Chapter 8 - Last Days

We discovered Ed's Place, which is a bar frequented by tourists, where we met a lot of Aussies and Kiwis (New Zealanders). Matt (who lives in Australia) took us to Natadola Beach, which was about 45 minutes from Nadi. Once again, this beach was beautiful - white sand, blue water - what more could you ask for?

Before we knew it, time flew by. For some reason we thought we were leaving on Monday, when it was actually Sunday. Good thing Elaina checked our tickets on Saturday! We were a bit sad to leave, especially when we thought we had one more day, but all good things must come to an end...

Pics -
1. Partying at Ed's Place
2. Natadola Beach
3. Sunset from our resort
4. Coming home...

Chapter 7 - Bula Fiji!

Fiji is beautiful!! We arrived on July 31 and are staying at the Club Fiji Resort, which is right on the beach. We are staying in a bure (pronounce bu-ray), which kinda looks like a thatched hut. So far we've spent our days relaxing on the beach, paddle boating, and getting to know the resort staff. Last night, Bola (the bartender) and his friend took us out for dinner to a Chinese restaurant, and then to a bar/club nearby - After Hours. The bar was cool, and the DJ played my current favourite song (Hips Don't Lie by Shakira). He also played some Kwaito, Reggae, local Fijian music, and even a Ugandan song. Fijians are a mix of Indian, Polynesian and Chinese. The Fijian women all wear their hair in the same way, which kind of looks like a square 'fro.

Fiji is made up of about 300 different islands, and we are staying in Nadi (pronounced Nandi), which is on Viti Levu.

Downtown Nadi is full of all kinds of activity. It could easily be downtown Kampala – sans the boda bodas. There are the usual souvenir shops with people beckoning you to enter them, markets, etc. I thought I would be able to blend in with the locals, but I keep getting stares. Maybe it’s my hair - I knew I should have left it out! We were warned not to tell anyone our names coz apparently there are con-artists who quickly carve your name into a wood souvenir, and you are forced to buy it. I don’t know why you wouldn’t just say no. So far no one has tried that on us – they must know we’re from New York J

Today (Thursday) we left the mainland and took a ½ hour boat-ride to Beach Comber Island. This is supposedly the party island in Fiji, so we wanted to check it out. Most of the outer islands also have much better beaches and clearer water. The highlight of this trip (for me) was snorkeling. I had never done this before, and after I learned how not to get water in my pipe, I was blown away by the whole experience!! The water was absolutely clear, and we didn’t even have to go far out before we could see the fish and coral. There were all sorts of bright colors and I even saw about 7 electric-blue starfish!! Absolutely breathtaking!!!

Views from our resort...

Chapter 6 - Minus 5/Night life

I had read about this lounge called Minus 5, and was trying to convince the girls to come with me. For some reason, they weren’t as thrilled at the idea as I was. Basically the whole lounge is kept at a temperature of at least -5 degrees since everything is made of ice - the tables, chairs, glasses (which are shipped in from New Zealand). You pay a cover charge, and are allowed in for only 30 minutes. Before you enter, you are given a huge Eskimo coat, two pairs of gloves, and some winter boots to put on. Even after losing the sensation in my fingers, I would have to say that the experience is definitely worth going through – only once though.

Night Life

The party scene in Sydney was alright. I wasn’t thrilled with the music selection since it didn’t vary over the course of the night. There’s only so much house/techno music I can take. Also, what was considered hot was actually not - eg. the song with the Pussy Cat Dolls and Snoop. If you were looking for a hip-hop or reggae club, you were limited to finding out when the hip-hop or reggae night was. Luckily we had met MacDonald (from Zimbabwe) who took us out on the hip-hop night. The DJ did a pretty good job of mixing it up, but as the night wore on, I felt like I was Down South. Call me biased!

To summarize SYdney we:

- Walked around and photographed the Opera House

- Climbed the Harbour Bridge

- Checked out the Rocks – Australia’s birth place and tourist hot spot

- Partied in Kings Cross

- Shopped at the Paddington markets near Oxford Street

Chapter 5 - Sydney

We are in Sydney!!! Got in at about 9pm on Thu, and headed straight to the hotel, which is in Darling Harbour, right near the aquarium. Sydney is MUCH colder than Darwin – around 15C during the day. Too bad I only packed my light jackets :(

On Friday we climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which took 3.5hrs. It wasn’t as scary as I thought, just a lot of stairs. A group of about 12 of us were chained together, and we had to make sure we spaced ourselves evenly when climbing up or down the 1,260 steps. The views from the top were amazing!!! You can see the Opera House and the city skyline. They don’t let you take anything up with you – no cameras, no keys, no earrings, nothing. Our climb left at 11:30am, which was a good time since it wasn’t too cold. It would have been nice to do the twilight climb, and see the sun set, but it gets really cold.

We got some decent weather on Sunday, and spent the morning at the Taronga Zoo. I guess it’s like any other regular zoo, but I haven’t been to one of those (unless you count a safari). Since we hadn’t seen any kangaroos or wallabies yet, this was our last chance to see them in person. Neither were as impressive as I had imagined, but maybe it was because they had just eaten, and were lazing around. Speaking of, did I mention that I tried a kangaroo burger in Darwin? Quite yummy, but I don’t know if I would eat it again; I felt a bit guilty for some reason…

After the zoo, we walked around Circular Quay since it’s a nice spot to hang out when the weather is good. There are a bunch of restaurants and shops, but most importantly, the Opera House is located here. Yes, it’s amazing to look at, and postcard-perfect! Unfortunately we didn’t have time to take a tour.
1. Suiting up for the Climb
2. At the zoo
3. Sydney Harbour Bridge that we climbed
4. Me with the Opera House in the background