Driving in Fiji
Trip Start
Mar 17, 2007
1
342
435
Trip End
Ongoing
Pacific Harbour, Viti Levu, Fiji
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Tomcat rented a car, which we pick up in the morning. We drive the 130 km to Pacific Harbour, the Adventure Capital of Fij. We did not book a hotel. Since we have a car, we can shop around.
The drive there was interesting, like Tony's Dad would say. I wish Broekske was there. She would have stopped and made the best pictures of the journey. People pictures. There are little stalls at the side of the road. Selling mainly fruit. Sometimes the sales people are not older than 5. I feel a bit weird to stop and take pictures. It is like you are mocking their poverty or treat them like animals in the zoo.
Broekske would have pulled it off with her nice smile. People are poor. Very poor. We stop in a town, Sigatoko for lunch: everybody is very nice.
The drive is only 130 km. They say it is 2 hours: WRONG. It is at least 3 hours. Highway 1 is in good condition but it IS a 2 lane road with buses, trucks and crappy cars. Somebody warned us about potholes. They surely never saw the potholes in Botswana.
Indeed, arriving in Pacific Harbour after 3 hours, we immediately find:
http://www.fiji-sharks.com/
AND: the shark dive is on tomorrow! We sign up and pay: 220 local $ (=110 Euro) per person including gear, taxes and fees. We do not mind the local fee: it goes to the commune, who refunds the fishermen for not fishing at the dive sites. The dive shop is at the resort:
http://www.lagoonresort.com/
I go to the bathroom in the hotel and it looks big time like it HAS been the place to be 10 years ago. The bar, in a boat, is no longer there and the boat is falling apart. We decide to go to another resort we heard about:
http://www.uprisingbeachresort.com/
It is on the same road, 1 km further and we do like it there. We take a Bura (=hut on the beach) for 80$ local (=40 Euro) per night. We stay for 2 nights. We drive back to town. It is described to be THE place to be in the south but it looks quiet sleepy to us. The happy hour in one of the bars starts at 16h but ... the bar closes at 16h! There is a bottle shop and a supermarket. We stock up and go home. We have free internet. Not in the room but in the bar and restaurant.
We go for a couple of pleasant beers, meet the local cat, have diner and go bed early for the big event tomorrow: Shark diving!!!!!!!! I did not want to tell my brother: he would worry but he is a smart puppy: he googled Pacific Harbour, knows his sister and found the sharks. :-)))
