Fiji Time


Advertisement
Fiji's flag
Oceania » Fiji » Yasawa Islands
August 27th 2011
Published: November 20th 2011
Edit Blog Post

Having left Santiago on the 25th August, in a feat of time travel, we arrive in Auckland 2 days later. We arrive at 4am and have 10 and a half hours to fill until our flight out to Fiji. Since we have no time restrictions and we haven’t been among so many English speakers for a long time, we find ourselves chatting to anyone and everyone as we make our way through customs and security. We hunt out a little quiet spot where we can base ourselves before we are allowed to check in for our flight. We pass the time with a bit of people watching, plane watching, snoozing, reading the RWC promotional leaflets and eating Subway. We also discover that if you visit all of the duty free shops and stalls you can get yourself a decent amount of free alcoholic refreshment!

We fly with the Fijian airline and are looked after by some seriously chilled-out air stewards in Hawaiian-style shirts. The chilled-out, laid-back vibe continues when we arrive at the airport and our transfer to the hostel is an hour late… it turns out that this is quite normal and is just our first experience of “Fiji time”. We arrive at the hostel in time for some dinner and find a spot in the neighbouring bar to watch Australia beat the All Blacks in the Tri-nations final. The Kiwi’s in the bar insist that they are merely saving themselves for a World Cup win… we’ll watch this space!

The following morning we have an early transfer to the dock where we hop on the big, yellow ‘Yasawa Flyer’ for our trip to the first island on our island-hopping itinerary. As we make our way to the island of Waya Laiai, we stop to let people off/on at other islands including Bounty Island, the home of Celebrity Love Island and several other “party islands”… we feel very old at this stage, but seeing the “youngsters” sporting serious hangovers, sitting in the scorching sun and trying to find their sea legs makes us all the more grateful that we are heading for the small resort of Nagalia for a relaxing first stop.

The resort consists of just 5 bures (wooden beach huts), a small beach, lots of coconut trees and several hammocks to lounge in. We fill the time sunbathing, reading and, apart from a minor hammock incident when Cat catapulted Kev out of a hammock and down a 6ft drop to the beach, we had a really relaxing and chilled-out time. One of the ladies from the village helped Kev collect coconuts and cut them open for him with a serious machete… this turned out to be the start of Kev’s mild obsession with coconut trees which continued for the rest of our stay in Fiji.

Our next stop is Nubua Lodge on Nacula Island where we stayed in a little thatched bure right on the beachfront. We are invited to take a walk into the village to meet the villagers and their Chief. Fijian’s live within a strict hierarchical system with the village chiefs receiving the respect of all. Having been briefed on the strict etiquette for meeting the chief, including instructions to only talk when you are invited to and for only one person in the room to stand up at a time, we all sit crossed-legged on the floor waiting for his arrival feeling a little apprehensive. You can imagine our surprise when a very chilled out ‘dude’ in a Fijian rugby top and brightly coloured sarong rocked up to the hut. We all went up one at a time to shake his hand, ask questions and make a small donation to the village. Having met the Chief we were asked to visit the widow’s market, where the widow’s and their kids sell souvenirs to the visiting tourists. We’re not sure how much of a true Fijian experience we had, but it was a fairly interesting insight into island life beyond the resorts. On our walk back from the village we stop at the little green hut on the beach that serves up afternoon tea with chocolate and lemon-drizzle cake which we tuck into looking out to the beautiful blue sea.

Our next island stop is Tevewa Island and the rather aptly named Coral View resort. The approach to the shore was pretty tricky. The landing boat dropped us far out in the shallow, coral-filled bay and we made our way to shore on a seemingly never-ending set of slippery stepping stones precariously perched on the seabed. Let’s just say it wasn’t a glamorous bond girl style approach to the beach… more like something from the Ministry of Silly walks!

