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Published: March 19th 2007
Coral
Photo from our snorkelling session of the beautiful Fijian coral, courtesy of Kat and Mike!
Michael Sneddon FIJI TIME!
Im posting this from New Zealand, blog is about 1 week behind where I am. After a jam packed 2 weeks in Fiji this post will be huge! Sadly though my camera deleted all my photos from the first week, so will put some up as soon as I get sent some replacements from people I met - still got photos from the 2nd week though...
After a nice little 10 hour flight, and losing the date of 2nd March 2007 forever (what happens when you go from -8 hours GMT to +12) I arrived in Fiji. I arrived with no money and no plans - so first stop was the cash machine 😉 I had heard that the best thing to do when arriving in Nadi (pronounced Nandi) international airport was to get out of Nadi - and also that island hopping was a good idea, so I booked on a ferry, planning to spend 4 nights in a group of islands called the Mananucas - Mana Island first then Beachcomber. I would also have liked to visit the Yasawas further north, but the ferry to get there and back was too expensive.
Arriving
Beach Volleyball
Beach volleyball court on our own private little stretch of beach on Mana in Fiji it had seemed warm but not too warm - this changed when I hit Mana, arriving in scorching sunshine and temperatures probably in the mid-30s. My first impressions weren't too great, although the beach was beautiful with white sands and crystal clear water, the place seemed to be a tourist resort! Luckily this wasnt the case and Mana soon became my favourite place during my time in Fiji. In fact some of the first people I had a beer with were the Fijian lads Leroy and John, both diving instructors and both partial to a beer or two! On the first night I enjoyed some friendly banter with them, and another Fijian Jo, some sing-a-longs - both were never far from their treasured guitar - and of course some Fiji Bitter - the main beer on the island - which is drank 'Taki' style where a bottle is shared until it is empty. (Fiji Bitter is the least Bitter Bitter I have ever tasted - it's basically a lager!) This would become a familiar pattern on Mana! For a reason I cant remember, the three of us also began a game of shouting 'Bullshit!' when walking past one
Fijian Dancing
Jo Jerry and Patrick performing a fast footed Meke dance, on Mana another...very random!
The dorms were very basic, but having spent the last 4 weeks in an RV, having a toilet, sink and shower seemed like luxury to me! The next day I got to know a bit more about some of the people there, the majority of whom were also on Round the World tickets (Fiji is a standard stop) but most of whom had come from the other direction... I went on an island hopping tour, exploring some of the other little islands around in the Mananucas, stopping at several other cool wee islands. I also went snorkelling a couple of times - a must in Fiji due to the beautiful coral there, which was stunning. While snorkelling alongside a nice English couple I met, also travellers - Katherine and Michael - Kat tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at something - I thought she was pointing at a group of fish... When we came up for air she was excited and asked if I'd seen 'it'. I didnt really know what she was talking about, then Michael came up for air and they both told me I had been swimming alongside a 1m reef shark -
Small Island
A random small island from our island hopping trip - I was supposed to be pretending to be looking outwards with my hand on my forehead I think! I was totally oblivious! That day turned out to be a lot more painful for me, it wasnt really sunny - in fact it was very cloudy, you could barely tell where the sun was - so I hadnt put any suncream on... The result was I ended up very sunburnt, especially my back and shoulders from snorkelling! By the time I left Fiji, I had peeled of at the nose, forehead, shoulders and top of my back - not good news when the next destination, NZ, is supposed to be the worst place in the world for UV rays! (Also you soon realise how important shoulders are to 'backpacking'!)
The majority of evenings the resort staff arranged entertainment. The first night there were party games, I ended up winning a game which involved bursting balloons as fast as possible with a partner in various 'dodgy' positions! My prize - a free beer, so I wasnt complaining! We also had a limbo competition that night, which I did surprisingly well in - however the Fijian staff - Patrick in particular, who was running the party games, put us all to shame by limboing under a stick which I could
Mana...Again!
