Hello again from Nadi, Fiji

Hello again from Nadi, Fiji

Blog posted:  Tuesday afternoon   April 30, 2013  Fiji time (Second travelogue of this trip).

Tourism is a big part of the Fiji economy and they really make sure that you feel welcome.  When we arrived at the Nadi airport and stood in line to clear customs, there was a great group playing music that is native to the country and it sounded great.  Stampin' Up! had arranged for a bus to pick us up.  Our group had arranged to come a day early, but the bus was nearly full.  At the meeting area, they had bottles of chilled water.  That was great, given the very dry atmosphere we had experienced on the plane.

When we got to the hotel, they greeted us with neat shell leis, and a wonderful fruit type drink.  We had been pre-registered, and the check-in took almost no time.  We then went to the free breakfast that is a part of the hotel charge.  It is a smorgasbord that is  among the very best we have had.  They have an omelet bar and a huge assortment of meats, fruits, breads, and even stir fried vegetables/noddles.  Then to top it off they had individual french press coffee pots!!!

The view from our patio - that is the Pacific in the background

We went again today and it was a zoo, as the folks who arrived today all showed up at one time.  We skipped the long omelet bar line and still had a wonderful breakfast.  I made a European type breakfast sandwich (cold cuts, cheese and wonderful European style loaves of bread that you cut to your preference).  It really brought back fun memories of our European travel. 

The weather here has been quite rainy.  The storms come in fast and leave fast.  Hasn't really stopped us from enjoying the resort.

Yesterday we walked down to the Denarau Marina.  It is mainly a small shopping area with many restaurants (including a Hard Rock Cafe).  I had a beer at one of the pubs, and Pat ordered mineral water – the water was about 50% more costly than the beer.  We ate dinner at what we think was a locally owned Italian restaurant.

One of the reasons for going to the marina was to look for diving companies, but I was sorely disappointed.  We ran into a couple of women who had just dived that day and had arranged the dive at our hotel.  Today, at the hotel, I booked a dive for Friday.  It was hugely expensive but I can't not dive in Fiji {grin}.  The weather was bad enough today that they canceled the dive.  You get to the dive area on a small boat and seas were to rough for safe travel.

Tonight we have a reception and general meeting.  Lots of fun for Pat and OK for me {another grin}.  There really is not all that much planned company activities. 

That is all for now.