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Bula! and welcome to our first (sorry it's a bit long) Fiji installment. We have been greeted with this word so many times now it is starting to drive us slightly mad! Literally every person you pass on the street, be in man, woman or child shouts it out to you as soon as they see tourists... maybe it is because they see dollar signs but even so the Fijian people are just some of the nicest most friendly people we have come across on our whole trip.
Arriving here was a bit of a culture shift, which we really welcomed. Having been in very developed countries for the past... hmmm... 8 months... jeez, can't believe it has been that long, it was great to step off the plane into tropical heat, with cows wandering into the road and buses with no windows. Fiji is a real cultural mishmash with native Fijians, Indians and Chinese influences which makes for a delicious assault on the senses as you wander past the numerous restaurants and bars. We spent the first 2 nights in Nadi at Mama's place. It is basically a backpackers hostel but is very small and run by the fantastical Mama who is like the nicest, most welcoming, funniest old Fijian bird! She calls everyone 'dahling' in a style of Little Britain's Bubbles meets Borat - comic genius without even knowing it. Nadi is the third biggest city in Fiji, but with only 850,000 people in the whole country it doesn't exactly mean big. The city centre is basically one long dusty street with souvenir shops, restuarants and the odd random, slightly scary looking bar. After a long day exploring and credit card bashing we set about arranging the rest of our stay in Fiji, booking up a trip to the Mamanuca and Yasawa groups of Islands where we were to spend a total of 12 nights hopping around 5 different islands.
First stop was Matacawalevu Island and a 'resort' called Bay of Plenty. It took nearly 6 hours to get up to the island by boat, a little longer than the 3 hours we had expected, and having experienced jumpers and scarves for a month in NZ I was keen to sun myself on the deck for entire trip - result = lovely healthy glow... or you might say burnt to b*ggery - excellent start. As we approached the 'resort' we quickly realised we were the only people to get off, unlike the hoards that had alighted at every other stop we had been to. Hmmm, maybe there was another drop off earlier we thought. As we stepped off the little boat we were greeted with cries of 'Bula, Bula, welcome my friends' from about 10 Fijians all decked out in colourful Bula shirts, flowers behind their ears and wearing huge grins. Emerging from this group in a mesmerising regal fashion was the biggest campest Fijian who imminently grabbed Grant and gave him a huge hug. Turning to me he exclaimed 'dahhhling' and gave me a kiss on both cheeks. Grabbing my hand and leading me limp wristed over the sand he then told us not to worry abut our luggage as 'the brothers' would take care of it. Enter 2 enormous Fijian twins with feet like boats and hands like bunches of bananas who proceeded to pick up our backpacks and sling them over their shoulders as if they were bags of cotton wool.
As we approached the 'resort' we saw that it was actually just a hut with a few chairs and a hammock swaying gently in the breeze. The beach itself was more like a stretch of mud flats and me and Grant looked at eachother as if to say 'what the bl**dy hell are we doing here?' You see none of the places we were due to stay were actually our choice, we basically asked Mama for some advice and she just booked up the places she thought we would like and told us where to sign. Now wishing we had thought it all through a bit more we were sat down by the 'beach' with a drink and faced with the group of Fijian's all with expectant faces. They asked where we were from, how long we were staying in Fiji and wher we had been etc and every time we answered the large camp dude kind of threw his head back, closed his eyes and whispered 'mmmm, lovely'. After about 10 minutes of this we looked over and noticed his head was still hanging limply over the back of his chair, and realised he had actually fallen asleep... that little bit of work collecting us from the boat was just too much for one afternoon.
