10th March

Had a really lazy day in the sun. Slapped on the factor 50, listened to some ipod, started by book (thanks Miss McClintick, good read but basically learning about everything thats going to try and kill me in Oz. Terrifying, but interesting nonetheless.). Had some swinging hammock time, felt like an absolute winner at life. In the evening we went to Port Denarau with Kris. He possesed a Hard Rock Cafe card which gets you some discounts so that's where we headed. Met him by the pool first off, had some rum, went to catch a cab. Great to have someone who is in the know, since he lives there he is pretty savvy. Some "a******" was trying to charge us $25 to get to the Port. Quite obviously they just take the absolute piss out of tourists. Kris is not one. We got a cab there for $13. The Port is all expensive resorts with a main area of lots of bars and restaurants, well looked after. Hit the Hard Rock. Live music on the go. Had some beer, had some fajhitas, had some great chat, loving life. Made our way back to our luxuary hostel and Kris bought us a bag of Kava. This is a traditional drink here, but it's not alcohol. It looks like powdery brown sugar and has properties in common with valium. You put the powder in a muslin bag and get a large bowl of water. Massage the bag in the water until you get a grey/brown, chalky water type substance. Then you drink it. It made my lips and tongue completely numb. This is apparently normal. Kris said when you drink Kava, everything in the world seems not so bad. This is true. There had been talk earlier on of hitting the local club with our barman Phillip. However, after a bowl of the chalky juice drink we were more in the mood for some Bob Marley-esq music and some reed weaving. With no appropriate reeds in the immediate vicinity, we went to bed.

11th March

Had a lie in this morning and missed breakfast. Totally worth it. Rhona and I were really quite burnt after using SPF50!? Quite ridiculous. I mean I'm super pale but Rhona usually tans pretty well, even she was really suffering. Shows how intense the sun is. Since we had our trip to Mana island the following day we decided to try and avoid the sun to allow our skin some recovery time. Sat in the shade and passed the time easily. At 4pm the rain started so made use of the internet and such then headed to another hostel for an all you can eat curry dinner. Kris joined us for that then we all went back to our abode for a fire dance show. Lots of fit men dancing with their tops off. We viewed a knife dance (dancing with knives), a fire dance (dancing with fire) and a snake danace (dancing with no snakes....boo). Rhona and I accompanied the show with some fijian gold beer- silky smooth. Chatted the evening away.

Kate x