FIJI!! Oh my god we love Fiji! We arrived at the airport and it was hot!! We were greeted by the 'bula' song, sang by the Fijians in colourful shirts and skirts. Once we had collected our bags it was 6pm, we had no idea where we were going, what hostel or how to get there but we are now travellers and travelers dont book ahead, much to my anoyonce. We were greeted / hounded at the exit by several travel agents calling us over. We stuck out like a sore thumb with our massive matching backpacks looking like tortoise's carrying our homes, so we couldn't get away from the travel agents, it was a little over welming. We went with the first lady who came over to us, mainly because she briebed us with an air conditioned room and deans eyes lit up, he'd been there 5 minuites and was sweating. She was a rather large lady and turned out to be very funny, helping us with everything and getting everything as cheap as possible for us. Every now and the she would start tuting and speaking in Fijian to her college ranting and calling her an ass hole then smiling sweetly at us, rather amusing. She called a cab for us; a small half litre Volvo which was about to die any day. She said she was coming with us too, with me and dean and our two back packs, and her friend!!!!! Jeaz it was cosey, dean was not happy atall, he was so squished and sweating like crazy, I couldn't stop laughing which didn't amuse him. I was so squished I couldnt even move to wind the window down, and the suspension was just flat to the road.
We were booked in a 'hotel' for one night on the main land of Nadi. The hotel was erm, basic! Very basic, I wanted to cry a little, I was a little scared to say the least, Lizzards were crawling all over the room, we were sharing the room with ants and at night all the dogs were howling away to each other. They dont believe in hot water when having a shower in fiji, i got as far as getting my feet in the water and had to just cope with smelling as i just couldnt get under the freezing shower. Dean however thought he was in heaven finally able to turn his body temperaturte down. We decided to get the mosquito net up just incase but it ended up being more of a hassle then it was worth. It was just so hot and when your hot the last thing you want is a big net falling on your face in the middle of the night. The way we had attempted to put it up gave us as much protection from mosquitos as a chocolate fireguard. Saying all this, it was only 20FD for a double room which was about 8pound each , and it was cleaner than most of manchesters hotels so it wasnt too bad, just a culture shock.
Next morning we were up early ready to catch the ferry. At the port we had half an hour to do a mad dash of running for sun cream, a bikini ( I had forgotton mine), some flip flops for dean and some insect repelant as there are no shops or ATMS on any of the islands at all so this was our last chance for 2 weeks. The ferry was lovelly, the sun was blazing hot and life was good. We stopped off at our first island about 2 hours away from Nandi the main island and watched in horror as the men litrally chucked our bags off to a smaller boat in the middle of the sea. If one of the guys just missed a throw of one of the bags it be straight in the sea, not cool. We jumped aboad the small boat and sped off to the island. The big ferry cannot get near enough to any of the islands to drop you off so the owners of the resorts come meet you on a small fishing boat and take you ashore. As we approached the island they sang the bula song to us with there little banjos which was quite nice. We soon realised we were in heaven it was just gorgeous. Terqouise waters, white sand, the workers from the resort came and took our bags for us in there bare feet ( Fijians don't wear shoes) and the weather was perfect. Once in mana lodge, our accomaodation, they sat us down, told us breakfast was 8-9, dinner 12-1 and tea 6-7. What they didn't tell us was really it was just Fiji time! Fiji time is a big saying in Fiji meening things happen when they happen, if at all. Nobody rushes, everyone is late nothing is done to a time, so its called Fiji time. Dean was in his eliment, dean has Fiji time all the time in England he is always late for everything, so when we got our tea that night at like 8 o clock, I was starving and grumpy, but dean kept repeating 'fiji time'!! Any way our rooms were again quite basic but very clean and lovely. The cleaners and workers are really proud of their resort as the villagers own the resorts on each island so they are constanly cleaned and place flowers on your bed every morning which was sweet. The room itself was based right in the heart of the Fijian village, which ment we saw the children going to and from school, Women doing the washing outside, cooking on fires outside, making jewlry, all out side our room. There were only 3 rooms and a dorm. The island itself was lovely, everyone in Fiji is just so nice and helpful. Everytime someone walks past they say 'bula' which is nice but gets very annoying after 2 weeks. Later that day we walked round the back of our room to the local school, the only one on the island. The island isn't too big, takes about 3 hours to walk around it. The school was amazing to see, watching the school kids playing around and singing songs was quite something. We spoke to the head teacher and was even allowed to take pictures of the children. You'd get shot for that in England. a really cool experience though and not many other schools in the world have a tsunami gathering point in the playground! We walked round the island, to the beach round the other side which was beautifull and absolutely desserted. The island all around is coverd with palm trees, cocanut trees and trees with the most amazing flowers on which are put in your room everyday by the maid on your bed.
