Bula!

Well, after over a day of travelling, a visa panic, with two planes, 1 boats, a quick stop in LA and a catamaran, we have arrived in paradise!

We are currently staying on a small island called Wayalailai in the Yasawa's, Fiji. It is absolutely beautiful (will upload photo's soon), with a long sandy beach, crystal clear sea, corals and stunning scenery with a mountain as a backdrop (Tom tells me this is actually a 'volcanic plug'!), The weather has been very very hot, with barely a cloud in the sky. There are about 15 other people staying here and a combination of many different nationalities.

The resounding feature of this island however is the fijian people. They welcomed us to the island with a traditional Fijian song as we approached. We also spent yesterday evening with them, were we were invited to a Kava ceremony (which involves a rather confusing combination of clapping and drinking a mild narcotic that makes your mouth numb) and ate Lovu, which is a meal cooked in a stove in the ground covered by palm leaves. They then performed a traditional Fijian dance and song, which tells a story. To be perfectly honest me and Tom didnt quite understand the story, but it was presented by a man who has an uncanny likeness to Bruce Forsythe!!!!

Other than this we have been swimming and lazing around, tomorrow the plan is to go to meet the 'chief' in the attached village, do some snorkelling and chill out in 'Fijan Time'

I hope you are all well, I look forward to hearing from you!

Vinanka,

Liz and Tom xxx

P.S...for the parents, thanks for sending those links Andrew, there was a code on there that took us to a confirmation of our visa, so all ahould be fine.