Kat, Me, Andy and Mike as Andy was about to jump on the boat and leave Mana barely get under in normal circumstances! Another night Patrick, Jerry, Ici, Leroy and Jo some of the other staff performed some Fijian dancing for us - called a Meke I think - which was very cool and involved some fast footwork! We had a Kava ceremony one evening, where we were introduced to the Fiji custom of a sevusevu - a welcoming ceremony when you visit a village - more on that later. The food in Mana was also, with a few exceptions, top-notch! One night we had food that had been cooked in a Lovo - a traditional Fiji oven, which is in a hole in the ground... However I wasnt feeling particularly well that night, so didnt get the chance to fully enjoy it! We also had 'Kasava' quite often in Mana, which is a dry potato like vegetable grown in Fiji - not particularly that great, too dry!
Almost every night in Fiji I had some Kava - this is their national drink, referred to as 'grog'. It looks and tastes like muddy water, it is made from pepper root so can make your tongue quite numb. It is made in a large bowl called a
Kava
Here it is... saviour of all hangovers! Tanoa and drank in coconut bowls - and the drinking of it is usually celebrated by a lot of clapping! I had been warned to be careful, but didnt find that Kava did much, it kind of makes you more relaxed and a little numb but nothing much more... Even when I got Jerry to make an extra strong batch of it, with 7 bags (a normal bowl is usually about 3) I could feel a little numb but not much more... It is however the BEST hangover cure! I never had a hangover the whole time in Fiji thanks to drinking some Kava the night before! On Mana, Jerry, Jo an Irish couple and I would enjoy a lot of Kava before we settled down at the bar... Good times!
Kava sums up the Fijian attitude; Fijians all seem very relaxed and very laid back. One of many phrases we quickly learnt on Mana was 'It's Fiji Time!'. This would be said to you when you were getting stressed or anxious: relax, chill out, dont worry about it - it's Fiji Time! We certainly took this to spirit on Mana, where I relaxed with everyone and taught them
Kat and Mike
Here they are... saviour of photos! Wizard - after which we spent many an hour playing it, the main Wizard fanatics being Katherine, Michael, Andy (also from England), Gunner (from Germany), the scandinavian lads from Norway and Sweden and the 'Dutchies' (what I called the guys from Holland!).
I had originally planned on spending 2 nights in Mana but stayed for much longer - every day I would say 'just the one more night' (sound familiar? Just like Toronto in the New Year, see that blog!) and ended up having 4 'last nights' while I was there. On my last night, the third one, I stayed an extra day as Jerry promised me a beach volleyball tournament, and he made good with his promise! We had a 2 on 2 tournament and, despite adding to my sunburn and almost dying in the heat, I had a great day - one of my favourites! I played with a Fijian called Saia (pronounced Si) and we were undefeated, despite some close games! However there was a Swedish pair - Adam and Bjorn - who were very good, we didnt play them, but I think they were the best there - great to watch! I was also impressed
Goodbye Mana!
The staff all come out to play us a leaving song, all great people and a top notch place to stay... with some of the Fijian volleyball - they are very good. I later learned that basically only 3 sports are played on Fiji - Rugby, Football and Volleyball - in that order. (Sounds like paradise to you Dave!?)
My final final night on Mana, was spent staying up drinking (after a Kava session with Jerry and Jo of course...) with the Irish girls - Laura and Nicola - and singing songs with John until the early hours of the morning! After the staff all came out and sang us a couple of leaving songs, I eventually left Mana to head to Beachcomber island, which I had been told by many many people was the place to be in Fiji... I have to disagree though. Beachcomber was nice, but not as nice as Mana or several other places on the mainland. Basically it is a beach and a bar on a tiny island. The staff are friendly but there is much more of a line drawn between staff and visitors, they didnt really join in the fun like on Mana... I think if I were to sum up Beachcomber I would say fun but over hyped and over priced (at
Sigatoka Sand Dunes
The dunes just before camera broke so not the best quality photo... least double the prices anywhere else in Fiji for everything...)
Nonetheless I still had a good time there, I joined in with a Kiwi group who were holidaying together, all from a running club called the Hash House Harriers. HHH is apparently a huge worldwide running club but I had never heard of it! Anyway they have mottos like 'we're a running club with a drinking problem' (sound familiar Strathclyde people?!) so it was fairly easy to see how I got along with them so well. Another HHH welcoming is that everyone is given, at some point in their early runs, a nickname. So the 8 I met were as follows: Mark (FUCT), Steve (Whores Piss), Sue (Hooka), Heather (Revs), Mellisa (Lube Job), Dave (Pit Bull), Sandy (Cums Twice), Rick (Ice Prick) - most of the nicknames sound dodgy but have relatively innocent explanations - for example Sandy is called Cums Twice because she came to 2 runs but was then never seen again for a long time.... Anyway, I was christianed Budgie Smuggler! The explanation was they were laughing at how well I had managed to remember (both) their names so were going to call me parrot then
Raintree Lodge
View from the Raintree Lodge restaurant, just outside Suva got on to budge and settled on budgie smuggler - which is apparently a make of speedos in New Zealand!
On Beachcomber I, as well as a few other new recruits and a Hasher from America (Electrolux), took part in a 'run'. An HHH run is very simple: piss (beer) at the start, a piss-stop halfway through, then more piss at the end! Since Beachcomber was so small (you could walk round the island in 10 min) we walked a sort of maze of a track, our piss stop being a little cocktail halfway through. At the end of a run a circle is formed and the Grand Master (GM) - FUCT in this case - hands out 'fines' (drinking punishments) for various offences - such as being a visitor or saying or doing something stupid! A song is then sung, the person drinks their fine to a chorus of 'Down down down down...' and everyone has a good time!
So both my nights on Fiji were spent hanging around (aka drinking) with the Hashers. The bar had some ok entertainment, usually a live band and a couple of dances for everyone to join in with. I also
Coia Suva
Trekking through the Coia Suva rainforest! went for a drunken swim one night at 12am, with Ben (another holidaying Kiwi) and Betina (a German traveller) which was good fun! After some good times, a quick game of beach volleyball and spending a lot of money it was time to hit the mainland and tour the more real side of Fiji.
Arriving back in Nadi I jumped on the local bus - riding these is an experience in itself! The buses are usually packed - as they are so cheap (I went round the whole island, about 10hrs drive for $30 - 10 quid!) - some of them have TVs where they put on films, airport style - but dont let this fool you, they are very dodgy vehicles! The usually have no windows (when it rains a tarpaulin is pulled over them), cracks in the main windscreen, no seatbelts and struggling engines! Going up a hill you are often literally reduced to 5 mph! They are also maniacs when overtaking, they will overtake on tiny straights as the custom in Fiji is, if you see a car coming towards you which is overtaking, to slow down and let them do it - not like back
The 'Tarzan Pool'
Great fun swinging down the vines into the pool! home where people sometimes even speed up and get very angry!
However, the good thing (apart from price) about the buses is if you want a bus you can wave one down anywhere - useful when you get into the more remote places... So I jumped on one of these, heading south round the border of the island on a road called the Queens Road, to a place called Sigatoka (pronounced Sing-a-toka - Fijian's seem to love a silent n in their words!) and stayed in a place just out of town called Club Massi which my friend Dawn had recommended - amongst many other things! I actually bumped into a group of Germans here I had met in Mana - Gunner and crew! The resort was very basic, no lights at night, so we played cards by candlelight, after a game of footie with the locals! It turned out the German guys just wanted to get stoned, which is not really my cup of tea, so I only spent the 1 night there...
The next day I checked out the Sigatoka Sand Dunes, walking across them, which were very cool. Afterwards I headed towards further east along
Me n Homer
Me n Homer enjoying the fresh water dips in Coia Suva the Queens Road, an area referred to as the Coral Coast, some of the nicest coast on the mainland. Before that though, I couldnt get into town from Club Massi as there were no buses that way on a Sunday. So this Fijian chap came out his back garden asking if he could help. I asked him to point me in the direction of a taxi, he went one step further and walked with me (about a mile or so) to a corner in the road, then told me to stand in the shade while he hailed me a taxi! To me this sums up Fijian people: they are unbelievably friendly, the most friendly and laid back people Ive met... Oh and they also all have really high pitch laughs, it's so funny when you hear this huge guy laugh in a high pitch squeaky tone!!
I stayed in a resort called the Beachhouse, which is famous as this is where Love Island (UK TV programme) was filmed - not that I watched this at all... It was a beautiful resort though, with it's own little white sandy beach - rare on the mainland - a cool pool and
Fijian Landscape
An idea of how green and hilly the Fijian landscape is... bar as well... And a beach volleyball court - which is where I headed to first! In the Beachhouse I bumped into more of the 'Mana crew' - a girl called Daniela, a traveller from Chile... My night there finished up quite messy, after a cracking game of 20-22 with some Swedish/Norwegian travellers (spreading the game of 20-22 around the world!) we decided to order a bottle of wine at last orders and play around the swimming pool drunk - good fun! Luckily for me, I had shared quite a few bowls of Kava with the hostel staff before I started drinking, so no hangover for me the next day!
I then went onwards to Fiji's capital, Suva. After a walk around Suva and some haggling in their many markets, I headed to just outside town - the Queens Road now becomes the Kings Road, as you swing north and start heading back towards Nadi - to stay in a place called the Raintree Lodge. It wasnt quite what I expected, the setting is fantastic - right on the edge of the Coia Suva Rainforest, but the place was dead and undergoing renovation - most importantly the brochure said
Draunivi Village
Elena, Cau Cau and their friend outside their village they had a beach volleyball court and they didnt! On top of all this I got charged a fortune (well, I mean 'fortune' by backpacker standards) for a dinner of 'Spaghetti with an onion flavoured sauce' which in fact was just spaghetti with some onions piled on top!!
After a quiet night in the Raintree Lodge I went into the Rainforest to walk one of the trails, which the guy told me was an 'easy' route... However I got a little lost and ended up walking down a crazy trail, which I had to take my shoes off to walk down as they kept getting stuck in the mud! Anyway, it was certainly worth it as the reward was a beautiful forest, full of waterfalls and pools to go swimming in. It was fun swimming in the middle of a rainforest, no-one else around - you felt like part of nature... And also I found a pool where you could swing Tarzan-Style on vines and into the pool - great fun! Coia Suva Rainforest turned out to be one of my favourite places in Fiji... Great fun!
After the rainforest I went into Suva as I had arranged
Nananu-ira Island
Nananu-ira island as we were coming into the resort to meet my new friend there - Cau Cau (pronounced Thai-o Thai-o) from a small village up north. Basically I had met him on the bus and he invited me to visit his village (typical Fijian friendliness), I thought why the hell not - sounds like something random and fun to do! Visiting a village is a must do on Fiji. You are considered the guest of honour and treated like God! But it is also important to make sure and adhere to their customs: you musnt wear a hat or sunglasses; you must cover your knees and most importantly you should bring some Kava as a gift! The kava is then used in a sevusevu ceremony (which I mentioned earlier) where the Chief welcomes you to his village, the ceremony involves a lot of chanting (in Fijian, so I could only understand the occasional 'Mich' and 'Scotland' dropped in), you drink Kava and talk with everyone - basically you end up telling your entire life story! Oh and after discovering Cau Cau's name I was excited by the idea of what extravagant name his Chief would be known by... turns out he's just called Mark!
