After leaving Mana Island we signed up to do the FEEJEE EXPERIENCE...

Day one - Got picked up early and met everyone else on coach as well as anna the rep and driver 'Airport' FBI (Fiji born indian)... as you can imagine matt had a fair bit of banter with this 'funny chap' who thought himself quite the comedian.

First stop was nadi town, very rowdy, cheap, little but scary but had an amzing fruit and veg market with women crammed under polythene sheets selling random items such as just chillies or just melon, very odd.And the occasional live chicken hanging up eek!

After that we went to a gorgeous beach and had a tasty bbq. Then onto a local village where we all had to wear sarongs... matt, not surprisingly, pulled it off better than Beckham! hehe. We learned some very interesting things about their culture. Such as for a man to marry his sweetheart he has to give her father a whales tooth! (A man with lots of daughters is very rich! Simon McGrath would love it!) You can buy houses with the teeth and they are often passed down in families or you have to get hold of one yourself somehow! Matt and I were shown round the chiefs house and they explained just how powerful (and lazy they are).

We then went sandboarding down a very large, steep sand dune! Very crazy for me! And matt, graceful as ever, had a bit of a tumble near the end doh! No injuries though!

That night we stayed in the most beautiful place ever! Named Mango Lagoon and so lovely, right on the beach. We stayed in a safari tent ( in the pics) which is like a very posh, comfortable tent with an outside bathroom and decking in the woods!

Day Two - We took a truck to the outskirts of a rainforest and prepared ourselves for a three hour trek! The first hour or so was up steep hills/mountains in absolutely sweltering heat! As you can imagine matt and I struggled just a wee bit! But the scenery was incredible! Finally we entered the rainforest and hit a stream (we were on own by this point as people were either way ahead or way behind!). We trekked through the water for about an hour feeling like we were going round and round in circles, luckily there was the odd "Thie Way" sign. Ended the trek with a VERY steep, scary climb down a bloody mountain on the side of a cliffe! But the view into a most gorgeous valley with a lake was amazing! We had a quick picnic by the lake and then all went tubing (sat on rubber rings and float down the river). Then went to a waterfall. Later that night had a bbq and a few fiji beers... the life!

Day Three - Visited a secondary school in the morning and were shown around by pupils. We bought them books, pencils etc. The school was a boarding school and so was quite wealthy but didn't exactly look it! We looked round the dinner room, class rooms and boys dorms... the girls have to sleep on the floor in a separate room!

Later we went to another village for a cava ceremony to be held by a chief, unfortunately he was ill. So his son did it and was rubbish... he put very little effort in. Whilst there terrential rain started and the 'chief' sent word from his sick bed that we should not go rafting in the afternoon as it would be too dangerous.

We headed back towards a hostel, but due to the rain took hours as trees had fallen in the roads and we had to wait for the locals to clear the road. Was a scary jouney as the wind was really picking up and we were told a hurricane was headed our way! We ended up playing games that night regardless of the bad weather.

Day four - Were stranded at the hostel (luckily was really nice on the beach) but had nothing to do as it was all pretty much outdoors and no internet! Hurricane Jean was in full swing!

Day five - Finally left yay! On the way back to Nadi there were floods everywhere and we saw the extent of the hurricane damage. Yet the locals were all still smiling and waving! Amazing!

Day six - Off to New Zealand!