Blogs from Yasawa Islands, Fiji, Oceania - page 6

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 ... read more

28.1.12 Sophie's shoulders were burnt so we stayed in the shade all morning reading on the hammocks. One of the workers then showed everyone how to peel a coconut and then crack the hard casing with your hands. I had a go of both and managed to crack the coconut first time and drink the water inside. He then scraped out all the coconut into a bowl added water then pupled it all together and drained it to make coconut milk. He then took some of the shredded coconut, added sugar and vanilla essence put it in the oven and made coconut lolly. It was really nice. We had our lunch then the Bula fairwell song as we got back on the wooden boat to get back on the yellow catamaran to take us to our ... read more

26.1.2012 Finally a nice day, the sun is out! Late start today after only getting up at 11, so we had missed breakfast and was time for lunch. We then went snorkelling on teh coral just off the beach which was amazing. Blue star fish and hundreds of bright coloured fish and coral. We took a few pictures with our underwater disposable camera (off kate for xmas, thanks). We really enjoyed the snorkelling even though the masks leaked ever two minutes. We had an ice cream and a doze in teh shade on the beach. Then ventured to another beach where we saw loads of crabs and sea snails. It was so humid, the sun wasn't even on us and we were sweating loads.Michael ended up getting eaten to shreads by sand flies, we counted at ... read more

Regretting the back-to-back-movie-and-tetris-athon that Richard Branson provided us with on our first leg of the flight, we briefly touched down in LA like zombies, our body clocks all over the shop. Unsuprisingly we were all asleep before take off for the LA- Nadi 10.5 hr journey and arrived in Fiji earrrrlllyy morning to some very cliche (but very welcoming) men in grass skirts playing the guitar and singing. We would soon learn that this would become an arrival gesture for each island we landed on (we were pros at the 'bula' dance after a couple of days). We were quickly briefed on the concept of 'fiji tiiiiimmmee' which basically means 'your boat may or may not arrive in plus or minus one hour from this time.' It's brilliant. Everyone is so chilled out which is very ... read more

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 ... read more