Once again, dear reader, we commence our story, as one used to do, in the airport lounge, waiting for an international flight. It has been almost 3 years since our last international flight. Today's destination is Fiji. It was not our first choice, but is a reassigned booking. In a world that no longer exists, pre-Covid, we booked a holiday to Vanuatu and had paid for it, in full, before the world closed down. For a while I waited patiently for that trip to eventuate. Well, what choice did we have? We weren't allowed out and they wouldn't let us in. My patience soon evaporated as borders reopened elsewhere. Vanuatu has still not rejoined the world, so Fiji became the destination.
The day commenced - actually the day commenced yesterday, with Qantas sending us a text suggesting we arrive at the airport 4 hours before flight time. Hmmm. No calculator required for that, we would need to be there at 4:30am. Jayne does not recognise any pre-dawn time frame. This is a problem. I cancelled the Uber and re-booked it for 5am. That should see us safely there before 5:30am. Not quite the Qantas request but close enough.
Mingming was waiting for us in his brand new Tesla, before 5am. Whatever opinion you may hold on Elon Musk, the Tesla is quite an amazing piece of machinery. Given the early (ungodly Jayne would say) hour, the crowds had not yet materialised and we were through security and customs and seated in the 1st Class lounge within 60 minutes of walking out our front door. I love my platinum frequent flyer status - but not for much longer I suspect.
Coffee. Breakfast. Coffee. Then champagne. Ok, it was just after 6am but no one judges you at the airport. And we weren't the only ones. It's good to be back travelling. We watched the sunrise over Sydney as we relaxed into breakfast.
The plane was late boarding for reasons unknown. It was also late taking off, due to a delayed connection from Melbourne, pronounced 'Malbourne' by the steward - no prize for guessing where he is from. Due to issues we had transferring the money paid to Air Vanuatu over to Qantas, we could book neither Business Class nor adjacent seats, as the plane was already quite heavily booked. While we did secure exit row seats, we were separated by two other passengers. It is only a 4 hour flight to Fiji, curiously 5 hours on the return journey, and the seats on the 737-800 were reaching the limit of comfortability by the time we touched down at Nadi Airport. Glad we'll be up the pointy end on the way home.
Nadi Airport functioned like clockwork. A pity the same couldn't be said for the air crew. During the flight, we had been given the COVID declaration forms to complete - all cool and normal. As we disembarked, however, we were given yet more paperwork to complete which saw all passengers standing around, completing their second declaration, this time for bio-hazards and weapons, before being processing through immigration. The MyFiji people were there to greet us and usher us through their express lane - nice. Then it was a quick stamp of the brand new passports and out to meet the people from Rosie's who were transferring us to the Sheraton Fiji Resort for the night, before heading out to Musket Cove tomorrow. Seamless.
The drive from the airport to the Sheraton Fiji Resort was about 30 minutes. We were the only passengers. The road spoke of modernity, but some of the houses not so much. No doubt it resembled many areas of the tropics, that constant battle between people and nature. Sometimes humanity wins, other times it is nature. It was verdant and luxurious with growth, undergrowth and canopy and, similar to the Cook Islands, chickens. And dogs. Every house seemed to have a dog roaming the block, some had cattle.
The Sheraton, the one we stayed at, is part of the Denarau resort precinct. It also contains the Westin and the Hilton and possibly more. It is much more Port Douglas or Palm Cove in style where the battle with nature is held in check by armies of men snipping and hedging and mowing. There is also a gated estate, Queensland style, on artificial canals, where you can pretend you don't belong to the rest of the world.
No arrival at the resort goes uncelebrated - or unnoticed, due to the noise made by the welcome drums. With new guests arriving every little while, reception is a very noise place. Our welcome swung somewhere between amusing and embarrassing. Once booked in, we were driven in a golf cart style vehicle, to our room. Nice, but unnecessary, it wasn't that far away.
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| The view from the balcony across to Malolo Island |
The room itself seemed to be suffering an identity crisis. Twin double beds and Japanese themed sliding doors contrasted with the knowledge that we were in Fiji. The resort itself was clearly designed by the same person/people who designed the Sheraton at Port Douglas. Large open spaces, plenty of fans and air conditioning, restaurants and bar areas built around swimming pools. It goes without saying that the staff were lovely. All of the staff. Every single person you met or interacted with.
Bags unpacked, well, opened, as we are only staying one night, we went for a meander around the complex and dropped in at one of the bars for an afternoon aperitif. A glass of white wine. Could have been colder. Actually, it could have been cold, it was a warm humid day. There also could have been choice. I believe it was a New Zealand sav blanc. It was, however, complimentary as it was cocktail hour. Nice touch.
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| Malolo pulls the sun into the sea. |
There was a plethora of choices for dinner and we opted, for the Brazilian style grill. The food was delightful. As was the venue and the staff. We noted dualling musicians as each food venue had its own entertainment, despite the fact that the close proximity meant that they were all within hearing distance of and in competition with each other.
Dinner over, it was time to do battle with Google because I'd been locked out of my account. It's a long, frustrating, blue-language filled story, dear reader, which you don't need to know about. Suffice to say it all ended well. Eventually.
Tomorrow we have another reasonably early start because we are transiting to Musket Cove on Malolo Island where we will stay for the next seven nights.
I suppose I should explain today's title, a classic from the 1964 musical Fiddler on The Roof ... we saw both. The sunrise in Sydney and the sunset in Fiji.
Until next time.
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