Nadi to Sydney

Sunday, November 25th – Nadi to Sydney

One month to Christmas! Today was a travel day. We got up and had breakfast, then packed up for the move. Once we were packed, I went up to settle the bill and arrange for a bag pickup at 11:00 am, as our shuttle pickup was for 11:40. At 11:15 I called reception again, and they said they would send someone right down. At 11:30, we decided we would have to wheel our bags up ourselves. It was beautiful and clear in the morning and only the second day of sunshine since we arrived. It was very muggy and warm. We got up to the lobby, which is all open air, at 11:35 and waited for the shuttle; and waited, and waited! When I mentioned the fact the bus was already 30 minutes late, the bellman laughed and said it was on Fiji time – oh great! The Coral Sun Shuttle service is the contractor to the resorts in the Coral Beach area, and they actually have an office at the Outrigger. The representative kept telling us the bus was on its way. We were killing time talking to 3 young ladies from Brisbane who were also waiting to head home.
Around 12:30, we were told that the shuttle bus had broken down, but there was a replacement bus on the way, and would be picking us up in about 15 minutes. I told the fellow that we needed to get going as our flight departed at 15:10 and we were supposed to check in 2 hours before departure. He said we would make it ok. As the clock ticked down to 13:45, I told the shuttle rep that if the bus didn’t show up in 10 minutes, I would be asking him to drive the 5 of us to Nadi in the company mini-van that was out front. Just as he was trying to figure out how to answer, a bus showed up from another company, but was hired to replace the Coral Sun bus.

We all got loaded and we got on the road, however, the driver had one more stop to pick up another couple. They turned out to be on the same flight as us. The drive was quite quick and the weather started to clear as we got closer to the airport. The bus arrived to the airport at 14:00 and we immediately got checked in, went through security and customs. We were hoping to have time to grab a sandwich, but the food at the gate area has to be prepared at the front of the airport and then run into the gate area, which takes 15 – 20 minutes, and we only had 15 to boarding time, so we passed and just had a muffin and pop.

We sat at the gate and discovered that they also work on Fiji time. The plane finally started boarding about 20 minutes late, and we took off for Sydney shortly after. The flight to Sydney was about 4 hours and 45 minutes, but we gained an hour, so we actually arrived at 19:00 local time. We decided, because we were only overnighting in Sydney, we would pack a small bag with our toiletries and change of clothes, to take to the hotel, and we would check the rest of our luggage at the airport for the next day. This worked out well. We jumped on a shuttle to the Ibis Airport Hotel where we checked in and had a very late lunch and dinner. We shared a plate of prawns and fish and chips. The rooms were small and reminded us of cabins on a cruise ship. We did sleep well and had a 5 am wakeup call so we had time to get cleaned up and still catch the 6 am shuttle to the airport. We had to check-in by 6:50 am for an 8:50 flight to Hong Kong.