Fiji-January 17

Activities Bure

Our swimming pool

Our Family Bure

January 17

Our waterslide

Carved Fijian head

Good Advice

Our breakfast patio

We hang out around the house and have some math instruction, reading and journaling before taking a dip in the pool.  Once refreshed, we get ourselves ready and head off to find a beautiful sandy beach.  We have heard that Natadola is the place to go so we search it out on the map and head that direction.  We wind around through the beautiful
rolling hills above the ocean and pass two very  groomed resorts before arriving at a very rocky and deeply potholed road.  We head along and encounter a deep gap that our little car cannot go over.  We all get out except Paulie who is left to drive over the perilous ditch.  Shortly thereafter, we see a man walking down the street and ask if this is the right way to get to the beach.  “No…you have to go back to the resort and down the hill” he says.  So we do our best to turn the car around and

The Snack Bar

head back from whence we came.  We reach the resort and drive down the rocky road until we arrive at the back side of the resort.  There are a lot of natives there with horses that are available for rent to ride along the beach.  The beach is beautiful here in this cove, but there is a daunting layer of seaweed between the edge of the water and the crystal blue of the ocean beyond.  We walk along the beach looking for a nice clear spot to lay down our towels.  As lovely as the horses are, they have left droppings all over the beach and it really smells like a stable.  We all look at each other and decide in unison this is not really what we signed up for.  After a very few minutes of conversation, we get back in the car and return up the hill.  We were also told there was another way to get to the beach and we decide to inquire about that.  When we reach the top of the hill we ask a bus driver if there is an alternate route to the beach.  He indicates that there is and we again go back down the rocky path.  We reach the bottom and now are certain there is no other way to get to the beach than the way we have gone.  Nobody wants to lay out on the seaweed beach in the horse manure- surprise, surprise.  So…..we pack back up and head home.  C’est la vie!