and then there was fiji.

The flight we had from San Francisco to Auckland was pretty broken up which ended up working out for us quite well. We first flew into LAX (in case anyone had any doubts, the Los Angeles airport is disgusting and poorly lit), then got on the monster plane visible in our last picture post and headed to Nadi, Fiji. We had a scheduled twelve-hour layover and weren't really sure what we were going to do with our time in Fiji, but hoped that we would be allowed to leave the airport and that it could potentially involve a beach. Much to our luck, because our layover was longer than six hours, we had to go through customs and, as a result, had a free pass to explore Fiji for the day.

We stored our luggage at the airport and asked around for some places to go with most people recommending a place called First Landing which was, allegedly, a beach. We found a taxi driver (one of about a million waiting outside the airport) who agreed to take us not only to there but to a few other places not far away. It kills me that I can't remember his name, because this guy was quite kind and informative. He drove us first to a place called the Garden of the Sleeping Giant, situated at the foot of a gorgeous mountain. It's home to Fiji's largest collection of orchids, and admission to the garden comes with a chance to enjoy some homemade fruit juice. There were giant water lilies, tons and tons and tons of orchids, really neat trees with roots that looked like walls- it was a magnificent garden. On our way to the next location, he drove us past his house so we could see his son and wife and two dogs-- definitely sweet.

From there, we went through the Sugar City, one of two big cities in Fiji. The population is about 40,000 and we spent most of our twenty or so minutes there strolling through a market that smelled SO good and SO fresh. This is a good time to mention, probably, that we also learned a lot about the political situation in Fiji from our cab driver-- there have been five coups in the last fifteen or so years, with the most recent one being last year-- and the history sounds quite interesting in case anyone is interested in looking into it.

Our final stop for the day was at First Landing, supposedly the site was where people first landed on the island, though it is now home to a resort and a creepy man-made island that looks like a hand when viewed aerially. The beaches were gorgeous, the water was like warm bathwater and clear reasonably far down, and in general it was something akin to paradise. We enjoyed lunch at a table right on the beach, looking out at the water and not being able to comprehend that this was a layover in the middle of travel.

All in all, Fiji was beyond fabulous- great scenery, great company, and a MUCH better way to spend the day than twelve hours in an airport. We will update on Auckland soon, though we need to go in the meantime to pick up our rented car that will be our chariot around the North Island. Hope everyone is doing well!