Moce mommy!

So at the end of our Matamanoa trip, we had to say goodbye to Aunt Katherine and Uncle Jim. However, mom and I both had 7 hours to kill in Nadi so we checked our luggage into the left luggage area and set out on our journey. I hadn't really been into Nadi at all yet and all we really knew was what my trusty guide book told us.

But we were told that the Garden of the Sleeping Giant was a great sight to see. Nestled at the foot of the Sabeto Mountains, it's Fiji's largest orchid collection and a really nice tropical jungle area to stroll through. All we knew was that the garden was located around 6 kilometers north of the airport so we literally just hopped on the next bus heading north and pleading with the bus driver to drop us as close as possible to where we were looking to go.

This is where he dropped us off:

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"

Sabeto Mts. in the distance

Haha it's a good thing we both had comfortable flip flops because we didn't know how long we were going to be walking for! If there's one thing I haven't stressed enough about the people here, it's how friendly and giving they are. While walking, a pick up truck actually pulled over and asked if we needed a ride. The lady in the front seat had mentioned her village was up the road and she was going that way anyways, so dropping us off would be no problem. 

Now the past week, I had seen my mom do several things I would have never imagined, liking partying in a night club and snorkeling in the ocean. But at this moment, it really hit me...I would have never in a million years guessed that my mom and I would be in the back of a truck on a random dirt road in Fiji. Reality check...this will definitely be a treasured memory:

I couldn't stop giggling! Fortunately, that truck cut out like 20 minutes of walking. Looking back, I probably would've preferred the ride back to the main road, but hitch-hikers can't be choosers :) They dropped us off right at the entrance of the park, and wished us the best! 

Made it!

Entrance to the garden

At this point, it had been drizzling just a bit, which made the jungle tropics even more humid. But the flowers were very beautiful and very interesting. It was a self-guided tour, and so I'm not much help in identifying what exactly we saw but here are a few:

There were also some flowers native to Fiji:

And what fun is being in a park when you can't goof off!!! 

A whole house made of leaves

For our last adventure together in Fiji, it was a pretty cool place. 

mother daughter pic :)

Unfortunately, nobody really passed us on the way backso we did make the trek back to the main road by foot. However, it wasn't nearly as bad as we thought, friendly Fijians greeted us anytime we walked by and we even befriended two little boys from a nearby village that were walking by us for a it. We caught a bus back into town and explored the vegetable market on the street, the handicraft market, and the shops along the main road. It was a great trip with my mom and it was sad to say goodbye at the airport. But we know that all good things come to an end, and with the end of my trip nearing, reality is hitting pretty hard. This place has been a paradise and I'm definitely not ready to go home!