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The flight from Auckland to Nadi (pronounced Nandi) airport took approximately three hours meaning I arrived on Fijian shores for the first time at around 10am, still feeling a tad tired due to the fact I only had a couple of hours sleep that night because of the early flight time from Auckland. I had intended to sleep for the duration of the flight but that was easier said than done when I flicked through the film options and saw Shutter Island was listed, which got my attention for the duration of the flight hence no sleep on the plane. The few hours on the plane flew by and shortly after we had eaten our breakfast we had been given it was time to land. New Zealand and Fiji are on the same time zone which was fortunate as it meant I didn't have to adapt to a new time and suffer from jet lag.
The humidity of the Fijian climate hit me straight away as I departed the aircraft and walked into the terminal to collect my luggage. After leaving New Zealand which was approaching winter and getting a little nippy, I entered the year round tropical climate of Fiji, which has the same warm average temperature for the whole year; I arrived just after the rainy season which meant that the air should have also been starting to cool down a little. Although the humidity was intense it was not a patch on the sweltering conditions that I experienced on the Cook Islands previously on my trip, which goes to show just how humid and hot the weather was in Rarotonga back in March. After getting my visa for Fiji stamped in my passport I was through security and entered the tiny arrivals area where it was clear to see a snippet of the Fijian culture already with all the locals wearing flowers in their hair and a necklace also made out of flowers, plus everyone be it male or female wearing a brightly coloured flowery t-shirt and a long skirt type thing. Everyone in the airport was ever so friendly they would all be wearing the biggest smile which was to become known as the 'Bula smile', and also greeting me with the word 'bula' which seems to mean every word in the Fijian dictionary as it has so many meanings be it 'Bless you' when someone's sneezed to the more traditional 'hello' or 'welcome' and 'greetings'. It is in the Fijian's nature to be friendly to all the tourists as the money tourists bring in makes up the bulk of their economy but I had read about a bit of a touting problem in the airport towards international tourists, so I was a bit weary at the same time, even to the point that although I had asked the official information desk where my hostel would be picking me up from, I still was reluctant to trust them just in case they had sent me to the wrong person intentionally. Of course they had sent me to the right place and I was just being over cautious but even so, the guy who picked me up told me to wait for five minutes while we waited for some other arrivals so I sat down in the airport, and was quickly joined by many a Fijian trying to sell me a tour and asking me what my plans were in Fiji, but I just resisted and told them I was booked onto the Feejee Experience and they would leave me alone, as they happily walked off and even said 'goodbye Toby' as I got into the minibus as we drove to the hostel.
There was only a family of three in the minibus with me, and after the ten minute drive down the road we had arrived at Horizon Backpackers which is where I was to be staying for the night before I started my Feejee Experience adventure. The radiant heat was already getting to me as I stepped out of the vehicle and collected my backpack, before walking into the building to get checked in by the welcoming Fijian ladies behind the desk with the customary 'Bula' greeting me which I was already getting used to despite only being in the country for such a short period of time. After handing over some Fijian currency for the first time which I had withdrawn from the ATM at the airport, I was shown to my room which was in the process of being cleaned as it was still early, as it was around 11am. The funny thing about Fijian currency is that they have the Queen on their notes (which isn't the funny thing) but she is smiling, as she is wearing her 'Bula smile', and Fiji is the only country in the world which displays the Queen on their currency with her smiling, to depict the friendly nature of the Fijians.
I was in an eight bed dorm which was air conditioned thankfully meaning it was nice and cool and a pleasant reprieve from the sticky conditions outside. I unpacked my things and got changed out of jeans and into my swim shorts straight away. From there I went to explore the surroundings, I was staying in a cheap resort which was only about £7.50 a night, but there were tons of other accommodation options right next door, all the hostels in Nadi were in a similar place. The good thing about staying at Horizon was that we got to use the facilities of its sister hostel, Smugglers Cove for free which was double the price, Smugglers was the biggest hostel resort in Nadi, and it was really nice, the hostel I stayed in was very basic it had what we needed, plus did have a small pool and restaurant and bar as well, but Smugglers was right on the beach and was a big complex offering an average sized pool as well as its own tour desk, laundry service, big restaurant and bar, small shop and internet room.So this is the resort that I decided to spend the most of my day in, I went and brought a big bottle of 'Fiji water' to help me cope with the intensity of the sun, and prevent me dehydrating and then went and chilled on a sun lounger by the beach, it allowed me to relax and also to doze off to sleep on a couple of occasions although not for long. I lazed around here until gone lunch time when I started to get a bit peckish so went to see what food option were on offer, I ended up getting a pack of biscuits to munch on as it was the cheapest thing by far to munch on as they were only the equivalent of a quid for a big pack of cookies.
