Fiji

On our first morning in Nadi, we were shown how coconut's were cracked open by the locals and got to drink the fresh juice inside. Very nice. We then headed into Nadi to get some bits and pieces and got completely harassed by all the shop keepers saying, 'come into my shop, very good prices'. It was a bit tiresome after a while, but we did get a couple of bargains. The next morning we got up bright and early to start our four day Feejee Experience tour of the main island, Viti Levu. We were greeted by 3 friendly tour guides another friendly, but typically scary driver. We had 20 people on our tour, mainly Europeans.

The tour went anticlockwise round the island. On the first day we went to Natadola Beach, driving through some amazing countryside on the way. Fiji is very diverse, with great beaches, rainforests and mountains. We also saw some self-sufficient villages reliant on crop growth / sugar cane for income and family meals. The beach was beautiful and the sea was lovely and warm. The only annoying thing was that we kept getting asked for money by some of the local kids. After the beach we headed to a coastal village. Our guides were really good and explained a lot about the structure, tradition and culture in Fiji. We then went on to Sigatoka sand dunes to do some 'sand boarding'. It was so much fun again, but extremely tiring walking up the sand dunes as the sand falls away under your feet. We had a competition to see who could finish the furthest from the bottom of the sand dunes, and one of the local girls won.

After getting sand blasted, we headed to the Coral Coast for the night. We stayed at The Beachhouse, where one series of Celebrity Love Island was filmed, and still looked very similar to the tv set. It was actually a really nice hostel and it was our first experience of staying in a Bure. We got up in the middle of the night to watch England beat Australia in the rugby!! It was great fun watching it with the Fijians, about 15 English people and 2 Australians, who typically gave us banter throughout the match, but couldn't take any back or accept that we were better (the Australians generally do not accept criticism very well at all).

Day two of our tour was so much fun! We drove to Navua and did a trek into the mountains. We ventured through the rainforest amidst the inner mountains of Fiji. We went up and down lots of steep 'steps' and waded through creeks (often for forty minutes at a time) where the water often came up to our waists. We did not want to think what was in there! It was very much like those Vietnam War films where the camouflaged soldiers quietly walk through the water with their guns ready.... and then suddenly get ambushed. We went 'Fiji time' at the back of the group with two of the female Fijian guides. It was such a good laugh and the rain poured down on us when we were in one of the creeks. We got really muddy and kept slipping over but no-one cared.

The trek took around 4 1/2 hours and then we stopped for an eagerly awaited lunch. The end of the trek intersects with the Navua River, where the film 'Anaconda' was filmed. There was a collection of rubber tubes waiting, which we sat on and cruised down the river in! Tubing down the river was really peaceful, but also funny trying desperately to paddle so not to hit the rocks that sporadically popped up. Looking around was so surreal, like being in Jurassic Park, with huge cliffs covered in amazing plants, trees and waterfalls. We stopped at one of the waterfalls and all took turns at jumping into the pools below. The final sector of the trek / swim was on a long boat (again, crazy drivers), back to the bus.

We headed into Suva for the night, the capital of Fiji. We saw the main buildings of significance, but unfortunately we couldn't go out as it was Sunday, and everything closes down on a Sunday in Fiji. We had a nice group meal at the hostel and a great Fijian dance show. Again, we woke up in the middle of the night to watch Fiji against South Africa; a great atmosphere once more with the Fijians. Dave got up earlier to watch the repeat of the upset quarter final, France versus New Zealand; and drank kava (perfectly legal) late into the night with the locals.

On our third day, we navigated the 'Banana Highway', which consisted of gravel roads and hence not a very nice journey in a bus! We stopped off to visit a local village, where we were involved in a traditional kava ceremony. Kava is a plant with long roots that many Fijians drink the whole time. However, a lot of them actually do not like it, especially the women. It gets mixed in a bowl with water and basically tastes like muddy water, yuk! When drinking it, your mouth goes a little bit numb. If you drink a lot of it, you can feel quite sleepy. Lins only had one bowl, and that was enough! As Dave was nominated the chief of our group he had to keep drinking it or it was considered rude. He slept well that night!

