He’s 6 months old and already an international traveller. We didn’t have that privilege growing up.
1 Aug, we heard off to Fiji to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary. It’s the first big celebration of our wedlock, both previous years we were at the snow sharing a bunk room with Carl. Riley was quite good on the 4 hour flight over there, I breastfed during take off and landing and his ears seemed to equalize a-okay. He was a bit bored being in one place so Michael and I took turns entertaining him.
At Nadi airport, Michael’s bag didn’t turn up. Later we found out the Jetstar lady didn’t check it in, just rolled it on at the check-in counter without attaching a sticker or entering it into the system. They did eventually find the bag at Sydney Airport but it took 4 days for them to find it and send it over.
A crappy start to the holiday, we took our private transfer from Rosie Holidays and Vincent our driver told us a bit about life in Fiji on the 1+ hour trip to Shangri La Fijian Resort and Spa. It appears they’re not big on child car seats and baby capsules there, coz the way it was installed was flimsy at best. Nevertheless, the little man slept almost the whole way so I was glad.
One very important thing Vincent told us about was the Fijian’s love of mud crabs. I asked if the resort would have mud crabs and he replied: “If a restaurant doesn’t have mud crabs they should just close down.” Yeeeha!
Fiji is quite multi-cultural, with a large Indian population along with Chinese immigrants. The seasoning they use in food is quite varied, includes curry powder, soy sauce, coconut, paprika, Vincent tells us.
Shangri La is located on Yanuca island on the South West corner of Viti Levu (the main island of Fiji), along the Coral Coast. It’s about 1:15 drive from Nadi and 2 hours from Suva, the capital. The roads were decent and it was left-hand drive, felt a lot like Northern Queensland with the lush vegetation and English road signs.
We check in and settle into our room, which overlooks a patch of grass then the ocean. The climate was delightful (max 25, min 15 degrees everyday) and the air was salty fresh. We had 2 large soft double beds and a portacot for Riley.
It was dark by the time we ventured out again, and we went to Takali restaurant for dinner, it was a buffet celebrating curries. $138 Fijian was a bit steep but we ate our fill. Slept well.
Day 2, Thursday. Still waiting to hear about the bags, we didn’t want to venture far. Breakfast is buffet, I ate too much. So we wandered around the resort and went for a swim. They had an water park about 50m off-shore which was so cool. The lagoon pools were cool while the ocean and beach was calm and warm.
They had a sunset kava ceremony by the water, we watched that and quite enjoyed the rambling kava-infused commentary from the main guy. For dinner we ate at the Beach Bar, skewers were overpriced and the portions small. We got in even though we didn’t have a reservation (they’re big on bookings there)
Day 3, Friday. Still no bag. We had run out of formula, bought the locally produced formula which I was worried about. We hung around the resort again, but went walking to explore the island. They had tennis courts, putt putt, 18-hole golf, 3 sets of pools, 6/7 restaurants, bars, cafe/ice cream parlour, beauty salon, shops, bottle-o, etc. We walked maybe 1 hour and Riley fell asleep in the stroller.
Late lunch, we took a taxi to the nearby village to eat at Tomlu’s Seafood restaurant where we had coconut curry mud crab. The lady that served us is the daughter of the founders, father Tom and mother Lu. She offered to hold Riley while we ate, which was nice but also a bit nerve-wrecking.
Day 4, Sailing trip! Still no bag. We got picked up at the hotel just after 8am, drove 1.5 hours to Port Denaru, we boarded the sailing boat and 2 hours of pretend-sailing got us to Schooner island, a patch of sand with a few huts and palm trees. We went snorkelling, had a BBQ lunch accompanied by guitar and singing. They had unlimited booze and a bunch of 70-something ladies got quite trashed. It was funny watching them laugh and fall over, and flirt with the crew. On the sailing trip back a bunch of people were seasick.
We had mentioned we were there for our anniversary, and they baked us a cake! Very sweet of them. Unfortunately we didn’t get home till 7pm and were all exhausted. For dinner we ordered Tomlu’s crab for dinner.
