Bula from Fiji
Arrived in Fiji after an extremely long flight (yawn) with a plane load full of retired Americans who kept us awake all night by droning on in their monotone voices! Simon was in black jeans, poloneck fleece and fleece jacket and when we landed at 6.30 in the morning he almost passed out - it was 25 degrees C! Then it started to get really hot. A minibus took us to our resort - a beautiful area of tall swaying palm trees, grass and tropical flowers with generously spaced self contained bungalows dotted around.
We stripped off our winter clothes and ran to the beach. The water was like a bath - I've never experienced anything like it! We were on a stretch of the Coral Coast, which has a coral reef about 150m out, so we could see the breakers crashing in a long line off-shore, but the lagoon was calm and shallow.
On the second day we went snorkelling. What a wonderful experience - we have never seen so many different species of tropical fish (apart from in a fish book!). There were also all sorts of sea snakes/slugs which freaked us a bit - some of which weren't very pleasant at all - they seemed to have a load of writhing tentacles instead of a mouth! At one point Simon was entertaining me by splashing his hand down really hard into the water to create loads of bubbles and make it feel like a jacuzzi! Well, you can guess what happened can't you!
I noticed a huge splash about 40m away, and told Simon, but thought nothing of it and started snorkelling again. Suddenly there was another big splash, this time about 10m away from us and we both clearly saw a fin sticking up out of the water. arrrggghhhh! scarper!!!! We must have made such a noise getting out of the water - everyone on the beach sat up and was looking at us! When we talked to reception later, the guy said that they have 2m sharks in the lagoon all the time - great, thanks for telling us!
The next day we saw clouds amassing during the afternoon and sat at sunset on the beach to watch the weather systems unfold around us - there was almost every type of cloud imaginable in the sky above us, a huge mushroom cloud storm out at sea in front of us and to the west a massive brew that was the deepest indigo colour imaginable. As it got dark we sat beneath the palm trees with a beer and watched the huge bolts of lightning coming from tropical storms off in the distance. There were also 2 lights we could see out at sea - one was a snorkeller in the bay, the other a diving ship out by the reef - mad mad people! It's scary enough in the day but at night......!
We went on a one day tour to a traditional Fijian village where we participated with the chief in a Kava ceremony - it was good to try some Kava (a traditional drink) but we both feel a bit touristy and uncomfortable being in their village - the ceremony lasted ages.
Then, we walked up through the forest to a waterfall where we swam in the plunge pool - the guide told us it would be freezing, but compared to English sea/rivers it was quite mild. Simon swam right under the fall and hurt his head and sunburn! After we finished swimming we were given fresh friut to eat and a tropical flower to put in our hair as we walked back - Simon was approched by a huge buzzy bee that tried to pollinate him!
There are loads of dogs living around the resort. A big pack of them runs around together and there are a litter of cute puppies. Despite telling Simon he shouldn't feed them, he insisted on buying a can of spam(!) and trying to share it out between them. All that happened was that they fought over the food and one of them snapped and growled at Simon! However, there was an interesting incident one afternoon. Suddenly all the dogs started barking and running onto the beach. A cow had come into view further down the coast! The dogs formed a pack and started to chase the cow. It kept coming towards the resort, but now at a run/canter. All the dogs were yapping around its legs and it was kicking out at them while trying to get away. We made a quick exit from the beach incase it came too near. It ended up going into the sea to get away from them. When it was finally off their territory they came trotting back looking very pleased with themselves!
There are some BIG insects over here. We spotted a huge beetle on the outside of an insect screen and watched in horror as it squeezed itself through a gap in the poorly fitting frame, emerged triumphant into our bedroom, dropped on the floor and started scuttling around. Simon was very brave and managed to get it out again, but he was shaking afterwards!
The beach by our resort is actually not that nice - it has lots of seaweed and driftwood littered about and sharp bits of broken coral rather than the soft sand we were expecting. Found out too late that you have to go to the outer-lying islands to discover the travel brochure Fiji. Damn! Instead, we decided to go to the nicest beach on the main island - Natadola. It was a long taxi ride and on the way there it started to rain... and continued to rain while we tried to enjoy it, and the taxi driver sat waiting for us, no doubt amused at the stupid tourists! I attempted to swim a few times but there were big rollers coming in because the beach is not protected by a reef. Simon had fun in the surf though. Took some damp photos and got back in the taxi to return to the resort. Oh well.
Left Fiji the next day on a very early morning flight, heading for Australia.