After leaving the village we headed to the Wanibuka River, where we got involved in some bilibili rafting. A bilibili raft is the main method of travel and transport that a lot of Fijians use up and down the rivers. They are made of around 16-berth bamboo rafts and can fit up to 10 people on them in a squeeze. We got into teams and the first part was spent cruising down the river, like on a gondolier. We then all gathered at the bottom of the river where we raced upstream to the finish line. It was actually really tiring but great fun.

We stayed the night at Volivoli Beach in Rakiraki. We had a great night as it was officially 'Fiji Day', the Fijians put on lots of games and dancing for us to do, as well as a bonfire night. We were lucky that it was Fiji Day during our tour, as all the Fijians were in a really good mood. The next morning was spent relaxing on some sun loungers, what a luxury when you are travelling! We then headed to a local school. We had a look round all the buildings and most classes greeted us with welcome songs. The kids were really sweet but you could tell that some of them were quite naughty. We didn't get to see any lessons being taught, but the school seemed more structured that we had anticipated. There were similar rules etc on the walls like in the UK.

Another long journey took us back to Nadi via the bottling plant where the famously good (?) 'Fiji Water' is made, The Ba district, where we tried some local curry (apart from Lins!), and then on to the Sabeto hot pools located at the base of the Sleeping Giant mountain range in the Sabeto Valley. First we jumped into the mud pools for some gooey beauty treatments and then into the hot mineral water pools. It was so relaxing and really hot (you would have loved it Dad!).

Unfortunately, Lins got ill on the morning of the first day, and the bug stayed with her for the whole tour. She went through stages of having a bad tummy, being sick, severe stomach cramps and coming out in hot flushes and cold sweats. Some of the terrible road conditions did not help. When we returned to Nadi, she went to a private GP, and was told that she had a bacterial infection. She was given some antibiotics and two injections, which completely knocked her out! We had to delay the next part of our trip as she was too ill. The tour was great though, we met some really nice people. During the whole of the tour our guides played the same cd, REALLY LOUD, on loop all the time. Slightly grating after a while.

We then had 2 weeks in the Yasawa Islands. We bought a 14 day hop on hop off boat pass. Our first night was spent at Kuata, which had really basic accommodation, but the really friendly staff made up for it. We did a summit walk to watch the sunset and a snorkel trip with white tip reef sharks, which was amazing, one of the best things that we have done since we have been away. It only cost us about 6 pounds each and we got to swim with 5 reef sharks for 30 minutes. We got some great photo's and on a few occasions the sharks came within a metre from us! It wasn't scary though but surprisingly calming watching them swim.

The next night was spent at Sunset Waya, a stunning beach with snorkelling. Again basic accommodation but this time also with slop for food. We were not impressed! Dave's meal was brought out with 10 ants on it, compliments of the chef. You have to wonder how long the food was sitting there for that many ants to be on the plate! As Lins was still ill and Dave was starting to get ill, sleeping at these places was unbearable. We both woke up sweating buckets and feeling that we were being suffocated by our mosquito nets. It was so hot and humid and there was no breeze or fans. Therefore we decided to stay at more expensive places to get a fan and decent food. This completely blew our budget, but it was worth it as we were too ill not to have a fan etc, and the accommodation was significantly better.

We then headed up to as far north as you can stay in the Yasawa's to Oarsmans Bay, our favourite place. The beach was white sand with crystal clear blue water, fringed with beautiful coral reef. The staff and accommodation were great. We met lots of really nice people. The meals in Fiji lend themselves to meeting people as you usually sit on a table of around 10 people or more. Again, the snorkelling here was amazing. We went to a traditional church service and village.

A week into our trip now, and we were starting to have had enough of ‘Fiji time’. 'Fiji time' is supposed to mean that when the locals say five minutes they really mean an hour at least. Everything is so laid back over there and the pace of life is extremely slow. However, we soon discovered that 'Fiji time' means 'lazy time' or when it suits the locals. We worked this out the hard way; missing a boat was one of many ocasions. We had put our names down for the 'church visit' the previous day with the leaving time clearly written on the board as 9:30. We were there at 9:20 and the boat wasn't even in sight! On this occasions 'Fiji time' meant leaving earlier without telling us! We also got told off for making a boat wait, when we were 2 minutes early, and the most frustrating of all, got left on an island while the locals forgot about us and went to get kava. Meanwhile, the sun went down, it got pitch black and we both got bitten by lots of mosquitoes, gnats and sand flies. We weren't impressed.