Tea that night was nice but they do like there small portions and me and dean were quite hungry, with it being our first night we didn't ask for any more though. We Played a few games after and dean won the limbo game - yes thats riright my macho fella won the limbo, i think his height won it rather then his flexibilty, or lack of it but he won us a kayak for the next day to paddle round the island.
The next day we had breakfast which consisted of home baked bread roll, half a piece of toast and a piece of pineapple….yep I will be skinny! We were booked on a island trip and were taken around several nearby islands looking at the resorts and had a bbq. On route we broke down in the little fishing boat, right in the middle of the sea, a great place for me to burn some more! We had to be rescued by another boat. We got the impression that this island didn't really have alot of money and this was the reason everything was so cheap. The double room and 3 meals a day was a round 20-30 quid a day. For a day in a place looking like my idea of heaven it was a bargin. We did some extreame kayaking, which involved Dean paddeling like crazy through the sea waves and me falling asleep somehow on the back. more sunburn!!! We stayed here a couple of nights then got the big boat to an island called bounty. This is the island that celebrity love island was filmed and within 20 minutes we had walked round it, it was that small. The meals were a lot larger here but there was no one living on the island bar the resort and was quite comercial so we only stayed here one night. Dean loved it though as he finaly got beans and egg on toast. Next we headed up north on the islands to Waya. We stayed in a resort called Nangalia. It appeared when we got off the big boat to the small boat we were the only ones getting off which was rare, and looked like we were the only guests staying in the resort. The reason behind this is because the resort isn't in the lonely plannet guide book yet and not many people know about it, so we had a whole island to ourselvs. On the small boat we picked up a few local villigers who were walking down the beach including a family with the cuteset new born baby, so sweet. On the island we got the bula song again bless them and they showed us our room which was amazing! It was like a tree hut and all for ourselvs with a fitted mosquito net, bonus for dean, although it did come free with the biggest spider i have ever seen and dean wouldn't put it outside as he "didnt want to hurt it". Again it was really cheap here as it wasn't a very well off island but everyone was happy. Me and dean spent the whole day zonked out in a hammock on the beach with absolutley nobody bar the odd villiger around. We couldn't even be bothered going for a walk it was just that hot. I decided I needed to get some water through the day and forgot dean was asleep, when I got out the hammock deans weight dropped the hammock down and he fell out flat on his face, again amusing. They cooked us a fantasic tea and a woman sat down at the end of the room playing the guitar and singing to us, it was so lovely .Because of the seaon there is quite a few flies and so one woman just stood there fanning the flies off me with a tea towel until I told her she didn't have to. The food was just amazing and so filling, all home cooked and fresh, we had enough for 6 bpeople and we felt rude not to eat it all so we were waddleing back to our hut. Again 3 meals and an amazing hut all to our selfvs for 25quid, bargain.
Next island was further up waya to octopus resort. This one was a little bit more pricey but far more going on. Alot busyer too with more couples and families but not that busy, still no more then 15 people on the whole of the beach. We staryed here 2 nights and to be honested didn't really do much but snorkel and read books. The snorkelling there was incredible, proper nemo fish and coral. We even saw a baby nemo fish next to a bigger nemo fish swimming in an out the coral checking for sharks, just like the film!! (if you havn't seen the film you have not lived). It amusded me for a good while anyway. I was a little addicted to the banana milkshalkes, and It deffinatekly showed when we got the bill…eeeeek. O well im on holiday. I did unfortuntely get burnt, even though I smotherd myself with factor 50 several times a day, wore a T-shirt every time I went in the sea and even wore a towel over my face, yep still burnt. I even burnt my backside in the sea snorkelling as I didn't put any sun cream on my bum and it sticks out massively when im snorkelling and the sun has full view of it, and burnt it!
