Life is an Adventure.....yeah!!!!!
Well it's day 3 and the first few days have been somewhat of a discovery in what the best laid plans can do...so i will start at the time when waiting for Judith to arrive back from the Netherlands. She was visiting her family after advising them she would be bumming around the world with me for an indefinite period.Day1: Sunday 28th August 2005
Judith is under the impression I had been camping out at the airport awaiting her arrival since tuesday but I can honestly say I wasn't there prior to thursday. My Lady arrived at Sydney airport according to schedule. She looked beautiful after 30 hours flying, as you do. Anyway she was not going to enter Australia just transit to the Virgin Blue flight to Fiji with me. Here comes the first snag, on arriving at the departure gate to pick up her boarding pass we were informed that because she did not have the right onward ticket and visa she was not allowed on the plane to Fiji. Her not going............. me not going. We both watched as the bags were taken off the aircraft and it departed to the warmth of Fiji. Judith had been informed on her last entry to Australia that she would not get another visa for quite a while. So both of us were in a slight state of PANIC!!!!!!!!!
Somehow while transitting through Kuala Lumpur she was given a visa without her knowledge. After talking with immigration for 1 hour she was admitted entry to Australia and we went to get the bags. At this point we found that Judith's bags had not been booked all the way to Fiji and were in fact circling the baggage claim, hence no shopping spree on the airlines expense account.
We decided to book into hotel for night after the Virgin girls organised our flights again...Great Airline is Virgin Blue and great service from friendly staff who rebooked us and basically held our hands through all the drama of immigration etc. We sorted out all visa problems we had and checked into Omalleys Hotel in Kings Cross. After a quick beer and watching replay of All Blacks playing South Africa in Tri-Nations we had an afternoon nap. Later in the evening we went to Una's Restaurant (Judith's old workplace) to catch up with her old mates and have a cleansing beer. 1 beer turned into 20 beers and a great night was had by both of us. Bedtime was around 2:30am.
Day 2: Monday 29th August 2005
5:55am. I awoke with a mild sense of dread, leant across to see alarm, and proceded to freak out to the max. The transport was picking us up at 5:00am and the flight was at 6:30am. Judith had never moved so fast in the morning when I was yelling and freaking. We were out the door with all bags, less 1 shirt still hanging in wardrobe, and flagging down a cab in 5 minutes flat. When we got to the airport they had closed the flight to Brisbane where we were getting the flight to Fiji. The next flight was at 6:55am which would give us 1 hour to get to the International terminal and board. 2 very chaotic and hungover individuals finally climbed aboard the 6:55am flight to Brisbane after the Virgin girls again came to our rescue.
At this point I have been advised by judith that she will never be drinking the night prior to any flight we will be taking and a general decrease in alcohol consumption. Yeah.......whatever!!!
We got to the International terminal with 10 minutes to spare and started our adventure. There was one very sick looking Judith on the flight who somehow took my Movie player off me so she could watch cartoons.
Arrived in Fiji, finally, to a cloudy windy day. After clearing customs and immigration we exited to look for our transport to the hotel I had booked in advance. 1 hour and 3 phonecalls later the bus arrived to take us to the glorious resort style abode we had ordered.
Poolside room....yeah we can see the pool if you stand on a chair.
Luxurious comfort.....the bathroom is permanently flooded.
Resort atmosphere....only half the lights work.
Friendly staff.....when they acknowledge you are there, they grunt.
So we might as well have stayed in a backpackers for 1/4 the price. anyway we checked into the room with huge double bed...2 singles pushed together that I keep falling between, much to Judith's laughter. We went for a walk after putting all our gear away and ended up at the place where her and Jeroen stayed in April and had an awesome dinner and a few Fiji Bitters. Judith could only face the one beer so I had to drink the rest. One of the girls working there recognised Judith from her last stay and welcomed her back...with "different man".
We were back at the hotel and in bed by 8:30pm and absolutely buggered.
Day 3 : next day
We awoke early and descended to breakfast which wasn't too bad. Entered into negotiation with hotel manager as to what he was providing and Judith got a 20% discount....that's my girl!!!
Today has just been about lazing around in the sun by the pool and visiting some shops in Nadi.
so far this adventure has been all it was promoted as. Chaos followed by panic and then crisis. But all in all we are having fun and enjoying each other.
Off to Suva and Savusavu tomorrow so will tell more when we can. Rob.
posted by Rob&Judith @ 3:45 PM
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