Fiji
Trip Start
Aug 31, 2005
1
55
60
Trip End
Feb 16, 2006
Nadi and the Islands,
Fiji
Saturday, January 28, 2006
We arrived on the main island and the main city Nadi to rain! Yes it is the rainy season and yes it will rain. The hostel was very nice so after wondering to town and getting wet, we went for a swim, had dinner and sipped a cocktail!
Island 1 - Nanuya Laila.
The following morning off we went on the big yellow boat to our first island (yep still raining). After 4 hours (and a couple of sick bags) we reached our first island. We went for a walk across the island to where the Blue Lagoon with Brooke Shields was filmed, very pretty. The walk basically was following a mud trail up and down, Sim ended up rather muddy whereas I managed to stay on my feet
01 This is the life!
! At the blue lagoon we went for a swim, the sea was lovely and warm. After that we headed back to our accommodation called a bure, basically a kinda hut (no toilet door just a sheet) and had a shower (no hot water). All of the islands are very basic, no internet, phones, only cold showers and electricity at certain times. The bures are quite shabby. There are no shops or anything so you eat what you are given, lots of rice and noodles, actually the food was ok. Basically all that is on the island is accommodation. The following day we walked around the island and did some snorkeling (managed to cut my foot so spent most of holiday hobbling around and broke my flip flops), saw a fantastic electric blue starfish. We did find a little place attached to another resort on the island that did chocolate cake, yum! The rain stopped and we actually got a bit burnt but then the rain returned. A long boring evening as absolutely nothing to do. The next day caught a small boat to some underwater caves (got soaked through on boat) which was fab. You swim around in them and to get to the next chamber you have to go under water which was a bit scary as you don't know what to expect and it is pitch black. We had to sing songs as we swam. It was really good. Back at the resort we met some nice people and sat chatting until the boat arrived to take us to the next island.
Island 2 - Naviti
Back on the boat, again rather a rough ride. It is quite weird as you get to the yellow boat by going on a small boat. I was told to climb onto the yellow boat from the small boat, luckily I hesitated as at that point the boats pulled apart and I would have gone straight in
02 The big yellow boat of my nightmares.
!This was resort was lovely and made us realise how poor the other place was. We went for a swim in the swimming pool and wondered around the beach. In the evening we met 2 nice couples and sat chatting with them. We also watched a show they put on the best part being when we all went outside and they put a fire show on. It was fantastic, at one point they lit up the decking! That night we were both ill and the following day which sucked. Apparently about 10 people from the first resort had food poisoning. We didn't feel a hundred percent until our last day!
Island 3 - Kuata
We had heard awful things about this resort but it was really good with lots to do. At dinner time they had a kava ceremony. Kava is a Fijian drink and tastes awful. Basically the make the kava and then hand it round to everyone to drink and you have to clap 3 times before you drink and once after, as I was still ill I only had a sip but they made me drink it all, not good. Early to bed. Still raining. Nice to go to sleep to the waves crashing against the beach. The following day we had some sun so made the most of it. In the afternoon we got on another boat (nearly missed it)and went to a nearby island where there was a village
03 The Blue Lagoon.
. We went to the village school which was really good, got a child's address so that I can write. So different to home, some kids were carrying huge knives for cutting things down in the garden. the children were really friendly. We then went to a little market and weaved a bracelet. When I say village I mean a school, church and houses, still no shops etc. By now all my clothes are wet or damp, as it's so humid nothing dries!
The next day we went on another boat and went snorkelling to see reef sharks. I saw one about 1 metre long, very cool. We also saw loads of gorgeous fish, it was stunning. ALthough at one time the 4 of us snorkelling looked up to find we had lost the boat and the guide had lost us! After we got back we sunbathed and swam. There was a part on the island that was my favorite place in Fiji, where the waves crashed against the rocks.
That afternoon we moved on.
Island 4 - Bounty
We arrived at Bounty Island in the sun and it was gorgeous. The smallest island so far and the best (you can walk around it in 30mins). Really nice bure right on the beach, slept to the waves lapping
04 Not quite Brooke Shields!
. Meant to finally get a hot shower but it was broken! Finally feeling better and ate steak for dinner (stomach did not appreciate this). Woke up early the next morning and went for a swim in the sea, followed by breakfast and a full body massage, this is the life! After that I relaxed in the sun and had a swim. I then got my hair braided, this should have taken me 2 hrs but I have very thick hair (as poor Katie knows after having to curl it on occasion) so it took 3 and a half! Simona was meant to have hers done as well but we ran out of time. We had a quick kayak and tried to snorkel but water to shallow. We then caught the big yellow boat back to Nadi. Just seeing the yellow boat made us feel nauseous and many other felt the same!Nadi
Back at Nadi, we had dinner and a cocktail by the beach and watched the sunset. Sim then had her hair done while I chatted to people in our dorm who were about to go to the islands, imparting my knowledge.
The next morning we got to the airport and got told that unless we had proof that we had an onward ticket from NZ we couldn't leave Fiji. Our onward tickets were in NZ and the air hostess very helpfully said there was noting she could do we would just have to sort it! So we had to go to arrivals, find internet and print off our itineries, she suggested that we would then have to queue up again but she must have seen my face as she served us straight away! Luckily flight was delayed otherwise we would have missed it.
All in all I had a good time in Fiji, was a shame about the rain but many people had non-stop rain whereas the last few days were nice. I loved being able to swim every day and we met some lovely people both tourists and locals.
