It's back!
09 February 2012 | Vuda Point Marina, Fiji
RAIN rain and more rain.
I got up this morning and headed out for the bus to Nadi. It's about 14 kilometers south of us where the airport is located. I was headed for DHL to ship back our Data Marine wind gauge as well as a pair of diving boots that we bought last Summer that the seam split on the first time I put them on. The factory had emailed me telling me to ship them back to have them fixed or replaced.
Since I had no boxes for either, I'd called them(thank you Skype) on Thursday to make sure they had plenty of boxes. "Yes" I was told.
Off I went taking the 0745 bus getting to the airport about 0830. I first headed for Customs to get documents stamped for what I was returning for repair so I wouldn't have to pay duty upon it's return. A quick process as I'd typed up the necessary forms the day before.
Once at DHL, I found they didn't really have a big selection of boxes. None would fit my needs for the wind gauge. They did have a bag for shipping back the pair of boots. I filled out all the paperwork and was greeted by a charge of $206 for shipping!!! That's $113 US!!! I only paid $93.00 for the boots in the first place. With that huge amount being said, I looked twice at the guy to make sure I had heard him right. He repeated the $206 price a second time. It was after all door to door service and would be there in 3 to 4 days. I declined their services. I headed to the post office a couple of doors down where I found the price of $26.00 far more reasonable. Now I have no idea when they will get there but I'm not in any big hurry to get them back. It will be interesting to see what the company that is repairing them is going to say once they see how much it costs to get them back to me. Yes, they know I'm in Fiji. Time will tell.
The post office didn't have any boxes either that I could ship the wind gauge in but I found a local importer that did(some cutting will be required) so I purchased one of their boxes and headed home.
I arrived back at the marina just about 1100 to be greeted by a rain storm passing by. Mother Nature decided that we needed lots more rain so she left the faucet in the "on" position for the next two hours. It poured and poured and poured. At 1315, I left the boxes in the marina office that I had gethered in my trip and hiked back in the rain to get back to Zephyr. It continued to rain for the next hour before it relaxed to just sprinkles. There is nothing but rain and more thunderstorms in any future forecast for Lautoka. Guess that's one reason it's so green here.
Stay tuned for more weather forecasts. It's easy. Just say "more rain" and you will be right.