Day 5, Sunday. Finally we hear the bag had been found and put on a plane, it arrived 9pm. We booked a babysitter for 3 hours, from 3-6pm, so that we can go play at the waterpark. Mereia was nice, she was a grandma of a 6 months old boy also, but she didn’t get Riley down for a nap and didn’t feed him when she was supposed to, apparently he wasn’t hungry or sleepy which is very likely. The water park was awesome, but hard. Easier for lighter-weight kids but hard for us clumsy heavy adults. We also got a clear canoe and paddled around, which was quite interesting … After we put Riley to sleep with Mereia we popped out and had a quick sunset drink at Bilo bar.
For dinner we went to a nearby resort for dinner, Gecko restaurant had a large seafood menu and I was looking forward to trying their coconut curry mud crab. They had a Polynesian dance show on and fire dancing. It was very good, but the food was ordinary. The crab wasn’t fresh. The scallop, calamari and garlic prawn entrees were about F$15-$20 a plate and only included 4-5 pieces! shocking. Btw exchange rate is A$1 = F$1.50. The mud crab was F$65, and we were still hungry we ordered a coconut pork cutlet. They also added 25% government tax on top and the bill came to about F$200. Suuuuper pricey.
The waiter offered to take Riley when the food came out, seems to be a thing here. They all love babies and I guess want to let us eat in peace. But Riley was tired, having missed his nap and feed earlier, and being passed around by strangers in a noisy environment was too much, and he balled out crying. We took turns eating and carrying Riley around in the car park, he didn’t want to sleep the poor bunny.
Day 6, Monday. We discovered teeth! Little baby teeth coming out of little baby gums. No wonder he was unsettled yesterday. And ouch they are sharp! Now he can chew my finger with real vengeance and cause some damage. We decided to go to Sigatoka today for a little shopping at the markets and try something different to eat. A couple of taxi drivers had recommended Raj’s Curry House, so we headed there for lunch. F$40 for return cab. Lunch was only about $50, we had pappadams, a prawn curry, chicken tikka, roti, bread.
The markets at Sigatoka, I thought would be filled with vendors and lots of hustle bustle. However it turned out to be a large tourist shop. We did find a wet market which definitely felt 3rd world. Michael was on high alert but I was quite intrigued by the price of kava plant roots, watermelons and snake beans.
We had some gelato and fresh coconut (1/3 of resort prices), and on the way back, our driver took us through a local village so we can take a quick look before deciding to go on a tour. We couldn’t get out of the car because visitors need permission from the chief when they go to a village.
A hitchhiker was on the side of the road, we were happy to pick him up and it turns out to be David, the chief’s brother. Our driver asked if we can come visit him tomorrow and he agreed. So private village tour arranged. Huzzah!
We had more swimming and lazing around in the afternoon, enjoyed a sunset cocktail and beer. Dinner we decided to eat at Takali Terrace, which happened to have char kwey teow AND Singapore chilli mud crab. Unfortunately Riley wasn’t settled and Michael left me to eat alone at the restaurant, to put Riley to bed. I brought back some crab to the room for him but he didn’t eat it. The sauce was nice but the crab also wasn’t fresh. Disappointed.
Day 7, Tuesday. Breakfast then 10am pickup for the village tour. We went to the bakery to buy bread and butter for David, since the traditional kava wasn’t right, as David had stopped drinking it. He gave us a little geo-political lesson and then took us to see the village and church. Interesting guy, had visited Australia few times in his youth to play rugby, and seems very worldly. He is distraught at the youth of today lacking respect and reverence for tradition. He showed us the chiefs house, and around the village, to the lawn which many houses led off, as well as the traditional meeting house and of course, his church.
Day 8, The return trip was stressful. Our airport transfer was late and Riley was very unsettled on the 5 hour flight back. When we arrived in Sydney my parents forgot to pick me up. However we did learn that Maxi-taxis carry child seats so that was our transport home.
