We leave New Zealand to go soak up some sun, prostate swim in warm blue water, more about lay in the sand and just relax.   It’s night when our plane lands in Nadi(pronounced Nandi), the capital of Fiji and it’s raining.  Well, more like torrential down pour.   Our cab driver is going 5 miles an hour,  which we are grateful for.  By the time we got to the hotel, the rain had stopped.   Welcome to Fiji!  Our good fortune didn’t end there.  We were upgraded to a private room, they were still serving dinner and the internet(which was a little shotty) was free!!  With our bellies full of chicken curry and rice we sat in the outdoor bar/dance area and enjoyed our Fiji Bitters while watching the frogs jump around.  Not bad for a first night.

The next morning(7am) we get up and taxi to the boat that will take us to our tropical paradise.  Although looking around we are pretty much there.   It is still a little cloudy and rainy but absolutely beautiful.   We are told  the trip is supposed to be about an hour.  Well, two hours later, along with some very rough sea and all of us hanging on for dear life we arrive at Octopus Resort.  We are greeted with big smiles, ukuleles, people singing and cocktails.  Oh and lunch!  Hello, welcome to Fiji!!!

They say you can’t take New York out of the New Yorker.  Well, after lunch and our first swim in the ocean, the only sign of us being city folk was when someone asked us where we were from.  We answered NYC and then promptly went back to our Fiji Bitters and doing almost nothing.  The next few days were spent walking the beach, swimming, snorkeling, eating,  making new friends, playing the ukulele for us, the locals and other guests, and drinking to the wee hours.  We even managed to get to church!  We felt it was the least we could do after keeping the bartenders up till 2 in the morning.  Of course we had a little help from some of the other guests and the bar manager.  The service was in Fijian so we couldn’t understand it, but the singing was beautiful and amazing.  We also did some night snorkeling, swam in  the pool, played Jenga, took a cooking class and had the most amazing relaxing massage ever!!!.  To say this was paradise is an understatement.   But I will stop writing and let you see for yourself.  Ladies and gentlemen……….Fiji.