Taveuni

Incidentally I forgot to record that the beautiful little bird of two days ago was a Red faced parrot Finch.
 We  travelled 55 nautical miles overnight to arrive at the island of Taveuni,26 miles long, 7 miles wide and the third largest of the Fijian islands.The mongoose has not been introduced to Taveuni so there is supposed to be very good bird life on the island,so we went on a bird watching expedition.However the planners forgot that 60 people with one guide make too much noise for good bird watching and ,in any case,90% of the people cannot hear what is being said.

There was a hard climb by 4x4 up into the rain forest,some walking in the forest looking for birds,some were seen by the fortunate few,and also a side trip to see the Fijian national flower growing in the wild.

Tagimaucia,is a vine endemic to this island,and very attractive with its two tone flowers.Less land has been cleared for development on Taveuni than the two larger Islands (Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.)so that nearly all the indigenous plants of Fiji are found on the island.

We did see some birds,a parrot,a honeyeater and some folk saw the orange dove,but it was poorly arranged and so rather disappointing.

But the views were spectacular and the wild orchids beautiful.The afternoon gave us our first opportunity to snorkel,which we did from a beach of Korolevu island,and on the surrounding reef.Elizabeth only went from the beach ,calm and not too deep.I went from a platform over the reef,which was very rough and affected by the currents.

Korolevu Island
The corals were fantastic and the fish exquisite in their colours and variety,but there was a nasty swell and some strong currents that made it hard work away from the protection of the island.This little island ,by the way,is for sale at US$ 2.5 million.But it is just a small island with 4 small ,but very beautiful,beaches.
Only about 100 of the Fijian islands are populated and altogether the 332 islands have a surface area of 18274 sq Kilometres,about twice the size of Cyprus.Two more Fijian islands to visit,so more geography tomorrow!

SuvaSuva

 A bit bumpy during part of the night,but not enough to be disturbing,but we were still on the move when we went for breakfast at 06.30.The early start was not a problem as we are waking up around 04.00 ! Elizabeth was delighted to see porridge on the menu,whilst I stuck to my muesli.A sign of the times was the gluten free table and the little gf s sprinkled around the menu.

 Eventually docked in a large bay at 07.30,very calm and quite cloudy with a forecast of showers.A short ride by zodiac to the shore and then we piled into two  rather elderly looking buses.Not as bad as an African bus,in that the seats were intact the windows still present and no sign of daylight through the floor,but still a bus that did not inspire confidence.
 Anyway we set of in the bus we travel to the Wasali reserve,an extinct volcano covered with rain forest,in the hope of seeing a few birds.The bus ground up the hills in a low gear,with much revving of the engine,through uncultivated forest where every tree seemed to be covered with wild vines.There was the occasional spit of rain,but nothing of any moment.There were some horses here and there,tethered in the grass at the side of the road,but no other sign of birds or animals,just dense vegetation.

 After about 50 minutes drive we arrived at the start of the walk

The second bus did not arrive,so we set off.It transpired that the second bus could not get up the hill with passengers on board,so they got off and the second bus went and found the first bus and sent it down to pick up the discarded passengers! All of this unknown to us until we finished the walk.

Dense vegetation as you can see but no birds seen,although we did hear a few.A steep and slippery descent ,which phased many of the folk,followed by a steep ascent,made more difficult by the heat and humidity,but some very welcome fresh pineapple slices and water melon.

 An uneventful journey back to the dock

That is one of the boat zodiacs above with Phoebe,an Irish archaeologist,manning the boat.Poor lass was displeased with Ireland losing to Japan.

Lunch,excellent mussels,and in the afternoon a lazy amble along the shore.

Very beautiful,and despite the weather forecast it was only sweat that made us damp.

