Stir crazy in Fiji? Get a life!
It has taken a while, but Kiwis have finally been outdone by the Aussies in terms of government dependency.
I was horrified to read in yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald that stranded Australians were seriously looking to their government to get them out of Fiji. This follows the complaints by some prospective tourists that their government’s travel advisory websites had not made the scope of the flooding in Fiji sufficiently clear. They were furious that their travel had been cancelled. Hello! Who was their travel agent? And why suddenly is it the responsibility of the government to keep them advised of the weather in the holiday destination of their choice?
But these complaints were capped off by trapped tourists complaining that their government has not sent a plane to fetch them from their sodden tropical paradise. One weary Aussie woman holidaying at the Sheraton Fiji complained her children had been going “stir crazy” in their hotel room because there was absolutely nothing to do. “We were allowed in and now can’t do anything to get out. We feel like we’ve been talking to ourselves because all efforts to get help have been ignored.”
It is the wet season in Fiji, isn’t it? Why then would you be surprised if it rains? You might not expect flooding on the scale they’ve experienced, but why suddenly should this misfortune be the responsibility of your government?
While I now routinely expect the knee-jerk reaction of blaming authorities and the government for every unpleasantness in our lives – and we Kiwis are really good at it – the expectations of some stranded Aussie holiday makers sets a new low standard of government dependence!
Personally I think trans-Tasman governments should have ignored the plight of indigenous Fijians and spent the relief money air-drops on free computer games, DVDs and sunbeds for their own witless citizens.
Perhaps the ramification of the current global downturn will gradually bring some perspective and responsibility for self back into their lives.
Tags: Fiji
January 16th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Interesting that the tourists were ‘trapped’… I was at the airport on Tuesday picking up a friend who was flying back from the States and have a 6 hour lay-over in Fiji. The flight had been slightly delayed by an hour, but he said there were no obvious problems at Nadi airport with everything running relatively smoothly.
There were 4 flights from Fiji listed on the schedule at Auckland airport on Tuesday and a stream of others for the rest of the week – only one of which had been delayed. Perhaps there was a wildly different situation with flights to Australia???
January 19th, 2009 at 8:19 am
I think it goes to show that people tend to go into a panicked frenzy when things don’t go their way…perhaps we have all just become too spoilt and demanding?
When I arrived at Hong Kong airport on the 29th of December, low and behold most airport ground staff were on strike. This meant delays in getting your luggage for TWO WHOLE HOURS. The barrage of people (including me!) demanding to know what was going on and when we would get our luggage and that this was ridiculous was unrelenting. How dare these people go on strike a day out from New Year, what are they thinking?! This is supposed to be one of the most efficient ariports in the world!
Never mind the fact that many of the ground staff are poorly paid and are getting further pay cuts due to the economic downturn. Looking back, although I had to wait two hours, I got all of my luggage in the end and no body got hurt. I therefore agree with Paul’s comment about hoping that that the downturn will bring some perspective and responsibility for self back into our lives…as well as perhaps just some good old fashioned patience.