Bula... from the cockroaches!

Bula!!

we have been without the internet for over a week so sorry if this is rushed!

On Monday night a Ngaio's it was "Family Night", which meant all of us going for a walk along the beach in the rain and getting completely soaked and sandy! However it was a good chance to get to know them before we leave tomorrow! Back at the house we ate an interesting dinner of croissants, pasta and sausages, which neither of us particularly liked, joined by her neighbour and her two young boys. (The neighbour had bought cheese cake which we were delighted about, however they forgot to defrost it so we ateit frozen... not so good!)
We managed to watch a bit of T.V. and get some reading time in before heading to bed.

Tuesday we spent the morning watching 'Friends', using the internet and eating the entirity of Ngaio's fridge! Ngaio came back in her lunch hour to drop us off at the bus station, and was surprised to find we had left a huge pile of clothes on her kitchen table for her and her daughter to riffle through, however none of them are in particularly good shape (we are just too sentimental to throw them away!) The bus toook us to the train station (which was really cheap), and a couple of stops later we were off and being greeted by Thelma (Robert's 'LadyFriend'). She looks very stern, but is actually really sweet. After a quick visit to the shop we had a snack of cheese and biscuits at hers (a very old fashioned bungalow) before zooming off to see a small museum and for a walk... with VERY steep hills!!! Thelma is very fit and we were hard pushed to keep up with her most of the time, let alone keep the flow of conversation going!
After huffing and puffing our way up and down, we finally went back, on the senic route, so we could see the town!
It is safe to say Thelma is not the sort of woman who sits down in the afternoon for tea and biscuits and a good film... damn!
Very tired, we all sat down to a dinner of cold chicken, salad and potatoes (at least it wasnt corned beef!) and discussed music - Thelma's favourite band being 'Westlife', which she then played full volume, for the whole country to hear! The highlight of the dinner was the pavalova! yum...
After watching 'Coronation Street' (they are about a year behind the UK and it made us both feel a bit home sick) and 'Stars in their Eyes', we sat down for a good old fashioned game of cards. By about 9.30 we were both looking for an excuse to leave the game, fortunately I got a phone call, and I was shortly followed out of the room by Soph, who was "tired". We both feel old people can be really hard work!

On Wednesday we were both awake when Thelma popped her head into our room, to see if we wanted to come to her line dancing class... needless to say we both pretended to be asleep! Shortly after we heard her leave we jumped out of bed to find a note on the kitchen table explaining where she had gone and breakfast all laid out for us.
After eating everything, we attempted to watch 'Gone with the Wind' (officially the longest film on earth). Thelma came back at lunchtime and made a picnic, which we took to Piha Beach. After lunch she took us on yet another LONG walk, which both of us hinted many times about going back, but we pressed on. Finally we were back in the car, arriving at Thelma's at the same time as Robert, who had come to stay as well. We sat listening to Robert for the afternoon, tell stories of Thelma and him and how they met (he was her school teacher... scandalous!), then ate pasta bolognaise and vienetta icecream, which I dont think I have had in about 10 years!
That night we played yet more cards, both escaping early with the excuse of the flight tomorrow!
Both of us are feeling pretty rough as our cold develop, just what we need in Fiji!

Thursday was an early start to catch our flight to Fiji. Thelma and Robert drove us to the airport - bickering the whole way - and after a quick goodbye, we were horrified to find that our flight had been moved forward an hour!!!! Fortunately, this just meant we didnt have as much time as usual to kill!!!
The airport was pretty boring and we had changed our little left over money, so were pleased when we were called to board. The plane was like a creche it had so many kids, but we managed to block them out by watching a film, the breakfast was pretty good too!
At Fiji we were greeted with many women with flowers in their hair shouting "Bula!" (Welcome) in our direction. After swapping our vouchers and being greeted with a necklace of shells we were in the van and at our hostel in no time. The beach isnt that great but the resort has a pool, so we spent the afternoon sitting in the sun. We attempted a short walk up the beach, but it wasnt particularly nice so we resorted to sitting in deckchairs... what a shame! That night we had an early night.
It is so annoying we have to pay for water here!!!

