Sorry folks, this is going to be a big'un,
So after a relatively uneventful flight listening to music and watching Yogi Bear (shocking film) I landed in Nadi airport greeted by a singing band of locals with brightly coloured shirts and flowers in their hair. I almost felt embarrassed that they took so much trouble but as you'll find out later in the blog, it becomes a regular occurrence in my travels in this country. I met a Scottish girl on the way who lost her purse in the airport in Aukland but found it after her flight had left which was good but it meant she had to take a later flight. It's always typical that after one thing rights itself, another thing mucks up immediately after because we landed in Nadi and she waited 20minutes staring at an empty conveyer belt waiting for her luggage to appear just to find that it had been put on another flight! Bless her. I stayed with her as long as possible but she insisted I went. To be honest it sounds like the kind of disaster that could only happen to me. In the end though I knew it was time to get to my hostel so I wished her luck and went to check in with Awesome Adventures, the company supplying my Bula Pass. The pass basically meant i could hop on and off as many islands as i wanted in my allocated time with free accommodation and food. Bloomin' marvellous. Thankfully Cedric (from the Stray bus tour) was already there checking in at the same time so I just followed his suit. We were organised by a lovely buxom lady with a big smile and an even bigger laugh. She kept called everyone darling nothing was too much trouble for her. Legend. If I didn't feel welcome enough with the singing band, she definitely did the job. Even the torrential rain didn't dampen my spirits by the time I reached the hostel.
Bamboo Backpackers resort was simple enough but had everything you needed with free wifi, a rare thing coming from Australia and New Zealand. I dumped my stuff and went to meet Tash (also from the Stray bus) who was in a resort much more luxurious than mine. However I found her in bed, eye mask perched on her head, tucking into a hefty section of Lord of the Rings. So, with a quick farewell, I met a few others from the Stray bus, Hannah and Leah who were also on the Bula pass, for a quick beer before bed. You soon get to realise how popular certain routes are on your travels.
The next morning I grabbed a rushed breakfast and hopped on the bus towards the dock. I had all my documents with me explaining where I can go with my island hopping pass but I didn't have a clue what each island had to offer so I literally stood at the boat entrance with my bag to the lady with the clipboard and said 'dunno, you pick.' Five minutes later I was on the big yellow Awesome Adventures boat heading for Long Beach Resort, a chilled out island near the top of the Yasama Islands. The boat was comfortable and spacious, good thing since the boat ride was 4hours from Nadi. There I organised my accommodation and had my vouchers signed. The rain had luckily stopped and the weather was dry but cloudy. Even so the scenery whilst speeding along in the water was spectacular (I realised I'm quickly running out of adjectives to describe views). The islands briefly reminded me of Thailand with the sharp green peaks rising from the turquoise water, but these islands were smaller and the forest, denser.
I arrived on Long Beach after being picked up by its mini taxi dingy from the main boat greeted yet again with more singing, smiling, guitar-playing locals. If my smile was any wider my face would break!
The resort was situated on the edge of a large bay with the Bures (separate individual bungalows) lining the, not-surprisingly, very long beach. It was a small resort compared to the others on the Bula Pass holding maximum of 30 people. There were nine of us in total when I arrived. There was a main restaurant at the top of the resort and the small Bure huts spread further down the beach. The Bures reminded me of the bungalows in the Thailand islands with their thatched roofs, wooden porches and freezing cold showers. The dorm itself was a nice size but I wasn't looking forward to sharing a bathroom with 7 different people, especially in a hot, sandy country where regular showers are essential. As it was, there was only one other person in the dorm with me. The beach was literally a stones throw away from the dorm, a long stretch of silky sand with occasional scatterings of broken coral. Palm trees with massive green coconuts were dotted along the beach, most with large, comfortable hammocks attached to the bottom of them with the odd person dozing lazily in the intense heat. From the shore you could see the dark patches of coral against the intense blue of the water, teeming with all sorts of wildlife. It was paradise as I always imagined it.
After I arrived it was a case of chilling, unpacking and speaking to the locals who worked in the resort. All of the staff lived in the nearby village further down the beach and provided the main source of income for the island. I went for a quick swim in the evening and had a massive meal which had enough rice to sink a battleship. After dinner we had a treat and I experienced my first taste of kava, the Fijian drink made from the ground up roots of the pepper tree. The water turns a muddy brown colour and doesn't really have a smell. We all gathered around on a mat and the ceremony started with the 'chief' (oldest male in the group) with clapping his hands once, saying 'bula' (hello in Fijian) and drinking the small bowl of kava and then claps his hands at the end. Whilst he is drinking the rest of the group has to saying 'bula' in reply and claps their hands three times. Then everyone else had to do exactly the same. That is the kava ritual. It tasted rank. Like muddy water that made your tongue go numb. That's the best way I can describe it. I ended up drinking 10 bowls if the stuff before shaking my head in defeat. In fairness, I was the last girl to say no. That has to count for something I suppose.
The next day it thundered down. The torrential rain came down thick and fast and was not showing any signs of slowing down. So I stayed in and slept. Late morning I decided it was best I did something productive and made a bracelet out of weaving banana leaves together. I was dead chuffed with mine but it wasn't as neat as the others - mine had more character. More sleeping and resting. Not much else to do on a remote island when it rains. In the evening I did a bit of swimming and even put on my trainers to attempt a run along the beach. By this time it was getting dark but I didn't mind - less people to see me. But after 300m I realised how stupid it was to run a soft sandy beach which was on a slope. I was shattered and sweating like it was going out of fashion. Luckily, to save my pride, there were three local women who popped out of the dark asked me to go back to the resort because it was getting dark. I faked disappointment and headed back with them to the resort, asking them questions about tribe life and working on the resort. one of the girls was actually Spanish (she definitely didn't look Fijian) who learnt the language fluently, fell in love and is now marrying a Fijian man in the village. Amazing story!! No kava for that evening. Just dinner and telling stories to other travellers about my tales.
The next morning, with a singing farewell from the locals, I hopped back on the Awesome Adventures boat and headed to Coral View, a resort even further up north than Long beach. This was a bigger resort with more people leaving the boat to come on shore with the usual singing, smiling greeting. The resort itself was much nicer, with more activities, a dive centre and bar with cocktails!! The beach wasn't as nice, but it compensated with having wooden sun loungers dotted along a clean flat grassy area to sunbathe. After checking in the first group if people I see is Tash, Hannah and Leah. The weather was clear and sunny so I spent the afternoon with them sunbathing and snoozing in the hammock. Its a hard life but someones got to do it. That evening, after a beautiful buffet meal (I could go up for seconds and everything) the girls, Cedric and I cracked open the playing cards and cocktails for a couple of civilised drinking games. Hannah, bless her, ended up throwing up by the end of the night. It was the food...obviously.
The next morning after breakfast, I said goodbye to the girls with big hugs, which was sad but who knows when we're going to see them again. For the rest of the day it poured down. by the afternoon I was getting restless from being so lazy, especially in comparison to the hectic madness of NZ, so I rent a snorkel and had a swim just off the beach where the coral was in good supply. Amongst it was some beautiful fish; clown fish, trumpet fish, trigger fish and some of the most usual anemone I've ever seen. I missed being in the water in this whole new world. It's calming and exciting at the same time. That evening I made friends with a nice English couple from Manchester, Wes and Rochelle, and we talked about all sorts of rubbish.
The next day I was able to chill out the whole morning before the boat came to pick us up and head back down south. Our next stop was Manta Ray resort. We wanted to go to Octopus as we had heard from other travellers it was the best and most luxurious resort to go to but unfortunately it was fully booked. I was secretly pleased as I really wanted to go diving at Manta Ray, named solely after the large graceful manta rays that drifted through the passage between the two islands.
The resort was ok but not as nice as a thought especially since we had to pay extra on top of what we had already paid for the bula pass. The snorkelling site, however, was the best out of all the islands and the where the resort lacked in comfort in the lodgings, it made up for with the large food variety. Some of the meals had three courses with choices from burgers to curries to fresh fish. I always chose the fish because that's the sort of fishy person that I am (sounds slightly odd). I used the Internet for the first time in what felt like forever which was iffy due to the bad weather they'd been having. After a quick chat with Wes and Rochelle I went off to bed for an early one and not a moment too soon as the rain lashed down.
The next day was my 'doing' day. Determined to go diving I finally booked a dive at the Barefoot Pinacles, a site a short boat ride around the side of the island. After breakfast I got kitted up and off we went. My diving buddy was a fijian man whose name escapes me who obviously was in such a routine that I could've gone down without my tank and he would have noticed. All that didn't matter once I was under the water though, as I was once again immersed in my underwater world. This particular coral sight was the home of huge underwater mountains surrounded by magnificent marine life. When the sun came out from behind the clouds, it lit up the whole area with bright blue casting unusual shadows in all directions. No manta rays unfortunately, apparently it was out of season for them but still had an amazing time and I had my fix of diving for a while.
