Hello readers from the slightly chilly town of Auckland.

As you have probably guessed, I've arrived safely in New Zealand and am happily installed in a hostel (the biggest hostel in the city in fact, it is a 12-storey building). I will now relate the tale of my time in Fiji.

Contrary to popular assumption Fiji was not at all sunny and did in fact rain every day I was there bar one. It was also extremely windy which is particularly unpleasant when you are essentially sleeping in a hut with no windows. Finally on the last day my bag got infested with tiny ants and I think there may still be a few of them in there despite my best efforts. If this all paints a gloomy picture, do not be fooled faithful readers, I did in fact have a fantastic time despite (and sometimes because of) the awful weather. For example, an afternoon of torrential rain meant that a large group of us had to spend the afternoon and evening sheltering in the bar, getting to know each other while sampling the range of drinks on the menu (there were about 5 different drinks in case you were wondering).

I can't remember if I mentioned that I was heading into the Yasawas, but I spent one night each in four different resorts. I now must unfortunately dispell any images you have of luxurious spas and king size beds at these resorts. The places I stayed pretty much emcompassed the phrase basic accommodation, one place had no running water and the dorm was a hut with a tin roof (there was about a foot gap between the wall and the roof) and no doors or windows. This was one of the places that it was very windy and I might as well have been outside!

I should perhaps work chronologically in my tale. After leaving the main land I went to a place called South Sea Island, it was a grand total of 1.3 acres in area and looked exactly like the photo I used for my last entry. That was quite a fun night as I met quite a few people, including two brothers from Newcastle and their girlfriends. At one point one of the couple went for a walk and came back engaged, at which point we broke out the champagne to celebrate.

The next day I moved to Sunset Waya resort which was the one without running water, I pretty much slept the entire time I was there because there was nothing else to do.

Undoubtedly the best day was the third, I went to a place called White Sandy Beach. First I must mention that to get to all of the islands you have to get on a boat called the Yasawa Flyer, but this is too big to get near the islands so you have to climb off with all your bags onto a long boat to get to each resort. When we got onto the long boat for white sandy we were told that there was a beach barbeque for lunch so they dropped our bags at the resort and took us (in the rain) to an empty cove. We picked up the fishermen on the way who were literally just swimming around with spears and had caught quite a lot. We then watched them gut the fish and cook the straight away, there was no denying it was fresh. I did actually eat this fish, but I was a little unnerved that it was looking at me the whole time.

This was the afternoon we spent in the bar sheltering from the rain, where I got to know Joni, Helen, Dave and Tom (all from England) as well as some Canadians and a couple from Norway. We pretty much stayed in the bar until the lights went out at 11 (that is as long as the islands get electricity).

On the final day I went to another very quiet resort and again slept. It was at this resort that my bag got dropped in the Pacific and then infested with ants. Also I had what appeared to be a home-made bed that rocked so much I had to prop it against a wall!

finally I spent a day getting back to the mainland on the Yasawa Flyer and a night in the airport.

Fiji was nothing if not an experience!

That is all the tale I have to tell of Fiji.

In case you're interested, the photos with this entry are of Auckland and I am staying right next to the very tall building that looks like a syringe (they do bungee jumping off this). Now being fully refreshed after about 18 hours of sleep I think I will continue my exploration of the city.

Update you again soon.

Love from

Katie

P.s, just to update you on the photo situation, I should be able to upload some photos to this site soon as the computers at the hostel let me do it. However, I'm not sure I have my camera lead and the memory card reader won't accept my card. I may have to buy a new lead, but I'll find some way.