Day 70: Natadola beach‏

---

Today we decided to stop off at Natadola beach on our way back up to Nadi. It's a spectacular beach that runs along a half moon bay. The waves are pretty big and slam against the beach in quite a scary fashion. I really wanted to do the horse-riding here and after some persuasion from Joe and his horse Snow White, I took to the saddle. I'd say Snow White was 14.2h and a slim build (gentle on the thighs), she was an albino and had some scarred spots on her face from the sun. We had a nice 40 min walk along the beach with the odd trot when she felt like it. Joe, her owner, kept James occupied with Rugby stories (apparently he played international sevens for Fiji in 2010 - we'll google him to check!). Apparently a horse costs F$800 in Fiji (£320) and nothing to keep - as they just tie them up in fields at the side of the road! There were some cute foals around too. We headed back to Nadi to our hostel and were super excited about going out to the Yasawa islands tomorrow.

Bailey's bit: While we were waiting for a taxi to take us from the beach to the bus stop, a guy, who had been kite surfing, stopped and took pity on the two backpackers standing aimlessly on the beach. Hugh, then unbelievably offered to take us to Nadi (as he was going that way!), it turned out he was a pilot for Air Pacific (Fiji Airways) and also a Fijiian national! We had a chat about various topics along the way and when he dropped us at our hostel he refused our offers of compensation saying we 'pay his wages', a true gentleman!

Daily mileage: 6 ran around the peninsula to the national stadium, I would say it is comparable to Stockport counties ground so a capacity of about 15-20k although it looked as though a lot of work was being done to it. With a 7am departure tomorrow I don't think I will be running for the next few days unless I do about 30 loops of the island!

---