We were welcomed with the traditional ’Bula Malaya’ song, which is a song of welcome ending with an emphatic “Bula” shout. Wherever you go in Fiji you will hear the holler of “Bula” (pronounced Boolah) which is a general greeting meaning anything from hello, goodbye, welcome, bless you and much more.

We even found Bula spelt out in shells on our bed as we made our way into a lovely bure on the shore of Tevewa island. We enjoyed a nice dinner with a good crowd of backpackers and even treated ourselves to a cold beer on the decking by the sea… bliss! In the morning we booked a taxi boat to take us to the “Blue Lagoon”, named after the film starring Brooke Shields which was shot on location here. We, along with one other guest from our resort, were the only people at the beach and had the lagoon to ourselves. We spent the whole morning swimming in the beautifully clear water where we could see the coral and fish without the need for a snorkel.

Our next stop was Korovou on Naviti Island. Again, we were welcomed onshore to the sounds of 'Bula Malaya'. Having missed lunch, Kev chummed up with the chef who gave him free pancakes which went down a treat. We spent the rest of afternoon in the pool, taking a stroll along the beach and finally watching the sunset outside our bure. This island was a little livelier than the others we stayed at and in the evening we were treated to some fire dancing which took place on the timber decking area (minor fire hazard?!) and was conducted by men dressed in grass skirts (major fire hazard?!). Our dinner of fresh fish was accompanied by an acoustic guitar set by a fab singer which made for a lovely evening.

We spend the next morning chilling out by the pool, but also get involved in the daily fish feed on the beach and a crab racing competition. Having picked out the most athletic looking crustaceans, they were labelled and placed in the centre of a target drawn out in chalk on the floor. We’re not sure if it helped or not, but we were told that whistling would encourage them out of their shells and over to the finishing line.

Cat the crab won the first race, but was unfortunately eliminated from the second race as she just went round in a giant circle and never crossed the finish line. Kev the crab was the eventual winner after race 3. You can imagine how delighted Kev was, until he discovered his prize… a personal rendition of the Bula dance performed by the losing competitors (including Cat… to her dismay!), which is a tribal/Macarena style dance involving a lot of foot stomping and shouts of “Bula”.

Our next island stop was Drawaqa island and the Barefoot Lodge resort. This was the most basic lodge we stayed in and had limited electricity and water supplies. However the resort had all inclusive activities and we were provided with towels and soaps (which we later find the rats eating!). We go for an evening fishing trip with the captain of the island’s sailing boat where we tried our hand at trawling and hand-line fishing as the sun went down. Kev caught a big Gar fish while trawling which I have included a photo of, so when he tells you about the time he ‘caught a 5ft shark‘, you’ll know the real story behind it! Cat caught absolutely nothing/nada/zilch, but Kev allowed her to be photographed with one of our less impressive hauls.

In the evening, before dinner, we are invited to take part in a Kava ceremony, which involves drinking muddy, mouth-numbing water made from the ground root of the Kava plant. The sailing crew were very entertained to watch as we knocked back the pungent mixture from the shorn half-shell of a coconut, and were pleased when we declined seconds as it meant there was more for them to finish later that evening. The sedative and anaesthetic effects of the drink were clear to see in their faces as the evening went on.

Our last morning in the Yasawa islands started with a early rise to board the landing boats which would take us out into the bay just as the tide started to turn. As the water funnelled out between Drawaqa and the neighbouring island, large numbers of plankton drifted through which in turn attracted giant manta rays to come and feed. We spent around and hour in the water watching the rays move gracefully and effortlessly through the water with small flicks of their giant wings, and collect food in their enormous, wide-open mouths.

We spend the rest of the day kayaking around the island and exploring the surrounding coral reefs from the surface. In the afternoon we board the big yellow boat for the last time and made our way back to Nadi from where we will catch our flight to New Zealand.

Rugby World Cup 2011 here we come…


Additional photos below
Photos: 26, Displayed: 26


Advertisement



Tot: 0.102s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0468s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb