25TH October 2022

The weather today wasn’t looking too promising so we decided to take a taxi tour of this side of the island. Our first stop was at the Garden of the Sleeping Giant. The first 20 miles of the journey were very comfortable on a tarmac road, however as soon as we turned off the main road to get to the gardens the last 3 miles were a different story!

Unfortunately we arrived at the same time as a coach-load of other passengers from the ship were very slowly getting off a bus. Luckily for us they didn’t want to walk too far so we soon got to overtake them to explore our surroundings!

The Garden, which contains a vast collection of 30 to 40 varieties of magnificent Asian orchids and Cattleya hybrids, was once the private collection of the late American actor Raymond Burr (Ironside) Thanks again to the internet for that little nugget of information!

Although the sky was grey it was still quite warm and we had a lovely visit!

Guess where we went next?…… I know its not a pretty sight……..but what great fun………

This is the Tifjek Mud Pool and Hotspring. Barbara from the ship could see that I was struggling to get a good covering of the lovely warm mud, so we worked out a reciprocal arrangement as you can see!

I’m sat here back home looking at the rain teeming down outside thinking it would be great to be back in amongst all that lovely warm mud!

On the way back along the bumpy road we stopped to buy some local mangos. It’s amazing how many you get for $2US. We had so many that we had to give them away when we got back onboard!

Next stop was the Sri Siva Subramaniya Temple. It’s a Hindu temple in Nadi, Fiji, and is the largest Hindu temple in the Pacific. It is at the southern end of the main road through Nadi.

The last stop on today’s trip was to Jack’s department store in Nadi. I think this was Jane’s favourite part of the day, as not only did she get to have a good rummage but the manager let her use the shops WI-FI so she could contact Charlotte back at home!

I bought a very subtle shirt (watch out for the photos!) with the help of a lovely sales assistant, thank you Tukana Ralulu Senibici, and also a big thanks for letting me use your WI-FI.