BULA!! Everybody,

After a short flight from NZ we arrived at Nadi airport and were greeted by warm weather and traditional Fiji singing. We were taken to our hostel for the night, which was more like a three star resort than a hostel and so was very nice. We only spent one night there before Awesome Adventures picked us up the following morning to start our island hopping trip. When we arrived at Denarau Marina, we were checked in and told that our itinerary had changed slightly and boarded the catamaran which took us to meet the Seaspray sailing boat at Mana Island. We spent the day drinking free alcohol and sailing the colourful sea, we also visited our first Fiji Island and experienced our first kava ceremony (kava is Fiji's traditional drink, and is given to new visitors to the village as a welcome, Dave was brave enough to try some and it tastes like dirty water mmmmmmm). We had a barbecue lunch on board the Seaspray next to the island where Tom Hanks filmed Castaway, it was a great way to start our Fiji trip.

But our relaxed mood unfortunately didn't last long. The change of our itinerary that morning meant that our bags were put onto a different boat than us, with the promise that when we arrived at pur first island, Bounty, they would be there. However this didn't happen, and it took 48hrs to track our bags down and get them back!! We had several celebratory drinks when we finally did and enjoyed our last nihgt on Bounty which is a very nice resort for a backpackers.

On the thrid day of trip, we hopped aboard the Yasawa Flyer, to the more traditional (and therefore basic) resort of Waya Lailai Ecohaven, set upon the hillside. Here we experienced our second kava ceremony, were Rach braved a bowl of kava as well. and our first traditional Fiji meal, eaten without knives and forks, which was quite a challenge (try eating rice salad with your fingers). The staff here also put on a show of traditional Fiji dancing and singing and as part of our package we took a boat out to a reef and went snorkelling with the frinedly reef sharks there which was excellent, better coral and fish then the Great Barrier Reef. We also took a guided summit walk to the top of the island, where the views were stunning.

After two nights on Waya Lailai, we tranferred to Long Beach, a small resort with a stunning (and long) beach. The accomodation here was really good, and the resort was so quiet that we had a seven bed dorm to ourselves the second night, here we were also treated to a traditional Fiji dinner - fish, chicken and lamb shanks, cooked underground, wrapped in banana leaves, it was BEAUTIFUL. Our final morning here was a Sunday and we were invited by the staff to join them at their village church. Although the service was in Fijian, so we couldn't really understand it, it was worth going just to hear the whole congregation singing like an amazing church choir.

Our next island was Nanuya Lailai were we stayed at the Sunrise Resort. That afternoon we walked across the island to the beach where the film Blue Lagoon with Brooke Shields was filmed. The snorkelling was pretty good, and we had a good time lying in the water chatting with other travellers about their trips so far, especially Caroline and Mary, who were sharing a dorm with us. The following day we took Joe's water taxi to the Sawailau Caves were our guide took us into the Bat Cave (Batman wasn't there), which involved a short underwater swim and was really exciting, although swimming inthe dark and not beng able to touch the bottom was quite unnerving at times, especially as we had been warned about the eels!

Our next two nights were not spent on an island, but aboard the Wanna Taki cruise boat. A catermaran with a 24 bed air conditioned dorm, hot showers (which most of the island resorts didn't have) and a dining room and bar on the top deck. Our time aboard the ship was spent sun bathing, jumping off the top deck, snorkelling, drinking and playing cards. We had an awesome time, mainly due to the people we were on there with (Mary, Caroline, Dave and Hans). We would just like to thank Dave for the funniest game of ring of fire we have ever played (in my pants).

We had such a fantastic time we didn't want to leave the Wanna Taki, but our package meant we spent our last night on Manta Ray Island, where there is only one thing to say, the food was AMAZING! The following day we reluctantly caught the Yasawa Flyer for the final time back to the mainland, for our last night in Fiji before flying to Amercia.

Fiji was fantastic, it's true what they say, the people really are the friendliest and most hospitable you will ever meet. Beautiful beaches, crystal clear waters and lots and lots of food, we could have easily stayed there and baked on the beach for another few weeks, however the bright lights of Hollywood were calling and it was time to fly to our final country.

As always miss and love you all

Dave and Rach xx