BULA FIJI!!!!!!!!

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Not many photographs - no digital camera...using the disposables

Wednesday 24th August -Brisbane pit stop

Early morning arrival into Brisbane. Went to City Backpackers on Roma Street for a power nap before walking into the city to try and buy cheap mobile phones. Just like Carphone Warehouse at home it was an exhausting experience. That said after nearly 3 hours of discussions I'm the proud owner of a phone which I am sure came out in 1998.
Aussie number is (61) 0406 865 448. U.K phone is now off. Text me people!
Back at the hostel we watched possibly the worst film ever made "The Lakehouse" - avoid at all costs. Followed by Braveheart. Living it up in Brisbane!

Thursday 25th August

Early morning flight to Fiji.
Greeted at the airport by a smiling band singing us into the country. A lovely start!
BULA!!!!
Then withdrew Fijian dollars to see Queeny smiling on the notes...the guy from the hostel told us that it is the only currency where the Queen smiles as Fiji is full of happy people! Very true!!
We were driven to our hostel and sat down with Simon (the boss) who told us about the tours available but more importantly explained the importance of abstaining from coconut, fish and sex. Abstinence from these for 4 nights then means you can fire dance without getting burnt. I asked if he was pulling my leg but he swore it was the truth!
He also tried to entice us with Kava. A special legal narcotic...maybe tomorrow!
Slept in a dorm of 14.

Friday 26th August

Our first experience of "Fiji time." The bus into town runs every 3 hours and is always late. "No worries!! Fiji time!"
Nadi is a town with many an interesting character and not a lot else...we did wonder how we'd spend 3 hours there though.
Within 5 minutes we had been approached by a smooth talking salesmen and despite being pre-warned about such men by the hostel we somehow ended up in a fake Kava ceremony in a "genuine Fijian" shop. He warned that all other shops in Nadi were owned by the Indians or Chinese. The Chinese strike again.
We clapped, shouted Bula and sampled Kava. It tastes like a muddy puddle. You are meant to have it all each round so I've actually drunk 2 coconut cups full of puddle. The Kava circle acts as the welcome ceremony to Fiji - an offering from you to Fiji and from Fiji to you.
We then ducked and dived and escaped without buying a necklace or wooden bowl, undoubtedly shipped in from China.
We wondered the shops looking for a Rugby shirt for Michelle-they manage to have a Welsh shirt, an Irish scarf and a Japanese flag but nothing for England. The shop owners did try to sell me "your home country shirt...look here Australia," I really need to work on my accent!
Somehow we spent another 2 hours in the supermarket deciding on our budget meals for the next few days...egg on toast, spaghetti on toast AND spaghetti and egg on toast. We were saving the pennies so we could splurge on a lovely bit of NZ lamb when we touched down for the RWC in 2 weeks!!!! Beyond excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We waited and waited for the bus but after waiting a considerable amount of Fiji time and having a bird empty it's bowels on to the pair of us we succumbed to a taxi for 6$. £2 for a taxi fare.
Sunbathed, cooked dinner (spaghetti on toast) then chilled in our new 4 person dorm where we were greeted with Jack and Ashley (I'm working on finding a Grace) who can best be described as the Inbetweeners. They must be the horniest 19 year olds I have ever met. Their main goal is to have sex with as many different girls before starting on their, "shagathon at University" which they'll begin in a month. I am pretty sure it was part joke, part invitation...as soon as we appeared more interested in watching paint dry they wondered off to harass the 19 year old girls at the hostel.

Saturday 27th August

Spent the day on the beach and then joined the locals to watch the rugby; NZ v Australia final tri-nation match. (the England match went under the radar) I had a great time, we hung out with some flight crew and pilots from NZ to watch the match and they weren't best pleased...all claiming to be playing the B team. Unsurprisingly the Fijians all cheered for the All Blacks. It was a great night accompanied by a lot of Baileys...anything but Kava!

Sunday 28th August

Day on the beach debating whether is was worth the money to go to the Northern Islands of Fiji.

Monday 29th August

Day on the beach. Still in discussions. There is a 26 hour ferry and boat ride to consider. There and back.

Tuesday 30th August

The ferry left today...so spent the day on the beach accompanied by the Inbetweeners. Their girl crushes had flown home so we were the next best thing. Some of the things that came out of their mouths could literally have been written for the show and made me never want to have a teenage boy.
They dragged us out of our room for a diet coke, fire show and some travelling stories that have offended my innocent ears! Thank god I never had a teenage boyfriend!

Wednesday 31st August

Another day on the beach. Michelle had worked her magic and found us a cheap deal over to Mana Island. 4 nights for the price of 3 and as there were 4 of us we were upgraded to a lodge. Ash proceeded to tell us what he'd been doing in our communal shower that morning and all the other things he'd been doing in shared accommodation. BARF.