We were shown to our bure which was a beautiful little hut perched on the top of a hill overlooking the sea, and at this point we realised Mama had come up trumps and fell in love with the place. There were only 3 other people staying in the resort that day wich shocked us at first but within minutes we realised this was perfect and chilling was high on everyone's agenda. Snorkelling and reading ensued before we prepared for dinner and none of us could have imagined what the staff had planned for us. As we came down to the main hut Suvu (the big queen) greeted us in hushed tones and told us to follow him. He softly padded out to the beach all the time daintily waving his hands about as if he was wafting incense or something. And then, out of the blackness beside the sea we saw hundreds of candles and lanterns twinkling, palm branches swaying and a huge table set out with 5 chairs. Looking up into the sky was the most magical sight with mllions of stars shinning down and the milky way like a path through the middle. We sat down with the 3 Germans (argrhh, the beautiful image is ruined - nah, they were lovely really!) and were bought a huge array of dishes all cooked in the lovo (Fijian underground oven). Now I really wanna say that I tucked in and t was the most beautiful food I have ever tasted but in fact after the first bite it all tasted so smokey that I literally wanted to gag!! Everyone else, including Grant (that boy will eat anything) loved it however so as they tucked in I just sat admiring the gorgeous table display and the place mats weaved out of palm leaves. All the while we were serenaded by 6 Fijian dudes and just kept all smiling at eachother thinking - wow, this is cool! After dinner we had a bonfire and all sat around to hear some Fijian legends from Jacob, the nightly entertainment manager which was so cute! Such a special evening.
We took a trip to 'the garden' the next morning to see where the resort gets all their food. Apart from a few thigs like coffee which they buy in from the mainland, everything they eat and serve to guests is grown by themselves. It was fascinating to see how they are so self sufficient and we helped pick coconuts, papaya and bananas for our dinner (the latter brining back a few bad memories for us I have to say). Much slothing followed the hard morning in the garden as we then said goodbye to the 3 Germans. Expecting more people to arrive that day we were then informed that in fact it would just be the 2 of us that night... ha, cool! As we came down for dinner that evening we weren't quite sure what to expect and were sat down at the table in the hut with just one lantern flickering. 3 guys (including entertainment manager Jacob!) then started to sing Fijian love songs as one of the waitresses bought out 2 huge lobsters for us!!! Looking at eachother we couldn't believe it and set about tucking in. It was a completely surreal time and we couldn't help but smile to ourselves as we thought 'we're backackers and here we are the only 2 guests on a deserted paradise island, eating lobster which has been specially caught for us, being serenaded by 3 people and with 2 waitresses at our beck and call!! We actually ended up feeling a bit bad and that we didn't deserve such luxury (how very humble I hear you cry!), so when we finished we invited all the staff to come and sit round with us for a chat which was really cool.
The next morning we went for a spot of hand line fishing, and Grant revelling in his Auckland fishing triumph was feeling pretty confident. I on the other hand was just concentrating on not throwing up and we sped out into the ocean in a tiny wooden boat. After literally about 30 seconds, Rami the 'daytime entertainment manager (!)' caught a huge snapper and shouted Fiji 1 England 0 - the battle lines were drawn! After this Rami was unstoppabe but just when w thought all was lost I caught the smallest fish known to man which we had to put back, but then a bigger one - yay!! Fiji 10 England 1.5. Grant was unfortunately unsuccessful (cue secret snigger from me...) so we gav up for the day and went to sloth. The scene of the sloth action today was The Blue Lagoon (where the film of the same name was set). It was a beautiful stretch of beach with gorgeous turquiose water - that'll do fine thanks.
Unfortunately the next day Grant came down with a stomach bug so after breakfast he stayed in bed as I went off for a hike with Rami and 2 new girls who had arrived at the resort. The views from the top of the mountain were pretty cool, stretching out over sea and islands and we took a long while to take them in as we (or at least I) got my breath back... still no fitter I'm afraid... that plan of being 7 stone by the time we return has not quite stayed on track.
So, a poorly Grant and a shattered Lindsey waved goodbye to Bay of Plenty that afternoon and set off for Octopus Resort which we heard was pretty busy... how would we cope after so much tranquility?
Linz x
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