Tuesday

Had a routine morning. Since we got a little too much sun yesterday, today is to be an indoor day for the most part. But first, fruit! I mentioned that local fruit is only available at what we would call the farmer's market in Nadi. The grocery stores we've been in seem to just sell the imported stuff, apples and oranges. So back on the Yellow Bus:

We made our way to the market and picked up a heap of pineapple (5 small), mangoes, cucumber and carrots. We also saw where they sell kava root in a separate building. We haven't taken any photos in town because we are always juggling backpacks full of groceries. If we go back I will be sure to. We had three different men offer to show us the place to buy souvenirs.  I don't do well with it, I'm getting old and cranky I guess, but I have no patience with it. It is something that really bothers me, even in our own culture, when people won't take no for an answer. 

Just after 2:00 as I was working on homework I thought I heard thunder. I went out on the balcony and it was blue sky all around. Ten minutes later there was a big crack right over my head so I went out again and sure enough, the clouds had moved in. No rain for a while, and then sometime after 4:00 the skies opened up again. It poured buckets for about an hour.  The ditch had completely emptied from yesterday's rain,  but filled up even more today:

After dinner we went to the resort store to grab some munchies. Around 8:00 we went to the adult pool for a dip. We could see lightning out over the water and it sprinkled again for a bit. Back to the room for TV and bed.

Monday

We decided we would stay at the resort today. We were up, had breakfast and in the pool by 8:45. We hung out at the adult pool, which is away from the beach so is nice and quiet. The whole resort seems a bit quieter today, maybe because school starts tomorrow in Australia.

It has a swim up bar - only a few other couples were there, so lots of room to cool off.

Just after 11 we headed back to the room for lunch, then went to the beach. It clouded over and sprinkled for about 15 minutes, then the sun came back out. The beach has excellent wifi, so I can blog while I am enjoying the great outdoors. You can see the concentration! 

We headed over to the bar for a drink and a snack. It was made with Fijian rum, delicious! 

Back to the beach for a while:

Then to the room for a shower and to cool off. Around 5 we headed back to the poolside, where there were free drinks for owners and a fire show.

After that was dinner, and then the rain started. It poured! This little ditch off our balcony is usually bone dry:

It's hard to tell, but the ditch is nearly full. There was lots of lightning and thunder all evening, but no wind. By the time we went to bed the rain had stopped. 

Sunday

After a great sleep we woke up to our first full day in Fiji! We are staying at a place called Denarau Island, which is a man made island outside of Nadi. There are about 6 resorts on the island. There is also a marina and a shopping centre. Here is the view from our balcony:

 We went for breakfast at the restaurant, then in the late morning we headed for the yellow bus, which goes into town for $1. We met a nice Aussie couple at the bus stop. They come here all the time and gave us lots of tips ie where the shops are, only buy meat from the butcher, get bread and baked goods from the bakery and fruit from the open air market. Unfortunately the butcher and fruit market are closed Sunday. 

We got off the bus at the edge of Nadi and headed for the grocery store. A nice Fijian convinced us we were going the wrong way (turns out we weren't). I thanked him and told him we could find it on our own twice, but he insisted on walking us there. On the way there he told us about a shop that sold tourist goods and how all the money would benefit his village. A block later he told us he would take us there. We told him no, we were just in town for groceries. I said if he showed us where the shop was, we would go there next time we were in town. He walked away without another word. So much for helping out his village! Unfortunately this is a common occurrence here. 

We found a store and picked up a few things then caught the bus back to the island. We got off at the shopping centre and wandered a bit. We found the bakery and picked up bread, buns and a couple of meat pies. There was a rugby sevens game on at the bar next door that appeared to be going well for the Fijians. Then on the bus again and back to the resort.

Finally, time for bathing suits and the beach!

The huge pool is behind us, and the steps in front lead down to the ocean. When the tide is out there is a narrow strip of beach with a small roped off area for wading and swimming.

It got overcast after a while and sprinkled, but it is so warm that you don't need to go inside. 

Back to our room to cool off. It rained quite steadily after that so I'm glad we went in. Dinner and a movie - we get the Lotus channel from Macau,  which shows slightly older but good movies. Bed by 10 - in Sydney we tended to stay up later and get up later, but here we operate on early to bed and early to rise. 

Saturday

The alarm went off at 4 am. We got out of the hotel by 5:15 and walked the 5 minutes to the train. When we got there we found out that Museum Station is not open on weekends, so we had to walk nearly 15 minutes in the opposite direction to Central Station. Once we got on the train it was only 10 or 15 minutes to the airport. The flight was uneventful; the plane was only half to two thirds full, so we had three seats to ourselves.

We arrived in Fiji four hours later, around 1:45 local time. I thought Fiji is two hours ahead of Sydney, but I was wrong, it is only one hour time difference. Right away we got hustled into a cab by an unlicensed cabbie. I don't mean he didn't have a license, just that his cab was unregistered. We probably paid way too much, but we didn't realize it until the luggage was loaded and we were settled in; then I noticed that he didn't have a meter, and when I commented, he avoided the subject. Oh well.

