THEY have bounced along the Queen's Rd in buses as the winding thoroughfare unravelled the real Fiji.
They have jostled with the locals and bargained with market vendors in attempts to cook authentic Indian dishes.
Their mission to raise funds for sick children has even taken them through adrenalin-pumping zipline excursions and inland river safaris. And yet competitors in the Accor Extreme Challenge to Cure Kids feel that midway through the trip, the days are slipping away too fast.
Cure Kids communications director Hayley McLarin said the challenge had given international guests a chance to see Fiji minus the tourist trappings.
"Villages made up of huts of various shapes, sizes and colours, sugar cane plantations and arid fields rolled by as we made the 170-kilometre trip bouncing along the Queens Rd," she said.
"The 170-km trip from Nadi to Suva is a journey most tourists wouldn't get to see and it was a fitting way to introduce everyone to Fiji."
For Sally Cooper from ATS Pacific, the cooking challenge was — for want of a better word — challenging.
"We needed to budget, barter and haggle to get the best for the least in a challenge that to some may have seemed easy but to those whose favourite kitchen appliance was a microwave, this was pushing them well out of their comfort zone," she shared.
The task was made even more daunting because the cooking challenge was judged by Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa executive chef, Brandon Coffey.
The Accor Extreme Challenge to Cure Kids is a fun fundraiser in which teams from Accor properties in the Asia-Pacific region compete to raise money for promoting the health and well-being of children in Fiji.
Funds raised from previous challenges have resulted in the purchase of life-saving equipment for the neo-natal and paediatric intensive care units at the Lautoka Hospital and basic items for the Nadi Hospital Children's Ward.
Accor has also partnered with the Rotary Club of Suva and purchased ventilators for the Colonial War Memorial Hospital.
Annual visits by kidney specialists and Rotary-initiated INTERPLAST teams have also been made possible through the challenge.
This year the event aims to raise $300,000.