BUS FARES

Hi, my son and I going over in January [only time we can go]we do not worry about the weather, I got a question
how much is the busfare , I was told it is 9.00 NZ $ one way. it makes 36.00$ for 2 of us a trip to town and back to CASTAWAY RESORT better if we hire a car?? would that be correct 9.00 each way??

TNX.

Do you mean Castaway Island Resort in Fiji? Or is there a different Castaway?

Aorangi cook is. CASTA WAY RES. IF YOU DID NOT KNOW !!!!!
YOU ARE A FUNNY MAN FIJI?????????????????

Firstly- I was trying to help. There are obvious various Castaways within the South Pacific. Might help if you add the country to your question
Secondly- I'm not a man

bribieboy.... Here's the reason for the confusion. You posted this in the branch forum of "Australasia & Pacific - Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea".

You need to go a step further and post in the country you are asking about. In this case "Cook Islands." Country names are in a pull-down menu on each forum branch.

Castaway is a very common resort name. There are hundreds in the world and many in the South Pacific. The person trying to help you had no way of knowing which country you were referring to.

I had no idea there was a Castaway in the Cooks, only in Fiji. Thanks for clearing this up. As to the OP? A rude response like that doesn't deserve a reply.

Watsoff.. I'm willing to cut bribieboy36 a little slack. I don't think English is his/her first language.

We'll see... if and how bribieboy36 responds... :-)

H2 - you're probably right, I accept that English might not be his first language, and if that is the case I apologize. But the italics in the response grated. You are calmer, more level-headed than I, I should learn not to jump in head first without thinking :-)

Watsoff should have held off on the apologizing until the OP returned to do the same.

First, , I would like to apologiize to everybody iI posted in the wrong country, , and those who enquiring about my origin , sorry sorry I was born in HUNGARY and I am proud of it, you try write Hungarian then you know, how hard it is
to learn a other ling
that lady I thought she was a funny man, sorry I am going bye bye

#8 - I agree, I should have, as I said in #7. In any case, I wasn't commenting on the English, it was the shouting in capitals that made the post sound aggressive.

"Never assume malice when ignorance will explain the action."

It was just one of those times when I thought about this rule before I clicked "Post." I can remember lots of times when I should have and didn't.

#8 & #10....

But if you go back and look at the OP you'll notice: Caps on CASTAWAY RES, unintended link on "only time we can gowe", English language difficulties, and it was only the third post on this forum.

It's likely that they didn't understand the meaning of all caps in a post.

An ordinary return bus trip costs $10 per person. However, you can purchase a concession ticket for $30.00 from the driver, which is transferable across both passengers. This way a single journey/ride will work out to be $3.00 per person. Although you are staying at Castaway Resort in Arorangi (west side of the island) it is the same cost as if you were staying near town or on the furthest point from Avarua township. For a small island, the bus service is very good - including night time, as well as several services on Sundays as well.

Hire cars will work out around $40.00 per day minimum - more likely $45.00 per day. There are a number of car rental agencies around the island, with Island Car & Bike Hire being the nearest agency to Castaway. Perhaps wait until you arrive and discuss your options once you get here. The Castaway owners can offer recommendations to you.

re #12

What is it that you're trying to justify?

You mention a couple of things to make your case, and not mention other things. So?

BthDth.... I guess I'm trying to justify taking a neutral position regarding a new arrival to the forum. I'll admit that I was offended when I first read #2. Then I wondered if it might be due to just plain ignorance. Like not knowing that capital letters represented shouting combined with not being a skilled communicator using the English language.

Some of the worst moments I've had in social situations is when I've unintentionally said or done something that hurt another person's feelings. I'm willing to give the OP a little leeway.

IMO you had every right to make the statement you did in #8. But it assumes the OP knows all the rules and realizes that he has offended. I was attempting to expose the possibility that that was not the case.

At any rate we'll probably never know .... in #9 it looks like the OP has left the building. All that's left here are you, me and Watsoff sitting around talking about forum etiquette, unwritten rules and assumptions about people's intentions.

re: #14...What other things should I have mentioned?

This is the most civil forum on LP. The quick apologies make those of us on the U.S. branch seem like jerks. Which granted, is probably accurate.

LOL, I'm sitting here with egg on my face and my tail tucked firmly between my legs (figuratively speaking of course). My bad, I never meant to stir things up and will from now on think before I hit post. I hope :-)

You are too hard on yourself, Watsoff. I've accused people (with a post history of 1) of being in cahoots with the "fabulous, one of a kind hotel" they are posting about, only to have it turn out they were legitimately moved to create an LP account because they had such a good experience. That said, I will try to soak in some of the manners from this forum and carry them with me elsewhere.

Are you guys still going on,? I said I am sorry I made a mistake If thorn tree community such a bunch of no hopers who only can pick on CAPS , and my English, then it is not for me, I can not find in the rules about race, caps lock etc. anywhere
in TT. that because my background I can not join the forum. GO AND PICK ON YOUR OWN [CAPS LOCK ON] Thank you for the only decent guy who give me the right answer.GOOD ON YOU MATE
BYE BY

NOW we know...

The OP has attitude .. if we know anything

re #15

I was curious about why my response #8 was included in your comment #12, as you assume there was something I had missed. Actually, I was picking up on something quite different in message #2 (in addition to the caps and generous use of ! and ?) .. something, incidentally, which returns in #9 and #19.

