn’t take too long then we wait for Jill’s bag. It takes another 15 minutes or so. We make it through Customes, battle through the thronging crowd waiting outside and ring for the car park bus pickup. Another 15 minute wait and we eventually make it to the car and start to head home around 11:15pm.

Roadworks and 40kph on parts of the freeway. We stop at Officer and get a coffee and snack and then back on the road. Get home at about 1:30am.

Unpack the car, then Jill makes her bed and eventually we are off to sleep around 2:00am. A long day with a few different delays. I’ll be up early for work from home at 8am today (Friday 1/12/2022)

Awake around 5:30am, Jill goes for walk up the very steep hill to the nearby communications tower and then as far as she could go on the beach in the opposite direction past the Hideaway and the village. On her return we shower and read till breakfast starts at 7:00am. Juice, coffee and omelette (very nice) and a danish to finish off with for Tim, fruit for Jill. After breakfast we head back to the room via the beachfront, change into our swimmers and head back to the pool with our books a little later. Somebody has taken our regular sun lounges. Have to wrestle with a different umbrella.

Very few people at the pool initially, but builds up over the morning. Chat to Ziggy from the resort who tells us the resort started in 1987 and they have a renovation planned for February 2023.

We do the Sundance at the poolside at 12 noon. We try the alternate regular fare of club sandwich and Fiji Bitter for lunch. More swimming and then head back to the room around 3pm for a cup of tea and some reading.

Around 5pm, we walk along the front of the resort towards the east. On the way back we turn up to watch the hotel volleyball team train and then for happy hour. More quizzing, 3 teams, movie sound tracks, did ok. Dinner afterwards along with Fiji Bitter. Fish entree and chicken with chili for me and lamb Schank for Jill. Back to the room and read before sleep.

Awake around 6:00am, Jill goes for walk up the very steep hill to the nearby communications tower. On her return we shower and read till breakfast starts at 7:00am. Juice, coffee and omelette (very nice) and a muffin to finish off with for Tim, fruit for Jill. Every morning we walk past the water lilies and see them out in flower then closing up during the day when we walk back past. After breakfast we head back to the room, change into our swimmers and head back to the pool with our books.

Very few people at the pool, maybe 5 people. Smacked my shin on a sun lounge as I slipped trying to help some others with their large umbrella which Jill found very amusing.

We get roped in to doing the Sundance at the poolside at 12 noon. No thongs on, so hot tiles make sure I keep moving. Regular fare of chicken burger and Fiji Bitter for lunch.

Jill finished her book and headed back to the room to get another book, and bartered with a local to buy a small wooden face for $5 AUD. Bargain. More swimming and then head back to the room around 2pm for an afternoon nap and some reading. Jill breaks her fave thongs so “not happy jan” – easily fixed luckily.

After some rest, we head back to the pool around 4pm for another swim. Jill went for walk up the beach then we went to the Happy hour. We missed the drums at the start but ordered our fiji bitters and then competed in the pick the song quiz. We gave all our points to the other team at the end without counting them. Ordered a bottle of wine then had dinner. Indian buffet along with some indian desserts.

After dinner we headed back to the room and sleep. Early night.

Awake around 6:30am, shower and read till breakfast starts at 7:00am. Juice, coffee and omellette (very nice) and a muffin to finish off with. After breakfast we head back to the room, change into our swimmers and head back to the pool with our books.

We have a swim, read, swim read, swim read, Jill goes to the fish feeding and then order club sandwiches and fiji bitters for lunch. A whole swag of young children turn up at the pool with their mum’s and Dad’s, fresh arrivals. The dad’s go berserk and are up and down the water slide in whatever pose you can think of, frontwards, backwards, face up, face down. The kids are all really young so are danced around in the pool by their mum’s with an occasional ride down the water slide with Dad.

More reading and swimming in the afternoon before we return to the room around 4:00pm, just before it starts to rain quite heavily, still very warm though. We read for a while before we head back for happy hour.

We have a couple of beers while we wait for happy hour and during happy hour we have a general knowledge quiz based on trivial pursuit cards. Jill and I guess a number of them but hand our points tally to the New Zealander’s with the 3 kids. Dinner is a’la carte and we enjoy it with Fiji Bitter. Pork Belly for me and beef sirloin for Jill. Very large meals. Jill has a couple of wines instead of fiji Bitter – very controversial.

After dinner the crab race is on at the bar. We buy our crabs but sad to say they were athletically challenged and don’t finish in the placings. Back to the room and off to sleep.

After dinner we head back to the room to read then off to sleep.

Arose slightly later, 7:30am and headed over for breakfast. The usual fare leaving room to spare. After breakfast we head back to the room, change into our swimmers and head back to the pool with our books.

We have a swim, read, swim read, swim read and then order burgers and fiji bitters for lunch. A whole swag of young children turn up at the pool with their mum’s, turns out their Dad’s have gone out surfing. The kids go berserk and are up and down the water slide in whatever pose you can think of, frontwards, backwards, face up, face down. Great to watch them have fun.

