Skylodge Hotel Nadi

Day 211 - Checked out and kissed goodbye to Auckland, where I was pleased to see it raining! Had the smoothest departure ever getting through security etc and nooone suspected me of explosives, which helped. The flight took only 3 hours and since Fiji is in the same time frame as New Zealand (in theory, however generally works at a much slower rate, to say the least), little alteration was necessary and I got off the plane feeling pretty good. Arriving in Nadi, I was unsure how to approach th...

Day 219 - Met the last of the guys in my dorm this morning; Bruce from Canada, who happened to be on the same flight as me that evening. Spent the morning doing laundry etc and having been served a pitifully small serving of stale cornflakes for breakfast, I walked towards Nadi town centre in search of food. The lady in reception said it was about a 20 minute walk along the main road and after 20 minutes or so I stopped at a restaurant on the side of the street for a curry. I asked the waitre...

There is a lot of hype surrounding Fiji. All of the brochures describe the country as 'paradise' - a wondrous archipelago of around 300 islands full of white sand, clear waters, coral reefs and bikini-clad women. Naturally I expected much, and wanted to accomplish as little as possible before having to face the cold of New Zealand, and the arduous task of finding a job. Upon arrival I was whisked away to the Skylodge Resort just outside Nadi where I had a much needed shower and put my bags i...

We arrived at our hotel and had tea. We ate our food and my feet got eaten by sandflies. We also had a table-crasher, Celia, who didn't have two brain cells to rub together. We also found a cockroach in the shower. Welcome to Fiji!

After all that constant moving round New Zealand we thought it would only be fair to treat ourselves to a week or so of R+R in a tropical paradise. Even hardcore travellers like us need a holiday!! When we were in NZ we popped in to a travel agency on a whim, just to find out what was on offer out on the islands. After the nice lady behind the desk had confirmed with us that a)we had flights booked to Fiji the next week and b)we had no accomodation sorted out - she set about rolling around on...

Our Fijian adventure started off with a cruel memory of why you should book a hostel in advance before traveling to another country on holiday. We arrived off the plane and were immediately swarmed by taxi drivers and hostel employees of a like book a night in their hostel. Lucky enough Em had looked into a hostel a few days early and shouted out the name of the hostel to a travel advice person in the airport. So after a few Fijian/Indian guys (there are surprisingly a lot of Indian people in...

ah Fiji Fiji Fiji - cool to be back here again although it really is a fleeting visit - kinda planned it wrong, was expecting to have a couple of days here at least but forgot about crossing the international date line and have ended up being here for only one full day and to top it all its a Sunday when town isn't open and there are no buses anyway!! Just wanted to get some of the bugs spray and antihistamines that I bougt last time I was here to help with the itching of mosquito bites which...

After breakfast, we took a boat out to some coral reefs near Sand Island to snorkel. The boat trip was breathtaking because the reef was so close to the surface. It was my first time snorkelling, but I managed after a rocky start. We saw a ton of fish and we wound up swimming to Sand Island. The island is this funny, little, uninhabited island with nothing but sand on it. Later on in the afternoon, we decided to take a ride on a banana boat. It's basically this large inflatable thing in the s...

LAST DAY IN FIJI.. boo. I woke up at 7 this morning and ran to a breakfast of bread. Luckily, the gigantic spider was nowhere to be seen. Most people decided to go to church but I opted for a massage instead. "Do you want a man massage or a woman massage?" the Fijian asked. Not understanding, I said either. I then embarked on the most painful massage of my life. It was done with a ton of pressure, absolutely massacring my muscles. It was all I could do not to cry out. He did guess correctly t...

BULA from Fiji,

An afternoon flight and I touch down in Fiji. Send a txt to let people know im here and then turn off my phone. I have no intention of knowing what time it is for the next three weeks. the airport itself was fun lots of people saying bula, and smiling and singing. I managed to get a free shuttle to the Nomads resort, which was alot different from the ones in NZ.Swimming pools and sunshine the main difference. Drinks are served to you at your table and there is a wide se...