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Bula!!! Next update here folks coming to ya from our second Island stop, Waya. After our basic, "private" resort at the last Island we were now headed for Octopus resort, which we had been told was one of the more luxurious ones on the backpacker route. We arrived mid afternoon and was not disappointed. The complex was right on the beach with a top class restaurant, pool, Internet facilities and even a library! Even though we were staying in dorms (couldn't quite stretch to the $330 dollars a night bure!), these were among some of the best we have experienced. You got your own light, fan, mossie net and towels. Some of you who have never backpacked may think is it that, but trust me it was like the god damn Ritz in comparison to some places we have stayed!
Prior to our evening meal we were treated to a few Fijian songs by the local village choir, man they were good. Apparently they were the number one choir in Fiji and had recently won a national competition, you could totally see why. All the guests were in complete awe of them and each song was followed by a rapturous applause. Dinner was to follow and again it was no backpacker meal, as I think from memory it was pear and pumpkin parcels for starter, with steak for mains and cheesecake for pudding. Linz was literally purring after and immediately added it to her top 10 meal of the trip list (yes we do actually have a list). To top of the evening the resort put out a huge screen, showed a movie and handed out popcorn. After watching a movie with stars shinning down and the sea lapping is the background I have decided I could live out all my days like this, oh I wish!
Day two at Octopus we took full advantage of the sun, sea and sand by slothing around on hammocks and loungers all morning. After some serious R & R, we hit the local village for some culture. Although the village gets loads of visitors from the resort it still retains all of its charm and culture and this is where we were treated to our first cup of Cava. Cava is drink which is ground down from the root of a local plant and mixed with water and other herbs. They literally love it over here and drink it constantly, especially the older men. It has anesthetic properties and makes your mouth go kinda numb. Needless to say we drunk some did the traditional clapping of hands and then nearly threw up. It was pretty minging but you have to put a smile on, as the villagers are watching you and you don't want to offend. We were also treated to some Fijian dancing. Now I'm not going to say that these guys are awesome dancers but it was entertaining. It looks like the make it up as the go along and the fact that they are cracking up all the way through makes me think they do. I have never encountered a race of people who laugh so much, you are constantly surrounded by huge cackles of laughter but it is great and really infectious. I was pretty much in stitches during the dancing but the guys really didn't mind as they were laughing loads more than me! One thing to look out for in the photos is Grandpa Mosses, probably the coolest old guy ever with huge white tach, purple sarong and ray bands!
The following day was spent relaxing by the pool and enjoying another awesome brekkie, lunch and dinner. I would like to say we did more but we totally took on Fiji time and before we knew it was dinner time. The only activity of the day was crab racing. You had to go and find a Hermit crab on the beach and then in turn the guys working there would number him up and enter him into the big race. Both our crabs made it into the final, although mine barely scraped through by the skin of his claw. The final was a white wash with the top 3 positions sorted pretty early, although Linz's crab did manage to come in a respectful 4th, now if that was the national she would get a place for that, man we could of done with that 10 dollars bar tab! That was our last day at Octopus and the following day we headed to the near by Island of Wayalailai.
This next resort could not be any more different to the first as it was totally run by a Fijian village and very authentic. Now I say authentic, what I actually meant was run down. Even though we had a room to ourselves, it was like the room at the beginning of the The Beach with Leo Di-Caprio. The walls were made out of cardboard with massive holes so that everyone could see what you were up to. Nevertheless we embraced the place (probably worst accommodation we have stayed in whole trip) and treated it as if we were staying in the actual village. As to fit in with the locals I joined in with a game of touch rugby. Now not having played rugby since the good old days, I'm not too sure I made that much of an impression. As normal the Fijian guys were cracking up and I'm gonna tell myself this was just general banter and not directed at my lack of skills, hmmm yeah that was it. Our first evening at this resort we were treated to more comical dancing a tradition lovo meal on the floor. Poor old Linz thought she had seen the back of the dreaded smoky taste but here it was back with a vengence. What with all the food poisoning and Lovo food, Fiji has been pretty good to us on the waistline!
Our second day at Wayalailai we went snorkeling on a nearby reef. Apart from the great coral and tons of fish, we were told that there were also some "friendly" reef sharks in the area. As we had seen some reef sharks before I wasn't too concerned as they aren't that big, however when these bad boys turned up they were totally different to the ones we saw in Thailand. They were much bigger, maybe up to 2 meters and had the classic menacing face. But as the locals had told us, they were friendly and if you did get too close, they swum off. The rest of the day passed like normal with us slothing on the beach topping the tan. In the evening we had dinner (not a Lovo, Linz was a happy bunny) and spent the evening drinking with a few Irish couples. I think we have pretty much meet everyone in Ireland now, top people though.
More sunbathing and swimming was the order of the next day as we waited for connecting boat to our next island. Whist lying on the beach reading the Fiji lonely planet I noticed that one of the pictures was of a guy actually from this resort, "small Jerry". After spending 2 days in Jerry's company we already thought he was a bit of legend, but now to find out he was a local celebrity we had to get his signature. So an embarrassed Jerry signed our lonely planet and I have promised myself not to sell it on eBay as I'm sure it's worth thousands! This was also the day I came up with the bright idea of carving Linz a ring out of a shell I found on the beach, thinking it would only take me a couple of hours. What a fool I was!! Your need to check out the next installment to see if I ever finished the damn thing.......
So until then catch you later and Vinaka for reading
Grant
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