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We got dropped off mid afternoon and got checked into our next hotel Smugglers Cove. We have heard quite a few things about this place so was expecting something like the Beachouse but it is not at all like it. We had a private room (which we were glad for after we saw the dorm, it was advertised as a 4 bed dorm but was in fact a 32 bed dorm with blankets seperating groups of 4 and it was right next to the bar so they were all up till late and up at half 6 because of the music!). Our room though was brilliant, it was like a proper hotel room and it was nice to have a bit of comfort again. We headed downstairs to check things out and was quite disappointed. The pool was nothing special and the beach was not very good for Fiji standards and considering this place was a lot more expensive then the Beachouse we were expecting a lot better than that. The meals were a lot more expensive as well, in the Beachouse you could get a steak for $16 which worked out to about 5.50 GBP were as here the prices went up to $50 odd which is about the same price as back home. No wonder there were no Fijians wondering around this area! We ventured out ofof our hotel and went to have a look around the area, the place is not Fiji at all, the whole area is just hotel after hotel which all seem to have high prices. We heard that a lot of people fly straight into Fiji and come here for their holiday as its not far from the airport but thats the worst thing they could do, the beach, people, place and atmosphere doesn't even come close to the proper Fiji so why people would fly all this way then just stay at the touristy bit I don't know. We spent about an hour walking around each hotel to check what they were like but they all seem to be the same. The last one we found was a really small place that was a lot more quiet. We both really liked the feel of this place and we got chatting to the waitresse, Mary, so stopped here for tea. Even though it was in the touristy bit it seemed a bit more Fijian and we spent most of the evening talking to Mary about her village and what they do up there so it was good.
Next day we didn't really want to do too much, we spent most of the day in our room relaxing and had a few things to look up on the internet for entry into New Zealand. At dinner time we were going to watch a fire show in our hotel but it was an hour late and knowing Fijian time it could be a while till it started so we took a walk up to the small hotel we found and spent most of the night speaking to Mary again. Its a pity we forget it was Halloween otherwise we could have had a look around to see if anything was happening but it didn't seem like it was.
Today we have quite a bit of travelling to do to get to our island. The one we picked, Nacula Island is the furthest Island away of the Yasawa Islands. We got on our boat at half 8 and had a 4 and a half hour trip to get there. We didn't think the trip would be too bad because we were stopping at all the other resorts so we were planning on just looking at all them but the weather was awful. It was throwing it down all the was up so you could hardly see many of the islands due to the cloud and it was absolute freezing. By the time we did reach our island we got ushered down to the bottom of the boat and then had to get on a speed boat to get to our resort. We all got soaked on the speed boat but it was great fun, talk about arriving in style! The resort were staying at is run by a local Fijian family so is one of the smaller resorts. It looked great coming in on the speedboat, they have a long white sandy beach and the bures (huts) are staying in look great. When we disembarked we got led to the dining room area where the staff introduced themselves and welcomed us to their home and told us some rules and that we have no electricity till half 5 at night for about 4 hours, its great!. They then showed us the activities they do and gave us some lunch. All the food is included in the price so we all sit down together and eat at the same time, only thing is though we couldn't get our head around the meal time. Breakfast is at 8 then lunch is at 11.30 and then dinner is not till 7 at night! There is no way we are going to last that long without food! After lunch one of the Fijian girls led us to our bure. We were expecting some really basic room but were quite surprised, the bure is like our own little bungalow, we have a double bed, a private bathroom (which isn't the nicest!), a table and chairs, wardrobe, chest of drawers and even a big porch with a washing line and 2 chairs that looks out over the torquise sea and to the island opposite. The weather got even worse after we settled in to our little home so we didn't bother heading out till just before dinner time as the rain eased up. We took a little walk around our resort, which took about 5 minutes and then headed over to the bar/club house to meet everyone. There is about 16 people here and most of them seem to be English so we should have a bit of a laugh with them. After dinner (which wasn't the nicest) the staff came out and addressed us all and made all the newbies stand up and say our name, where we are from and if we are single or not. All the other people then had to do it to introduce themselves to us and then the real fun started. The staff moved all the tables and chairs to the side of the room and told us that we would be doing three dances! The first one we learned was the traditional Bula dance (so if anyone needs any entertainment when were home ask Jodie to show you it, she was better than me!) After about 10 embarrassing minutes of learning the dance they then turned