Thursday 1st September

Sneaked out of the hostel and over to the beach to climb aboard the speed boat. We arrived at Mana Island a hour later and were treated to a fantastic welcome song by the locals and other tourists. We were particularly bemused by the lyrics 'we give you fish and chips for you to shake your tits' and 'we give you bacon and eggs for you to shake your legs' - I was really looking forward to lunch!!
We went to our lodge, all seemed good...except no running water or electricity. Oh well...I'd go for the beach look and wash in the sea.
I should not have looked forward to lunch. Every resort on all the Islands put you on a meal plan for say 40 FJD per day and we were literally served gruel. Gruel! This, coupled with being seated at massive tables where even my feet didn't touch the floor I felt like an extra in Oliver! Fijian women are tall!
Mana island is idillic and a perfect way to spend a few days; bathing in the glorious Fijian sunshine on pure white sand listening to the splashing of the turquoise green sea. (I copied that from the honeymooners resort down the beach from us with a strictly no backpackers sign, followed by "we will prosecute you if we find you on our property," - won't be sneaking in to use their pool!

Friday 2nd September

Baking in the sun we played volleyball, touch rugby, kiss chase with all the local kids and then sunbathed until the sun set on a beautiful day in the pacific. Winters in Fiji are awesome.
Wasn't feeling to good so snuck off to bed whilst the others enjoyed a Kava circle - Michelle said that this stuff was better than the last, apparently two cups had her lips tingling...

Saturday 3rd September

Spoke to soon about the good winters...stuck on the island in a storm. Torrential downpours put pay to our sunbathing but did make friends with the new boat of Japanese tourists for a very unsuccessful game of volleyball. The children kept coming in and stealing the ball so we ended up in one hell of a sand fight. Very cute!
I then witnessed the most disturbing thing so far during my travels; two dogs going at it on the beach. The girl dog not enjoying herself at all, was trying to get away, then she flung him off...he spun round, butt to butt and they were stuck. Apparently this is normal but we were mortified! They whimpered and whined as we stood still, stiff with horror! They were both trying to run away from each other, each time whimpering in pain. The kids then threw sand and sticks at them. This was awful!! A dreadfully long 40 minutes later they finally came apart, never to be the same again!

Relaxed in one of the hammocks until Tom from the kitchen joined me and was sent flying! Clambering back to dignity he told me about the dance and fire shows that were on after dinner. I asked if the abstinence from coconuts, fish and sex were required and he looked at me with such shock and said with a wink "your having fish for dinner and sex with me tonight so you best hope not!"
Cheeky! We did have fish for dinner...cooked in the underground earth oven, then had a lot of fun dancing with Melanie (another one!) the boys, the staff and all the Japanese. We did several Bula dances before forming a circle to show off our bum shaking moves....utterly hilarious!
Transpires the lyrics are "we give you fish and chips so you can shake your hips and do the rumba! We give you bacon and eggs so you can move your legs and do the rumba!"- makes slightly more sense I suppose!

Sunday 4th September

Again, really bad weather so we decided to go back to the main land. Patrick and the other staff performed us a farewell song, singing "please don't forget Mana Lagoon!"
It's funny as the boss said "I'm sorry it's shit but please tell your friends it's good as you are really helping us get our business off the ground. Thank you for staying with us." Love it.

Poor Michelle was surrounded by a group of Japanese students and myself chundering (ra ra gap yar!) for well over an hour for THE worst boat journey of my life. At times there was sick bashing off the walls of the speed boat. I am NEVER getting on another boat. Thank god we didn't get on the 26 hour ferry!
Spent the remainder of the day in recovery.

Monday 5th September - 4 days to go!

On count down now...especially seeing the newspaper with a tattooed Maori welcoming the remaining rugby teams into New Zealand!! Eek!
Spent the day on the beach with scouse Tina and the Inbetweeners.

Tuesday 6th September -3 sleeps to go!

Sunbathing on the beach. Unfortunately not far from a police crime scene; a Japanese female tourist was murdered on the beach last night. Currently all under house arrest and can't go anywhere unless it is in a taxi.

Wednesday 7th September - 2 more sleeps!

Horrific weather. Played cards a lot!

Thursday 8th September - 1 more sleep!!!

Horrific weather again and possibly only 15 degrees. Preparing me for the 6 degrees in Dunedin. I am so excited...like a child on Christmas Eve!

Friday 9th September

So I have finally caught up with my blog and I'm sending this sitting waiting for the cab to the airport. Today we are off to New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup 2011!
We land just as the opening ceremony starts before New Zealand will undoubtedly thrash Tonga. Cannot wait!
Tomorrow we grab our camper van to drive to Dunedin to watch mighty England against Argentina! I am beyond excited!!!!!Wahoooooooooooooooooo!!!

Much love x x

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