DAY ONE (part two)

So with us safely loaded into Joseph's car we headed off to the resort.

Just like every place I've visited outside of my country (except for New Zealand- but that's really just another state of Australia. . . .kidding Kiwi's. . .kidding) road rules are more like a recommendation or guideline as opposed an actual regulation. I guess the only reason that Fijian roads aren't as chaotic as those in Asia (or Italy for that matter) is that there just aren't as many vehicles.

Fijians are very relaxed (more relaxed than Aussies) so if you need to drop someone off (or pick someone up for that matter) and you happen to be driving through the middle of a round-about it's perfectly OK to stop and even have a chat. I've even seen numerous public buses do this (more on the public buses another day).

As we drove through the guarded gate to where our accommodation was located (Fijians are still a little tense abut the recent coup- mainly becuase they fear it's the reason that the tourists aren't coming. I believe that the extra level of security is supposed to make us more comfortable. . .it just makes me more nervous) Mr. Blue commented

"Hey, it's just like Caroline Springs!"

Now if you're not from Melbourne that wont make much sense to you. Caroline Springs is one of those suburbs that springs up out of the blue. A constructed place with "perfect" landscaping. . .a developers urban dream. . .

A quick segue that may bring a smile to a Melbournian's face -to be read in a heavy Australian Accent:

"It's about time something like this happened in the Western Suburbs"

It was so perfect that I had a tinge of sadness. I don't know what I was expecting from the calibre of accommodation I'd booked, but once again I think the fact that I'd always roughed it on my travels was such a contrast to what I was about to experience. It may also be that I'm used to being on the other side of the desk. I'm used to being the performance. . .not the audience.

So we got to our hotel (once again greeted by those amazing harmonises) checked in, got shown to our room and headed out for a quick bite to eat at one of the restaurants in our resort. We sat outside by the sea with a view of the some distant Islands across the water and the Sleeping giant mountain range. After a Fiji bitter (brewed by Fosters so it tastes just like an Aussie VB) and my bruschetta I was ready for a nap.

LB

P.S Photo's to come, but I got called into work (again) so  don't have the time to upload right now