Blogs from Fiji, Oceania - page 17

Bula y'all! It has been quite a while since my last blog entry, my momma likes to remind me of this every time I talk to her. All is well here in Fiji, my days have been filled with the occasional class, a little bit of work, and this week in particular, lots of rugby at the yacht club, which is fondly referred to as the "yachty". Yesterday was a big day for the island nation of Fiji as our Flying Fijian's, the rugby team, beat New Zealand in the most important game of the season. When Fiji wins rugby there are fireworks, tables and chairs being thrown over and lots of Fiji Gold and Fiji Bitter beer. It is quite the event and one day soon we will have a public holiday because of the ... read more

Arrived at Fiji airport to a wave of tropical heat and a cheery welcoming band. Quickly adjusted to relaxed "Fiji-time" by lazing and swimming at the resort pool with a brief trip to Nadi to see the colourful Hindu temple, stopping for a freshly-cut coconut en-route. Next day hopped on a 5 to-a-row local bus across Viti-Levu to Suva the chaotic capital, staying at the aptly named Raintree lodge on the edge of the jungle. Took a very hot and muggy guided trek through the Colo-i-Suva forest park, slipping and sliding over rocks and muddy paths to waterfalls before visiting the national museum with its giant ocean-going canoes and tales of cannibalism (and dodging the heavy tropical thunderstorms that started to flood the museum !). Travelled up to the Navua valley in the highlands for a ... read more

We managed to recruit lots of the newcomers at Nabua for the cave trip so we were able to go before our departure. Plus, it had stopped raining and blue skies had appeared. The boat ride up to the caves was about 40mins through some pretty exposed bits of sea up past Yasawa Island. A small group of tour guides greeted us and took us inside the caves. The water was cool and the limestone formation was pretty spectacular. To get to the second cave (the spitting cave) you have to swim underwater for a couple of metres and enter the pitch black cave. These caves were also used in the film Blue Lagoon with Brooke Shields. After our lunch we boarded the long boat which took us over to the catamaran. Five and a half ... read more

We didn't want to leave barefoot lodge this morning. We'd had such a good couple of days on the island but we were excited about seeing another island too. We boarded the large boat heading north, but encountered an engine failure about an hour from our destination! This meant a very slow cruising speed of 6 knots and a little longer than expected to get to our next resort - Nabua lodge. We'd come through a lot of rain on the boat and this continued for the whole day! I'm not gonna lie I started to get very bored this afternoon as the activities get a little limited in the pouring rain! The food at Nabua lodge has been great so far and best of all the local tea shop bought over some delicious chocolate orange ... read more

After 9 hours sleep we thought it best that we get up and breathe the morning air before breakfast. There's a short hike up to a lookout point and so while James ran back and forth a couple of times, I walked up to the top and back. Breakfast was good and we had these delicious banana scones. The morning activity was coconut jewellery making, and it's amazing what you can do with a coconut shell and some sand paper! The rest of the morning was spent hanging around in a hammock, sun bathing on the beach or swimming in the sea. We booked in with Reef Safari for a couple of dives this afternoon and after speaking to some other divers we decided to got out to the caves for our first dive. Our second ... read more