When we got back to the resort I was famished as usual and had a luxurious healthy lunch before hitting the beach again. For some reason today I was restless and was determined to do something more active so we made the most of the free kayaks and went for a wee paddle. Wes and Rochelle were also with us and we went over to the opposite island (conquered by Rochelle) and played coconut games and stupid things like that. On the way back to the resort the tide was against us. The water channel between the two islands rushed through at a roaring pace and it took some arm power to make it to the beach at a decent point to put the kayaks away. Saying that, I am a bit weakling. With the kayaks safely stored away I was still itching for activity and decided that diving was not enough for that day and moseyed on over to the dive shop to rent some snorkelling gear. I picked up a bit of fuss, as I was only having it or an hour and not the whole day, and managed to get it half price. I was glad I did decide to snorkel as I was clearly the best snorkelling site out of the surrounding islands. The tide was out so i got very close and personal with the coral which was only a few inches from my face as i swam out into deeper water. The coral was beautiful and many times I had to be careful not to scrape my stomach along it's sharp spider-like arms. More than once I found myself face to face with an angel fish who seemed as surprised as I was to come so close to an usual creature.
When I finally surfaced a couple of hours later I was satisfied that I had made the most of my day. That evening we had another round of amazing food followed by a few cheeky bottles of very nice red wine and some whisky (I'm determined to like it one day). Rochelle, bless her, was determined to dig up from her memory as much French from her school days as she could muster and tested Cedric to his full ability. He struggled himself though to remember some of his native language but we let him off since he had been away for two years. Rained again.
Woke up with no hangover! Decided I like drinking in Fiji as I am immune to all alcohol side-effects. Mwahahahahaha! Probably best since this was resort moving day. For once though the boat was late due to, as we later found out, a mechanical breakdown. We paid our bill which was extortionate but with the alcohol and activities added to it every 5minutes, it was hardly surprising. We were finally on our way to Octopus, a five star resort that a lot of people raved about and we were determined to stay there. Thankfully we had booked it a few days on advance but unfortunately Rochelle and Wes didn't managed to get a space in the dorm so we said our goodbyes on the boat and exchanged emails. All I can say about Octopus was that it lived up to it's standards. Five minutes after dumping our bags we were booking a second night in the resort. It had a large clean swimming pool, a pool table, amazing menu and fun activities. The dorms were spotless and thankfully not a bunk bed in sight. We were kindly greeted by a cheerful young Scotsman and a pretty English girl who obviously ran the place to military precision. The only slight downside was that it was a family resort which meant there was kids everywhere but most of them were well behaved and by the evening they just added to the fun atmosphere of the resort. After a slap-up meal and entertainment supplied by a pissed off Cedric who was on the verge of punching two annoying english girls sat either side of him (me not being one of them), we had a crab race. Each crab cost four dollars to race and all the cash collected went towards the local charity which helped provide children living on the islands gain an education. We were in! We picked our crab (called Cedric Jr) and watched him battle all the way to the finals however last at the last hurdle as he got stepped on by the scottish bloke who was hosting it. Foul play in my opinion but there you go, you can't win them all.
Got up the next day and had the biggest breakfast known to mankind and then did a few laps in the pool to try and work it off, knowing full well it was going to take more than a few stokes in pool to shift some of the pounds I'd put on whilst travelling. I spent the rest of the day sunbathing and wandering around on the beach that stretched along the water. I was basically a pretty boring and lazy day. However, as I was lying on the beach, soaking up the last of the suns rays I heard a little voice in the air calling out my name. In complete confusing I looked up and who do I see floating towards me in a small boat but Stina and Rachel (legendary Swedish girls from the Stray bus in NZ) waving frantically!! I was so excited and I instantly knew that my relaxing beach holiday in Fiji was going to turn into party central. They clambered onshore and cocktails were ordered. Turns out they had managed to find internet somewhere on the islands and read my email on where I currently was. They couldn't get into Octopus resort but checked into Waya Lailai resort on the same island around the corner and hired an over-expensive water taxi just to come and meet me!! Once again, these are bloody legends. Sat there on the beach with our cocktails, watching the sun go down, swapping stories, we eventually discussed the next few days and which resorts we were planning to go visit. It was an easy decision as the one resort I hadn't yet been to was Beachcomber, the party island.
