The airline we were travelling with was "Pacific Airlines", Fiji's flag carrier which markets itself as "The World's Friendliest Airline" which was no exaggeration. The cabin crew smiled their way through the safety briefing and continued to smile the nine hour flight (with a brief stop in Samoa). Each time we landed they had profound, welcoming phrases like "...we welcome you as brothers and sisters to our homeland..." it was really funny. At the airport we were met by Jit, a taxi driver set up by Fi. It was odd to be driving on the left side of the road again and also funny to se that all the road signs were very similar to those in the UK (as Fiji was a British colony). 
I particularly liked that as I'd been feeling pretty homesick. Fi met us at the house in Viseisei Village with a big hug and explained how the village works. The land is communal and people tend to build their own houses - they don't pay rent or anything so all they need to pay for is their electricity and water. No heating is required as Fiji is pretty near to the equator. The houses are basically painted brick walls with corregated iron over the top. Fiji is a really interesting ethnic mix as it's roughly 50 % native Fijians (formally famous for being cannibals but now mostly methodist) and 50 % indians who are the descendants of the workers brought over by the British. There is are small white and arabic populations as well. 
This has led to racial tensions over the years (since independance in the 70s) but Fi assured us that it's all OK now. We spent ages chatting away with Fi and her neice Una (staying with Fi and Api t the time) about Fiji and trying to get our heads together - we were a wee bit jet-lagged and confused having crossed the date line and also in a bit of a culture shock. Like many places we'd been recently it was raining and when it rains in Fiji it really RAINS. It was like someone pouring an endless bucket of water over the village which made an incredible noise on the iron roof. Fi made us an amazing chicken curry and we eventually crashed out. Fi herself stayed up for a large part of the night filling small paper bags with kava which she sells to the villagers. In fact, Fi and Api make a wee bit of money from they things they sell and when we arrived a batch of tamarind jam was being jarred up. We got to try a bit and it was pretty good.
They next day was Sunday and as the villagers are all religious, it was assigned as a day of church and little else. We were keen to go as the service was likely to be a really different experience. Preparing for it was a bit like being in an episode of "The World's Strictest Parents". Charlotte had to wear a skirt that didn't show so much leg and make sure her shoulders were covered as well. I also had to wear a skirt - the formal dress for men is called a sulu vakataga which is a bit longer than a kilt. Api leant me one of his so I could look acceptable. It was also not acceptable for me to wear my hat in the village either indoors or outdoors - it's almost like they regard you as being in their house as soon as you walk into village which kinda makes sense given that the land is communal.
The service was mostly in Fijian but was really lovely. The church was packed as there were many from other villages there as well - it was a special Sunday for them and there was a communion as part of it. During communion the lady behind us said we could go up and partake but we were both a wee bit nervous so we stayed put. The main highlight was the singing - it was incredible. The Fijians are descended from Africans and this was really evident in the singing - it was like being in Paul Simon's "Graceland". Everybody sung and in full harmony as well - not like the weedy singing you get at the back of UK churches. It was an amazing experience to be part of. After the service we shook hand with the minister who ask where we were from and was delighted to see us. The Fijians are genuinely extremely friendly and interested in you. We had a Sunday lunch of a lamb curry, chicken curry and fish after which everyone observed the day of rest by falling asleep. It was great to chill out a bit as we'd had quite a hectic time so we read our books and chatted when folk woke up. We discovered that the politics in Fiji are a bit dodgy - it's been a military dictatorship since 2006. It was interesting that they didn't seem to mind that much and pointed out that in tribal times (and still to some extent today as the village has a team of cheifs) there would have been a tribal leader - a dictatorship in itself so a modern dictatorship is no different.
On our last full day in Fiji we caught the bus into Nadi where we wanted to experience the Indian side to the population. There is a gorgeous Hindu temple with the most amazing coloured artwork. We were allowed inside where there were a couple of priests with fires and incense and devotees offering sacrifices of fruit. It was an extremely peaceful place to be. We wandered round Nadi a bit - it's a tourist town really and we were hassled a bit. It was really interesting that the guys hassling us would say things like "all the stores here are owned by the Indians and the Chinese, you should come into this store here - it's a real Fijian marketplace". It seemed that there was a bit of racism still evident in Fiji. 
