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Published: November 12th 2006
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Natadola Beach
It looks amazing, it's really dull So there I was sat in the lobby of the Nadi Bay Resort waiting with anticipation for the Feejee Experience bus to arrive. I hadn't really had the best time of it yet in Fiji and Nadi certainly hadn't set my world alight so I was filled with a real mix of hope and trepidation. When it did arrive I got on and there were only three others on there, it had only made one stop so far and I was the only person getting on at Nadi Bay so I was there with three others who already knew each other, Justin from Southend and a couple Kev and Sarah from Greenwich. We carried on around and picked up an Aussie couple, whose names escape me, Pauline from Leicester, and Rosa from Madrid. We stopped down by the beach where Te, our guide, and JP, our insane driver, introduced themselves and gave us a little information. We then went in to Nadi town where we got off and did some shopping for lunch, and where I also bought my sula - Fijian sarong. The conversation was all a bit tentative, where you from? What d'you do? Where have you been? For
Malomalo Village
Our guide Te with a little relative of his from the village how long? etc. and I ended up on my own after a short while and had a look round the market.
Back on the bus we headed down the coast to Natadola Beach, an absolutely stunning beach that has absolutelty no redeeming qualities. That's a little harsh but it is off the beaten track and was completely empty and when the wind picked up, and it did, a lot, it was like being hit with a sand blaster for an hour. Conversation began to flow a bit, and we retired to the cover of the trees for our lunch. We lost the Aussie couple immediately as they went off to a place called Robinson Crusoe Island where I'm told they have bucket showers, enough said. We were joined in their place by Gareth, a loud rugby playing welshman from Essex, who had just come from Robinson Crusoe and from whom I learnt about the bucket showers.
After lunch we moved on to the Sagitoka sand dunes to go sandboarding. People were starting to talk a bit now and the conversation had become a little more informal and relaxed so it was quite a fun thing to do at
Sagatoka Sand Dunes
Flying down that on a sandboard... sweet that point. When we arrived we jokingly asked if we'd be boarding down one particularly steep slope, to which Te replied very unjokingly yes. Apart from the severity of the angle of the slope there was the little matter of the barbed-wire fence at the bottom which was part of the whole "are we going to do that one" joke. We all stood around watching as Te and JP removed it to the side and everyone nervously looked at one another to see who would go first. As it was it was decided by who managed to get to the top first. What started as a difficult climb to being with turned into a Herculean task when you neared the top as the final few feet were at over an 80 degree angle in loose sand, it was like trying to climb a wall as it collapsed around you. Once at the top people collapsed onto their boards, partly due to the fact their lungs were splitting open and partly due to the fact that once over the hilt you came face to face with the same rushing wind as at Natadola Beach and if you didn't want to lose
Mango Bay
Local villagers doing a wardance, shit scary. your board - which you didn't as it was the only way down - you had to pin it to the floor. I was the third person to go down, I think, and as I did I veered off to the right slightly, hit bump and launched and had to make a split second decision to take a tumble off the board or risk hitting the barbed wire on the side. Obviously I let go of the board, crashed into the sand creating a little sand explosion and covering myself head to toe, and rose to applause for the dive, not the ride down. After the people's second attempt, which during the climb I almost fainted several times and was convinced I was having a heart attack at least once, and Kev's foolish third attempt we got back onto the bus and quietly sat very tired, some sleeping, on the ride to Mango Bay Resort; Kev had to collapse on a seat at the back after his ill advised third run.
Mango Bay is "Fiji's first Flashpacker resort" and whilst I don't really know what constitutes a flashpacker resort I certainly get the gist of it after staying there.
Mango Bay ii
This is the little'un going nuts on the dancefloor To say it was stunning would be a criminal understatement. You'll have to wait to see some of the pictures but it basically is about a acre of land with all the dorm buildings, all four of them, set apart and built in a traditional looking Fijian bure (hut) style. All the bunk beds are draped with opaque mosquito nets to give a semblence of privacy and the bar/restaurant is built opening out onto a private beach with a pool and snorkelling and kayaking available. This all costs less than ten pounds a night! On top of that we were treated to a kava ceremony - more later on kava - and a war dance by some of the locals by the nearby village. This was absolutely superb, and when the guys with the spears and clubs were doing their dance they really involved we who were sitting at the front. The spearmen, in front of whom I was sitting, lunged to within inches of your face every so often and you're too scared to move or even take a photo for fear of putting them off and getting a spear through the eye. Imagine the ferocity of a haka but with weapons and actually right in your face, it was absolutely awesome. After the wardancing and others they danced with all the crowd and we went through in a conga to the dancefloor with all the locals. One of the kids who had been crying and clapping completely out of beat during the performance came into his own. He can't have been older than 7 or 8 and he latched onto Kev in the conga and then started going for it in the dancefloor. He managed to get a large crowd of the tourists around him cheering him on and some of the slightly older lads tried to join in too, to get in on the act. After they'd gone the Feejee Experience lot stood around chatting for a while a slowly drifted off, Gareth went off to the security booth in search of more kava and I ended up with Kev and Sarah as the last three left chatting. All in all it was an absolutely brilliant start to the tour, a great first day that completely threw out all the fears I'd had the night before.
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