Bula all! Having a great time in Fiji. It's idyllic here, very peaceful and has beautiful scenery (the mountains here remind me of home! Just like the Campsies.)
We got a musical welcome on arrival in Fiji, a great start to our stay. Stayed at Nomad Sky Lodge at beginning, lovely place with pool and great cocktails for only 10 GBP per night. Weather's been great, sunny and hot everyday with only one downpour which lasted 30mins... Laura and I jumped in the pool and made the most of it! Met an English girl Rachel and Canadian girl Sabrina travelling alone so had dinner and drinks with them, really nice and some funny stories to tell.
Mostly sunbathing and chilling out at Nomad's, only bad point are the mozzies here. They had a feast on my legs, I have the pics to prove!!! Stayed at Aquarius Resort after that, next to the beach. It had hammocks on the beach so nice chilling out there. We had a 6 bed dorm which was mixed so shared with a guy called Aaron. Quite strange sharing with a guy you've never met but he was really sweet and only a bairn at 21! We were like his big sisters. Played cards and had a few beers with him, I'm learning card games here! Switch, scabby Jack and Trumps and sh**head, not very good at any of them yet but I'm learning from the girls. Next night we had a couple staying in the room who shared a single bed and kissed all night. Nice to hear!
We went island hopping after staying at Aquarius - 3 islands in 6 days. First one we stayed at was the Sunrise Resort on Nanuya Lailai in the Yasawas. It was nice, quite basic but we got a warm welcome and the people there made up for the lack of electricity (only between 6pm-10pm), no light in our hut on the last night, outside toilets and cold showers. Like most of the islands we had no telephone or signal here, the family atmosphere in the camp was good though and we met some really cool people there. My mozzie bites (35 in total) were really bad here and I sat out on deck on the boat with no suntan lotion on my legs (it was cloudy!) and managed to burn my legs, with white cirlcle round the bites where I'd put antihistamine cream. Attractive.
We were sunbathing on the beach here, I was just chilling out, listening to the Brand New Heavies on my iPod when a puppy jumped on my head! I thought it was Helen messing about then I thought "OW!" It jumped on Kim's back too and scratched her but was only playing. Then a kitten appeared, have a look at the pics on the Fotopage, they were so cute! Wanted to take the kitten home with me.
We had a Kava drinking ceremony at night where the 'Chief' makes the Kava in a bowl then smaller bowls are passed round the group. The Chief goes first, when you are handed the Kava you clap one shout "Bula", drink it in one go then say "Vinaka" which means thank you, clap 3 times and hand it back then it gets filled up agin and passed on. This happens till it's all drunk. It looks disgusting but tastes a bit like licorice, quite smooth, it's made from the root of a tree and ground down and mixed with water. Think it's supposed to get you drunk but I found it just makes your tongue numb.
We went cave diving on an island near Nanuya Lailai, hired snorkels and went out on the boat early. It was good, the first cave was cool, really high rocks a few of the guys who took us climbed up and jumped off from a great height into the water. A few guys from our group tried it too. We had to go underwater and swim through to the next cave, it was a bit scary as you had to hold your breath and swim underwater through a opening towards a light in the next cave. There was someone there to meet us at the other end, once we were in it was pitch dark except for a torch carried by the guys. we swam through to another cave and listened to the story about the cave. Legend has it that a giant eagle swooped down on a woman walking along the beach and took her into the caves never to be seen again! The locals are scared to be there! Had to swim back underwater again to come back out, bit hairy but glad we all did it. I banged my head getting out of the water, the guy said don't damage the rock! Cheers mate.
When we got back we walked across the island to the Blue Lagoon, where the movie was filmed. It is beautiful here, and very warm, no shade at all on this beach. We went snorkelling and saw blue starfish and black & white striped fish swimming around the coral. Left the next day for Naviti island. Before we left had a weaving lesson and made bracelets from palms. Even the guys were taking part!
Stayed at Korovu Resort on Naviti island. Lovely here, more modern than last place and saw the most amazing sunset here. Met a couple of Americans here, Tyler and Andrea. OK, but typical Americans! Also met Simon and Laura from England, they were really cool, we had drinks with them on the next island. Mum you'll be so proud, I went to the Sunday service here, was brill! They sang all the way through and the girls even did a dance routine to a song from the film Honey. Wish Mass back home was like this. Felt really uplifted after going. We visted a local village before leaving Naviti. The boat took us there, got a warm welcome from the locals, there's about 300 living here. More Kava drinking and bought a bracelet from the stalls the women in the village had set up. Went to see the local school (in the school holidays) and church too. Really basic here, but everyone so happy. Saw a few big holes in the ground here and apparently that's where the spiders live. They come out of you bang on the ground. Tiptoe all the way back to the boat.
Last island we were on was Bounty Island, where Celebrity Love Island was filmed! Have cocktails in the actual Love Shack and watch the sunset from the bath. Our bure was great, right on the beach, near the bar and restaurant (which is the actual dorm and pool where the celebrities stayed, they moved it from the other side of the island). Had a cool time here, we all want to go back!
Staying in Nadi again for a few days, enjoying the electricity and phone signal here before we visit some more islands.
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