the music up, turned the lights off and put the disco balls on and we had to do the dance properly for about 10 minutes! It was quite funny to watch everyone making a total tit out of themselves but I think most of us had picked it up by the end. We then had to play musical statues, we didn't realise this but its what most of the Fijian people play when they have celebrations. I was the 2nd one out (not that I was too bothered!) and Jodie lasted quite well but ended up about 5th, the winner got a beer as the reward which we then later found out was charged to their room anyway! HA. Our last dance was the most embarrassing dance yet. It was called snake and we had to stand in single file then whoever was at the front had to run round the room and do some dort of dance while everyone else copied. It really was humiliating, Jodie was the first to have a go and she roan round like a bit of a lunatic doing some little crazy dance moves and just making a bit of a tit out of herself. After Jodie finished it was then my turn, I had no idea what to do so a started it off with a bit of the shoulders move and then went into a 'slapping my arse' move which I think everyone else done as well! In the middle of it though I lost my flip flop and had to turn round to put it back on so it was quite funny when I saw everyone else turn round and try and copy me! It was a good laugh and certainly broke the ice between everyone! After the dancing we all sat outside on the deck and the staff bought a massive stone bowl out. They filled it with water and then tipped this brown powder stuff into another bag and then let all the flavours filter out into the water. This is called Kava and it is there national drink, if you go to a village and meet the Chief they offer you a small bowl of this that you have to drink to be respectful. It has no alcohol in it and is made of the roots of a local vegetable that I think is only found in Fiji but they say that if you drink enough of it then you feel stoned! The drink looks exactly like a muddy puddle and surprisngly enough it tastes exactly like a muddy puddle, it is minging. The taste stays in your mouth for ages and it makes your tongue feel completely numb, some people said they feel their legs going numb as well! We spent ages sat around the Kava bowl but me and Jodie could only manage a couple of bowls each, the taste is just too revolting.
Next day we got up early and went for breakfast and had a look at the activites board to see what we fancied. Pretty much every was heading to the Blue Lagoon so we joined them for the day. We all got in the speedboat and spent about 10 minutes driving to another island. When we came round the corner we were faced with a long white sandy beach with the most torquise sea I have ever seen, the place is unbelievable. We later found out that this is where they filmed that Blue Lagoon film that starred a young Brooke Shields. Once off the boat we headed over to the dive shop and renting out snorkels each. We walked over to the far side of the beach and on the way we found a load of starfish lying everywhere. I picked one up and posed for a pic but when I went to put it back down I noticed that on one side it had a load of little tentacles moving and that it was directly on top of another star fish. I have never seen starfish porn but im guessing thats what it looked like so I think I accidently picked up a mating starfish, oops! We all got straight into the sea and went snorkelling, there weren't loads of fish around but there was a lot. Some of them were so colourful, one was a small fish but was electric blue and it was so bright. The coral was really colourful and lloked smart and Jodie even found a big bright blue starfish. One of the guys from our lodge came back over to us with lunch for us, they must have cooked it about 3 hours earlier because we had cold chips, noodles and sausage, it had to be the most random meal we have ever had on a deserted beach (which was also horrible!). After dinner we headed over to one of the resorts on the island and went to their bar to get out of the sun. We stayed here for a couple of hours then headed back to our spot on the beach but noticed that the tide had come that far in that there pretty much was no beach left, all our towels were soaked! The place looked even more spectacular when the tide was in and the sea somehow looked more clear and pristine. We all spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the sea (which was so warm) and having a good chat, it was probably one of the best days we have had in Fiji and we were gutted we had to leave, don't think anything will top this place. We got back to our resort at about 5ish and had a couple of hours to get ready for dinner. Jodie was feeling a little bit sore and only then realised that she had burnt the entire back of her legs and bits of her back where I missed with the sun cream, oops! At dinner everyone was nervously looking around to see what embarrassing thing we had to do tonight but thankfully there wasn't anything. We all sat around at the bar watching the big thunderstorm in the distance, Jodie headed to bed a little early as her sunburn was starting to hurt while I stayed up. Later on one of the staff came over to us and said he needed all the mens help for something, we followed him out of the resort into a place they were building on and took loads of their wood. We brought it back to the beach and got it all set up so we could have a beach bonfire, hope the builders didn't mind us burning their measured and cut wood! We got a massive bonfire going (stupidly right next to their boat!) and all sat around it drinking and talking, it was ace!
