Bula From Lautoka, Fiji

Today, Friday, we are in Lautoka for the second day.  It's an interesting port, mostly industrial with a massive pile of wood chips that are shipped to China and Japan.  There are nice looking islands nearby.

Yesterday, we took an Oceania excursion - Garden of the Sleeping Giant.  It was about a 45 minute drive through the countryside to the garden.  They grow a lot of sugar cane here.

At the garden, we were led through an area with many orchids.

We were then led through the main part of the garden - nice, but not very impressive.  It is called the Garden of Sleeping Giant since it lies at the base of the Sleeping Giant mountain.

The next stop  was the Vuda village.

We were then taken up a very rough road to the Vuda Look Out.

The final stop on the tour was in the city for a 30 minute shopping stop.  Fortunately, the stop was right by the shuttle bus stop and we were able to escape the shopping and take the shuttle back to the ship.

Today is a turnover day for the cruise.  We had thought about going into Lautoka and visiting the botanical garden.  However, when I went for my morning walk around the fitness track on the ship, it was already sunny and hot so we have opted for another day of dolce far niente!

Tomorrow we have our last port in Fiji - Dravuni.  Then it's off to Vanuatu before heading to Australia.

Vosa Vakaviti,

Linda and Larry