Fiji

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31.1.12

Another rainy day! Only 1 boat running today instead of 3 so we were on the 11 oclock departure to Bounty Island. As we were getting off the catamaran onto the smaller boat to take us to the island we were greeted with 'why are you coming to the island? we have sent everyone back to the mainland as there is a cyclone hitting later tonight' That sent everyone into a massive panic. There was 7 of us and none of us were told about the cyclone! We arrived on the island and the manager showed us on the map where the cyclone was and where the island was and it wasn't far away! We then asked if there was any way getting back to the mainland. They said no but they will try. It turned out that luckily there was anothe catamaran passing in a couple of hours. It was already very windy and raining and sea very rough! The manager was saying that it wasn't safe on the island and with a grade 5 cyclone (the highest) on the way it would be dangerous. We finally arrived at the mainland which was a big relief and we checked into a hostel which was higher up as there was flooding in Nadi. For tea that night with the other guys that got evacuated we went for a massive McDonalds.

1.2.12

We all woke up and the roof was still on the hostel which was good. We phoned the airport to see if our flight was still going ahead but they couldn't tell us anything. We wanted to go the airport anyway to try and get our money back for the nights stay that we got evacuated from. The flight was still on time so fingers crossed it would stay that way. We spent all morning in the Awesome Adventures office on the phone to different people to get a refund which we ended up getting, at least something good came out of the last day. We then had to go to another office at the port to get the money credited. That meant jumping on a few public buses to get there but its all an experience. That evening we turned up for our flight and found out it was on time! The cyclone hadn't hit as early as expected. We headed back to Brisbane where Tony kindly picked us up from the airport and we stayed at his again M x

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