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Bula again.
Right - we turned up at Nabua Lodge, Nacula Island, Yasawa group of islands about 1pm the day of leaving Nadi. It had been about a 4 hour boat ride as we were the furthest north we could go. The weather was awesome - it was proabably about mid 30's and not a cloud in sight (well for most of the Fijian experience it has been). The resort was small but seemed very relaxed and comfortable. We had some lunch on arrival and were shown to our Bure (four bed doorm that we would lodge in). It was basic but again had everything we needed. That afternoon was spend relaxing on what was a small but beautiful beach and sleeping in hammocks. Its a hard life! The next day we headed over to a resort called the Blue Lagoon on a nearby island. It cost about the equivalent of 3 pound to get there and we spent the day there. The beach was unbelieveable - stunning from a distant and breathtaking as we nearded. The resort on the island was much more classy and the beach showed this. We rented some snorkelling gear and headed out. Id never really done any proper snorkelling before and i was blown away as i swam over the coral and overlooked the sheer drop at the edge of the coral. I might use these words more and more as the trip continues but "i cant explian in words what it was truely like". I ended the day with a very good sunburn and sleeping for the next few night was hard. We went to the blue lagoon a few times in the 10 days we spend on Nacula (10 days is a massive stint, most people would come and go after maybe a day or two - so we were almost citizens by the time we left). The good thing about staying so long was that we did get to know the locals would worked on the lodge. They were fantastic - they all loved life, although they worked long hours on low wages. There was a guy called Langy who worked there - he was a legend! He always smiled and would play cards with us and was generally a top guy to have around. On one of our last days there we walked along the beach to a place called Oarsmans Bay. This beach beat any that i had seen so far. The water was crystal clear and had less coral which made swimming and walking in the sea much easier. The beach was miles long and was far from busy. It was a typical paradise island.
Oh and two of the nights there was rugby 7's on so we would sit up late drinking beer and Kava (this stuff tasted much better than before - and all the local drank it most nights) watching the rugby with the locals. It was cool but i ended up getting to tired and would head for bed after the first few games usually.
I even got to go to church one Sunday morning. Haha - not a church go'er usually but i thought it would be a great way to see more of the culture and way of living in Fiji. There were no roads or cars on the island - nor was there power apart from a few hours each eveing supplied by a generator; so we walked to the next village. It was great - i didnt understand a word but could grasped the importance of religion to these people. It was a full house at church that morning. After the ceremony everyone from our resort congregated outside teh church. Local children would approach us and invite us to their homes to eat with the families. We were told prior to leaving the resort it was curtious to accept their offer. I was more than happy to do so as again it would be another great experience. As i walked through the poverty striken village i was inroduced to John - he was the church warden. He introduced me to his wife Mary and their 4 boys, we were later joined by the Vicar. The house was more like a large shed, the walls made of bamboo like canes and straw roofs. We sat outside of a picinc mat and bowls of food were laid out in front of us. There was a large bowl of something i was unfamiliar with. It was Octopus! There were also bowls of Kasaba laid out - which taste like really dry potato. The meal was actually very good and after an hour of casual chatting i left and returned to the resort.
All the staff made us feel really welcomed and i cant explain what an amasing bunch of people the Fijians are - they are so relaxed and friendly, it was definately refreshing to see.
The one thing the Fijian people believe in is - "Go slowly/take your time" - they say "Vakamalua". They live on what is known as Fiji time - no one is ever on time, there is no set time - people start work when they arrive and i dont think they own watches, i think they guess the time from the position of the sun or something. Haha - its brilliant apart from when you are waiting an hour for a boat back to the resort.
I ll get a 3rd entry up in a few hours to tell you about Bounty island (where Celebrity Love island was filmed).
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