I wasn't even addressing the OP with comment #8, just distributing equally some wait-and-see over all posters, including Watsoff. As far as I could tell from the sparse postings, he deserved just as much tolerance as what was granted for post #2. Or, alternatively, post #2 deserved just as much 'correction'.

All that said and done, we agree on the basics of wait-and-see ..

Assumptions.... they'll get you every time.

But here's another interesting thought.

Post #16 by tilos got me to thinking. I did a bit of mousing around different forums. I think there's a strong case to be made that the characteristics change from forum to forum. They may even take on the flavor of the destinations that they cover.

I also think that we come to a new forum with the accumulated baggage of our experiences gained on the forums on which we spend the bulk of our time.

We all know that assumptions play a big role in our communications. And... assumptions tend to amplify responses, especially on the Internet.

What say you fellow posters?

I agree H2 @22.

Way back when there was one particular poster who caused havoc, particularly in the long haul and gap year branches (which he successfully got split into two as it used to be one branch), as well as the OT branch, so some of us he targeted with his vitriolic attitude sometimes tend to think that anyone with the slightest bit of aggression or arrogance is going to be of the same ilk. He is now back in his 6th or 7th handle re-incarnation and is still causing grief; fortunately I don't use his current branch of dissension. But one should not carry that animosity across to other posters who you think might be of the same ilk, particular in this case, to a relative newbie. There was another equally horrid poster on the SP branch who was so rude, and illiterate, it drove people into a frenzy; he didn't last long.

I agree as well. Most of my original post history is gone, but in the past, I posted mostly here, to the USA board, and occasionally on the SE Asia board.

The Indian Subcontinent branch was often the most hostile to perceived scams or the like (where I got into my habit of calling people out about great hotels who had no LP history). The board is otherwise congenial, except when people try to see all of India in 2 weeks or try to go to dangerous places. There was a 13-year old who was a local who could be immature at times, but was accepted because he did give out good advice.

On the U.S. branch, we are generally a snarky lot. There is a lot of mudslinging even among the regulars. I got into many arguments defending travelers who chose to visit Houston (my home city). I (unfortunately) think that this attitude does reflect the U.S. populace.

I have found this board to be the most polite. Yes, there are disagreements (I remember the fierce wild dog debates about Samoa), and I get more frustrated than most by the endless Fiji posts (Go read the million other posts about what gap-year brits should see!). But this group has been great, and it is where I've posted the most detailed trip reports. I oddly almost regard Laszlo as a friend, despite our limited interactions on the forum, due to all of his/her great Kiribati posts. I also appreciate that I can post about trips that are very far off, when I'm only in the early stages of planning, without getting flamed (try that on the U.S. board!).

Edited by: tilos

you guys must be a crazy lot you guys are chewing on a minor deal , I love it just do some

I think this forum is influenced by a characteristic that is common in every SP island I've visited. Things are easy-going, laid back and folks are slow to take offense based on another's actions or words.

On the few occasions where I've observed a ruckus a visitor was usually the one making the most noise. Islanders tend to shake it off with a smile and ignore the trouble maker. They don't give the offender the power over them by responding in kind.

Sounds like a good strategy to me... ;-)

tilos: I agree, Laszlo is terrific, his information is always spot on.

H2, you're so right, patience seems to be the key in the SP. Although if a foreigner gets on nerves of a Solomon Islander, by repeatedly breaking a tabu, then said foreigner is told off, right smartly and could end up having to pay compensation. Other that that, being laid back is the rule.

Dear bribieboy36,

This conversation no longer pertains to you, but rather, is about the culture and customs of different branches of Thorn Tree. What is "crazy" to you is interesting to us.

Cheers,
Tilos

a visitor was usually the one making the most noise

This is my experience with the TT branches .. as a generalization. Expectations regarding normative behavior always plays a role. Behaving in social contexts requires an understanding of what the norm is. When I see a big deviation from the norm, I red-flag the post.

For example, some posters take their own perspective for granted and ask questions that lack important context information. I see this on all branches. They use $ without specifying country; they ask about weather without specifying time of year, etc.Typically, the first reply is another question asking for clarification. Thus, a question about a "Castaway" resort is followed by a question "Which one are you talking about?". The usual answer in this sort of exchange (across all branches I regularly visit) is short and direct, along the lines of "I meant the one on Cook islands." (or, "I mean US$" or "I'm traveling in March") Done. Clarification provided. That's the norm. Everything else in the reply is superfluous, gratuitous, and/or whatever else a person is inclined to infer. That's what caught my attention.

I also take account of posting histories, and am more inclined to cut slack for a long time trustworthy regular than I am for a red-flagged post.

Regarding this branch: it doesn't get a lot of traffic, the most frequent posts concern straightforward topics related to resort holidays (you don't get the millionth iteration on "what should I do?" type queries), and there is not a big community of regulars indulging in a lot of banter. There used to be more of this back pre TT4 days, but has eased off since, which I miss. This means that the normative standard for this branch is much more stable and with relatively less variation, in a sense. With all that, the deviations from normative posts are a lot more obvious, and possibly seem all the more extreme because of that.

Other that that, being laid back is the rule.
What is "crazy" to you is interesting to us.

Combining these two observations, I'd say the OP still has a lesson to learn.