We stopped for luch at a curry house, bought some butter to make shortbread and caught the bus to "The Garden of the Sleeping Giant". Viseisei Village is on the other side of a range of rocky hills which, from the side, looks like a sleeping giant right enough. Back when a British guy wanted a garden for his orchids which is now open to the public. The garden was gorgeous and felt really like a tropical rainforest. In fact, it was a bit like a cross between a tropical rainforest and a stately home garden but was really peaceful to walk around. They were even kind enough to look after our butter in their freezer while we explored which is just as well as in that heat it would have turned to oil. We decided to walk back to the village which turned out to be another of our epic strolls along a busy road. Poor Charlotte was only wearing flip-flops as well and ended up trying to put a plaster on a bit of her foot which was red from the rubbing - a difficult feat when all is sweat and humidity. 
As we walked cars beeped at us as they went past - a sort of amused greeting we think. Passers by stopped and chatted to us, and it was very refreshing to feel that people were being genuinely friendly and not hassling us for anything. Eventually we made it back and I made a dodgy but edible batch of shortbread. I don't think it was designed to be cooked in that kind of heat. It was a really amazing and different experience staying with Fi and Api - probably the first time we've had an insite into a way of life entirely different to our own.We flew to Auckland the next day where we were to rendez-vous with Charlotte's sister Kat. She was getting in at 8.00am and us at 12.00pm so the theory was that she'd already be there but when we got to the departure gate for our flight to Christchurch, she wasn't there. After a bit of humming and hawing we went back out to the main concourse of the airport and sat in a strategic point where we reckoned everyone would have to pass and we could have a bite to eat. Eventually we spotted her wandering blankly around, tired after 48 h travel from (Salvador-Sao Paulo-Buenos Aires-Auckland) but on cheery form. Our fight to Christchurch was with Air New Zealand who gave us complementary wine and cheese on the plane (which Kat missed as she was asleep). Bizarrely, the safety video was a highlight and was actually deliberatly funny with varous members of the New Zealand All-Blacks rugby team appearing in it. It even had a streaking granny at the end!
It was my job to pick up to pick up our camper van the next day. The people at the hostel were charging $30 (about £15) for the 3-4 mile drive to the airport. I decided that we'd be better off if I just walked there which, apart from the brief walk along the side of a busy highway with no pavement, turned out to be a good idea and I got there in about an hour and a half. The lady at the desk looked up my booking which it turned out had been made through an agent and not with the company themselves. Apparently, the vehicle they'd booked for me on the system was for two and not three and for me to get the three-person one I'd need to pay a whole lot more money. On the booking sheet I had it said I had the three-person vehicle so the depot folk and me decided that the agent was to blame so we gave her a phone. Initially, she said that she'd refund the deposit for the new vehicle (slighly more than the one I'd paid) but I'd then have to pay the full amount the depot wanted, still a lot more than the amount I had on my booking form. I wasn't happy with this as I had a vehicle and a price she'd given me and I didn't see any reason that I shouldn't be getting what my contract said. I spoke to her myself and told her this and eventually, after a bit of a sob story about how she couldn't find her records due to the earthquake she caved and agreed to refund the difference so I paid what I was expecting to pay. 
I felt sorry for her as she was obviously in a bit of a pickle but it's business and I had a contract and my own budget to work to. So, after much too-ing and fro-ing I got the vehicle I needed for the three of it and headed back to the hostel to get Charlotte and Kat. There I found a very worried Charlotte who had been contemplating getting a police search-party (I'd been gone nearly three hours by this point) who was very impressed that I'd stood my ground. We headed off with our new found freedom.
I felt sorry for her as she was obviously in a bit of a pickle but it's business and I had a contract and my own budget to work to. So, after much too-ing and fro-ing I got the vehicle I needed for the three of it and headed back to the hostel to get Charlotte and Kat. There I found a very worried Charlotte who had been contemplating getting a police search-party (I'd been gone nearly three hours by this point) who was very impressed that I'd stood my ground. We headed off with our new found freedom.
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