It's hard to belive that 2 hours and 55 minutes from Auckland is paradise!! Fiji!! It's crazy how me and Emma have learnt to adjust to new places so quickly. The Friday morning we left Auckland we were in boots, jeans, coats, scalfes etc. and that afternoon we were lieing on hamocks in bikinis. I left all the winter clothes i was wearing on the back of the toilet door in Nadi airport and Emma whipped out her flip flops- we wereready for the summer!! The mainland in Fiji- Nadi, reminded us a bit of India (good India!) and has lots of similarities to Thailand but also has something distictively Fijian. It's like India without the filth, extreme poverty and all the cows. Very clean. Spent two nights in Nadi and had an Awesome Adventure package week booked which basically means all our travel, accomodation and food were paid for. I know it sounds touristy but it works out sooo much cheaper and means you dont have to worry about anything. You just jump on and off a big Awesome Adventure boat which goes backwards and fowards throughout the islands all day and when your on the boat you go to the travel desk and book yourself into a resort and at the resort you get all your meals. We went to one of the furthest islands away, Tavewa Island and then work our way back through the islands to the mainland. It worked perfectly, we went to 5 island and 6 different resorts in 7 days. I think we did very well and it was all very relaxed. I hardly had to carry my rucksack the whole week because they have people to do that for you... that was something i was not used to! I felt bad at first but i soon got over it!The islands were fantastic, on the way to our second island we made friends with three guys and a girl from Bristol, Mat, Jason, Tim and Zoey. The boys and Zoey knew each other from the Kiwi experience package in New Zealand. They were all coming to the end of there trips as well.We traveled with Zoey and the boys for another few days and then Zoey' package came to an end so she headed back but we kept travelling with the boys and then our package came to an end so we headedback a day before the boys and then we all met up for one last meal in Nadi. Was really fun being in a big group for the week. The islands we went to (not that this means a lot to you but just incase you want to google them!) are Tavewa Island, Nanuya Lailai Island, Matacawalew Island, Naviti Island and Waya Lailai. On Nanuya Lailai Island we wanted to cross the island but didnt know how so we asked at reception and they gave us three dogs which led the way. They took us all they way across,and may i add a particulalry scenic route, sat with us on the beach when we got to the other side and then when we were ready to go back they proudly led the way. It was incredible. The Bay of Plenty resort on Matacawalew Island was all of our favourites I think because it was just us lot- no one else stayin there and we learnt how to crack coconuts and make coconut cream, learnt how to basket weave, learnt the bula dance, played games and then we went to the oldest primary school on the islands- we chatted to the teachers, played with the kids, they sang for us. It was one of the nicest morning i've had on the whole trip. We all thoroughly enjoyed it.I think i may have picked up food poisoning in Naviti Island but it was so mild comapred to India i hardly noticed!!Overall had one of the best weeks on the Fijian islands and it was great traveling with the Bristol lots especially because they're all compolsive sunbathers like us! Took a horrible boat ride back to the mainland. I was about as unhappy as someone can be in Fiji. People puking up left, right and centre. Disgusting. L.A tommorow. One last thing...Something we've noticed over the past 5 or so months is that however much we travel we never get used to complete strangers saying hello to us in the street. It happens everywhere (outside London that is!). It just doesnt come naturally to me. If a stranger said hello to me on the streets in London id think they were drunk or on drugs. And as Emma pointed out if a guy said hello to another guy in London the response would probably be 'Why you begfriending you batty man?' and could result in a fight. Made me laugh when Emma said that and strangely made me miss London lots. You can take the girl out of London but you can't take London out of the girl. Lol!I apologise for the awful spelling in this blog entry but theres no spell check on this computer....