I think we might have a bit addicted to Fiji. Then again, whats not to get addicted to - balmy weather, palm fringed beaches, super friendly locals..... OK, so they might have the occasional military coup that makes headlines back home, but the locals know which side their breads buttered on. The coup leaders leave the tourist hotspots well alone, and any visitors whove been there during any of these uprisings have apparently scarcely been aware that they were even happening.
Now I know that if you travel often enough eventually one of your flights is going to be delayed. Our turn We landed in Brisbane to discover that our midnight flight was now not going to leave until 6am. Wed also managed to miss the last transfer bus for the night from the domestic to the international terminal so we didnt have much choice but to hail a cab. Price gouging was clearly alive and well at Brisbane Airport in the middle of the night. Fifty dollars to take us a few hundred metres... Now theres nothing quite like spending a night in an airport terminal to get you ready for a holiday, particularly when
all the shops have closed for the night, and the only flat surfaces available to try to catch some shuteye on are a few cushionless steel benches.
We waited on the dock at Port Denarau for a ferry to take us out to our island. We checked in and then watched on as the local baggage handlers pushed trolleys full of suitcases down a narrow ramp towards the boats. One of the handlers seemed to be having just a tad of difficulty with one overloaded looking trolley, and we waited for the inevitable. Sure enough one of the wheels slipped over the edge of the ramp, and trolley and suitcases suddenly found themselves upended into the drink. Hmmm. I dont think that was supposed to happen. Fortunately our luggage was on one of the other trolleys. Id often wondered whether suitcases float. Apparently they do, provided someone dives in after them before they get too waterlogged. That doesnt seem however to prevent at least some of the contents getting wet. The young lady sitting across from us on the ferry appeared just a little unimpressed that her brand new laptop didnt seem to be working quite as it should
have been after its unplanned dip. What is it with baggage handlers? Ive sometimes looked out a plane window and watched airline baggage handlers ply their trade. Its not a sight for the fainthearted. I doubt youd be overly pleased if you just remembered that youd packed a priceless souvenir vase in the suitcase youve just seen sent crashing down onto the concrete.
The ferry took us out to Treasure Island, which is in the Mamanuca Group off the west coast of Viti Levu. We had a bure with two interconnecting rooms right on the beach. Being right on the beach is good, surely. Well it was until Issy just happened to be roused from her sleep one night to the sound of Troy sleepwalking out the door towards the sand. I wonder if you wake up if you sleep walk into the water. I would have thought that yes was the answer to that particular question, but Issy wasnt taking any chances. She double bolted the doors before we went to sleep every night after that, and then slept with the keys under her pillow.
call George. Im not entirely sure that George wanted to be befriended. He moved like lightning. Wed see him behind us one minute, then ten metres ahead of us, but when we turned around hed be behind us again. I think part of my brain might have shut itself down for the holidays, well at least thats my excuse for not realising for a quite few days that the island was actually populated with a few different Georges..... Troy and Emma seemed quite happy to go along with the One George Theory, but maybe they were just feeling sorry for their poor old idiot dad....
The island was very small, but it did have a golf course, well a mini golf course. I cant remember who won, so it probably wasnt me.
