Last Days in Fiji; Journey Home

[Sat 12/10 - Tue 12/13] 

Saturday we relaxed around the resort until 2:30 when we headed out for one of the scheduled adventure trips. We took a 35-minute boat ride to Sawa-i-Lau island to explore two caves of the same name. The staff had explained that in order to reach the 2nd cave we would have to swim through a 6-foot-long underwater opening - into a pitch-black cave(!). We all had some anxiety about it but were glad we overcame it.

Boat ride to the caves - there's a mountain goat peering over the edge of the lower cliff

Arriving at the caves

First cave

Entrance to the second cave is an opening in that wall - a foot below the water surface

We all made it through - easier than everyone expected. It definitely helped that our amazing guides, Masi and Joe, brought flashlights to guide us through the darkest spots. We swam deeper into the 2nd cave, eventually coming to an overhead opening where we could see trees and sunlight, then into a small, dark dome where Masi told us about the cave's only 2 inhabitants - a freshwater eel and a red snapper. 

Overhead opening in 2nd cave

The swim back out through the opening was even easier, although Karri had the thrill of nearly running directly into the eel! After climbing out of the 1st cave, we picked up a few gifts/souvenirs from the locals who had set up tables on the beach. Headed back to the resort, arriving around 5. 

Honeymoon Island - passed it on the ride back

Happy hour, music and another amazing dinner. We've spent a few happy hours and evenings playing games - Catan or Hearts.

Teaching Keenan to play Catan

Sunday is a day of rest for the locals - most businesses are closed, except for hospitality. The resort still offered scheduled activities but we opted out in the hope (some of) the staff could enjoy a day off. It was also a nice excuse to enjoy the resort a bit more. It rained hard in the morning so we relaxed in our rooms or the lodge. It cleared up by noon and turned into a gorgeous day, so we swam, snorkeled, kayaked and/or paddle boarded. Victoria and Keenan saw a reef shark and a turtle while snorkeling just before sunset.

The reef from a kayak - the water is so clear

Tavewa Island and Coconut Beach on a beautiful day

In the afternoon, the staff got into the Christmas spirit - playing Christmas music and setting up a tree. We had another delicious dinner - Indian food with dal soup followed by curry & rice. The food here has really been excellent. We finished the night with a game of Hearts, then headed to bed.

Dinner in the main lodge (dive instructors Anne & Richard at the table next to us, with Anne's sister)

Delicious curry

Christmas tree made with roots collected from the beach

Another gorgeous moonrise

Monday - our last full day on the island - we woke to another heavy rainstorm. The kids slept in while I got a massage(!) and Karri joined a class on making ceviche. After lunch, Karri snorkeled, while I kayaked along with her, then Victoria and Keenan went for a long snorkel around the reef. During happy hour, Karri and I sat at the bar and listened to Ili and Josh play guitar and sing. Then we all sat down to a delicious walu dinner. After dinner, I was treated to a birthday celebration as the staff brought me a cake, lit a sparkler, and sang a Fijian birthday song - Karri and I were invited to dance with one of the staff, Beta. Good fun.

Walu dinner

Birthday cake!

Beta and Api - two of our favorites on the amazing staff

We finished the night with a game of Catan in our room, then headed to bed - the end of our last full day in Fiji. It rained hard overnight and we all slept well.

After breakfast Tuesday, Karri and I walked the beach and relaxed, while Victoria and Keenan hung out - preparing to say their big 'goodbye'. We packed up, had lunch, then waited until 1:15 for a boat to take us to the Yasawa Flyer water taxi, our transport back to the mainland and our flight. Just before boarding time, the staff sang us a beautiful goodbye song, then walked with us to the beach to wave as we boarded our skiff. It was a tough to leave, certainly because it's so beautiful, but also because we had become attached to the staff and their warm and friendly spirit.

Last moments of R&R

Going to miss this spot

Some of the staff sending us off

It was a quick 5-minute shuttle across the bay to meet the Flyer. We were expecting to be dropped at a pier to board the boat but instead our skiff pulled up next to the Flyer and we jumped aboard as both boats bobbed in the water. We had a 4.5hr ride back to the mainland, making several stops to pick up more passengers from different islands and resorts. It was windy and the surf was significant at times, but it was a beautiful ride and a nice way to see more of Fiji.

Pulling up to the Wasawa Flyer

At the Port of Nadi we caught a shuttle to the airport, arriving 3hrs before our flight. Keenan was spending the night in Nadi (Sydney airport has an 11pm 'flight curfew', so there were no evening flights out), so we checked our bags then had dinner in an airport restaurant. After dinner, Karri and I said goodbye to Keenan and went through security, leaving Victoria and Keenan a few minutes to say their (no doubt tearful) goodbyes. He's a really nice young man - we enjoyed having him join us for the trip.