The next day I had a massage in the morning (bloody amazing!) and met the girls and Cedric on the boat to head to our new destination. As we approached the resort I noticed how tiny the island was. It was the perfect definition of a deserted island (minus the flashy resort, obviously). The island took 4 minutes to walk across from one end to the other, surrounded by white sand, bright blue water with a bit of greenery plonked on the top. I half expected to see Tom Hanks and Wilson to pop out behind a palm tree! Despite how wee the island was, the resort happened to own the largest dorm room I had ever stayed in, containing a whopping 124 beds. These bunk beds were crammed into what looked like a large barn with two open levels and although it sounds like every travellers nightmare, it wasn't too bad. We checked in as usual and chilled out before the evening meal. As usual it was a beautifully huge buffet and after we'd eaten we were told that traditional Fijian dancers were going to perform and teach us a well-known dances for both the men and women. The dancers, male and female, were stunning and girls definitely knew how the shake their hips! I failed dismally as they tried to teach me to thrust and pop my hip in a sexy manner. Instead I just worked up a sweat whilst looking like a had a nasty affliction. Next was a dancing competition with the theme 'rock and roll' and Stina was my partner. I have no idea how but we got to the final shaking out butts and basically making a complete fool and ourselves. In the end though an elderly couple won it but you could totally tell they did professional dancing anyway. Cheaters. The rest of the night was taken up with dancing like lunatics drinking beer and finally skinny dipping in the ridiculously warm water, a new sensation that I personally thought was hilarious. During the night as I was dancing away, I looked up to see Joe, the guy I met in the Irish bar in the Koh Phi Phi...4 months ago!! I couldn't believe it! Of all the places in all the world and all the tiny Fiji islands!! Craziness. I said hello and thankfully he remembered me. All in all, it was an amazing night.
Hangover next day but eggs for breakfast sorted me right out. Cedric and I just managed to get to the free snorkelling trip by a fraction. The area we were brought to was ok as far as fish were concerned but we mainly used this opportunity for Stina to teach us how to free dive. This is diving down at great depts whilst holding your breath and using techniques in swimming to make the most of your energy. It's pretty hardcore stuff but Stina was a great teacher. The only problem I had was popping my ears because of the pressure, which is weird since I never had problem before when scuba diving but it was still so much fun! We watched the sunset across the water with a beer in a hot tube. Its a hard life. That night was another crazy night of dancing and skinny dipping (don't worry mum, this isn't becoming a regular thing). Ultimately the best resort yet and I had so much fun there and we met some amazing people and some slightly odd people.
Our last and final resort was Waya Lailai, the same one the girls went to whilst we were in Octopus. The Swedish girls came with us again as they thought it was a nice resort but it was pretty simple with basic rooms that looked like they needed a good lick of paint. The food was a healthy plateful piled high with the usual candidate of food. That evening after dinner (no alcohol after the two day bender) we were entertained by a group of four male dancers on the island who blatantly had thrown together which consisted of random arm movements with sticks. Next were the fire throwers who were so bad they constantly dropped the fire batons and almost set fire to the poor people in the front row. Overall it was a hilarious night. That night we met Jack, a witty guy from exeter of all places who was a right laugh. We had an early night to prepare ourselves for the busy day ahead.
We got up bright and early the next morning to take the 30 minute boat ride to a small reef teaming with White tipped reef sharks. The Fijian men were able to dive 10 minutes at a time, feeding and wrestling the sharks. We meanwhile carried on wig our free diving, having a laugh and messing around. After lunch and a bit of digesting, we were dropped by boat to the island opposite our resort, about a mile away. From there we swam all the way back to the resort. It was tiring work and I was the last back but it was good to finally be doing more exercise. Again, we had a relaxed evening, even though we all were expecting a bit of a mad one since it was our last night together but we were so shattered from the day we just went straight to bed. The day after was Easter Sunday and although a wanted to go to the local church service (pray for my sins) I honestly just wanted to chill out by the beach. So that's what I did. By late afternoon it was time to say goodbye to Stina and Rachel, the legends that made New Zealand and Fiji one of the best times of my life and I thank them for it. I was so upset when they left but I was still excited to get to LA. I got a boat ride back and a free shuttle to the airport. I was so sad to leave Fiji, with the smiling faces and warm greetings but America and my lovely English friends await. And so, finally, my Fiji book closes and my America one opens...