Fiji 1

Two restful days in Los Angeles with only trips to the gym,walking and eating,led to a late night flight out of Los Angeles.The flight was due to depart at 23.00 hrs so plenty of reading time as we awaited the call to board!
 Very fresh looking airbus plane with delightful staff.About 15 minutes before the planned departure the captain announced that we would have to wait for 41 passengers who were delayed on a BA flight from London.They arrived around 23.00 having been told that their luggage would not be coming with them but would follow in 24 hours.So took off a trifle late but arrived 15 minutes early,at 05.10 having lost friday ,in transit,as we crossed the international date line.So we left on thursday but arrived on saturday. to a very warm greeting from local staff and a remarkably fast delivery of our luggage.
 It transpired that the BA plane left 3 hours late but contact had been made between BA and Air Fiji to hold the Fiji plane ,accelerate the security arrangements in LA and get all the luggage on the plane.So plenty of happy passengers.Elizabeth and I felt young as we watched them all arrive!Short bus ride to a hotel for the day,during which we learnt that the population of Fiji is about 900,000 of whom 300,000 live in and around the capital Suva and 200,000 in and around Lautoka,so most of the population lives on one of the 331 islands that make up the archipelago of Fiji.We shall visit a few of the other islands over subsequent days.
 An enormous breakfast buffet at the hotel,a delightful swim in the sea and then a lovely nap which took us up to lunchtime

Very good lunch in the hotel and a short bus ride over to Lautoka to get on board the ship.But did find this little fellow before we left the hotel.

We leave the island of Viti Levu tonight to travel to Suva Suva,the Fijian islands are pretty far flung and depend upon tourism and sugar production for pretty much the whole of GDP.An average sugar cane farm here is 5 acres and there is 30% unemployment but little poverty as most people have a patch of cultivable land and so can produce plenty of vegetables.Interestingly Fiji is self sufficient in cement production,fruit,sugar and wood,but imports grapes,carrots,potatoes and lamb from new zealand.Strange to think of carrots as a luxury!

Los Angeles again

To my great surprise,when we talked to folk about going on holiday,a whole lot of them asked if I would blog again.That had not been my intention,and as we shall be on a boat in the middle of the pacific,it may prove to be impossible,but I shall start and we shall see how it goes.

 This is really a continuation of the cycle blog,because when Elizabeth agreed to cycle across the USA with me I thought she would deserve a holiday at the end,and this is that holiday.No Bikes,no cycling,just relaxation and ,we hope ,enjoyment.

 So yesterday we caught another flight to Los Angeles,arrived there yesterday evening.Enjoyed another long queue to get into the country.One has to get an ESTA before one leaves the UK,but this only means you can use a machine in the airport to get a piece of paper with your photo,and have  your fingerprints taken.Then you can get a stamp to get in,unless,the machine is unhappy with your fingerprints(as happened to E) then you must queue to have your fingerprints taken.Now Elizabeth's iphone never recognises her fingerprint and twice she has failed in Los Angeles airport,is this all coincidence or is there something about her fingers??

 Once out of the airport the next challenge is getting on a bus to the hotel.It is not simple.Firstly there is no proper stopping place ,just a sign on the side of the road,so all the different buses are trying to stop at the same place.And there may be three buses going to three different holiday inns,or in our case three different Embassy suites.So first one must ring the hotel and say you need picking up,then find the right bus then rush on as it stops for the shortest possible time.As you have been on a plane for 12 hours and are confused as to whether it is night time or morning,as well as being worn out and short tempered,it is all a bit fraught!!

 But we arrived and fell into bed.Had a very good breakfast this morning,cereal,fruit and a freshly made omlette,and then we set off to walk to the beach.The highlight of the walk was coming across a humming bird assiduously exploring the flowers of the roadside trees.A gorgeous little fellow.
Needless to say the straight road to the sea ended in a dead end and  the help of google maps was needed to bring us to the sea , at exactly the same place that we had visited on our bikes last May.

With even some cyclists to remind us of what we were missing.On this occasion I did venture to paddle and found the water rather colder than our pool in France.

But I was joined by a rather attractive bird.Who would not let me get close enough to clearly photograph his very long bill.

But an 8.6 Km walk in the sunshine was quite enough for the morning,so we resumed our acquaintance with Subway for a bite of lunch,then headed off to the hotel gym so we could cycle !!! Only 10 miles in 20 minutes but it was good to be in the saddle.A restful evening and an early night,England' s game versus the USA starts at 03.45 local time here,we shall see.....