Days 194 to 201 Fiji, Nadi and Malolo Island.

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Hi All,



This is a week in one as we didn't do enough everyday to write one lol!!!



Fiji Experience

Malolo Island-Funky Fish Resort: 7 nights



We had a lovely relaxing week reading, eating and lying by the pool. It was great but it didn’t feel like a true Fiji resort, as it didn’t have the most important thing: a white sandy beach! We were a little bit disappointed with the mud & rock beach as we are staying on the one island (Malolo) for the week to recharge instead of the alternative, which is to island hop for the week.



On our morning before we arrived, we bought lots of food (onions, oil, garlic, pasta etc) to cook some of our own meals to keep costs down whilst here (food is cheaper on the main island too), however when we arrived they said there wasn’t a kitchenette, which is does say there is one on trip advisor.



We stayed in a private room with shared shower and toilet facilities. It was perfect really, just enough room, quiet and the toilet was just outside the room. For a backpackers place it was more of a resort, they had maid service everyday with fresh towels, pool towels every day, shampoo/conditioner, big bed loungers by the pool.



The staff is lovely and drinks were cheap, the food wasn’t too bad for what you got but it was more money than we were use to paying/budgeted for food.



It was just as well we wanted to relax, as there wasn’t much to do on the island:

During the week we did the following activities:



· Did a guided 2hr hike across the island to the highest peak for brilliant views and sunset.

· Vicky took a boat out to ‘Sand bank’ to go snorkeling with some people she met.

· Neil went hand fishing one afternoon with another English guy

· Had a demo massage

· Drank the demo cocktail of the day as it was just us watching

· Took park in the cultural drinking ceremony of Kava (a root they grow and then ground down to add to cold water)-about 10 of us all sat round with three locals who demonstrated how you clap once when it’s your turn to down a coconut shell of kava and say ‘Bula’, then you clap 3 times after you have drank. It goes around the circle until the whole bowl has been consumed. We had about 10 rounds. The Kava is meant to make you slightly tipsy, and helps you sleep, it also tastes like muddy pond water.

· Met loads of people, who we had dinner with every night

· Walked an hour each way a load tide to the only shop on the smaller island of Malolo

· Gawked at a boat load of bikini models that were shooting here for 3 days

· Read many books

· Watched films

· Drank a lot of rum and coke (we bought a bottle each at the airport

· Planned our trip around South America, and booking up our first two nights in Lima including the hostel taxi to be safer

· Started the 30 day abs challenge

· Did a few hours of Spanish lessons – and recapping phrases with a Chilean couple we spend most of the week with.



All in all it was a good week, but if we ever come back to Fiji we would definitely stay on the strip of islands a bit higher up (barefoot, manta-ray etc) for the beaches.



On Sunday 7^th we left Funky Fish resort at 11.30am. We said goodbye to all the people we had met over the last week and boarded the pre paid boat back to the main land. The ride took over 2 hours but it went via Beachcomber and Mana, where we could get off and have a wonder along the beaches. I also started feeling seasick again (I’m useless on small boats), so the guy let me sit on the top decking for the breeze-it was like a VIP section-loved it.



When we arrived back at the Bamboo travellers hostel, we had to sit around for about 6 hours before we had a taxi booked for the airport at 18.30. We read, slept, showered, Wi-Fi-ed up, had lunch and dinner at this hostel. We then shared a taxi with another lady that was on the same flight as us that night.



It didn’t cost much to the airport. We used our last $10FD on a small bottle of whiskey to put us to sleep for the 10 hour over night flight to LAX.



During the check in of our luggage at Fiji we were told we couldn’t board because we hadn’t paid for our online US Esta visa...since when has this been the case for a connection flight through America? They allowed us to use their check in computer that had wifi for Neil to fill out his application and pay the $14USD. Luckily for me I still had my C1/D transit visa that I use for cruising that lasts for 10 years. Neil’s, however, was in his out of date passport that he left at home.



The flight was fine- all on time. When we arrived at LAX we then had an 11 hour layover until our next flight to Lima at 00.15am L We are allowed to leave the airport but there isn’t any bag storage so we couldn’t be bothered to leave, especially as we will be back here in September.



Anyway, our next blog will be from Lima!!!!





Love V&N xxx

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