Jodie's sunburn had got quite sore and really red so she had to pretty much have a day out of the sun. She din't sleep too well last night either so while she was going to spend the morning catching up on her sleep I joined a few others and went on the village tour. We have a local village about a 7 minute walk from where we are staying called the Naisilisili village, it has 600 people living there which is soon to rise to 700 and has 4 different religions and churches, everyone that works out our resort lives there. Lulu lives in the village and works in our resort so he was going to be our guide, before we left we all had to make sure that we had our knees and shoulders covered and that we weren't wearing any hats. The people in the village are really friendly, everyone stopped what they were doing and came over to either talk to us or just to say Bula to us. Our first stop was Lulu's house, he built the whole thing himself and was quite proud of it, it took him 3 months just to build the frame. The houses they have all vary, some have little huts with traditional straw roofs while other live in the metal shanty town kinda place. Lulu's house was probably the biggest traditional bure we saw apart from the Chief's house. After we had a look round Lulu's house he then took us to the Chief's house and for a look inside there. This was where we were meant to be meeting the chief and having a bowl of Kava with him but unfortunately he was off at some other village for a meeting. His house was quite big with not many things inside it, all he had was a bed in the far end with a sheet that he could pull in front of it for privacy and then a bug empty space. This was were all the men met every month for a meeting to discuss going on's in the village but the place is not massive at all so wouldn't like to see it when it would be full of men, it would be unbearably hot. I was quite surprised to notice that all around the Chief's house was plug sockets everywhere, judging by the standard of everyone else's homes I wouldn't have thought they had electricity. The Chief lives in the middle of the village and has a huge garden that he uses for speeches every so often. After the Chief's house we took a trip up to the market where all the local women try and sell the locally made jewellery and shells. I bought a bracelet for me and Jodie, mainly because I wanted to give some money to the village but they are quite smart as well so it was worth it. The last stop we made was at the local kindergarten school. This had only been open since September as they had no one who wanted to teach the kids and no money to build a school or anywhere to do it. In the end the Chief said they could use the hall until they raise enough money to build a school for themselves. There must have been about 30 young kids aged between 3 and 5 running around and only one teacher to look after them all. They didn't really have any equipment or anything to teach them, all they had was a small A4 size piece of black board that the teacher could try and teach them to read and write. The kids were brilliant though, they all lined up in front of us and sung us about 5 songs (except 2 little troublemakers who constantly chased each other round the room!) but as soon as we got our camera's out and took pictures they all of a sudden stopped and ran at us to see the photo's. The teacher said they never get to really see there own photo, only when they have tourists like us so they are absolutely amazed by it and are constantly posing so you can take a photo of them. They even got hold of a couple of people's camera's and worked out how to use and took their own photos! We were only meant to spend about 10 minutes in the school and then head back but we ended up staying for over an hour playing with them all. They have pretty much nothing in that school yet all the kids are happy and even know quite a bit of English which was mental. Before we left we all gave a bit of money in as a donation to building their school. When we did leave all the kids ran up to us waving and shouting "bye, love you!" it was crazy!
Later on that day a lot of people were leaving our resort to head to another island, we had about 17 people here and then we were left with just 5 of us! All of a sudden the place became a lot more relaxed and quiet, we made some good friends though. We spent the rest of the afternoon just chilling out with the other 3 people who were left. That night the staff had a treat for us, the food so far has been pretty poor, we have had small portions and it has been quite minging but tonight we were getting a BBQ. We had all kinds of vegetables, salad, chicken and sausages and even had seconds! We even had some bananas and pears for supper as well, it was well needed. They then got the 3 best singers from the village and they sat and played the guitar and sang for us all night. They even got the Kava bowl out again so we could have some of that, even the local's didn't seem to like it so I don't know why they drink it, they hammer it as well, bet they can't feel there tongue for months on end! It was a really good local night.
