Finally, Fiji — An Elegant Sufficiency

We were arriving in Fiji as we awoke this morning. During the last few days we've been trying to recall when we were last here - it must be thirty years ago or thereabouts. Certainly pre-blog!

We were on our way home from a stay in New Zealand at the time, Edward was around ten years old and we stayed in a resort hotel, we think not so far from where we are now. Maybe the Crowne Plaza? Sadly,the most memorable aspect for me was that I had ‘flu and felt rather poorly.

Anyhow, we were glad to be here once again, starting the day feeling positive and optimistic!

Bula!!

Port areas are never the prettiest part of the city, but once on the road, heading for Nadi, there was similarly lush, green planting as we've seen in the last few days.

First impressions were that Fiji is rather more developed than both Samoan islands.

However, just a few yards along the road, other aspects contradicted that.

Our guide, John, gave us a great commentary as we drove, explaining about life here on the island.

As we passed by what looked like overgrown sugar cane fields, there was a slight tone of regret in his voice as he explained. Sugar had been a mainstay of Fijian exports for the last century, the cane harvested and taken for processing by means of a small train from fields to factory. But the infrastructure was old and outdated, it became broken and wasn't replaced and the country had lost out on this valuable source of income as a result.

We passed by a secondary school, operated by a hindu commuity for youngsters of that faith. John explained about their heritage, sharing that a third of the population are of Indian origin.

Driving along the road to Nadi, John also pointed out the Sleeping Giants there on the left. Three figures could be seen…not from here, but best from the air, we learned.

We continued into the town of Nadi, where our next stop would be the largest Southern Indian Hindu Temple in the southern Hemisphere.

Colourful and reminsicent of similar temples we'd seen in South East Asia, we were glad of an opportunity to stretch our legs and get a closer look.

Except that we didn't have tickets and without them, we were unable to get close.

In fact, the guard by the gate shooed us away from the fence too - oh my. Five minutes later, we were back on the bus.

OK. Next stop Nadi…traffic permitting!

At least the slow progress allowed us to take a close look at some of the businesses along the main street. Once again, perhaps I detected a hint of sadness in John's voice as he spoke about the varying approaches to business here in Fiji. “You see”, he said, “the Indian families look to the future and the next generation, whereas we Fijians live for today and say don't worry, be happy!” he said, in a similar manner to that of Sepha, when he spoke about the Chinese groceries in Samoa. He did, however, go on to say that together, the two communities had created a successful country here in Fiji.

As we stepped down from the bus on the corner of the main street, I managed to get a good flag shot 😉 🇫🇯

We had stopped by a large store currently under renovation. Jacks had relocated around the corner and by the door stood a couple of guides, herding people inside.

Now, my Hero and I are not herd animals at all! A quick look inside told us there was nothing in there to interest us, so we crossed the street using the pedestrian crossing outside and headed off into the supermarket opposite!

It felt remarkably like an Indian supermarket, which, given the community here was hardly surprising.

There was quite a good stock of Cadbury's chocolate in the fridge too.

Our “shopping stop” complete, we were soon back on our way to Lautoka. As we crossed the bridge out of town, John told us about the flood risk to Nadi. In 2009 several people had been killed when heavy rain had coincided with an exceptionally high tide and the risk of flooding continues to be a preoccupation for those living here.

We passed by several villages, some recently constructed as suburban centres to reduce the pressure on Nadi. Several major employers were here, the Fiji Air training centre and a specialist heart hospital.

The cost of a home here would be around 300k Fijian dollars (£100k), said John, which seemed to be quite a lot, given the circumstances.

We had one last stop to make, at the Boat Shed from where there was a beautiful view but an extremely difficult parking situation.

Eventually, we made it inside for a selection of fresh local fruit and a bottle of iced water. Finding a seat in the shade, we were amused to see the fifth coconut shucking demonstration in as many days!!