Fiji
Solomon Islands
Vanuatu

Samoa
New Zealand

We left the hotel about 10:30 and headed, by rental car, to Suva, a distance of about 180km. We took it at a very steady pace, stopping of at the Fijian Resort for lunch, and the Naviti for drinks. We also stopped at some rather large sand dunes that are a conservation area and contain evidence of early settlers in Fiji.

We booked into the Raffles Tradewinds hotel in Suva; a special offer they were running meant it only cost $75 including breakfast. Do not be fooled, just because it has the name Raffles in it, that is as far as the comparision goes. The hotel is of recent construction, the one in Singapore is a colonial building. The one in Suva is characterless whereas the one in Singapore is just dripping in it. The original is absolutely spotless and the one in Suva has a slightly grubby feel to it. That said, the rooms were reasonably large and the staff were very friendly, we were even accosted by a member of staff as we were walking around Suva and he explained what there was of interest to see and where the best places for shopping were.

That evening we ate at Tikos, a boat that has been turned into an excellent restaurant. Lucy had deep fried mussels and tuna teriaki, Fred had spare ribs, that looked as if they had come from an elephant and I had moci rourou (pulverised shrimps cooked in taro leaves and coconut cream) and tuna steaks in a hawaiian sauce. We also had a bottle of Australian Chablis; most peculiar it was too and not to be recommended, and finished with coffee. The total cost of the meal was $114.80.