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Paradise at last.


I'd been a bit cheeky and already decided that where ever we went, I didn't want to meet a bunch of drunken travelers. I have no problem with people sunning and drinking themselves to death - I'm from Bournemouth, it's a profession. I have issues in drinking with them and spending £1k on a ticket to do so when I could stay at home and do it every weekend with perks.


Nananu-I-Ra was my idea of heaven after the torture of travel. We buzzed across the short straight of water and began to pull into a bay. In the distance I saw a jetty and some buildings. Now in my experience of life, those building would be of a resort, but not ours. I've always managed to find the most disappointing place when I travel and lady luck ignores me more than a dirty leaper with herpes. To my surprise, and relief, the little area of bungalows turned out to be our place! Hurrah!



Bethams Beach Cottages. They were cottages, on a beach and even if they weren't owned by Betham, they were good enough for me. As the island has no power it's all generator run. Rain water is drinking/bathing water so use it wisely and cash points were left on the mainland. This is isolation. Even better than the lack of anything western, was a lack of people - I'm sure Bethams bank manager will tell you otherwise. We saw in 4 days, 8 people. 8! We snorkled when and where we wanted, walked along the back beach in total isloation. We could truly feel at rest.


I've always found something good out of everything bad. My body clock was a mess. Up at 4.30am and back in bed by 6pm. The bonus is that I saw every sunrise, sunset and minute of sunlight in the middle. But this has more relevance later...


After our 3 days for island life (for a lovely F$100 per night private double) we decided to head east. Having not planned anything, or booked anything more, it was up to us what to do. I'd seen a few piccies of Ovalau and decided that I wanted some of that. Looking at the maps, bus timetables and anything else we could find, we got on a bus and headed further round the north coast on a "sealed road". "Sealed" means "road" apparently. Kings highway is still being built, but at a snails pace. 6 hours of beautiful panoramic landscapes of rolling hills, waterfalls, green fields and picturesque villages. We past thoiugh villages where everyone who saw our white faces would have a massive grin and a big wave for us. Coconut stalls, banana stalls and kava stalls all littered the side of every village street.


By the time we'd had enough of the bus, the book had suggested there was a stop that had accommodation (if required) and a bus every 2 hours to the docks over to Ovalau. Jules was more than happy to get off the bus as only an hour earlier we'd crossed a bridge "Speed" style (Keanu Reeves not narcotics) and narrowly missed an oncoming log truck at a blind corner. Some more food and a conversation later and we'd been told that there was a ferry in about 2 hours - Taxi!


The docks were literally that. A dock, with a shop and a small amount of people gathered around waiting for the boat. We weren't even sure if there was room, tickets, anything!

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