Seniniu Backpackers Resort Malolo Island

... really sure what they were holding) and came at us to suddenly rush forward then go back to the dance. Our convivial all around hostess was next with the grass skirt and coconut shells for a bra and did a rousing hip twitching and pelvis rotating lovely dance. The men would then perform and then the women and back and forth between the two groups. I think they needed the short break while the other group was ...

... tail that are harmless... when we got there there were 4 of these amazing cretures... really tough to keep up with but you could literally swim nextt to them- Tom will be emailing us his photos as he has an amazing camerA which i think i will be purchasing in the future! This is one of those moments in my life that I will always remember! Next we went to a local island to visit the natives! It was such a cute village with a school where they teach netball to the girls and rugby to the ...

... happy people, hikes, tons of activities, sand, and most importantly, sun. It was an incredible stay and we loved it. Shout out to Teemu and Anna, our new friends from Finland! Thanks for everything you two...we really enjoyed your company! Looking forward to our reunion in Sydney!

Tonight we are staying at a little hostel/hotel in Nadi. It's a cute backpacker spot and we're sitting ...

... that I am playing with. He is 6 foot 5 or so and a great volleyball player.  Another local that looks like Buckwheat arrives by boat. Tilly calls out to him in their native language.  He rushes past us with a plastic bag of fish or some other type of food and returns to play.  He says 1 vs 2, me against you.  Although I wonder how he is going to play by himself, he turns out to be pretty good, bumping it, setting it and then spiking it down our throats.  His ...

... pool looked disgusting! We had to walk down a wooden ladder to get into it. After the last step my feet just sank into the mud! It was such a horrible feeling at first because it was warm and from my feet to my knees were just stuck in mud and leaves and god knows what!

A dead frog was thrown around in the mud pool at one stage! It was funny as we all moved around the mud pool trying to find the “good mud” and rubbed it everyone! We went from the mud pools to the hot ...

... tiny nudibranches. At one point all torches face upwards as a white tip reef shark glides sliently over our heads, its cold eyes reflecting the light of the torches on it. We continue our dive, keeping to around 10m of depth and a very slow onwards motion, meaning we keep in close pairs. Fortunately i have got my buoyancy perfect and therefore don't have to worry about kicking either the coral or my buddy. Finally, the lead diver calls me over and as this is my first night dive ...

... Cast Away with Tom Hanks was filmed on. The one or another of you might remember... There was not much about sailing though, as the wind decided not to be strong enough that day. So the diesel had to do his job the whole day long. Therefore I tend to say the speedboat transfer from Malolo to Mana and back, where the tour started, was more exciting than the "sailing" on the quite crowded boat itself. However, did some snorkelling on the ...

... by a Kiwi who coached for the Fijian rugby team. He and his wife live in a huge bure up the hill with views that go on forever. The views from the main dining bure are not too shabby either as you can see from the pictures. One of the things that was fun and different about our experience here is that it was not our private resort - there were actually other guests! One of which we brought, a great Norwegian guy named Sven, and a lovely Aussie couple, Pippa and ...

... I'd heard that Nadi was a bit on the rough side, and Suva, the capital, was still not politically stable following a recent military coup. So we arranged to go to a resort on one of the Mamanuca Islands to the west, Malolo. The resort, Funky Fish, sorted out all our transport to the island. A bus from the airport and two boats later we were there. Hassle free. My actual first impression of the place was that it was too rough for my liking. The boat we turned up on was lucky to ...

... and I'm not saying that b/c we're used to the pacific coast beaches by now. It was so warm. Oceans are kinda boring without waves to ride, so we went and took out the sea kayaks. As we were paddling past where we had been walking/swimming, we found these amazing royal blue big starfish. I swear we saw a stingray and a mini shark swim by too but we tried to convince ourselves that we imagined it. First, we kayaked ...