Friday was another early start and both of us felt extremely unwell as heavey colds decesended on us! After breakfast we got our bus to the port, where we quickly bought ten litres of water each from the supermarket and then got on the boat to head to the islands. The boat was three and a half hours to our first destination - 'White Sandy Beach' - and extremely dull! White Sandy Beach appeared lovely - and we were given a coconut on arrival and they sang us a song - although the food was rationed, however, worse still, inside the dorm were more cockroaches than I have ever seen in my life! There were so many of them that they were sitting on all the beds and just wandering around on the floor. Although all the beds had mosqito nets, all of them had holes in so they were pretty pointless...
We lazed on the beach in the afternoon where these really annopying ants kept crawling all over us, so we ended up in hammocks. Early evening we went for a walk along the beach then showered and read before dinner. Thwo girls we had met on arrival Emily and Fliss, saw a tarantula so from that moment I was scared to be anywhere on my own. (The showers are FREEZING by the way!)
That night it was Fiji night and the 6 of us (two girls mentioned above plus two others Talia and Fran) had a 'special dinner' which was interesting to say the least and none of us ate very much. We all were introduced on the microphone as there were so many of us. The introduced us six girls as a group (Talia was last to be annonced) and they called her 'Collin' (as they had mixed up her first and sur name!) From then on we have called her Collin and her friend Fran 'Justin' - after the T.V. show Collin and Justin!!
We were greatedwith a Bula Dance, and they we all joined in which was really fun and played dancing games such as musical staues, which none of us had played in years!
After diner was a bonfire.

Satuday we were woken by a loud drumming outside our room which was our 8am breakfast call... breakfast was funny doughy cake. I now cannot go anywhere without speaking and have lost my voice.
The morning was spent on the beach and in hammocks. By the afternoon my voice had returned but I now sounded like a pubecent teenage boy! Dinner was better that night and we did anoter Fiji Night, which again was really fun.. there were less of us though so us 6 girls got to run the show!
Later we all walked along the beach to another resort and sat in the bar.

Sunday was similar to yesterday... breakfast started a pancake theme for the day! Pancakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
We did our beach walk and lazed on the beach, saying goodbye to the other girls who were moving to another island. We managed to nab some sunbeds tat afternoon to escape from the ants!
That night we played cards with all the rest of the poeple left in our resort.

Monday, when packing we realised the seriousness of the cockroach infestation! They were all over our bags!!!! After much screaming and having two sweedish guys come and save us, we managed to check out... getting others to carry our bags for us!!The morning was the same as all the mornings, until we boraded our boat after lunch to go to 'Wayalailai'. Again, on arrival, we were greeted with a song, had afternoon tea (literally a cup of tea) and taken to our rooms. As so many of us hadarrived that day we managed to get a room for three people and share with one other German girl - Fritzy!! Yes I know, we tried not to laugh either!
Whi;st we were unpacking and showering Soph found a dead cockroack in her bag, and so we decided that tomorrow morning we would empty our bags to prevent them from spreading!
Again, that night was Fiji Night, with a different Bula Dance and mauch dancing!

Tuesday we got a 5 am wake up call from the resident rooster - I wanted to wring its neck by the third morning! - and after dozing went to breakfast just after 7. There was loads of food at this resort, however again it wasnt particularly nice!
We spent all day on the beach then sat on our balcony after diner playing cards.

ON wednesday after a hot mornign it rained, however Collin and Justin arrived an were put into the room next to us which was great! Again that night was Fiji night and we tried 'kava' aka pong water and ate with our hands!

Thursday we were greeted with a breakfast of 'if in doubt, deep fat fry it!'. After checking out we went to the beach then Talia, Fran and I did some weaving before checking out the local market. OUr small boat broke down and we sat sationary for a long time... ill omen as on the big boat back to the mainland I was really sea sick. We checked into Horizon - aka hell on earth! Its gross! We headed to dinner will Talia and fran and then met two other girls they ahd met and they joined us! We ended up goijng back with these two girls and sharing their family room as oour place was so horrible!!!

Love to all and see you soon!!!

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