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.