All good things must come to an end in Tuvalu! After breakfast we walked across the street 2 minutes over to the airport to check into our 12:20 flight back to Fiji, but this time to the capital city – Suva.
No computers here, but rather tickets are handwritten:
The great thing about the airport in Tuvalu is that after we checked in, we walked back across the street to our hotel and waited there before boarding.
Because the runway is essentially another busy city intersection for most of the week, there’s an actual siren that alerts to incoming aircraft here!
The views during the 2.5 hour flight from Tuvalu to Fiji are pretty out of this world:
After landing in Suva, we transferred to Southern Cross Hotel in the city center where we began to say our goodbyes. Those of us left enjoyed our last dinner together upstairs at the local Korean Restaurant.
We had planned to go out for a final hurrah, but after 3 weeks of constant Pacific Island hopping and another monsoon to lead in 2 days, it was time to turn in early for my 10am flight to Auckland. To the next monsoon!
- At time of posting in Suva, Fiji, it was 27 °C -
Humidity: 68% | Wind Speed: 16km/hr | Cloud Cover: clear
After delivering our postcards via the world’s only underwater post office in Vanuatu, we then headed to the airport for the our 2-hour 4:00pm flight to Nadi on Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu. There we said our thanks and goodbyes to our guide and now 5-time monsooner, Melissa Weinmann. You were awesome!
This is when things turned into a comedy of errors. First we had an issue with checking-in as we had to rebook nearly everyone’s tickets at the last minute given a miscommunication over whether someone in the group had cancelled a few weeks back. Eventually we got on our flight with not a minute to spare, although a few of us did take a quick peek at the Business Class lounge with our Priority Passes.
On our Fiji Airways flight to Fiji, we were served complementary Fiji Water!
It’s the battle of the local water!
Because of the 2 hour time difference between Vanuatu and Fiji, we arrived in their “evening” at 7pm. Already missing the sunshine of Vanuatu, we were greeted instead by torrential rainstorm in Fiji.
Then another issue occurred with checking into our accommodations; after nearly 20 minutes trying to prevent the group from being scattered about in our lodgings, we finally settled in with drinks and dinner at our hostel.
The next morning after breakfast, we took a city tour of Nadi beginning with the Sri Siva Subramaniya Swami Temple in Nadi — the largest Hindu house of worship in the South Pacific.
After 15 minutes here and a brief, free tour, we made a quick pit stop to buy souvenir’s at Jack’s before driving about 20 minutes over to visit the Nadi Garden of the Sleeping Giant.
It is the former garden of the actor Raymond Burr of Perry Mason and Ironside fame.
We then had a quick lunch at local fast food joint Crest Chicken, we drove 30 minutes through a rainstorm (while playing the music to Indiana Jones in the background) to Natidola Beach where we made ourselves welcome at the number of resorts and beaches in the area.
We finally finished off with a Korean BBQ dinner!
- At time of posting in Nadi, Fiji, it was 29 °C -
Humidity: 62% | Wind Speed: 21km/hr | Cloud Cover: clear
