We had about 2 weeks in Suva, and while it was not a planned visit, the main purpose of our stay was the see Rose get well again. The medical staff at CWM Hospital were amazing and took very good care of Rose during her stay, and I have been overwhelmed with the caring nature of the local Fijians who are just gorgeous and so kind. As we had no family in Fiji, I had fresh fruit, bread, home cooked meals all brought in for me (thank you to my new friend Radhika). The Australian Consulate really stepped up and also provided me with bedding, and more fresh fruit to make my stay in hospital with Rose more comfortable.
Rose was discharged from hospital a little under a week after arriving, and we had a follow up appointment with the doctor one week later. She was still on liquid antibiotics and this was a challenge getting her to take her medicine. We had tantrums, spitting the medicine everywhere, and no bribes or threats would convince her to take it. Eventually she saw the light and realized she needed this medicine to get better and just started to take it. She developed a little infection post-surgery which they say is common with a burst appendix, so we visited the hospital every day do have her surgical wound cleaned and re-dressed.
We had a pretty easy week and took the opportunity to get some maintenance done on Nika and to do a little sightseeing.
I must say I am quite impressed with Suva. It is quite a large city and is the main business section of Fiji with about 300k people living here. It is much cooler than the islands and it sure rains a lot (every day!)
The Yacht Club has the cheapest beer in Fiji (Fiji Bitter - fj$2.30 for a pot), which is cheaper than a cappuccino. It is right across the road from the Prison / Correctional Facility, where they had a little store selling fresh bread, coffee, cakes and meals all exceptionally cheap. They even had a barber!. Craig was going to get a haircut but we ended up running out of time. It would have made for a good story!!.
We met some lovely people at the yacht club - Kirsty & Steve, with Peter and Sarah who the girls spend hours with playing snooker, and had some much needed work done on Nika, which included getting our anchor windless repaired, fixing some electronics, repairing our cockpit cushions and arranging part for our water maker.
We hired a car for 2 days and took a drive to Pacific Harbor where they have a great resort / beach, and spend a day at Cole a Suva Forest Park for a walk and swimming in the natural swimming pools with Tarzan ropes for swinging. While here we met a group of yr 10 students from Parkdale Secondary College who were on a 3 week ‘world challenge’ trip working with schools and villages in Fiji.
In Suva we took in the Museum, had loads of Gloria Jeans Coffee, and did some shopping (we discovered the best chocolate biscuits which are just like TimTams called Tymo – so yummy). We shopped the local handicraft and produce markets, and went to the Village Cinema.
Rose saw the doctor for her review and he is pleased with how she is healing, so it was time to say goodbye and thank you to Suva and set off and re-join the ICA rally in Savusavu on the island of Vanua-Levu. We had an overnight sail and arrived at 8am to a marina berth arranged by the ICA and hugs and cheers for Rose. It is great to be back with the fleet and enjoying the support, social drinks and conversations.
I am so thankful that everything has turned out well. Rose is such a strong and brave little girl and I am so proud of her. I think we have had our fair share of drama for this trip and hopefully we will have smooth sailing from here on in.