Fiji
Lautoka, the sugar city is on the western side of Viti Levu, the largest island in Fiji.
These 332 islands in the Koro Sea are truly a holiday destination. Everyone greets you with “Bula”. We had heard of the recent riots in Suva but that is quite away from where we landed and we found the Fijians very friendly. This is the most multicultural population in the So Pacific. We visited the Garden of the Sleeping Giant which is an orchid garden started by Raymond Burr to preserve his own collection.
The most unusual invitation we have ever had occurred at the Shangri La resort where we were invited to join 4 other couples from the ship to renew our wedding vows bedecked with leis along the ocean. The minister wrote vows very applicable to our age group. It was 3 Americans, 1Scottish and 1English couples…so you can’t say it was just those crazy Americans. What fun that was.
Unfortunately we learned as leaving that someone we all knew from the ship had died that afternoon swimming at the same resort.
We’re off to New Zealand and tonight we have dinner with the Italian Captain who is married to a Maori Kiwi and we hope he will give us some inside information on what to see on the North Island.