Cockle Bay

We discovered where Fiji bottled water comes from today: downpours. We felt so grateful that we had almost an entire week of perfect weather that a little rain on our departure date was no big deal. As we packed up, I grabbed my phone and checked email. There, I read that our 2:40pm departure time was delayed to 5:10pm. Luckily, we’re in Fiji, where everything is always OK. I called the car rental, and they were happy to extend our rental a couple of hours at no cost. Although my preference would have been to be on time, the delay now allowed us to drive leisurely to Nadi, stopping anytime we felt compelled to do so.

We left our little bure around 9am and hit the road. The first stop was the auto shop for air in the tires. I hit a Goliath pothole yesterday, and the front tire was looking low. Once we were road worthy, we drove to the cultural arts center to pick up souvenirs. The large complex has a good size pond out front that is covered with water lilies. Half of them were vibrant red and the other half were an unadulterated white. A bridge carried us from the road to the cultural center, and we stopped frequently to look at the lilies. They were so perfect that they could have been mistaken for replicas.

Our drive to Nadi was beautiful. A large portion of the drive is along the coast, where the rode winds along the lush, green hillside that overlooks the crystal blue ocean water below. The dark clouds were thick over the mountains to the north, and I finally understood how large rivers found the water to drain into the ocean. The highest elevation on Viti Levu is over 4,ooo feet, so the rain travels a long way to pass under the frequent bridges that we crossed. In the lower elevations, we were fortunate not to run into rain, despite the cloudy sky.

We eventually arrived at the Nadi airport and returned the car. We debated if we should check-in immediately or have a cup of coffee first. Prudence won out, so we walked to the airline counter to get checked-in. The airport staff examined our passports and tapped at the computer. “Do you have you ETA’s for Australia?” I indicated that I didn’t know what an ETA was. “It’s your visa to get into the country.” Now, a lot of things were going through my head, and I found myself searching my mind for someone or something to blame, but I realized I had ignored an email that the airline sent me a week ago that said something about travel documents. (This is highly unusual for me but in my defense, the pandemic set my traveling skills back. I’m out of practice.) Panic gripped my stomach, and I’m sure my face was flush because I was breaking a sweat. My emotional state must have been obvious, as the customer service guy reassured me. I just needed to get on the app, put my info in, and come back to the desk when I received the confirmation email. He even helped me get on the airport WiFi and find the correct app.

We lugged our bags to the wall, where I plugged in my phone. My battery was running low, and the power cord was giving me fits. I was nervous that I wouldn’t have enough juice to download the app and get the info entered, but it worked. I answered the 50 questions and poked in the necessary information, such as confirming twice that I didn’t currently have tuberculosis. Once I progressed through all the screens, I hit the submit button: “You will receive a response in the next 12 hours.” What??? Are you kidding? I might need to wait 12 hours for a response? I only had two hours before check-in closed. I’m sure my blood pressure rose a bit, but I kept telling myself that the customer service guy didn’t seem too worried. For the moment, I just focused on holding my phone cord at the right angle to ensure electricity continued to flow to the battery. I also realized that being stuck in Fiji wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Several tense minutes passed but then the golden ticket appeared in my email box. I opened the email from the Australian government and realized it was simply a confirmation receipt that they received my money and application. Thankfully, the ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) came in a few minutes later. Once Kim’s document followed, we were on our way to Australia.Read more