Fiji

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We both woke up bright and early at 6.30am to get ready for our transfer to the Yassawa Flyer ferry.

By 8.15am we were at the port checking in our luggage and again everything felt so well organised. In no time we‘d been given our vouchers and directed to the boat. We went upstairs and sat outside in the bright sunshine. I hoped that Matt would be ok. He had taken some seasickness tablets we’d bought from the pharmacy at Auckland airport the previous day, and he was wearing his wrist bands so there wasn‘t much more we could do.

It wasn’t far into the journey that we realised we were slowly melting. The sun was right above us and there was no shade over most of the outside deck - the two rows of seats that were shaded were taken, as were all of the inside seats.

The ferry stopped close to various island resorts and a small boats came up along side bringing their leaving guests and collecting their new ones.

We passed islands of all sorts of different shapes and sizes. Some looked like pure island paradise and had a wide circle of golden sand, with a lush green interior. The ones in the distance looked like they were floating above the sea in the heat.

After a couple of hours, just as we were beginning to give up on finding any shade, some people got off from the undercover section and we jumped into their seats for the last twenty minutes of the journey. It felt lovely and cool at last and we could finally start to enjoy the trip.

When we arrived at the Octopus stop we pointed out our bags to the crew and jumped onto the small boat that came to collect us. It was easier said than done as it was quite choppy out at sea and the boats weren’t tied together. There were eight of us arriving in total and a few minutes later we arrived on shore and surprisingly didn’t even have to get our feet wet as the boat went right up the beach. As we got out onto the soft golden sand a group of staff greeted us by singing a traditional welcome song. The guys in the boat told us to shout ‘Bula’ as loudly as we could at them when they’d finished to show our appreciation, so we did. A lady came down the beach to meet us and took us through the resort to the side of the bar. We were brought a cool drink and she went through some of the resort details with us before we were taken to our rooms.

We’d booked a Garden Bure (pronounced Buray). It was a detached bungalow in it’s own small garden with a hammock. It was all made using traditional materials - the roof was made of palm leaves and wood bound together with twine. It was even more rustic than the other places we’d stayed so far. Inside we had a double bed and a single bed. The bathroom was split in half; the shower section was open air. We could tell we’d have plenty of creepy crawlies to step over during our stay. We’d have to remember to keep the bathroom door closed otherwise mosquitos and lizards would be able to come right in and it would make the screens on the windows completely pointless.

The weather was hot and immediately we put the ceiling fan on in the hope that it would cool down the air a bit. The fans in the other places had done a great job but this one just seemed to move the air around a bit rather than actually creating a breeze.

We felt we’d had far too much sun on the boat, and we were still tired from the long trip from Raro to Fiji, so we hung out in our bure until lunchtime when we popped back to the restaurant. We’d paid for an inclusive food package which meant we got breakfast, lunch and dinner provided - you had to buy it as there was nowhere else to eat on the island. The restaurant was full of big tables seating eight people and it had a floor of sand. There was a big chalk board menu so we had plenty to choose from; I ordered a bowl of Thai chicken curry and Matt had a bowl of linguine with smoked marlin and tomato sauce. The service was excellent and within two minutes of ordering our meals were on the table, and the portions sizes were massive. I can see we won’t be losing any weight while we’re staying here! It’s not at all what we were expecting.

With our bellys full, we went back to our bure to play scrabble for the afternoon as it was too hot to do anything else.

I was right about the creepy crawlies, as I stepped off the bed to put on my sandles at one point there was a lizard right next to them. He scurried off at lightening speed when I almost stepped on him. On the bathroom floor were ants. These were much bigger than the ones we’d seen in the Cooks and Tahiti and they looked like they could give you a nip. I decided it would be a good idea to keep my sandles on, and definitely keep a torch by my bedside in case I needed to get up in the night - there was no way I was going to walk to the bathroom in the dark without knowing what animal or insect I might be about to step on!

We’d found out about Octopus on the internet and it had received great reviews. It is a resort, but with a focus on supporting the local community. They suggest that guests donate $1 per day (about 35p) to their local childrens fund that pays for the schooling of all the children on the island. Any money donated is matched dollar for dollar by the resort. Any left over funds go towards other local village projects. Essentially this one small resort seems to give the island all the economy it needs to survive. They even do trips into all of the different villages and again you can invest in the community by buying souvenirs from the village market stalls. If we were going to stay in any ‘resort‘, this is the type we can handle.

We showered in the outdoors, which was a real novelty, and then headed out to the bar area to see what was going on. Many people had already arrived for their early evening cocktails. There was a real mixture of people around - young families, couples, groups of friends - which was great as we didn‘t want a place that was full of just young backpackers. I think news of the good reviews and the good value of the place obviously travels far.

We sat on a couple of sunloungers on the beach and watched the waves crashing on the beach. This time we had no turquoise lagoon. The sea came right up to the wide, steep stretch of yellow sand. As you walked down to the water you sank right into the sand up to your ankles making it difficult to walk. From our loungers we had a great view of the crabs who were out in force just in front of us, scouring the sea line for food. As waves came in they darted up the beach out of the way. Every now and again a rougue wave came in that bit further and we were determined to see at least one crab get caught out, but they seemed to instinctively know when to make a run for it. We watched them dashing backwards and forwards for ages and then headed to the bar for a drink.

We’d been worried that drinks would be expensive, but were pleased to see that a beer was about £1.50 a bottle and cocktails during happy hour were under £4. Also, filtered water was free from the bar and you could even fill up your water bottles with it so didn’t have to buy it which was a nice change.

Around 6.30pm there was supposed to be a welcoming ceremony for new guests so we hung around waiting for it to begin. We saw some of the village elders setting up a bowl of kava (their traditional drink that is brought out for ceremonies). We got distracted and chatted for a while, when we looked back a ceremony had started with a group of guests sitting around clapping and chanting. We’d missed the start so sat back and watched rather than trying to join in mid way through. They each had to clap once, say Bula, drink the drink down in one gulp and then clap three times.

The evenings entertainment began just before dinner. It was ‘beach party’ night and it meant lots of traditional dancing all around the swimming pool. Amongst the locals was a tiny blonde boy, who we suspected was the owners son. As the men were doing their angry warrior dance, he tried to copy every move and had the crowd in fits of laughter. He was obviously loving every minute of it and kept running up to the other warriors and giving them big hugs.

By the time this was over we were starving, as we could smell the bbq cooking all the way through the show. As soon as it finished we queued up and stacked our places high with salads, meat and fish.

After dinner we decided to head back to our room. We were still tired after our long journey and we didn’t feel like joining in the beach party games that were due to take place. They had a big screen up by the pool showing Kung Fu Panda for the kids and as our bure was so close to the main resort area we could hear it from our room. We were pleased we’d brought ear plugs as we’d heard they were going to show a rugby match between Australia and New Zealand at 10pm so without them there wouldn’t have been much chance of sleep.

As soon as we turned out the light we were both asleep instantly.

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