Oarsman's was amazing though; unfortunately Dave was really ill with stomach cramps, hot sweats, severe fatigue, heat rash etc. Being over 5 hours away from the mainland, where they have doctors, running water, cooked food ... he made a decision to see a local 'nurse' AKA witch doctor. She simply confirmed that the antibiotics that he had started taking (brought from England) were suitable for his symptoms. He began to feel better after a few days, but never really shook it off. Both of us were still feeling ill a week into our trip in New Zealand! Back to Oarsmans Bay and a little more drama. We found out that 2 days after we left, and literally right where we had been snorkelling, a Tiger Shark was caught in a fishing net! A lucky escape. Tiger sharks usually never come close to the small islands, but this one was tempted in by some lazy Fijians who killed a pig for a wedding feast and threw the insides into the ocean rather than disposing of them properly. A severe telling off for the staff all round!

We then headed south and stayed at Bay of Plenty, a new resort. This turned out to be a bit of a nightmare ... Lins' food had chicken in it (they had tried to pick out all of the meat in her meal to pretend that it was vegetarian, but failed), and we had no water in our bathroom for the whole of the morning; not ideal when you need a shower as you are sweating profusely, and need to flush the loo! However, what saved this place form being the worst resort ever was the fact that we went over to the local village for the evening for a rugby training session. Dave joined in with all the locals and it was great fun. Most of the Fijians were super quick. The best bit was that the Fijian 7's captain, John, was also from this village, and had just arrived back playing in the rugby World Cup in France. We got to chat with him and have our photo taken with him, he was extremely modest. Dave had bought a Fiji shirt in town so he got it signed; another one for the wall!

Our next hotel was Nanula Island resort in the blue lagoon; our nicest accommodation. We had the luxury of sun loungers, something much missed. We then had a free night on the Wana Taki boat. It is supposed to cruise round the islands, but only moved about 100m, no joke. At least it was free. We then stayed at Manta Ray resort, and Octopus resort for two nights each. At both islands we met up with some people form Oarsmans again. The snorkelling was absolutely amazing again, right off shore. Our last night on the Yasawa's was at Bounty Island, where some of the series to Celebrity Love Island were filmed (the one with Lee Sharpe, Paul Danan and Abi Titmuss). Here we had the privilege of air conditioning but also very rude staff!

At a couple of the budget hotels, the generator packed up around 8.00PM, leaving everyone in the pitch black. On one such time, the generator stopped working just after our evening meal. The staff stuck a torch in the middle of the room (meaning that all the bugs and huge moths swarmed round it) and sped off in their boat to get one from another island (without telling us what was going on)!

Most nights the Fijians put on a really great dance show (mainly the men), with great music and ‘Haka’ style moves. This was invariably followed by us getting up and dancing with them, brilliant fun. Dancing Fijian style is quality!!! We also had one show that involved a guy twirling a machete around and catching it. We were in the front row, extremely nervous as he kept dropping it. He actually miss threw the machete one time and it hit his neck...he just carried on though and all the staff (watching from outside the Bure) were laughing. Fire dances were also really common. These involved twirling long sticks with fire at both ends and the men putting them back and forward between their legs (again quite nerve racking at times to watch, bearing in mind the non-existent safety procedures in Fiji). The Fijians found it all very funny spinning these fire sticks around their bodies!

At every hotel in the Yasawa's, we were greeted by the staff singing and playing a traditional Fijian welcome song, in which we had to respond "Bula'. ‘Bula’ is a funny word....everyone says it the whole time and it seems to mean lots of other things apart from 'hello'. We also had beautiful fresh flowers put on our bed, bathroom and around the room. At most of the hotels, there were no safety precautions in place. We could take a kayak out at any time, and not leave our details or anything. It could be days before they realised that you were missing if something happened as they do not do any checks on equipment at the end of the day!

At most of the hotels in Fiji, people sit at big tables for meal times. This lent itself really well to meeting lots of people in a really chilled out atmosphere. We did love our time in Fiji but we did find it frustrating trying to get things done and constantly being told what people thought we wanted to hear rather than the right answer!