We watched that nights entertainment, they did a night of traditional dancing, where the people from the villige come over to bust some moves which was groovey. The day we were due to leave we were told we were actually there for 2 nights not one so we went back to our rooms made our beds and i just slept alllll day as it was too hot to be out in the sun for my albeano skin. That night it was a huge BBQ and fire dancing by some rather tasty fijians.
The little boat picked us up next day, the staff sang the leaving song which is something you would here at a funeral and deprerssed us highly then we headed even further north to blue lagoon beach in nacula island. My god this was spectacular. Imagine the programmes; wish you were here and fun in the sun, the type of places that make postcards, well this was it. All the different blues in the water, you could see the bottom of the sea for miles, white white sand colourfull flowers all around and gorgeous little huts to stay in. The food was delicious too. We were only going to stay there 2 days but ended up staying there a week as it was just amazing. On the boat journey on the way down, I was so determind I would not burn I coverd myself up from head to toe with towels and wore a long sleeved dress and caked myself in suncream. Only to get to the resort to see a perfect diamond shape burn on my back where my dress ties togeteher, not impressed!!! We did the norm and spent the day snorkelling and drinking rum and coke in the hammocks.
That night we met so many people, most traveleres or people on honey moons. Most of the travellers are doing the same route so it was good to get hints and tips from them. We watched a movie outside on bean bags under the stars from a projector on a bed sheet, as you do.
Next day we did a cave trip and swam through caves and had to dive under to get to one section, i was fine doing it until someone told me they saw an eel which didnt amuse me, nor the fact it was pitch black and couldnt see anything under the water either. Was all fun and games though but sometimes I do wonder why i put muself through these things and even pay for them! That night was international crab racing where you pay for a crab and race it with many other crabs. It was a little amusing at the time but the next day when i saw crabs running all around the beach with tip-x'd numbers on their back i felt pretty mean.
We were still on this particular island for my birthday and so dean treated me to a massarge while he did a shark dive and nearly got eaten by sharks but more importanly he paid for a lobster champagne dinner on the beach which was amazing. He obviosluy drank the whole bottle of champage and got a little tipsy. The meal was huge, consisting of two lobsters, millions of squid rings, fresh muscles, a Fijian fish dish, prawns, prawn cocktail, fish curry and lots of other exciting things. We had little lantern next to us as the sun had set and the stars were out, it was all very cheesy and romantic haha. There was way too much food but lukily charlie the dog was under the table to help us finish the food. The manager even got the chef to make me a birthday cake and they came out on the beach singing happy birthday to me. That nights entertainment was Fiji survior where people had to do tasks for points such as smashing a coconut and a race on the beach, was all fun and games. We got a tour next day to the local villige again going to a school, this time it was planned and they put on a special show, singing to us. The villigers also put on a dance show and gave us gifts of necklaces made of flowers. They all sat on the floor after selling bits and bobs of what they crafted and made. I bought a fan as the heat was just unbelieveable.
The snorkelling in blue lagoon was even better then the other resort and we went many times out to sea, this time with sun cream on my bum. We saw huge parrot fish, dori and nemo fish, hundreds of them and dean saw two massive bull rays (the type that killed steve irwin). We met so many nice people on the island and everyone just starts talking to everyone. Each day people left the island and we all went to the boat to wave them off to their goodbye song. That day i was pretty ill so dean asked the man doing the coconut demonstration for something to help ease my tummy ache, thinking they would give me some magical concoption as there all into eating parts of the earth buit instead they told me to drink sprite, and it worked. So people, sprite is the answer.
Certain nights they sold coconut cocktails where you could get a coconut and fill it with a cocktail, which dean did and he looked cool, just a shame I don't like cocanut, or alcohol.The last night we stayed there it raind and rained hirendously, but there is something nice about running to your room splashing in all the puddles in your flip flops, shorts and t shirts, or maybe im just weird.
Next morning it was our turn to get the small boat to the ferry and have the funeral song sang to us. A couple we met from america on there honneymoon waved us off and then a nice 4 hour trip back to mainland to stay the night. How we didnt miss the mainland. It was just so grotty and we stayed in another shack for the night which looked like a brothel. Next day we were up early. 3 pound taxi fair to the airport which was a good 20 minutes away and on our way to australia....... well we did nearly go via fiji prison as dean thought he would save a piece of tinfoil from a sadwich he baught incase it 'would be usefull' and the security thought it was drugs when he went through customs, stupid boy!!