We boarded our flight to San Francisco around 9:45pm and were on our way by 10:30. It's a 10-hour flight that crosses the International Date Line, so we left Fiji at 10:30pm Tuesday night and arrived in San Francisco at 12:30pm Tuesday afternoon. Victoria slept most of the flight - Karri and me... not so much. We arrived early enough to catch an earlier connection to Seattle, arriving at 4:00pm, instead of 6:30pm. Grabbed our bags, caught a taxi and were home by 5 - Victoria's first time home since early July!

This was such an amazing trip! We were able to see so much, yet not feel rushed or over-scheduled. Karri really out-did herself putting this trip together! I'm so lucky to have married a closet travel agent!

Beautiful Fiji

[Wed 12/7 - Fri 12/9] 

Miraculously, we woke to our 3am alarm (on 2.5hrs of sleep!) Wednesday, packed up and were off to the airport a few minutes earlier than planned. Dropped the car, checked in, cleared security, stopped in the duty-free store to pick up a few bottles for Fiji, then boarded our flight to Nadi, on the main island of Fiji. Our resort had arranged for a van to shuttle us to the waterfront where we waited an hour or so before catching a seaplane for a gorgeous 35-minute flight over several Fijian islands to Turtle Island. A small boat was waiting to shuttle us (a nice twist on planes-trains-and-automobiles) 5 minutes to nearby Tavewa Island and Coconut Beach Resort - our home for the next 6 nights. The float pilot was kind enough to circle over Coconut Beach just before we landed.

Co-pilot Karri

One of many spectacular Fijian islands

Coconut Beach

Our plane loading up passengers from Turtle Island for the return trip

Home stretch to Tavewa Island

Our boat was greeted on-shore by a crew of resort staff singing a welcome song, then shouting 'bula!', the ubiquitous Fijian word (it seems) for 'hello', 'welcome', 'congratulations', 'cheers' and more. We got a tour of the facilities and a run-down on activities, meal schedules, etc., then were taken to our respective beach huts ('bures'), where (at least Karri and I) un-packed, excited to be in one place for several days.

Staff greeting us with a song

Bath towel origami

The beach in front of our bure

We swam and relaxed a bit, then cleaned up for happy hour and a delicious dinner in the open-air lodge.

The staff here, the majority Fijians from nearby islands, are amazing - warm, friendly and happy, always greeting us with a 'bula!' and a smile, and excited to share their culture. During happy hour and at breakfast and dinner, there is guitar music and singing of traditional songs - with a few re-makes of pop music (from the Beatles to Neil Young to Guns N' Roses) thrown in.

After dinner, we joined a kava ceremony - a demonstration of the making and sharing of the traditional Fijian beverage or grog (which has sedative properties - just what we needed!). Afterwards, we stopped at the beach to star-gaze, before heading to bed around 9, exhausted after a short night of sleep and a long day of travels.

Moonrise from the beach

The resort offers scheduled activities every day - snorkeling or SCUBA diving tours, a trip to the nearby town, craft-making, plus presentations on the local culture. Thursday we decided to take it easy - relaxing at the beach, reading, swimming, and/or napping in a hammock. In the afternoon, Karri and I kayaked down the beach, stopping for a swim, and snorkeled a portion of the reef just off-shore. Victoria and Keenan took a stand-up paddle board for a spin.

Beach R&R

Coconut Beach at high tide

Afternoon paddle

Perhaps the reason Victoria wanted Keenan to come on the trip

Had another great dinner, followed by crab races - a fundraiser for local school children (Karri and my crab, 'Speedy', won earning us 2 free drinks at the bar!). Star-gazed and pondered the universe a bit from the beach before heading to bed.

Friday morning we lounged at the beach, swam and snorkeled. In the afternoon, Victoria went on a SCUBA dive (she recently got certified) to a nearby reef, while Karri, Keenan and I went on a snorkeling trip to Blue Lagoon Beach (near where the movie was filmed). Both awesome - we saw a bunch of colorful fish, sea slugs, a sea snake, and Keenan saw stingray, while Victoria saw a 3-foot reef shark and bunch of fish. A great day. 

Some of the many tropical fish we saw while snorkeling

Fish swimming along the reef

Here fishy, fishy!

Got back to the resort, relaxed and cleaned up for the evening. Listened to some of the local music during happy hour. One of the guys, Ili, has a particularly amazing voice. He's apparently a famous singer-songwriter who has had several songs top the Fiji pop charts. After dinner, the staff performed a traditional 'meke' - dancing and story-telling through song. They were so good - their voices and harmonies are amazing. They clearly were having great fun performing. Several of the locals came by with small children to enjoy the show. At the end of the show, they got all of the guests up to join in the dancing. It was a really fun night.

