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Hi all. I am currently in Brisbane after a relaxing week in Fiji. The weather today is fantastic and we have all just walked around the city. I didn't have high hopes for Brisbane as everyone said there isn't much to do, but I'm really impressed with the place. It's much more relaxed than Sydney and Melbourne, and reminds me of Leeds a little bit, but without the rain. There's even a fake beach which looks amazing and is free to all.
Fiji was a fantastic week, one of the best yet. The weather was superb for all the time we were there (apart from the day we left). Sometimes it was a bit too hot, but there was always the sea to cool you down. We arrived in Nadi last Saturday at around 4pm local time. Our hostel was perhaps the best we have stayed in yet. My final tab came to 20 pounds, which included an airport pick-up, accommodation, evening meal (lamb shank), 6 beers and breakfast! It was much nicer than a lot of the hotels I have stayed in at home. On our first evening we went to a local bar which was an experience, but all the locals were really friendly and we spoke to quite a few of them.
The following morning we drove to Port Denaru. Nadi itself is quite old fashioned and looks pretty run down. There were loads of pot holes in the road so most people just drove down the middle which was pretty interesting! Port Denaru itself however was very impressive. It looked brand new and had loads of bars and restaurants - even a Hard Rock Cafe!
From Port Denaru we left for a few days of island hopping. Our first stop was Beachcomber Island for 3 nights. Once you leave for the islands you enter picture postcard territory. We went past Bounty Island (where ITV filmed Celebrity Love Island a few years ago) and got on a smaller boat to head over to Beachcomber. We were welcomed by the staff singing a song on the beach. The island itself was really small - you could walk around it in under an hour - and I doubt there were anymore than around 150 people on the island.
On Beachcomber, besides sunbathing and not doing a great deal at all, I did two parasails, a banana boat and a seabiscuit boat. The parasails gave a great view of the island and I got some amazing pictures the 2nd time I went up. The water sports were great fun - each basically involved you being pulled along by a speedboat, sat on some type of inflatible. I don't think I've ever heard Girtch laugh as much as I did when he was flying about 4 feet off the back of the banana boat, funny stuff. I also think I got stung by a jellyfish when I came off the seabiscuit - luckily it wasn't a box one! The food was incredible and the staff very friendly, even remembering your name. Everytime you walked past they said "Bula", which is the Fijian "Hello". In the evenings we perfected the "Bula Dance", did plenty of limbo, drank (of course), danced and went late night swimming. Luckily our beds were under a minute walk from the sea!
After 3 days we travelled north to Mantaray island. This was equally as spectacular as Beachcomber and had about half the number of people. The food was probably better than Beachcomber; you certainly didn't go hungry. After another welcome song and dance, there were plenty of hamocks available so the first morning was spent reading! In the afternoon I went for a snorkel which was incredible; the water is so clear and you don't even have to move to float on the water. Saw plenty of colourful coral and fish, including starfish and angelfish. In the afternoon we played beach volleyball before heading for dinner and drinks.
On the 2nd morning we went for a dive. The sites we dived were about 20 mins from Mantaray and called "Caves of Babylon" and "Fantastic". We were under at a max depth of 18m for 40 mins and it was my first cave dive. It was a good experience although I banged by head a couple of times! Again saw some colourful fish and coral. That afternoon Steve went for a snorkel and had a reef shark swim right past him! The evening was quite lively and we played plenty of drinking games and made some new mates.
On Friday we travelled back to Nadi. Before we left Mantaray the staff sang for us again and gave everyone an attempt to crack a coconut with their bare hands. I had a go but did more damage to my hand than the coconut! Back in Nadi we had a 3 course meal for under a tenner. We left Nadi on Saturday (June 28) to go to Brisbane. In the morning a few of us went for a walk to the local police station, which looked more like a burger van you'd see at a Halifax Town match!
Anyway tomorrow we are heading to Singapore for the Asian leg of our trip! Will write more in a week or so.
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