So now we really feel like travellers as we ...
Trip Start
Sep 19, 2002
1
4
129
Trip End
Sep 22, 2003
Nadi,
Fiji
Sunday, October 6, 2002
The last week has been spent basically relaxing by the pool and reading, drinking copious amounts of the local lager (Fiji Gold - very nice too), and chatting to other travellers (well two actually, who have become our "sharing expenses" buddies).
Beachside Resort is fabulous and very quiet and clean. There are no dorms so the place attracts mainly adult couples which makes it seem like a normal holiday. Our first bure cost $45 dollars a night (divide by three to get English pounds and you'll undersatnd what a bargain this place is) but we are now in a beach view apartment at $60 per night as they got booked up. Beach view is a little ambiguous but you can see it if the wind blows the trees far enough to the left
I am your Captain
. The food is great too and our biggest chore of the day is waiting for the special to be announced whereby we spend the rest of the adfternoon contemplating what to have for tea. We've both tried the Ika Vaka Lolo which is the local fish poached in coconut milk with lime and spices ($16 dollars) and is the most expensive thing on the menu along with peppered steak at the same price. We started going through the cocktails last night but only made it to 2 (one pina colada and one angry Fijian...don't ask!) The staff are great, especially Captain who runs the bar and restaurant at only 22 (just last week) and tells us funny stories about real Fijian life. He and all the other staff make us feel like we are their special friends but I'm sure that is the way everyone feels. The only down side (apart from the black sandy beach) are the bugs. Plenty of mozzies biting into us and penty of ghekkos biting into them. We also have a fight each night with a couple of cockroaches (well Phil does, I just stand on the bed and scream "there it is!") Why they always come in two's we don't know but we just flip them on their back and leave them. We do however, now sleep with the light on to try and keep them away!We did have a couple of days out this week though:
2nd October - Natadola beach (taxi $85 for four people from Nadi)
It's a hard life
. This is the busiest and most beautiful beach in all of mainland Fiji. Gorgeous turquoise blue water and white sand with the occasional shell (which sometimes ended up in my hands). We say busy but someone came to sit about 200 feet away from us and I was forced to yell "There's someone sitting their mate" in my best Fast Show impersonating voice. I even had a go at horseriding! The horse was very skinny and the saddle wasn't like I'm used to and the buckles of the stirrup dug into my leg and I have a NASTY bruise. We did gallop through the waves with no helmet and just in my bikini top and pyjama trousers so it felt very romantic. So apart from the traumatic journey of getting to the beach (over a tiny wooden bridge, through a building site, but mostly along unsealed gravel roads) we had a great time even though the beach is all there is there (apart from people selling shells). Fantastic beach though.Over to Pip.
Bula my friends!
Before I tell you about our other daytrip I must comment on how Fiji life suits me. Everyone here is so laid back and everything happens in Fiji time. To convert the money you divide by 3 but to convert the time you times by at least 5!!! If LJ would let me I could quite happily stay here for the rest of the year.
For those of you who know me well 2 amazing things have happened here. Firstly I have had breakfast every day (totally unheard of) and secondly I have had beers every night without feeling rough the next day(again unheard of). As I say Fiji really suits me.
3rd Oct - Our first trip to one of the smaller islands. This was to Robinson Crusoe Island(made up name!) (cost of day trip including all the following and all drinks etc $70 each). After taking the same dodgy road as the day before we then boarded a small boat to take us to the island. Just as you would imagine for a desert island we had to get off in the water and were greeted by the islanders singing us ashore with a bula song. (Bula means life, cheers, hello....whatever you want it to) We were then welcomed onto the island by the chiefs representatives by a Kava ceremony. Basically Kava is the local drink made from taro roots that is supposed to cure everything. Picture a man in a loin cloth washing his smalls in a wooden bowl and then handing round the dirty wash water to drink and you get the basic idea! Kava actually makes your mouth go numb and tastes like bonjela. It is not alcoholic but is a bit narcotic. It causes great offence if you don't drink at least one so I pulled an old trick learned at rugby drinking games and poured half of it down my front! After the pant water it was time for some snorkelling. I thought this was great but LJ did her usual trick of swimming a-la Mark Spits from one end of the reef to the other frightening all the sharks away. We then had fresh coconuts picked from the tree (very Robinson Crusoe) and then there was more food from the lovo (underground bbq)and fiji bitter. The staff the did some fire walking and fijian dancing (pulling faces like Jonah Lomu). Then we had a crab race (which we didn't win) and then we waved goodbye via another ceremony and dancing (which oddly involved slapping ourselves on the bum) and got on the boat for home. Bu it didn't end there - there was more singing and dancing (where LJ made a fool of herself) and another ceremony involving throwing the leys (flowers) in the water to make sure we came back. I forgot to say that some of the true backpackers actually stay on the island. Having been there a while they had some lovely bunches of coconuts!!!
Another tough day in paradise!!!! It will be very hard to leave this fantastic place but many more await.
Well, the pool is calling our name (sorry for those of you reading this at work) and we need to get back to prepare for happy hour.
Bye for now
Pip and Red
xx
