Friday 21st September

Suva
Fiji.

18 07.331 S
178 25.470 E

We woke to yet another overcast miserable day, not ideal for drying pillows but a good excuse to use up the last of the lemons on pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast we headed ashore as Gerry wanted to check on the progress of the new frame for the generator. We had to take all the parts for the generator (including the engine) in with us to the shop today so we struggled to maneuver the heavy bits out of the boat, into the dinghy, out of the dinghy onto the dock, into the car and finally into the shop, honest to God I don’t know how we did it but we managed without any injuries; the worst thing is that we have to do the whole process in reverse once the frame is finished – now there’s something to look forward to! When we got to the machine shop they were drinking Kava and offered Gerry a bowl, he declined (wimp!) but it was only 09.00hrs – a little early to begin drinking we thought, and these guys are making our new frame – be afraid!. After dropping everything off we decided to go on a sight seeing drive and headed off along the coast road towards Sigatoka. The road rivaled the Queensland highway from Cairns to Brisbane, it was full of pot holes, infrequent road markings and quite twisty. The scenery also bore a great resemblance to Queensland – lush, green vegetation, palm trees, hibiscus and glimpses of the ocean all along the route. The villages varied greatly from quite well kept to absolute S#*t holes. There weren’t nearly as many churches here as we had seen in Tonga but we saw a few; the biggest difference was the presence of resorts along the way where obviously the rich and famous vacation (Dog’s breath this includes you!). We covered 128kms and it took us almost 2 hours – it wasn’t a fast road, or car for that matter despite it being a hire car! We arrived just in time for lunch which we ate in a small café, it wasn’t anything to write home about but it filled a hole. We found Jack’s – the most publicized souvenir store in Fiji and made a couple of purchases there then we wandered along the main street staring at the shops windows, I have to comment here about the most beautiful saris that we saw in the windows, they were spectacular but Gerry wouldn’t let me spend any more money (boo and hiss). It began to spit with rain so we turned the car back towards Suva; the drive back was a very wet one as the monsoonal type rain fell for almost the entire trip. We arrived back in time to check on the progress of the frame – not ready, possibly tomorrow (HUH!) From there we went to the yacht club for a drink and a little later on we made our way to a restaurant that we had seen along the water’s edge. We were early (would have qualified for the early bird prices in the USA) and enjoyed the peace and quiet whilst we ate; just as we were finishing our main course the place was invaded by a load of very noisy fossils who were there for the seafood buffet, we left very shortly after and made our way back to the boat for the night. Pillows? still not dry, maybe tomorrow! To make matter worse the monsoonal rain had found it’s way under the floor that Gerry has up in the cockpit for the autopilot repairs and run down the interior which is right over our aft bed, one side of the bed is soaking wet, it’s not my side so I’m not saying anything more about it!