A lot of travelling, travelling with many smelly bodies

Alarm went off at 4:30am closely followed by a bang on the door from a sleepy Bobo, so time to hurry and get ready to walk up to the main road by 4:45am to get our taxi to the ferry. Guided mainly by moonlight the walk took about 10 minutes but luckily as the rain had held off it was pretty easy apart from our tired legs slowing us down. Alvin, the driver was running late and turned up at about 5:15am and every minute that went by was an extra minute I could’ve spent in bed.

On the way to the ferry we picked up many other stragglers loitering on the side of the road eager to pick up a free ride as we had already booked and paid for the lift, but a car full of smelly bodies was not what I needed at this time of the morning. But we did get dropped off straight on the ferry bound for Natovi just outside of Suva on the mainland before continuing on to Nabouwalu where we got off on Vanua Levu (the second biggest island). The ferry ride itself was pretty painless apart from the loud films they played along the way, but I soon zoned out and read my book for most of the 6 hour journey.

Once we arrived at our destination we got straight onto a bus which the seats were very skinny for our not-so-skinny bums and drove for a few hours with some simply spectacular views. All luscious green forests everywhere, completely untouched. The roads however for most of the way we just dirt tracks and as it was hot outside I had to have the window wide open the whole way, which meant I was completely covered with red dirt which the locals and Chris especially found highly amusing!

We were dropped off at ‘The Junction’ (named for obvious reasons) to catch another bus to Savusavu and I think it was the only actual junction we have seen on this island so far. The bus was already parked up and waiting for us and we just had to wait another 15 minutes before some more passengers arrived and then we were on our way. The final journey was only anther hour and it was pretty comfy as we had a whole bus for just 5 of us.

Once in Savusavu, Chris phoned one of his Government friends and we took a taxi to meet a guy called Herbert who found us a cheap room in Sunset Lodge. It is a nice room with air-con, what a luxury but very basic, but it’s all we need really. We then showered away the dirt and smelliness before going for some serious tasty and cheap food, followed by a drink at The Planters Club, which we believe to be yet another old English Gentleman’s Club. Then bed.

A lot of travelling, travelling with many smelly bodies

Nabouwalu, Fiji