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We got picked up from the airport by the owner of the hostel we were staying at in Nadi. The hostel, Bluewater Lodge, was absolutley lovely. It had really spacious rooms, a beautiful back garden to relax in and served cheap but delicious food. We stayed there for just one night before boarding an early morning ferry to the Yasawa Islands, situated north west of the mainland. Our first resort, Nabua Lodge, was at the very top of the islands, so it took a good 5 hours or so to get there. We arrived to miserable weather and had no electricity in our room as the bulb in our light had gone and they didn't replace it until the next day! We stayed at Nabua Lodge for 2 nights during which time we visited the lagoon which featured in the film Blue Lagoon made famous by Sharon Stone all those years ago. We hired snorkelling gear whilst we were there which was good fun - we saw tonnes of fish including a family of clown fish which were very sweet! From our accomodation we went on a walk which took us to a fantastic view point overlooking the whole of our island, plus the other islands around us. After 2 days at Nabua we were ready to move on as it was very basic - they only had electricity between 8am - 2pm and 6pm - 10pm and the food consisted of either pasta or rice. Whilst there, we had made friends with an Israeli couple, Elad and Shaked, who had started in Fiji the same time as us, and who we then continued to island hop with for the next 5 days.
Our next port of call was Long Beach Resort. We straight away fell in love with the place, the rooms were huge and spacious and the food was good too! Whilst on the ferry to Long Beach we bumped in to Carlo, Mark and Fi, some friends we had made when we had gone for a drink at one of the other hostels in Nadi. We were all going to the same resort which was a bonus. After settling in we went and chilled out on the beach as at last the sun was starting to break through the clouds. After dinner that night the manager/bar man Sam had some games for us to play including simon says and a game which involved carrying a potato between your bum cheeks! (Fully clothed of course). The next day was beautiful, pure blue skies....happy days! We treated to a coconut demonstration by Sam early morning which was really interesting. He literally got in to a fresh coconut which hadn't been peeled within minutes, when Lee had tried the day before it had taken him 30 minutes! As well as that we went on a nice walk along the beach which was gorgeous. That afternoon whilst soaking up the rays we heard a familiar 'hello' - it was our good friend Kirsty who we had met in Taupo (NZ), she was also doing the same trip as us and it was lovely to bump in to her. We spent the next 5 days island hopping with her, Carlo, Mark, Fi, Elad, Shaked and Harley, a Canadian guy we met at Long Beach. That evening we all sat around a fire on the beach drinking Kava, which is a traditional Fijian drink. It is made from the root of the kava plant, and although it isn't alcoholic it seems to produce the same effects, and also makes your mouth go very numb!
The next day we sadly left Long Beach and headed for Korovu Eco Resort. We were greeted by the staff there with music and a refreshing cup of peach juice! Korovu was amazing, we had a lovely beach front house, the food was yummy, the staff were absolutely brilliant plus they had a swimming pool which was nice. The view from the balcony where we ate our lunch and dinner was superb, it looked out over the ocean and allowed us to see some really nice sunsets. At Korovu they provided entertainment every night, it was always great fun and always got the crowd up after each performance showing us how to do the Fijian dances! By the end of the trip we were both experts at the Bula (welcome) dance having done it 5 or 6 times!
The next day we went for a walk down the beach to another resort which had a cut through to a beach on the opposite side of the island called 'Honeymoon beach', it was beautiful, pure, untouched white sand with crystal clear water! We wrote our mums (and Lees sister) a message in the sand which was fun! That evening we had a few drinks before heading to bed.
Our next destination was Beachcomber Island, known as the party island when it's in full flow. We were there about a month before the tourists really start pouring in so it wasn't that busy when we were there. It was a lovely island, very tiny - you could walk around it in less than 10 minutes! We were only there for 1 night as all the people we were travelling with were only in Fiji for a week and we all wanted a night together before they left. We both had a brilliant night, although Lee got a little too drunk and ended up in bed earlier than everyone else! The next morning we both set off on the 9am ferry back up to a resort called Mantaray. The snorkelling there was out of this world. It was like swimming in an aquarium, there were so many different types of fish, stingrays, octopus, reef sharks (if you went out deeper for the diving) and if you were lucky mantarays. Unfortunately it wasn't the season for mantarays when we were there so we didn't see any but the snorkelling kept us happy for all our time we were there. After Mantaray we headed to a lovely resort called Wayaleilei, which was set on a hill with a big summit behind it and accomodation that had brilliant views out over the ocean. Although the setting was nice there, there wasn't much to do, so after chilling on the beach for a couple of days we decided to go back to Korovou Eco Resort for our last 2 nights. We had a nice relaxing last 2 days here, chilling by the pool, eating lots and going hand-line fishing. The fishing sounded like a good idea, and Lee did catch one, but after 3 hours of sitting in the boat without so much as a tug on the line, Jess was not quite so enthusiastic about it! Nevertheless it was still a good experience!
So after our 12 nights on the Yasawa Islands we caught the ferry back on Saturday (14th) afternoon to Nadi and went back for our last night in Nadi to Bluewater Lodge. We were flying out Sunday evening, so we spent the day sunbathing and catching a few last rays, before making our way to the airport for our flight to Melbourne and the end of our adventures in Fiji.
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