Quigley Down Under: Garden of the sleeping giant

A fifteen minute walk from smuggler’s brings us to Queens rd which circumnavigates the main island VitiLevu and any bus you catch will eventually take you to the next town and from there many roads cut inland on dirt roads though villages. The bus is the best way to mingle with the locals and from your first ride we get a good sense of their curiosity of us, not for the last time are we were asked the four questions which we will be asked again at least another 50 times I’m sure. Where are you staying, how long are you here, where are you from, and how long you have been here?Sometimes it will be someone trying to sell you something, but generally people are very friendly. Today we take advantage of this hospitality asking directions and board a bus up north to catch a ride to a dirt road on our way to the hotsprings and garden of the sleeping giant. The sleeping giant is a mountain range in northern Fiji which is the first feature you can see coming in from the airplane. Weaving our way on foot three kilometers back into the country past villages we arrive at the orchid reserve built by actor Raymond Burr of ironside in the early seventies.