On Saturday it was back on with our packs, and onto a bus to Lautoka (on the West coast, just north of Nadi). It was a long long bus journey - five hours! The novelty of the local bus rides soon wore off and we got very bored. We were please to arrive in Lautoka and check into the hotel we'd booked.
We had a nice room (if all a bit seventies in decor), and best of all it had air-conditioning. We had something to celebrate that night - this was our eighth anniversary! We celebrated in style with a pretty poor meal in the hotel's pretty poor restaurant. Oh dear. Not to worry, we've had a lot to celebrate in the last few months as both our birthdays are near the festive season.
Still - eight long years together is pretty good. We'd wondered what it would be like travelling together for a year. It's pretty intensive, and for the most part it's been just the two of us. The good news is that we've done damn well in my opinion. I'm happy to report that I still quite like Anne, and she adores me (obviously).
We were off to an island on Monday, so we determined to buy supplies on Sunday. After a disappointing anniversary meal we'd also decided to buy lots of treats and some alcohol and have it in the room that night rather than patronising the hotel restaurant again. The weather was beautiful so we spent the morning by the pool and put the shopping off until the afternoon.
Predictably (if you know what day of the week it is - we rarely do) all the shops in town shut at 1pm on Sundays. We arrived in town at 1.15pm. Oh dear. We managed to have some lunch in a dodgy cafe, but all we could buy for the evening was bread. Anne would probably have chosen to go to the restaurant, but I was firm (stubborn?) so that night we had bread and tuna in the room. With some water.