Nadi to Sigatoka

Yesterday was Sunday and nothing much to report. Everything is closed today and it drizzled on and off all day. Lots of people departing and arriving at Bamboo, but still some familiar faces around. The girls potter and play games with Dilenne and we get some much needed washing done. We got chatting with another young guest, Alistair, who takes David to play golf at Nadi Golf Course - where Vijay Singh learned to play. The course is sandwiched between the end of the runway for Nadi airport and the Turtle Airways seaplane terminal. The $10 (£3.30) fee seemed reasonable until presented with a $25 (£8.30) bill for half a dozen golf balls and a bag of tees which was subsequently negotiated down to 3 balls each and no tees for $10 (David found some on the course) and a shared set of clubs. The course was short and criss crossed by ditches/streams which made navigating your way round quite difficult. The game was bought to an early close by rain after 12 holes, however a 5 minute walk along the beach seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. David was very wary in the rough for any resident wildlife of the reptile variety but managed to avoid any encounters and returned with the golf balls intact. In the meantime, Nicole and the  girls ventured to a nearby mid market hotel across the road and "borrowed" the pool for an hour or so in the rain. The girls have started to suffer from itchy insect bites and have suddenly developed heat rash so this was a chance for them to cool down a bit and expend a bit of excess energy.
The rest of the day was spent updating the blog, writing journals, replying to emails and finding a new place to stay. Lots of the places we find on the internet are either above our price range or already booked. Eventually we book Vakiviti, a very small backpacker in Sigatoka (Sing a toka) towards Suva and packed up our bags ready for an early start. The rain is much heavier by the time we crawl into our bunks.

Rowan, Samu and Tiegan at Bamboo

Today we left Nadi and Bamboo Backpackers behind and we say goodbye to Samu and the other staff. After an early start, we catch a lift with Pela to rendez vous with a Coral Sun coach to take us along the Coral Coast towards Suva. We are staying at Vakiviti Backpackers in Korotogo near Sigatoka. The coach is very modern and very cold! Yes folks, it is still raining in Fiji and the temperature is less than tropical. It started off as a light drizzle yesterday and rain has fallen steadily ever since. We are travelling towards the east of Vanua Levu (the largest and main Fijian island)  and apparently the easterly side is always wetter. The roads fall into two categories on Fiji - either sealed (tarmacked) or unsealed (dirt tracks). Only the main roads are sealed and after the wind and rain are full of potholes and uneven patches where the surface has been washed away. The rain is so hard that we are dropped at a resort hotel under cover near to Vakiviti, where Karen the manager, meets us there in a rattly old mini van so we dont have to find our way in the wet.

The Vakiviti Van

David breathes a sigh of relief when we are shown to our new home at the sight of a double bed, a fridge, a kettle and a slightly less dank bathroom. The girls have negotiated the "top bunk" rota and are thrilled at the prospect of a pool on site. There is no cafe here so it is self catering for the next few days or going out to eat. Karen drives us into Sigatoka town to buy a few supplies and gives us a mini tour of the area. The Fijian rugby team are staying in the next hotel for pre-world cup training and selection. There is widespread surface water and debris along the shoreline and road sides as a result of the rain and the journey is bumpier than ever. Karen explains that the investment in Fijian infrastructure e.g. drains,  is non existent and that despite money being donated by Chinese, Indian and Malaysian investors the improvements do not come.

Top quality Fijian roads!

In town we dodge in and out of the rain between the supermarket and fruit and vegetable market hall and buy what we need for the next few days. Anything with a recogniseable brand e.g Kellogs, Walkers or Nestle has to imported and is on sale for an enormous price - $17 for a small box of Frosties - around £6.

We avoid the obviously tourist eateries opting for a cafe full of locals and are rewarded with a delicious lunch of chicken chop suey, rice and vegetable curry and roti for the princely sum of £3. Very amusing to watch the locals supping bowls of hot Milo (malted chocolate drink) to warm up!

Vegetable curry - Fiji style
We did also check out the "staff WC" as there wasn't an alternative... let's just say  we wish we had had a camera to record the sheer horror!!!

Last day at Bamboo

Tonight we were treated to a fireshow put on by some of the guests at Bamboo. Dilenne (6), Reece (9), Glenn and Kathy have been travelling for nearly a year and are nearly at the end of their travels with only LA left on their itinerary. They have given us some fantastic advice and told some wonderful stories from their travels. They learnt how to spin firesticks and poi (long strings with a weighted pompom end) while in Thailand and Reece is already very accomplished. Kathy has also blogged while travelling and so we can keep in touch with them when we leave.

Dinner was a real treat: baked sweet potato, pak choi and coconut vegetable rice.  Simple fare, but delicious.

