Mon. 28th Sept. Suva, Fiji

Yesterday early we got in the car, keen to hit the highway and head to Suva. Ian was a little too keen actually because a few miles down the road a strange man came running out of the bushes, waving us down. Our first thought is 'what the hell does he want' and then we see his police car tucked out of sight.
Ian protests "How can 91 kph on the highway be speeding?" but the big smiley Fijian police officer just says "License please" and "come with me sir".
The speed limit is actually 80 kph so Ian hands over $50 FJD to the other smiley officer and since they don't have a receipt or copy of the ticket, they promise to settle his fine when they get back to the station. They also warn us there are a few other cops hiding up the road, so we stick to the limit for the next couple of hours, before arriving at the Royal Suva Yacht Club for some lunch. The RSYC is a relic from an era that no longer exists here, Fijis colonial past. A place on the waterfront where expats would have sat, swilling pink gin, complaining of the heat and be-moaning to themselves that the locals are so 'Un-English'. In 1970, Fiji gained independence and was declared a republic. We settled in for a nice lunch on the lawn and then took a drive along the waterfront. The mansions of the elite seem well fortified and the once magnificent Grand Hotel now sits crumbling and derelict, occupied only by the army. It's getting on in the afternoon so we drive back to our room at the Novotel, which is the first night we've had away from Ishka in nearly 14 months. We were upgraded to the newly renovated wing, and the room has a great view looking out over Snake Island in Lami Bay, so after a superb dinner and tired from the drive, we fall asleep after checking all the doors are locked, even though the hotel is surrounded by water and there is 24 hour security, you can never be too complacent. At 2.30 am we are awoken by a shout from the room next door. The man wakes to find a stranger standing beside his bed taking his wallet, he hadn't locked the verandah door! There were more shouts as the burglar flees, the poor victim rings security and staff run down the corridor to the room beside ours! This falafel goes on for a few hours as police are called, statements are taken and the grounds outside our two rooms are searched by men with torches and big sticks [the local weapon of choice!], the whole time we lie nervously in bed thinking the thief must have tried our door first, but it was locked, thank God!!!
This morning with tired eyes we check out of Novotel Lami and drive back into Suva centre, to experience a busy Monday morning and get some breakfast. Where can we park the hire car that's safe........no worries we find an empty short term car park in the city centre with an 'absent' attendant to guard our belongings while we explore downtown Suva. If you have bright blonde hair, are reasonably pale skinned, are wearing crocs and have 'tourist' written all over you, be careful of the hawkers when you start walking the streets. They come from all sides and appear to be the friendliest 'big' men, following you everywhere, wanting to give you hand crafted gifts for coming to their country, but they are after your cash! $70 FJD later we finally get rid of 'Eric' and look for somewhere that does a breakfast other than rice, fish or chips, so after walking for an hour past closed Indian takeaways and more soggy, deep-fried fish joints, we go to McDonalds.

The surf is meant to be good on this South Coast, with many waves happening around the river mouths and outer reefs, so as the boards are on the roof racks, we call into a few surf camps we'd heard about. Waidroka is a more expensive resort which sits remotely overlooking Taunovo Bay, giving guests a chance to pay big bucks for surf trips out to world class waves such as Frigates and Pipe. It's not for us, we just wanted to check out the set up, experience the views and see what the rooms were like for that much money. We drive on to the next camp at Sigatoka, and it's difficult to find with no signage anywhere, but after asking a few locals, we drive down the long dirt road to Masa Camp. A vacant [we think], badly run down 'house', guarded by a shy, mangy, ringworm ridden dog, and surrounded by sand dunes, this appears to be at the other end of the scale. We park the car, try not to pet the dog and walk up the dunes to check out the waves, and if the wind was right, which isn't today unfortunately, it would be an ideal spot for good a beach break. Walking back, loving the view and the wild horses, we meet the camp owners/squatters, who appear like two nice lads that live life to surf and don't care about normal routines such as washing and hair cutting. It takes Ian back to the good old days in Victoria, when he didn't wash so much and had hair!

We get back to Vuda Point early this evening and decide to leave the marina on Wednesday, after filling up with gas, fuel and supplies from Lautoka tomorrow. We'll head up to the Yasawa Group of Islands, which are NW of Vita Levu, with our little bags of accoutrements in order to trade for some fresh fruit & veg with the locals. Doubt there is going to be any internet so until we blog again......