Fiji

Sorry, guys - I see there's two comments already...I didn't have time to add any word to this entry until now. So FIJI!

It's beautiful there! The journey was LONG. Kind of a waiting game. I caught the flight from Kelowna to Vancouver at 11:30am October 3 - relatively short flight (about 40 min). Then I had to wait around the Vancouver airport for about 7 hours until my flight to Fiji. The flight was about 15 hours - and either I didn't pay attention or forgot when booking, but there was a 2 hour stop over in Honolulu! Unfortunately, it was so dark, I couldn't really see anything throught the plane windows. But I sure felt the 27 degrees! It had been about 6 hours to Honolulu, 2 hours in the airport, and another 6.5 hours to Fiji. Upon arrival - at about5:30am, I came straight to Aquarius Pacific, where check in generally isn't until 12:00pm!


I settled into their restaurant, ready for another long wait, but the view made it worth while (this picture was taken from my table). The restaurant is open right to their pool area with the ocean not far beyond (it's hard to see it in the photo). The hostel wasn't a fancy place, but the sunny, beach location was fabulous! Hearing the lapping waves, hearing the morning birds, seeing the bright blue, sunny skies...stress just melted away.




So I had some breakfast (mmmmm...fresh watermelon, bananas, pineapple, and papaya), and fortunately, they were able to let me into my room around 8:00am.










Besides swimming in the fabulous pool, I also spent a lot of time in the hammocks that were strung up between the palms trees halfway between the pool area and the ocean. Such a lovely, relaxing spot. Reading and swimming, what a great combo! The first day felt like time went by so slowly, but by the second day I just took it as it came. The word "weightless" kept coming to mind. Between swinging in the hammock with the gentle ocean breeze drifting by and floating on my back in the pool, staring up at the palm trees and blue sky, I felt weightless. It was the best.

My flight was scheduled to depart Fiji at 8:45am yesterday morning. We didn't leave Fiji until close to 4:00pm. The inital delay was because the plane was delayed in Japan, then the longest delay was because of imclement weather conditions in Auckland. Strong winds, apparently. But at long last, we took off. The 3 hour flight went by quickly - I perused my DK travel book on NZ the whole time! When we arrived it was almost dark (Jo - I'm sure you're disappointed at this - I am too!) I would have loved to have seen the landscape as we flew in, but I just barely made out the definition of coasts, streams, homes...and it was windy and cold, about 13 degrees and pouring on the ground. I got through customs no problem, grabbed the shuttle to the ACB hostel and checked in. I'm rooming with 3 other girls, in two sets of bunkbeds. They all seem nice. Once from Alessandra from France, Jasmine from the US, and I didn't get a chance to ask Sanda yet (I think that's her name). There's a locker under the beds where we lock up our things. It's kind of a pain in the butt to have to unlock everything to get at it each time, but I guess better safe than sorry. And the showers are private stalls, but there's no where to put anything except on hooks (good for the clothes and towels) or the floor - I laid some paper towel down for my glasses, comb, shampoo bottle, etc. But it's all okay! Because: I.AM.HERE! Finally! I felt such a strange peacefulness steel over me as we flew in. Almost like I was flying home...almost. And as the shuttle transported me to the hostel, a smile kept creeping onto my face.
We had an extensive orientation today, which was great. Tons of helpful information, from activities, to various modes of transportation, job hunting, accomodations...I think we all felt really excited as well as overwhelmed at the end of it. After a quick lunch (nothing worth describing - I was too hungry to seek out someplace cool) I went to arrange for my tax ID and to open a bank account. I signed up for a free tour of Auckland for tomorrow. Wonder what the weather will be like...today, the sun did come out, but it also rained. Bit of everything at the moment I guess. That's spring weather for you!
Alright, gotta go - others are waiting for the computer. I'm using one at the IEP office where it's free. I have to buy mintues to use wireless internet connections with my laptop, so I'm saving them for uploading pictures to the blog! I'll try to post another entry tomorrow after the tour!
Holly