The village, called
Kava Session
Surrounding the tanoa, sitting having a Kava session in Volli Volli Draunivi, was very small - about 500 people - and quite an experience, with animals running around left right and centre! They live in small huts - called Bure - which are quite close to one another, so you can hear your neighbours (especially when they are singing!). As I was staying overnight with Cau Cau at his daughter Elena's house, I brought a variety of further gifts, as Cau Cau's family was huge, he has 4 bros and 3 sisters and all 8 of them have siblings! So I had dinner with their large family, where I felt like a movie star as everyone watched my every move and barraged me with questions! It was funny, as they didnt all speak fluent English (or 'Scottish') so Cau Cau would translate into Fijian what I was saying! After Kava was consumed, some songs were sung we then headed for bed...I had a really good night and we left the next day, after a Fijian breakfast of Lemon Tea (made from fresh Lemon leaves) and crackers - a great experience and good fun!
On the bus from Draunivi further round the Kings Road to Rakiraki (like much of the Kings
The Sleeping Giants
View from Stoney Creek lodge of the Sleeping Giant mountains, after the rain had stopped and a rainbow had appeared! Road) was beaufiful - on either side of you there are lush green hills, full of trees, plants and wildlife - not really what you expect when you hear of Fiji is it? The bus also drove down some really dodgy roads, which seemed like they should be only for 4 wheel drive cars and across rickety wooden bridges - very scary!
From Rakiraki I went to a port where I got a ferry to a medium sized island only slightly off the mainland called Nananur-i-a (I still cannot prounounce it!) which was a very nice little island, with a small stretch of beach and I stayed in a well looked after resort. I did a spot of Kayaking around the island, having a look and then settled down to have a couple of beers with Chris and Tasha who, until I arrived, were the only 2 people staying in the resort! They are travellers from England and, after swapping tales, had told me off a good place, where they were staying next, just across on the mainland, called Volli Volli - with a name like that it sounded good to me (and yes, it does have a beach volleyball court 😉...
Volli Volli is a new resort on the north west tip, which is a really good place and well run by an Australian couple. I spent most of my time, aside from trying to get games of beach volleyball going, chilling out. At night there is great entertainment - we got to drink some Kava with some of the Fijian gang, there was a dancing competition which was like musical statues except when the music stopped the DJ would tell you to get into groups of 2/3/4 and in various 'dodgy' positions! Just before that was a crab race, where they make a circle in the sand and tipex numbers on to the crabs, first crab to touch the edge of the circle wins - my crab came in 4th though, so I didnt win a free beer 😞
After Volli Volli I went round to a resort called Stoney Creek which is beside a huge mountain, towards the Highlands. Nearby you can also go for a hot mud bath! My plan was to use the resorts free mountain bikes to explore the area, before settling in for a mud bath... However, it bucketed down with rain all afternoon, so that plan was thrown out the window... Ah well, you cant win them all! If I had more time in Fiji I would also have gone across to Viti Lanau, the other 'main' island, where apparently you can see the 'real' remote Fiji; however it is so remote that you should probably take a car there, as buses are not regular at all!
So it was then time to leave Fiji for New Zealand. I had enjoyed Fiji but was ready to leave, due to a combination of sunburn and the bugs on the island. I had been eaten alive during my time there! (Metaphorically, not literally of course - cannibalism hasnt been around on Fiji for a while...)
But I would be leaving with lots of happy memories and, best of all, without many hangovers thanks to the wonders of Kava!
In Fijian their word for cheers is 'Bula!' This literally means life or health - and in fact is used to greet anyone you meet... As soon as I learned this there was no doubt in my mind that I would enjoy Fiji and I was right...
So Bula to Fiji, Fiji Time is now over!
Mich
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Dave
non-member comment
Paradise - yeah sounds not bad!! :) And yeah i remember those slogans! pity no perth this year... Sounds like your having a ball tho, dunno how you getting sun burnt tho - you normally have factor 50 on!!!