Today is our last full day at the resort before we head back to Nadi. Russo and Catherine were spending the day at the Blue Lagoon today so it was only me, Jodie and Nick left here. For lunch they put a table on the beach for us so we had great views and we had a local Fijian dish. I don't like fish so I was gutted to hear that the local dish was going to be Reef Fish that was caught yesterday but it turned out to be so nice. The fish was caught by the staff while spear fishing and they were quite a big size. They then cooked it for us by lighting a fire on the beach and putting a load of palm tree leaves over it so the fish doesn't touch the ash. They then cooked the fish whole until it was crispy on the outside, it was like it had been BBQ'd only better. The fish literally fell apart in your fingers, it was so good. After lunch Nick was heading back to Nadi to explore there for 2 weeks so we had to say our goodbyes to him. As the other two were still at the Blue Lagoon me and Jodie had the whole resort to ourselves which was a little bit weird! On the far far side of our beach is a cave and another resort so as the tide was out we thought we would walk over there to check it out and hopefully get some decent pics. We walked along the way in the sea and I have never felt sea so hot, it wasn't even warm, it was that hot that after a few minutes it burnt your foot and we had to take them out to cool down! When we did get there we got some great views, we could see all of our resort and right across to another island. The sea was torquise for ages until it went a nice shade of blue so it was awesome to see it all. The cafe was quite cool as well and had quite a few black shiny crabs running for cover when they saw us! I climbed through the cave while Jodie walked around it and got to see the other side of the hill. There was another beach here that just kept going all the way to another big rock which then wouldn't surprise me if there was another white sandy beach after that, this place is just so nice anywhere you look. We didn't spend very long around the cave but when we returned to our resort the tide had come right in and quick! It was now up to our thighs where as 10 mintues ago it was ankle deep yet even though it was deeper it was still boiling hot. For the rest of the day we spent it relaxing in the hammocks.
We are getting dropped off to the boat at half 12 today so we still have the morning to do as we please. Jodie was happy just chilling at the bar and spent most of the morning chatting to Christina but I went on a mission to find out was round the side of the hill by where we were staying. I headed over when the tide was out and saw some of the strangest animal/creatures I have ever seen. One I nearly stood on looked like a big black penis and it just slid its way up the side of the rock, I still have no idea what it was but I imagine it is every lesbians dream find. There were also some starfish type of creatures that had spikes on each tentacle and they it used the spikes to climb up the steep rocks, it was a freaky looking thing! I got round the side of the hill and found out that there was a massive white sandy beach that was totally deserted, it looked well nice. There is a big rock that is out on its own about 50 metres away from the hill so as the tide was out I decided to act like a kid and went to climb it. When I did get near the top the views were absolutely stunning, as the rock was away from the coast I had a 180 degree view of the two resorts and the deserted beach and a great view of the 2 islands that were close to our island. All the sea around it was totally torquise and clear so I could see loads of fish swimming around and pretty much everything. On the way back to the bar I went crab hunting and found 3 or 4 quite big crabs that had a tiger pattern and was yellow, black and orange. I nearly caught one of the bigger ones but just as I was about to grab it from behind the damn thing went for me, good job I have the reactions of a cat! Once back at shore we had the smallest lunch yet, they obviously remembered we were leaving so only gave us one sausage, a piece of cucumber and about 20 cold chips! After lunch Lulu took us out in the speedboat to meet the big boat and the water all the way to the big boat was so clear, it was the most torquise we had seen it yet and looked so good so made it that little bit harder for us to leave! The boat journey felt so long as we had to drop people off at other islands on the way back and we really wanted to join them! Once we were back to shore we got on a coach and made our way to a hotel we were staying at by the airport.
Fiji has been absolutely amazing, we fully love the place and can't wait to get back. We both kind of feel sad leaving and definately don't feel ready to but as we had no internet on the island we couldn't get in touch with the guy who manages our flights so we were unable to move them back. Oh well New Zealand won't be too bad but I suppose we will have to start looking for work soon!
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