Fiji at last...

The plane was delayed for an hour before take off as a result of a faulty door mechanism, however by this time the girls and David were already asleep and stayed that way until long after take off. The evening meal was pretty pants and not sure the troops would have eaten it, even if they had been awake. Breakfast, an hour and a bit before we landed in Nadi, was a little better - a cheese omelette with grilled tomato and a chicken sausage, fruit, yoghurt, banana muffin and a cup of tea.

 

We have arrived in Fiji! Bula! This means hello. Customs really easy and the nice man stamped the teddy passports which the girls were thrilled with. We found our contact for Bamboo Backpackers really easily and bundled into the dusty, rusty, yellow taxi which I am sure would not pass a UK MOT but again I am sure we will travel in worse! This is the view from the taxi as the sun rose and we made our way to Bamboo. This is a range of hills called the Sleeping Giant which looks over Nadi - so called because its profile resembles a sleeping man.
 

The Bamboo Backpackers

This is our home for the next 3 days.

The room wasnt quite ready (not surprising as we arrived at 7 am!) so we settled on the deck and enjoyed our first breakfast Fiji style! This is free (hurray!) and the same every day, although you can add eggs or have tea instead! The fresh pawpaw is amazing!

The next 2 images are not for the faint hearted! We must admit it is a baptism of fire- and took 24 hours to acclimatise ourselves to our surroundings. Basic - but functional!

 David and Nicole get to have the top bunks as bunks have no rail or ladder and are very high! Bathroom is erm... interesting... enough said! After a good nights sleep - the accommodation doesnt seem so bad, the beds are surprisingly comfortable and the fan works well.

The girls have been spending a lot of time being entertained by the staff- being swung in the hammock or playing table tennis  - all are amazingly friendly and welcoming. Everyone smiles and laughter is everywhere. 

We ventured in to Nadi town on the local bus - which is open on the sides  and drive through a little residential area - every garden seems to have free ranging chickens and a broken down car in various states of rusting.

We visited the local produce market - not quite like Sainsburys! Mostly open air and all the produce seems to be home grown and being sold by the growers, (predominantly ladies) either seated on the ground or inside on wooden stands.  Everything is arranged beautifully in "heaps" and laid out for buyers to choose their own.  Vegetables and fruit were being splashed with water to stop them from drying out and to keep them looking good for buyers. Most are recognisable eg. aubergines, pak choi, okra, green bananas and a lot of pawpaw. Refreshingly nothing looks perfect but all guaranteed fresh and local - no unnecessary air miles here. Most piles seem to cost  1 or 2 Fiji $ - (3 $F to the £) and a pile of mussels were $1 - so cheap in comparison. Also lots of stalls with buckets of spices and tiny fresh hot chillies - a real feast for the senses! It is hot and noisy and smelly! There is also a large hall with row upon row of stalls selling Kava. Some still in root form and some bagged up in powder form.

Kava is made from the bare root of a pepper tree, pounded into a fine powder and then mixed with fresh water.As a guest in Fiji, you will frequently be invited to participate in one of the most common ceremonial and social customs in the islands, the Kava Ceremony. The drinking of kava, or Yaqona, is quite common on social occasions. It is regarded in Fiji as "the National Drink". Kava has a pleasant calming effect on the body, while leaving the mind clear. Unlike alcohol, there are no hangovers.

Before we leave the market we follow the smell of fresh sweet pineapple and find a man selling freshly cut whole pineapples, ready carved and ready to eat. We buy one for 50 cents and the man gives us another! This is about 15p! They are amazing and drip everywhere! We walked on into the main town and  approached atleast 10 times by Fijians who inform us we are shopping at the Indian side of town and we should go to the truly Fijian part. The obvious and very open divisions between the two cultures is shocking and we  both sense a degree of tension as we walk around. We stand out in the crowd and consequently also approached by several dubious looking characters offering us bargains, trips and invites to Kava cermonies within souvenir shops. We have heard tales of tourists being scammed and duped into parting with large amounts of cash on the promise of a boat trip or similar excursion and so politely smile and walk on. 

LA and Hollywood

How does this ticket machine work?

So after an ok nights sleep we enjoyed a complimentary breakfast of bagels, toast, gallons of coffee and fruit and head on out to the bus and metro to explore Hollywood before our 11.30 pm flight to Fiji. We bought a day pass for the metro, meaning we could hop on and off as often as we needed to. The metro is simpler than trying to negotiate the bus system and really efficient, regular and clean. There is a strict no eating, drinking and no feet on the seats policy in operation and we were amazed at how readily people gave up or at least offered their seats to older folk, the disabled or those with children. Not like the London underground.  

