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Published: September 19th 2006
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Lunch with Cara & Scott
Who knew you could enjoy lunch with friends, going opposite directions around the world! BULA!
Muddy Nadi
Well, after over 30 hours of travel, we arrived safely in Nadi, Fiji. We managed to meet up with Scott and Cara for an hour in the LA airport, and also walked by Vince Vaughn and Ryan Seacrest - needless to say Carolyn was much more excited by this than I was. At the Fiji Airport our driver, Vincent, introduced us to Fiji time after letting us wait for about 45mins after telling us we would be leaving in just 20mins. This became a theme over the next 10 days and really helped to slow down the pace.... We stayed in a beach front room at the Traveller Beach Hotel, figuring we could afford to splurge a little for the first few days... a quick walk on the beach in the morning was good but did not yield the white beaches that we had heard so much about.
After this, we walked through the main town of Nadi - a pretty dirty town, which streets crammed with poorly maintained cars spewing black clouds of diesel fumes. We stopped to talk to a timeshare seller 'Trendwest' and agreed to sit through a 90 min presentation in return for
LAX
Entertaining yourself for 10 hours is hard... a free day trip to one of the islands. We pissed off the seller when we told him that we were travelling for the next year and didn't have the funds to invest - but we still walked away with our free day trip! We met another fijian who wanted us to see his handcrafts and such and led us to his shop in behind the main street. We sat down on the floor (guys cross-legged and girls with legs to the side) and had a kava ceremony. I had never heard of it and very tentatively drank the brown muddy looking water - on the nod from Carolyn that she had heard of this, me being the chief of the ceremony! I wouldn't guess this would ever become a popular drink - tastes quite bad, but gives you a "fuzzy" tongue. Reading later, it is a slightly narcotic drink that makes you quite sleepy if too much is drinken. The Fijians use this ceremony to welcome visitors to the island. The saying is "if you haven't tried kava, you are still on the plane....".
Sailing Safari
We set sail with Captain Cook's sailing safari early Monday morning. The
ship, circa 1973, was about 60' in length. We were shown a number of sailing knots on the way out, and got to know the other 8 people on board with us - as well as the crew of about 6. It didn't take long for the water to clear and islands with white sandy beaches to come into view. We stopped about 2 hours in and had a snorkel - first time for me on the edge of a reef that drops off sharply. Took about 3 more hours to reach the the island of Drawaqa or 'Barefoot Island'. We found quickly that the island was aptly named as we kicked off our shoes and allowed our feet to sink into the soft white sand for the remainder of our stay on the island. We were shown our Bure, a small indigenous hut made almost entirely from the coconut tree. There was no electricity on this island, and the water was not drinkable - a perfect excuse to partake of a few Fijian Bitters (local beer). There were two beaches on the island - sunrise and sunset, each facing the respective directions of the sun at that time of
day. Our hut was on the sunrise beach, which we got to see quite clearly the next morning while still in bed. We went for another snorkel almost as soon as we got there, but didn't see the black tipped sharks that two others in our group saw while snorkling at the same time.
We went back to the hut, and I put the camera in my pocket as well as a little something that I had brought over for Carolyn, and suggested that we walk over to sunset beach, just as it was setting. I was anxious to get over there before the sun did set, so that she would be able to see my surprise for her. About halfway across the beach, with me mentioning something about how I was glad we had decided to start in Fiji, and how I wanted Fiji to be the start of something else in our lives... I went down on one knee and popped the big question. I don't think I could have changed anything to make it more perfect - and it worked! She said yes.... So there you have it - we are now engaged!
We spent
Fire spinning
On our first night we were lucky enough to see different Polynesian dancing and fire spinning! the next few days sailing and doing various activites on the island - more kava... ugh! We played a game taught by two English people with us - pick up the box or something. Basically we started with a ritz box and had to pick it up with our mouths without touching the ground with our hands. It is harder than you might think. After each round, a strip is ripped off the box making it shorter, and all the contestants try again until everyone is eliminated. I surprised myself when it was just me and a 4 year old Fijian boy left. I just about tore my hamstrings but I was able to pick up a postage size piece (flat) off the floor with my mouth. Carolyn was wearing a skirt, so did not compete in this event. (The Brits also taught us some more rules to "Booze" and "21", can't wait until next summer!)
Island Hopping
We sailed back towards the mainland on the 13th and got dropped off on Bounty island (15kms from the mainland), a place we called home for the next 4 days. This is a classic Fijian island, where all of the activites
are included in the cost of the accomodation, including meals. Kayaking, snorkling, sailing, fishing, and sunbathing. I will say Carolyn is getting very brown already, while I am hovering between a white and tender pink colour. We did a lot of reading here, already in the swing of reading and trading books with fellow travellers. We met 6 New Zealander's here, and promised that we would look them up and stay with them when we finally get there. Amazing how friendly people are when you are on vacation! After this we went back to the mainland for another night at the Traveller's Beach Hotel. The next morning we were picked up for the Malamala island daytrip we had won by sitting through he timeshare session. It had an open bar, and a fantastic bbq lunch. We snorkelled and relaxed a good part of the day away - it was perfect. Back to the hotel for our last night in Fiji, and then on to the airport in the morning to start the real part of our trip - Australia! We are running so slow by this point, that I am not sad to leave Fiji - a couple more days
Bure at Barefoot Resort
This was our place for 2 nights on the small island of Drawaqa at the edge of the Yasawa Islands. No power, very rustic and comfortable. You could see the sunrise through the windows from your bed! here and we won't be able to leave the hammock on the beach in front of the hotel...
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Clive
non-member comment
Jealous
Holy cow, those pics and story are fantastic, and the biggest news of all the big proposal! Congrats to both of you. Now i know why you wouldnt splurge and buy yourself a decent bike!