More reading and swimming in the afternoon before we return to the room around 4:00pm, where we have a shower, write the blog up and get ready for happy hour at 6pm.

We have a couple of beers while we wait for happy hour and during happy hour we have a quiz to guess the artist of the song. Jill and I guess a number of them but fall behind the table of 4 women. We get a second prize. Dinner is a’la carte and we enjoy it with Fiji Bitter.

After dinner we head back to the room to read then off to sleep.

Another day in paradise. We see the weather isn’t great back home and feel lucky to be where we are.

Up and showered to have breakfast after 7am. We go a bit easier today and I just have coffee, juice, hotcakes and an omelette. Hmm, seems still a lot when you write it. Jill focuses on the fresh fruit and a little curry something.

We follow a pattern of back to the room, into our swimmers and back to the pool with our books. Swim, read, rinse repeat. Couple of times down the water slide to cater for my non aging ego and then club sandwiches and a couple of fiji bitters for lunch.

After lunch it’s swimming and reading till 2:30pm then back to the room for a shower and then we read till 3:20pm. After that we head to the main reception and wait for our bus pickup for the Robinson Crusoe Sunset Dinner cruise and show.

It’s a one and a quarter hour bus drive as we pick up at other hotels on the way, and it rains heavily during the trip. When we arrive at the boat jetty, our names are checked off and then 40 or so of us pile on to an aluminum punt to make the 30-minute trip up the river and short trip across the reef to the island.

We are greeted by a guitar playing foursome and then sit at the tables around the show area. We listen to the kava ceremony then get a couple of beers and head over to the lovo (earth oven) where they explain the process and uncover the food, transfer it to the kitchen for final prep, then there is some firewalking on the remaining coals.

Next is the lighting of a small bonfire on the beach with a singalong then back to the tables for the buffet meal. Beef, Chicken, fish, kasava, potato and other vegetables. A beautiful meal. Again we wash it down with Fiji bitter.

After dinner, we watch a range of dances, some audience participation for birthdays and anniversaries, and then a fire show. This goes for an hour to an hour and a half then we head to the beach for the grand fire finale then pile back on to the aluminum punt and make the slow journey back to the bus in the dark (well some navigation lighting).

On the bus, the usual stops to drop people off and we get back to the hideaway around 11:00pm then off to bed.

We wake up at about 6am. Jill went for a walk around the resort. We did some reading, check emails for anything important, shower then head to breakfast at 7am. It’s a buffet breakfast and we probably go a little hard at the buffet. Maybe Jill not so much. Cereal, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, beans and a danish for me washed down with brewed coffee.

After breakfast, we head back to the room and change in to our swimwear then head to the pool with our books. We make our selection of sun lounges then have a dip. They still have the same water slide and I hurtle down. Jill doesn’t after her recent shoulder surgery.

The first time down you’re a little blase and hurtle towards the water. Physics probably means I go faster now as I weigh more and accelerate faster. We read, swim and have a burger each for lunch with a couple of Fiji Bitters.

The afternoon is more swimming and reading then back to room about 4:30pm. Jill went for a walk to the next village called Tagage. We then changed to head back for happy hour. We have a few fiji bitters and join in the fun and games having to name the artist for a song. Jill and I come second.

We head over to dinner and choose from the menu, garlic bread for starters then Jill had the Chicken (peri Peri) and i had a fish with Red curry sauce, washed down with, surprise surprise, Fiji Bitter.

At around 9:00pm it’s back to the room and time to read before the sandman comes.

We wake up in Melbourne, staying at the Arden Motel. Continental breakfast in the room after our shower and we leave just before 7am. Not sure what traffic will be like, and our flight leaves at 10am. We park at our usual undercover carpark and reach the airport at about 7:30am and check in for our Virgin flight to Fiji. We have to have covid travel insurance and also a copy of our covid vaccination status.

We head straight through the security checks to the International terminal and sit at Gate 6. We have a coffee and watch the world go by. We eventually realise there is not a Virgin plane then check the boarding passes and we are leaving at Gate 2. We walk to Gate 2 and not many people are there when we sit down to wait for the flight.

We board at 9:30 and leave on time. First International flight since March 2020. The inflight entertainment is only via your own device, so we opt to read our books. No meal supplied so Jill had purchased some snacks before took off. Even so we do buy a cheese and crackers and two beers.

An uneventful flight, and we land a little early. Through immigration and customs quite quickly, our bags don’t take long at the carousel then we head outside, where we get a local Sim FJD$15 for 75Gb for 7 days, then meet the tour bus for the transfer to the Hideaway resort. It’s a two and a quarter hour trip down the coast.

We check in and unload in the room, then head back to the restaurant to have dinner. We aren’t sure what time it is as one mobile phone shows an hour ahead of the other. It’s a buffet and we sample a little of everything along with a couple of fiji bitter beers. After dinner we snap a couple of photos over the pool and then head back to the room for a 9pm bedtime