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Bula from Fiji!
The last blog we wrote was from San Francisco, which seems a lifetime ago! After San Fran we drove the Pacific Highway 1 down to LA, stopping at a small town called San Luis Obiscpo which was a very sweet town, a bit like Reigate. We also stopped at various beaches on the way, including Malibu and Santa Monica. We finally sprung for a decent hotel for 2 nights in LA before our 24 hour flight to Fiji.
So we arrived to a gorgeous sunny Fiji, excitied for our trip to the Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands. Our first stop, South Sea Island was tiny! You could walk around the island in less than 5 minutes and there were only 17 people staying. This was nice though as everyone was really sociable and we met really nice people that we kept bumping into on various islands. During our stay here, we went on the Seaspray Sailing trip which took us to the island where Castaway was filmed with Tom Hanks. It was beautiful, the sand was whiter than i'd ever seen and the sea was 3 different shades of blue. I tried snorkelling here, but the tide was low and i scratched my knee on the coral so i aborted and went to sunbathe, Tom however loved the snorkelling....he even jumped off the boat to swim to the Island rather than get the dingy, crazy boy! We also went to a Fijian village and watched a Kava Ceremony.....this is where the cheif of the village welcomes new people (tourists) and offers them a ceremonial drink. Kava is a made from the root of the pepper plant, they clean and dry it before pounding them into powder. It looks like muddy water, and doesn't taste much better, Tom quite liked it but it was horrible. It is not alcoholic, but numbs your tongue and lips if you have enough of it!
Our second Island was called Barefoot, and this is where we got a beachside Bure (hut). The weather on this island was a bit hit and miss, but the food was lovely. We had another Kava Ceremony (the second of many "cultural" expericences), and read A LOT of books, even Tom. This island had a sunrise and a sunset beach which were gorgeous, although we never made the sun rise even though all we had to do was open the front door!? This is also the stage for my crab incident.....in the middle of the night i went to the toilet (there was a toilet block about 1min walk from our bure) and bumped into the BIGGEST crab i had ever seen. It saw me, stood still with it's pincers up ready for a fight. Cue a 30 seconds stand off, both of us not moving unsure what to do, when i dashed into the toilet for safety. Afterwards, i poked my head out, "Phew no sign of the crab", took a step out and nearly stepped on it! So i ran screaming back to the hut, aware that i had nearly had my toes pincered off!
Tom has done a lot of snorkelling on the trip, he has been on a reef safari, blue lagoon trip and has swam with Manta Rays twice! I have been a bit scared of the sea and have only extended my water activities to swimming and crab hunting. I have become quite obsessed with finding crabs, and on a few of the Islands the evening activity has been crab racing and i held so many hermit crabs coming out of their shells, i was so proud of myself for not being scared because they're like armoured spiders. I have also collected so many seashells, but as i can't take them i have taken pictures of my collections to remember all the different ones i've seen (although our second camera has now died, so who knows if i'll see those pictures again?!).
The other islands we visited were Korovou, Coral View and Mantaray Island. Mantaray was by far one of the best, as the food was better and the weather/snorkelling was great however we did almost die!? We decided to try to walk around the Island after all, "how big can it be right"! 2 and a half hours later we were still walking and the tide had started to come in, for once i was the one pushing us on as I was sure "the resort is just around the corner"......it wasn't, we'd only made it around a 3rd of the island! I later learnt that Tom had thought we should turn around for a while but he was keen to embrace my adventurous side, he wont be seeing that for a while i tell you! When we eventually decided to turn around we had many Harold Bishop moments where we were almost pulled into the sea......but we made it back 4 hours later safe and sound and rewarded ourselves with a chocolate milshake.
We also met 2 lovely girls from the UK who were living in New Zealand called Debbie and Krystal who kept us laughing throughout the 3 days we were there.
So now we on our last day on the mainland, flying to New Zealand tomorrow where we pick up our campervan and go around the South Island! Exciting times ahead.
Love you all, keep reading xxxxx
- comments
Hilary page What adventures you are having. I am now with Chris and co we should have moved to our new joint home today but there is a hold up with your dad,s buyer. We hope to move in about another w eek. Good to hear from you and miss you lots. Love to you both grandma h.
Karen Page Hello! Great blog - especially the crab bit! Don't forget - you are allergic to crab (hehe!!) Such a nuisance about the camera - hope you still have pics uploaded elsewhere? Worrying about the island stranding....so glad you got back safely...its amazing how much you are being 'looked after'. Great to hear that tom is doing such daring stuff and what amazing memories. Love to you both xxxxx
Jessie Jessie dear Tom and Louise Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip where is you next country Lots of love Jessie and Ollie p.s it is good to have grandma with us Xxxx
lou and tom Hi ollie and jess, lovely to hear from you! We are now in new zealand for 3 weeks then we go to australia. look after grandma for us, hope you enjoy your new house xx
deb glithero great blog,fighting with crabs Louise,very immpressed .Keep writing and sending pics. Love hearing about your travells.Keep up the hard work!! love to you both xx