Fiji, here we come! (Apr. 29/09 - Nadi, Viti Levu, Fiji)

Well, today was one of our big travel days where we transitioned from one country to a completely different one. Fiji is the last stop on our trip around the world, our last time zone change, and our last currently change before we return home in two and a half weeks. Just saying the name "Fiji" brings the image of an idyllic white sand beach with turquoise water, swaying palms, and rugged green hills to mind - needless to say, we were pretty excited to wake up this morning knowing we were going there today! It was bittersweet to leave Australia though, as we had such a wonderful time exploring the beaches, rainforests, reefs, towns, highlands, parks, and cities that we definitely didn't want to leave! Many spots along the way stand out as highlights, but having the luxury to follow every mile of the coast from nearly one end to the other gave us an interesting perspective on the diversity and underlying commonality of such an enormous country. We barely scratched the surface and will add Australia to the "Must return to" list for a future trip.

Since we're such seasoned travelers now, the whole travel day was a breeze and we were touching down in Fiji before we knew it. A lively group of musicians welcomed us in the airport, and we quickly learned that "bula" is the greeting here. It didn't take long to go from scarf and fleece weather in Sydney to overheating in shorts and flipflops here! Without a solid plan for our time here, we took a short cab ride to a hotel in the nearby town of Nadi for the night so we can use tomorrow to figure out where we're going. From what we've read in the guidebook so far, it sounds like postcard perfect spots abound, so pretty much wherever we choose to go, we're almost guaranteed to have an awesome time!