Jun 24 - Off the plane at 14:30. It is a welcome introduction to a different pace of travel. The Nadi airport is tiny. All arriving passengers are serenaded by a duo dressed in bright floral print shirts, one with a guitar and the other with a ukulele.
The company I selected for car rental is not in the building. There is a bit of searching around to find them. Eventually, a woman there for Marriot Hotel decides to help us by walking us out to the parking lot where shortly my car arrives. It is a nice gesture on her part. My fears concerning the expiration of my International Driver’s Permit is unfounded, as the rental representative who brought my car doesn’t bother to ask for it. Just my US license does the job fine.
The last time we were outside for any length of time was in Hualien, and the air here is much cooler, more refreshing. Brace myself for yet another left-right switch, as Fiji is British-side driving. Spend the first drive mistaking the windshield wipers for the turn signal every single time.
Drive to the coast south of the airport, where there is a cluster of accommodations and restaurants on the beach. Check into hotel and collapse for a few hours, as we are wiped out.
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Late afternoon Odette and I go out to walk down the beach. It is wide and sandy, and in an enclosed by so with minimal waves.
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The geology of Fiji is complex, but basically is the result of two colliding oceanic plates. The subduction of one plate under another resulted in a melted crust that rose and formed volcanos along an arc paralleling the plate edge. Over time, the parts of the collisional arc bent and sometimes reversed. What used to be a line of islands from the Solomon Islands to Tuvalu became a chaotic jumble of strike orientations. A few of the main islands of Fiji are just the tops of larger mountains that are now submerged.
Go out to dinner down the street. Half of the outdoor restaurant is occupied by a birthday party. The women are smartly done up in long, frilled dresses and the men in the obligatory floral print shirts. The birthday boy is 90 years old, and a speech is given by his son that details his life. He got his start on the island selling copper knives (Fiji has its own copper resources on the eastern side of Viti Levu), and grew it into a big business. For some reason, the son recounts the types of money used in the past, “first we were a-using the red pound, then after came the green pound, and then, finally, a-came along the dollar sign…” For some reason, everyone finds a lot of humor in that.
Fiji