Fiji Part 2 - Making it Official and partying with the Aussies

Making it Official -

Although Mari and I have been together for long enough that most people consider us an old married couple, we decided that we needed a moment together to say our vows, and what better place than on a small island surrounded by palm trees at sunset? So, on August 3rd, after relaxing by the pool for the day, Mari and I dressed in the nicest clothes we had (not exactly typical wedding outfits) and walked out to one of the "islands" near our resort. The stars had aligned and we had the BEST sunset of our trip that night. We set up the camera on a little tripod and took quite a few pictures, said our vows, and exchanged stand-in shell rings (until we find some that we really like). We really enjoyed the moment and then walked to one of the nicer restaurants at the resort for a fancy chinese dinner which finished with delicious coconut fried ice cream. We hope to share the moment with everyone at some sort of reception, but nothing is planned yet.

Partying with the Aussies--
The next day, Aug 4 was spent lounging at the pool again, and then we had reservations at the 2nd resort restaurant where we had a nice dinner (I had Mahi Mahi and Mari had steak) and then as we were waiting to order dessert, we struck up a conversation with three Aussie couples at the table next to ours. They invited us to join them, so we sat and drank wine, talked about rugby and why we had chosen NOT to go to Australia on our trip around the world (they didn't think it was a good decision!). I guess we got a little loud because the staff had to ask us to be quiet and then I guess they asked us to head to the bar when we didn't quiet down enough. At the bar, the couples reunited with some of their children (who had been at kid's club during dinner) and we continued drinking and danced with the kids for a while. I guess I didn't realize how much I had been drinking, thanks to the free-flowing all inclusive wine, and I didn't remember the walk back to our room the next day. I also felt a little rough the next day and although I managed to go MOST of the day without any more drinking, by 2, the Aussie's would have no more of my protests and started handing me diet coke WITH rum instead of my requested diet coke. Aug 5 was our last day at the resort and was rainy all day. We chatted with our new Aussie friends (thanks to their hospitality, we were able to eat lunch even though the hotel had taken our bracelets at 10am during checkout).

At 5:30, the bus picked us up to take us back to Nadi, where we again stayed at the Novotel. Because they remembered us from our 1st night in Fiji, they put us in a nicer room :)

The next day, we golfed (Mari already blogged about the hilarity of THAT) and then we shopped in town before heading to the airport to fly to Hawaii. We had a time traveling experience as we left Fiji at 9 pm on August 6th and landed in Samoa at 11:30 pm on Aug 5th. We continued our flight to Honolulu and landed there at 7 am on Aug 6. :)