Ben’s Blog

Archive for October, 2008

Today we went on an Explorer Cruise with South Sea Cruises. They have 2 fairly modern cats and 1 very new cat.

The newest one has supervised pilot driving…  you just tell it the route and watch for small craft. Not really piloting a boat if you ask me!

Photos have been uploaded to Flickr! 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benball/sets/fiji2008/

Please request access if you don’t have access.

Ben

It seems we have befriended a Cat.

It met us on our way back from the pool last night, and had taken residence in one of our outside chairs.
I have no doubt it would be inside if it could be.

This morning it is still sitting in the chair…  despite our best efforts at ignoring it.
(Yes it is still alive… I just checked though the window)

PS: Hopefully we are going on a cruise of the islands tomorrow….

Thursday Kristie and I got up early so I could do some email, and we had breakfast at Hard Rock Cafe, which was disappointing. Then we had our owner update – finding out that the new Worldmark Phuket, Thailand resort will be open December/January and available for bookings… and the resort we are at in FIJI is getting the refurbishment finished and and additional 67 apartments. Unfortunately they are losing a small amount of pool to do it as they have to move the restaurant over it

We spent the rest of Thursday around the pool, cooking our dinner on a nearby BBQ and watching some of the movie being shown on the screen over the pool.

Friday – well… we found 4 lounge chairs under an umbrella between the pool and the beach… and swam and lazed in the sun/shade/sun…   By lunchtime we were well and truly dried out, had lunch at the poolside restaurant and went back to the apartment for a rest.

Ben cooked scrambled eggs on toast for dinner and with the sun set we returned to the pool to watch the dancing and fire twirling and have a drink or 2…

Here are some photos… 

Saturday (Today as I write) – Sleep in was on the cards… except for Kristie, who got up to catch the FJ$0.69 bus into Nadi Town for the experience and to get some more groceries, and sun screen.

She isn’t back yet.. and I should probably finish this now and head down to the Cafe to publish these before she gets back.

Hope everyone is well.
Ben

Today whist Kerrie-Anne and Vanessa went swimming Kristie and I went on a shopping tour to Nadi Town (pronounced Nandi). The tour took us to the local market where fresh fruit was cheap, the main street, McDonalds and the Butcher on the way back.

The markets are similar to our own. There are traders offering Chinese imports/copies of “handicrafts” for a variety of prices…   There are also a variety in quality and price on the fresh fruit and vegetables. We purchased a whole watermelon for FJ$5 and 2 bowls of tomatoes (approx 12 tomatoes) for FJ$2.

There are 2 supermarkets, MH and , and it is very obvious what the locals eat, and what is flown in for the tourists.

Below are some photos showing pricing on some common tourist items.

Yes… that is FJ$18.69 for 560g box of Nutri Grain..  must be all that iron
You will notice that water is cheap here FJ$1.99 per 1.5L bottle. a 6 pack of FIJI water is FJ$5.79 – very reasonable.

oh – while on the subject of prices, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Petrol.
Petrol and Diesel is imported by the government and the price is reviewed Monthly. Some of you will be thinking this is fantastic compared to Australia’s daily fluctuating prices… but take a look at the price per litre..

Yeah! How much to fill up your car Greg? (120L x $2.03 = $…!)

The other thing of note in Nadi Town is the public transport. Buses of all types and ages, with one guarantee – no windows!  For FJ$0.69 the bus will take you anywhere on its route… no zones or per stop calculations here.

So this morning we left the Mercure Nadi and headed out to the Worldmark Denarau Island.

Denarau Island is a man-made island where all the major resorts are located, and has lots of security to keep everyone safe.

The resort is amazing. Our 3 bedroom ground floor apartment is fantastic, and fairly close to the pool.
Pricing around Denarau Island has the expected “tourist tax” applied, but some of the resturants have reasonable meals.

There is a free Bulla Bus that transports you between the resorts and the Denarau Port.

We are going to buy more food tomorrow from Nadi so we can self-cater Breakfasts and Lunches.

Lessons Learned 1 – Taxis
Running a Taxi is a popular “business” for the locals, with both registered taxis (yellow plates) and rouge taxis, who use their private cars. Taxis vary in quality from 1970s Toyotas (There is one company that has a fleet of Toyota Corolla station wagons) to late 90s models.

Whist all registered Taxis have meters installed, pity the fool who insist on the driver using it. Taxis have agreed pricing from point to point, and they usually wont charge for waiting around. The meter price is MUCH higher than the agreed price. So what’s the catch?  Well there are MANY people asking you if you want a taxi, and once you’ve caught a few you have a good idea of the cost, but the quality taxi will take you the most direct route and try to encourage you to utilise them exclusively. The rouge taxi will go on the old (unmade and bumpy) roads, at incredible speeds, and then try to rip you off on the price. A couple we met got charged 10x the price we paid for the same journey…

We have met a good driver, he drives a recent Toyota Hiace van that comfortably seats all of us, and our luggage, and he will happily wait for us when we go places.

Tonight I went to the airport to pickup Kerrie-Anne and he met me at an agreed time, took me to the airport, waited  with me at a local cafe at the airport for Kazza to arrive, then assisted her with her luggage and took us back to the resort. All for the set price of FJ$30 each way.  Can’t beat that for service!

Vanaka!