Look closely... yes we did see the Hollywood sign!

Nicole spotted the Hollywood sign in the distance, much to the delight of the girls! And we did wander along the walk of fame, which stretched for what seemed like miles and also now disappears down side streets. Managed to spot a few famous names  along the way but was very hot and sticky and we were all a little jaded. 

 At the end of the walk of fame we reach Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Really busy and a bit tacky in terms of random people dressed as various characters (Captain Jack, Darth Vader, Spiderman,  etc) all trying to extract $ from unsuspecting tourists for photo opportunities! Lots of foot and handprints in the cement and most significant was finding Robin Williams. He'd obviously left his mark at the time of Dead Poet's Society - the inscription reads simply "Carpe Diem".

Lunch was in a typical US diner complete with table top jukeboxes for a dime playing fab music from the 50s and 60s - Bill Haley, Little Richard, The Ronettes to name but a few. The girls had delicious chocolate malt shakes and sang Lollipop,Lollipop for the rest of the afternoon. All in all, Hollywood was a bit of an anticlimax, not what we had been expecting, far from a glossy, shiny operation. But, atleast we can say we have been, seen and got the keyrings!

The rest of the afternoon was spent meandering back to LA airport to collect our stuff and go to the airport. We stopped at Union Station and the Mexican Quarter and stumbled upon the oldest house in LA - an adobe building. Rowan was thrilled as she has just been learning about Mexico at school. Very hot and sticky by this point though and the shade in the adobe courtyard was very welcome.

We make the decision to head to the airport early and although check in is not scheduled to open till 6.30pm we join the queue already forming and manage to check in by 5! We head to the departure lounge and spend the rest of our time watching planes coming and going, writing journals and reading. Just enjoying the down time before the final leg of our journey.

Day 1 part 2! LA!

A bit of the Grand Canyon from 30000 feet!

Look how far we have come! This is the map from the seat back TV which the girls used to follow our progress on our first flight. 

 The LA travelodge room - girls shared a bed and "Tiegan kept kicking me in the night and keeping me awake!" - Rowan. This room is nothing in comparison to the UK travelodge in quality but  I am sure we will stay in a lot worse before we are done!

The first lot of washing! Not very glamorous - but school girl error when packing overnight bags for LA, managed to include swim stuff, flip flops etc but no clean undies for us chicks!

The first thing the girls did when we got to the Travelodge in LA was play in the pool. It was quite chilly but they managed to brave it and splash around for an hour or two. Ended up having an early tea in the next door cafe/restaurant and all in bed by 6.30pm local time ( 2.30 a.m UK time)

Day 1. The official start.

 We made it to the USA! The girls were absolute stars and unlike previous journeys no one threw up, threw anything down themselves or threw tantrums! An early start to catch the airport shuttle taking us door to door, very efficient operation, ticket machine in lobby, children under 15 free, £4 each for the grown ups. 

 Always a worrying moment as you watch your bag disappear... perhaps to be seen again... perhaps not!

 On the way down to board the plane - priority boarding as we have the girls.

 Goodbye grey and overcast skies of London. Hello brave new world of cloud free sun.

 The first onto the plane and time to load up the overhead baggage lockers and explore the seat back TV menus. Nicole managed a few sudoku puzzles and one film. The girls watched a bit of TV, played a bit of DS, wrote journals and followed the route on the interactive maps on screen and all the stats to go with it.

 Airline food has definitely improved! Tiegan and Rowan had pre ordered children's meal: chicken goujons, mash and peas,

 

Nicole a veggie choice of cous cous, roasted vegetables 

and David a choice of chicken paella or roast beef. Slightly weird sandwiches before we landed though - but the lovely service on BA more than made up for this.

We flew over Hudson Bay and the girls spotted floating ice and then on over the Grand Canyon. Fantastic views and can completely understand why people helicopter over at closer range. The photos taken hardly do justice to the reality, but you can get an idea!

The Handley's Big Adventure begins!

 So  here are the finished articles! The packs are packed and ready to go! Everything went in with out an issue and there is still room to spare for the odd last minute bits and bobs.

The girls loaded up and ready to hop into the taxi for the journey to Heathrow. Bizarrely the cheapest option to get to the airport compared to the train and tube or coach from Gatwick.  Managed to all hold it together to say farewells to Granny and the traffic was kind - an uneventful M25 and we arrived at the Travelodge to a welcome committee!

Our first night - possibly the best night of the trip in terms of luxury accommodation - within minutes of arriving we had already snaffled the coffee, teabags and sugar sachets provided for a "rainy day"! An ok meal in the cafe bar and a relatively early night ready for a very long day tomorrow.