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Bula!!
When you think of Fiji, you think of sun, white sand, palm trees, and a lot of relaxing - coincidentally - that's how my time was, well mostly!
Nadi Clear skies as we flew into Nadi, and it was noticably hotter when we "disembarked" the plane! It wasn't long before we experienced "Fiji Time" - normally it's great, no rushing around, just a "when you're ready" philosophy. But when you're sitting in an airport waiting for a shuttle bus....?
The Nomads Skyodge hostel was nice, if a little isolated. The $10 meal would only have filled a 5 year old!! Amy and I organised our week out in the islands that night. took a little time but worked out well in the end - we got some great deals! We balanced the week into 2 halves, going budget for a few days to finance the nicer resort for the second half!
Mana Island Although Mana Lagoon was most definately a "budget" experience, it was great fun and contrasted the 2nd half nicely. For less than 20 pounds a day, Amy and I had a big but basic double room, 3 meals a day, and
we were right on the beach. The room was fine. The meals were, well... interesting. i'd never had cold baked bean pizza and spaghetti sandwiches before! To be fair the daal and "something or other" curry were ok but the rest was just a case of filling a hole.
What made Mana worth the visit though was the sunset beach a mere half hour march in the hot sun away. We cheekily stopped for a rest a the fenced Japanese super resort. Sunset beach was well worth the trek. White sand, clear blue water, and not a sole to bother you. In my eyes that was what Fiji was about. A few of us made it back there for sunset, and it was lovely.
The hostel was practically part of the local village, which meant there were local kids popping up everywhere come late afternoon. We had fun being used as climbing frames - little rascals! Volleyball until dusk was fun and the fire dancing was great. Certainly better than the underrehersed dancing that preceded it!
All in all i felt we got what we'd paid for in Mana, and the welcome songs made us laugh -
"i'll give you bacon and eggs to see you shake those legs!"
Walu Beach A real bargain. For the price of a dorm on some of the outer islands, Amy and I had... a beach front bure at a resort: thatched roof, lounge, bedroom, bathroom, all really nicely furnished - certainly a step up from Mana. Hamoc between palm trees at the end of our path. In peak season it should cost 450 US dollars/night plus $80 each for the meal supplement. we got it for less than a quarter of that price!!! needless to say we were happy bunnies.
Marred only by rain for a day and a bit, Walu beach was exactly what we wanted. Relaxed atmousphere, friendly staff, warm weather, nice food, and time to ourselves. Ideal. In our 5 night stay, we kayaked, waterskied (not exactly a pro), snorkelled, played games and generally chilled out.
As always we weren't afraid to try new things, crab racing for one, and a the Fijian tradition of a Kava ceramony. Imagine a large bowl filled with merky dish water, served in coconut shells to us all sat in a big circle. To be honest, it
didn't taste great, but as it is offensive to show that you don't like it, we all smiled! It made my mouth feel like I'd taken several throat lozenges - only without the fruity taste, just the numbness!
So long, "Don't forget Walu Beach" After leaving Walu beach to a farewell song, we headed back to the main island and checked Amy into the Aquarius hostel, which had a much better location than Nomads had on our first night. We popped into Nadi centre for a look around. Saw a very different side to Fiji, bustling with people and shops left, right, and centre.
Along with being my last day in Fiji it was the last traveling day with Amy, the wonderful girl I have become very fond of over the past couple of months. We traveled thousands of miles together, both on land and over seas, and it has been strange traveling without her after spending 24 hours a day together for 46 days! But we must both move on and as she hits the shores of south east asia, I've landed in the sunny Golden state, California....
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