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Published: December 20th 2006
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Apres the Shark dive we took the rickety open sided local bus back to Nadi. Being a Sunday morning it was filled with locals on their way to and from Church. Sundays in Fiji are all about the church. Nothing is really open and all around you the churches which line the fields and beachsides are in full song literally. It is really nice and something different to see a real sense of culture still pervades this tourist hotspot. In fact the whole of fiji oozes this laid back local feel in abundance. It is like a step back in time. The buses have no sides and the locals are so friendly. A far cry from the misery of the number 8 which awaits us so soon.
Best make the most of it. Our driver wore a hawaian shirt and flowers (honestly) and with the reggae music at full tilt we headed along the coastal road back to Nadi on the cusp of our island adventure. The weather was looking like it was breaking and the sun even came back. Oh well, we were assured that the Yasawa Islands and the Manauca Islands are the driest around and in fact
our little lovely travel agent lady told us she had had a phone call and it was sunny out there. Well, there you go, thats enough to cheer us up. No way I have worked this hard on a sun tan for 3 months to sit in the rain on a tropical island paradise. Sorry...did I say tropical island paradise...my mistake.. I thought we were in Lancashire!!!
We boarded the big yellow boat and headed outwards. They had MAGNUM ICE CREAMS on board. I did npt care about the cost. We were nearly home - yeah!!!! 5 hours later, it was sunny as we were told and we arrived at Fannie and Ottos on the furthest Island. The journey out there had been fantastic. The sea was an amazing colour and with all the little volcanic islands dotted around, you really can see why it is so popular with backpackers. I was already well settled into the Bula time lifestyle (basically nothing has a set time and fijians just do as they please). With no phones, no t'internet and set mealtimes dictated by the beat of a drum....its like a step back in time. To be honest it is
like Darwin on the seas.
However, no sooner had we stepped off the yellow boat to be transferred by water taxi to our destination, and before we could get out our camera to snap the scenery, the clouds came in...then the rain. And that is how it stayed for 2 weeks pretty much. The annual rainfall fell in 2 weeks (in the dry season I might add!) and Western Fiji had severe flooding. Miserable backpackers sat indoors in dorms staring out at the sea, and if I heard once (usually from my own mouth).."if it was not raining it would be so beautiful". or "LIFE IS SO UNFAIR" (in hindsight some perspective was required here!). We were desperate. In fact, I am not ashamed to admit that I lay in the rain at one stage hoping to tan through the clouds. Even the diving was a let down as the visibility was so poor because of the storms churning up the seas. Each resort is built for the sun and there is nothing....literally nothing…. to do when it rains. Other than wait for dinner. Bang a drum - breakfast, bang a drum - lunch, bang a drum, time to
get on the yellow boat, bang another drum, welcoming kava ceremony at the new island and time for a fijian song or two, bang a drum - dinner. As you can see, dinner was an important part of our daily routine (for a change) and with the standard fare being a buffet we ate all day every day and felt quite sick.
The upside to our time in Fiji was the people. The locals are sooooooo friendly, even if they do lie a lot...oh yes miss lara….sunny tomorrow....yeah right! We also met some great travellers and firm friends when we were there too. The great thing about Fiji is that it lacks the clique feeling many backpacker resorts have. Fiji is either one of the first stops on people’s trips or one of their last, like us. These RTW tickets are fairly basic and do not offer too much flexibility. Everybody is super friendly and it was great to be able to share our tips rather enviously with those starting out as well as reminisce with others like us, on their way home.
It was during such a sess that we got talked into leaving Fiji early and
heading to Las Vegas. With the rain getting us all down, and realising that it would be cheaper to be in the states (yep, fiji is expensive) we changed our flights and brought them forwards. We had to leave from LA and at $30 return for a greyhound from LA to Vegas it seemed like a great idea. Sods law, as soon as we changed our flights the sun came out and the weather did break. Oh well, by now we were wetting our pants to see the bright lights of the civilised world, not to mention the potential for celebrity spotting in LA.
Fiji was actually really great. For anyone researching, Oarsmans, Manta Ray and Octopus are by far the best resorts and when you get to Octopus you will wonder why you wetn anywhere else! So we did get a couple of days of sun to marvel at the stunning scenery, lie in the massive hammocks and swim in the gorgeous seas. We went to a church service on a Sunday and listened to the gospel choir which was amazing. We did a couple of dives out at the islands which were good and enabled us to
try cave diving under the sea which was ace. But we were definitely ready to move on and with a surf board under one arm and a backpack under the other, Las Vegas here we come!
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