Fiji Update

Hello all, so we are on dry land on the main island (Viti Levu). Things has been given a job offer and we are now waiting for a work visa so not to jinx anything we’ll give more details later.

We are somewhat in limbo at the moment, we have been staying in several different hostels around Nadi/Nadi bay area, we should probably do a separate bog on this as we’re now experts on Nadi accommodations. We are now staying in one place for 4 nights. We have opted for cheap accommodation but not the cheapest as this way we have a pool, free breakfast, free wifi and a TV so cut down on costs of doing things and paying for internet. Its good value for money and it gives us time to blog etc!!! So here are some of our thoughts on Fiji.

Food
As mentioned the curries particularly the roties are awesome, Stuff has at least one a day if not more. You can get take away roties (a sort of wrap filled with curry) for a couple of bucks (that’s less than a pound)  Also the honey here is amazing, it’s a crazy dark colour and is so good. There is also every product possible made from coconut, our favourite of which is coconut oil. Its supposed to be a healthier oil to cook with and its super tasty!!!

Wildlife
I love being somewhere exotic, not sure I’d be as happy without geckos running about. Fiji has Geckos but also huge very cool fruit bats, Cain Toads (not sure if these are native or not but very cute), and mongoose!! The mongoose we only ever seem to see crossing the road at great speed. This not to mention all the amazing marine life which we’ll review once we’ve done more diving.

People
So very friendly!! Taxi drivers can be a little pushy but you work out how to handle it. Basically if you want them to take you some where haggle at least or if you want to know for sure it’s a good price insist they use the meter, if they don‘t have a meter find another cab or haggle them right down. You can realistically save $5-10 Fijian, and if you don’t really want to go where they are suggesting just say no, they will try to take you on tours etc, which would be cheaper than the hotel prices but more expensive than the bus!

Public transport
The buses are regular and cheap (like $1.50), often not too busy but when it is people are very accommodating. You can flag them down from anywhere on the road or wait in the shade at bus stops and get to almost anywhere. They are really cool to see every day Fijian life and all very unique, often don’t have any windows.

Smell
This sounds weird but Fiji smells nice the towns smell mildly of curry cooking and the countryside smells of wood smoke and flowers (just like herbal essences oddly). The wood smoke smell comes from the fact that there is always something burning in Fiji. They love a burning, it’ll be scrub land normally, cheaper and less machinery required than mowing. Its warm and humid so I think that helps it smell nice some how.

By Things

Photo of windowless bus