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We finally and gladly left white sandy after getting a little bored with the same old same old habits of the place and boarded the awesome adventures boat for our long awaited trip 30mins away to Mantaray Island resort and our diving course. We arrived on the island to the norm song from the staff and got onto what looked like we had been wanting throughout the previous 3weeks, beautiful white sand, turquoise seas, a ' proper, open' bar on the beach serving cold beers, plenty of people so as to have a bit of atmosphere, yup it seemed to have it all. We then sat down with the welcoming rep who then told us they did not have the room we had booked 'albeit some 8months ago!!', so we huffed and puffed and stated how unhappy we were at this and forced them into listing on for us a(nother) upgrade, although it was only for 1 night it was still worth having as it turned out an absolute beaut, with fans and double beds with good mattress and duvet AND a ensuite HOT WATER shower to boot, fantastic. Chuffed with our results we then went upto the office to push it a little further and request our 'stubby cooler' 'sulu'(sarong) and dive vouchers, low and behold another result as they had booked us for a 10 dive package and we had only paid for a 5 dive package and along with that they had ran out of coolers and so we had to have a free cocktail voucher. Fanbloodytastic I thought. After wandering over to the dive centre and sorting our dive course, we then wandered over the rest of the resort and we were more than pleased with what we found, from sunrise AND sunset beaches to quality restaurants with good food selections, we were indeed happy campers and so for the rest of the day then proceeded to make the most of our ensuite and hit water and take an extended shower before going up to eat at the restaurant. The next day we began our dive course with an escorted learner dive with the dive masters around the local reef, initial worries and fears were soon quashed and we both took to it like......well like fish to water!? (Sorry!!?), and after seeing white tipped shark, octopus and clownfish all in the 1st half hour, we were hooked. Loved it. The next 4days were up there with the best in my life, not going to write every inch of them as, to be honest, they all kind of mould into one; so for an overview they were generally filled with open water diving of learning the ropes then advanced diving with deep dives, cave dives night dives and naturalist dives, all were great a few were utterly awesome. The evenings were generally a few drinks at the bar after dinner, a few were a lot of drinks and one evening I think the day before our exam, was spent drinking to the extreme playing a v. wild drinking game if which I can only remember parts of, so it must've been good??
Much much fun was had at Mantaray Island and the 5th day came only too soon but nothing lasts forever so we said our goodbyes and began waiting for the departure boat to pass the resort for us to board, we hoped it would arrive early or at worst on time, this would ensure us enough time to make the transfer to Nadi bus station to catch the last bus to the Coral Coast for our week at the beachouse. We waited, waited and waited but the boat still had not showed up, we were supposed to be on it by 2pm for all to be well and now the time was 1445, not good, eventually the boat rolls around the corner at 1455 and its the slower of the 2 boats used, dammit!! We now need nothing short of a miracle to get us back to the port in time. So we waited and waited with the boat eventually showing up at 1455 some 25mins late not only that but it was also the slow boat of the 2 used so now we had even less of a success window. As we were getting on the bigger boat from the shuttle boat we looked across at another shuttle boat from another resort and who was it but our drinking partners from Long Beach resort Brendan and Lorna, well that was the final nail in the coffin if opportunity now we had no chance of making the connection, so there and then we resigned ourselves to the fact that it was going to be tomorrow we would be getting to the beachouse. By the time we got off the boat we had pretty much decided we would stay near where they where staying and have a few drinks with them before getting the bus in the morning. We arrived at the Horizon resort where they were staying then we went off to find room somewhere close, eventually doing so in one around the corner, however this want before my fine self had royally screwed up by booking a room in the same place as Brendan and Lorna but for the following night (my excuse is the hostel bookers website that showed the wrong date before I clicked the 'complete booking' button!! b*****!! ...and lost the cancellation fee cos it was within 24hrs, double b*****!!?
Anyways, once we had sorted a proper room we met back up with the 2 of them and had some drinks, then as the evening rolled on some drinks with the locals including my first and last experiences with there local drink 'Kava' (a muddy looking organic concoction with supposed narcotic undertones) I didn't feel any different and do resigned myself back to the beers. A good night was had by all, and bedtime was prompted by an unwelcome Belgian fella who was convinced that he and only he knew how to travel (oh dear oh dear, BOING, time for bed)
The following morning we said our goodbyes and we made out way to the bus station, when we got there we realised how much of a tough time we would of had if we had tried to get the bus the night before, the place was a mass if craziness, the buses were all from the 60's with emissions to suit, there were loads of them all drive recklessly around the bus station tooting their horns at anyone or anything that dared get in there path and cause them to slow down, it would've been near on impossible to try and find our bus in the dark and in haste, so a good decision to stay and drink was agreed. Not only was there chaos with the buses and drivers at the bus station but we think we must've hit school kicking out time and do the whole station was packed out with school kids in their white shirts and white skirts uniform (boys included) all making their way home, I repeat total chaos.
We eventually got on our bus and set of for our 2hr ride to the beachhouse, en route going through many a local settlement consisting generally of tin huts with lots of washing out on the line living what seemed very primitive life, this was further evidenced by the farmers in the fields ploughing with cows roadside fruit sellers. Above all a good cultural experience.
We arrived at the beachouse and made our way to the reception we chatted a while before they stated to us that they were going to put us in a private bure and not the dorm we had booked although it was only going to be for one night, well by now it was almost a given that we were going to get upgraded but we thanked them all the same and made our way to the nicest accommodation we had had in the while of Fiji, a large room with modern fittings in a Fijiaan style with adjoining outdoor ensuite set in bamboo. Awesome.
After a great start to the beachouse we then returned back to the reception the following day to see if they wanted us to go into a dorm, but they said no, we could stay in the room but if try needed it in the week they would let us know, we'll yeeflippin haa to that, with the rest if the private rooms pretty empty we summarised that we were probably going to be able to study put for the week, sweeeeeeeet. The rest of the week was a pretty laid back affair, we took a trip into the capital, Suva, one day, which was a mix between a UK town that's been economically hit very hard, with an Indian town that's economically fruitful. The week finished as it started with 2hr bus trip back to Nadi although this time Jens back had gone pop during the packing stage do it was a pretty uncomfortable journey for her, we eventually got to the airport and awaited our flight out of FIji to Auckland and home to the Kiwi Hendersons.
On the whole Fiji is a lovely country, a beautiful paradise and a place we both thought we could live forever more in......chance would be a fine thing!!!
- comments
Mum You pair must have someone looking over you. I can't believe that everyone wants to upgrade you for a night and then let you stay...... perhaps it's because you look like such a nice couple. It sounds like the perfect place to live, an absolute paradise. Keep on with your journal, i get to hear all the little details that we forget when skyping or texting. x