We got settled in and unpacked. Then nothing, just relaxed for a few hours. We went to the hotel restaurant for dinner, then wandered around to find the pools and the beach.

We came back to our room, watched a movie then lights out by 10. It was a long day!

Friday

This morning we took the train to the Opera House and signed up for a tour. We had an hour to kill so grabbed a snack at the Opera Kitchen, where I made a new friend.

He and his friends were flying from table to table and one of them actually hit me in the head with his wing as he was flying by us. 

We joined up with our tour. Our guide was great, we learned lots of trivia about the design details; for example, outside the theatres the glass walls are angled at 45 degrees so that when exiting, the patrons don't see their reflections, they only see the gorgeous view of the Harbour.

Some great examples of the geometry and symmetry of the design. 

We were allowed access into the Concert Hall, which is the largest of the theatres. We weren't allowed to take photos because they were setting up for a concert,  but look up pictures online, it is impressive! 

When we were done we walked to the Quay and caught the ferry to Manly, a suburb 30 minutes north-east of the city. There is a huge sandy beach and lots of touristy shops. This is looking up the pedestrian mall:

The north half of Manly Beach:

Aahhh, the warm South Pacific:

We walked around the sea walk to Shelly Beach, in the distance:

Close-up of Shelly:

Later in the afternoon Brad's friend Judith and her husband Neil had us over to their place for a drink. They put together a picnic dinner and took us back into the city to sit under the bridge, where we ate with a fabulous view of the Opera House. When it got dark we had prime seats for the Lunar New Year fireworks, which they personally arranged for us ;)

Judith and I had an adventure using the public toilet on the street. It's like entering a fortress, everything is controlled by button - it took us forever to figure out how to access the toilet paper. Since we were each in our own separate stainless steel fortress, we couldn't communicate. The whole time a really bad version of "What the World Needs Now, is Love Sweet Love" played, we think to discourage lingering. 

We took the train home from there, it was a late night, but so much fun! 

Thursday

We woke up to another relatively cool day of 21 degrees. We headed out around 10:30 and walked up Pitt Street towards the Quay.

This is one of the buildings in the Pitt St shopping district:

We stopped at Katmandu, an outdoor store, and picked up a couple of things. We spent the rest of the morning at the Justice and Police Museum learning all about Sydney's criminal element. I saw these shady characters while I was there:

 We were going to go to Bondi Beach because we thought we could travel there by ferry, but it turned out to be a 45 minute bus ride. On the spur of the moment we hopped the ferry to Cockatoo Island. It was a notorious convict prison until about 1879, then it was a home for orphaned and wayward girls. It became a naval shipyard right up until 1990. We grabbed lunch then spent a few hours exploring the island. It really is a mix of the old and the (relatively) new.

Our lunch time view; we were about a 20 minute ferry ride from downtown:

The prisoners slept 4 to a platform on two levels. The wooden blocks were their pillows. 

Cliff with a rusted crane in the foreground:

Tunnel through the cliff to the other side of the island.

Lots of examples of harbourfront living on the way back to the Quay. 

One of several tall ships we saw today.

And now we've had dinner and it's laundry time. Sorry, no photos!

Wednesday

Another leisurely start to our day. Woke up to 21 degrees, a huge change from yesterday. After breakfast we headed out to the train and took it one stop north to Hyde Park Barracks Museum. Don't judge, our feet are killing us!

It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was built by convicts between 1817 and 1819. It was used for housing convicts until 1848, immigrant women until 1886 and courts and offices until 1979. The great thing about the museum is how they have peeled away the layers to show the original construction.

This is where the prisoners slept:

Archway on the third floor:

In some places they removed the most recent layers of paint to show all of the different layers underneath:

We then walked over to the Museum of Sydney. On the way we stopped at a food court for lunch. All of the office workers were on their lunch at the same time. We seemed to be the only tourists and I felt a bit out of place - all the men in dress shirts or suits, and all of the women in skirts or dresses.  I don't think I've seen any professional women in pants.

Anyway, the museum was mainly about the First Fleet arriving in 1788. There was also an interesting exhibit on iconic buildings that were demolished for the sake of progress,  before saner heads prevailed. It was thought that anything built using convict labour should be torn down, as it was a shameful part of the past. Consequently many historically significant buildings were lost.

Once we were done there we headed to Susannah Place Museum.  It is a terrace of 4 homes that was built in 1844 - the last family moved out in 1990. They spent 3 years researching and interviewing former residents before it was opened as a museum.  You have to take a guided tour, and they have great stories about what life was like for the occupants. 

We made our way back to the hotel for a rest and a cold dinner. Then we headed out to the Opera House for a show. It was a naughty cabaret, a sold out show and it was so much fun. My jaw hurt from laughing so hard! There were comedians, live music, acrobats, dancing, singing (and a little bit of nudity). It was called Club Swizzle and was meant to evoke the jazz era.

It was a beautiful evening when we emerged from the show just after 10 pm. The Quay was full of people, it was like a Friday night because of the holiday tomorrow. A nice lady offered to take our photo:

And in honour of the Year of the Rooster, I leave you with these two, who were in the process of having their heads attached: