Grand Melanesian Nadi

... it was like. Never have I met a more amazing group of people in my life - and this was not specific to our hostel or even Nadi. We found the same warm, welcoming and good natured people throughout the islands as well.<br><br>One thing is for sure - the Fijians are doing something right. Their smiles, laughter, constant singing and joke telling demonstrate day in and day out that they are a truly happy people with a unique and inspiring ...

... Paul... it was pretty good as well. Not sure of the names of anything we ate though! Anyway, it is time for bed... we're supposed to have a busier day tomorrow... we have over 550 school kids to see! :) <br><br>-Erin<br><br>Update on staying in the Village Hut. We had to walk around and let all the people know we were in the village. We set up in a hut where someone actually lives. It was a surreal moment to ...

... danced, it was an unreal experience, these kids had nothing but were still on top of the world. we played games, i taught them a secret handshake, running round with them on my shoulders and just generally having an awesome time being a kid again. I could not take the smile off my face it was by far the highlight of my trip so far.<br>We had a bit of a party with a large crowd and the Bula Boys singing and dancing, terr was a big crowd getting drunk. We ended up in ...

... middle of the Grand Bure. We are then served some from a Bilo (a half coconut shell). The amount you got served depended on whether the Fijians wanted to "punish" you or not!! There was also a bilo called the &#8216;hospital bus&#8217; which was twice as big as the normal bilo so was given as an extra big punishment! At the Lovo all the tribemembers were grogged out by about 11pm but the Fijians drank and sand songs right through the night! We ...

... The staff showed us aroudn the island telling us some information about plants and wildlife and they climbed up coconut trees so everyone could try coconut milk. We also had a go at fish driving, a traditional method of fishing where 2 people hold a net and everyone else chases the fish into the net. Unfortunately the fish in the area were jumping fish and jumped over the net, but it was cool to see about 50 fish jumping past us on the surface. We did manage to ...

... We decided to go out for dinner that evening together and arranged to meet them at 7pm. Then Alan went off to play some golf while I researched our next trip. We wanted to go to Mana island for a few days. It's a very small island west of the main island of Fiji. Apparently they filmed Australian Survivor there. After an hour on the internet I found that there are only about five resorts on the island, three of which are aimed at backpackers. Barney and Hannah ...

... introduce my pastiness to the sun gradually not realising that was to be the ONLY day of blue skies over my 9 days in Fiji......BUGGER! Anyway me and a Welshman called Rhys I'd met on the plane over from LA checked into the Nadi Bay Resort, had a paddle in the pool and set about planning our trip to the Yasawa Islands. The Yasawa's are a group of something like 20 islands an hour or so off the mainland and you can pick and choose which ...

... ever had. For our new Fijian friend's kind hospitality, we offered to get his lunch. He explained a lot about Fiji culture and his own family. He mentioned that he really trusts and respects Americans, New Zealanders, and Australians because they give jobs to the locals with out altering their traditions and culture (unlike the Indians and Japanese). The average job only pays about $2 an hour and ...