Josh (l) and Ili (r) playing during happy hour

Meke performance

Star-gazed and watched the moonrise before heading to bed. Another amazing day.

Back in Sydney

[Sun 12/4 - Tue 12/6]

The drive from the Blue Mountains back to Sydney was easy despite some Sunday traffic in Sydney. We headed to Manly Beach with a plan to meet Victoria and Keenan for lunch and to walk the Manly Markets hosted there every weekend. Karri and I arrived around 11:30 and walked a few of the market stalls, then along the full length of the spectacular beach. 

A few of the market stalls

Beach boardwalk

Australian Surf Rowers League - these people are crazy!

Manly Beach from the south end

We grabbed a table at The Boathouse Shelly Beach and Victoria and Keenan arrived to join us for lunch.  After lunch, we headed back to the markets and strolled a bit - Victoria was looking for a souvenir or two. Around 3:30, Karri and I left for our Airbnb in Darling Point, a waterfront suburb just east of downtown Sydney. Checked-in to a spacious 3rd-floor apartment across from Rushcutters Bay Park, then went for a walk through the neighborhood.

View of the park from our Airbnb

We were both still full from our late lunch and so decided we didn't need dinner. Instead, we opted to check-out another Sydney speakeasy. We showered, dressed and walked about 15 minutes to Jangling Jack's, where we sat at the bar, enjoyed a couple (or so...) well-made craft cocktails, and chatted with the bartender. Good spot. 

We both slept in Monday morning, had a light breakfast at the apartment, then set out on a walking tour to explore some new parts of the city. First we headed to Hyde Park, which we had intended to explore on our first stint in Sydney (but got sidetracked touring the Hyde Park Barracks). From there we continued on to Darling Harbour, then stopped in Chinatown for lunch (excellent dumplings at Nanjing Dumpling) before heading back to the apartment - a 5.5mi walk.

Tree-lined path through Hyde Park

Photo from 1932 when the above trees were first planted

Darling Harbour

Splash pool and fountains at Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour

Entrance to Chinatown

We relaxed a bit until Victoria and Keenan came by the apartment, chatted a bit then said goodbye to Keenan as Karri, Victoria and I were headed to the Sydney Opera House for a Jack Johnson concert. His album 'Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George' was a staple in our house when our kids were little and Victoria really wanted us to go to the show. We caught an Uber to Bar Luca for a pre-show beverage, then walked half a mile to the opera house. Thunderstorms had passed through earlier and more were in the forecast, so we all brought rain jackets for the outdoor show (note foreshadowing). We grabbed a bite to eat from a food truck, then found a good spot to stand and watch the show. It was really fun - he's a great performer and many of the songs were familiar. About 45 minutes into the show, we were treated to a light show complements of mother nature which steadily intensified over the next 10-15 minutes. Johnson was mid-song when an official came on stage and told him he had to shut down the show and send everyone home due to a looming storm. Not more than a minute later, it started to pour (and lightning) as people scrambled for cover and funneled to the exits. We hustled back to Bar Luca, arriving with dry heads and torsos but soaked pants/socks/shoes. Had a nightcap then caught an uber back to the apartment. Showered, played a quick game of Catan - a family favorite - then headed to bed.

Threatening clouds over Jack Johnson and Sydney Harbour

Steps of the Opera House - a great venue for a show (barring thunderstorms)

Tuesday - our last day in Australia - we relaxed in the morning, did laundry and reorganized our stuff in preparation for packing for our 6am Wed flight to Fiji. Around noon, we walked to the Botanical Gardens, stopping for lunch on the way. It was another gorgeous day with lots of sunshine, temperatures in the upper 70's, and a nice breeze blowing. We walked several of the paths, made a stop at Mrs. Maquarie's Chair, then headed to the beautiful State Library of New South Wales, where we briefly walked through the reading room and galleries, then stopped at the book store so Karri and Victoria could pick up another book for Fiji.

Botanical Gardens

Mrs. Maquarie's Chair

Walked back to the apartment and relaxed a bit, finished packing, then showered and dressed to head to dinner to meet Keenan's parents. They had picked 2 great spots - The Roosevelt for a cocktail and Fratelli Paradiso for dinner. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening - it was really nice getting to know Kevin and Deb, wonderful people! The meal was delicious. My only regret is that we didn't take a group photo.

I've failed to mention that we invited Keenan to join us in Fiji. Fortunately, he was able to get the time off of work and to book on our same routing. 

Kevin and Deb dropped the 4 of us at the apartment just after midnight - leaving a very short night of sleep before our 3:00am(!) alarm so we could be on the road by 3:45 to drop our rental car and check-in for our 6am flight to Nadi, Fiji. We'll catch up on sleep at the beach!