I used the internet for half hour after that to inform everyone that I had landed in Fiji safely, and then went to check out my own hostels pool facilities so got myself a sun bed right next to the pool as there were very few people at this hostel as most people were using the facilities next door, I managed to fall asleep for a lengthy period on the sun bed whilst listening to my IPod, before waking up and deciding to change locations again and go and sit back out on the beach at Smugglers Cove to catch a last few rays for the day. It was about 6pm when I headed back to my dorm room, and almost instantly after I had walked in, somebody came into the room that I travelled on the Kiwi Experience with in New Zealand, called Nikki, who as it happened had also just done the Feejee Experience and was from Clacton. So it was good to meet up with her again and hear how wonderful the Feejee Experience had been for her which made me even more excited about starting it the next day.
There were a few things that I was to learn about Fiji though and they were that all the hostels are not really hostels, as they are all resorts that have their own swimming pool area and are all on the beach most of the time, with their own restaurant and bar serving up luxury five star quality food at backpacker prices. They left you no option but to eat in the restaurants as they had no kitchens so you couldn't self cater, which wasn't too bad as it meant I got a break from washing up and eating pasta and sauce every night, most of the resorts also offered free breakfast each morning as well as free snorkelling, kayaking and various traditional Fijian activities in the day time such as coconut jewellery making. Despite all the luxury inclusions, the rates were all extremely reasonable with me paying between £7.50 and £12 a night for the duration of my stay in Fiji, the standard of the resorts made you feel as if you weren't backpacking as amongst the guests were families on a holiday as well as people on their honeymoons which gives you an idea of the standard of the resorts, although people in the resorts that weren't backpackers did tend to look down their noses at us.
After chatting to Nikki I went into the restaurant in Horizon and browsed through the menu before opting to have fish and chips which cost a tad over £3, I sat down at one of the tables and within 10 minutes my food was at my table and I was tucking in. The meal was lovely, I received three prices of battered fish with a healthy portion of chunky chips and some salad, accompanied by tomato ketchup and sweet chilli sauce, it was the first time that I had tried sweet chilli sauce but it was definitely not the last as I loved the stuff and had it with pretty much every meal that I had in Fiji. After I had finished dinner and washed that down with 'Tribe' a local Fijian fruity vodka drink, I was invited to join in with a kava ceremony which was taking place nearby. I had no idea what this involved but I was quick to learn, it is a huge part of the Fijian culture and traditions. It involves everyone sitting on a mat placed on the floor around a bid kava bowl made out of wood, kava roots are then placed into a bag and water is poured into the bag and the person in command of the proceedings squeezes the kava roots in order for the to disperse their flavour into the water. Once the water has been through the kava roots, it is turned into what appears as a murky muddy puddle of water in a bowl and despite looking absolutely vile it tastes even worse, and smells revolting too, I happened to be sitting right next to the bowl so got the stench worse than others may have done, it also meant I was first to drink after the chief who in this game was an Australian, the main benefit of being chief is that you get to dictate how much people drink, with low tide being a small amount and tsunami being a full cup fall. You drink the kava out of coconut shells, which we started off by only having low tides which was a nice introduction to the stuff, when you receive the cup of kava you have to clap and say bula and then down it without pulling a face, but most of the time people including the locals who drink the stuff everyday can't help but to just cringe after every cupful as the kava is revolting. We would go round in a circle allowing everyone participating to have a cupful before we would start the cycle again, this is where the chief would decide how much we would be drinking this round of kava, and gradually we worked up to a full cupful which was such hard work to down, in between rounds we would sing traditional Fijian songs and play games to allow the Kava we had drunk to settle a bit. After about 6 rounds of kava I was full to the brim with the stuff and had I drunk any more I would have spewed it all back up so I had to call it a night there and then yet many people were continuing to drink on despite the ghastly nature of the stuff. Kava has many side affects which include sleepiness and numbing of the tongue but the main one is that it prevents men from being able to get it up shall we say, so the saying goes that if Fijian women aren't in the mood for sexy time they will give many a cupful of kava to their partner.
I was definitely tired after the kava but I think that was more due to the fact that I had very little sleep the night before than the effects of the kava. The main effect it had on me was that it made me feel extremely sick especially after so many cupfuls of it, but kava is not alcoholic. After leaving proceedings I was straight off to bed for my first nights kip in Fiji, and got to sleep instantly as I was knackered, but I felt although I had only been in Fiji for less than a day I had already been immersed in Fijian culture and had learnt so much about their culture in such a short space of time, plus it had been nice to experience the hot temperatures of the tropical climate after the cool temperatures I had come from in New Zealand.
My Feejee Experience adventure awaited me in the morning :D
Love Toby xxx
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