Page 4 of BenandCharmaine Travel Blog Posts


Oceania » Fiji October 18th 2009

Well today we managed to change our accommodation and talk around the people to letting us have our tickets back; we were then all ready to head to Beachcomber Island, the apparent party island! On the trip was me, Charmaine, Matthew, Leanne and Florian. (the French guy we haven’t mentioned yet) He is travelling too; at least i think he is. He is trying to learn English but seems to be pretty good in fact. Lunch was good again, nice today, we had some pasta and vegetables. Good stuff, loving the greens, maybe it must have been our choices when we stayed at octopus as when we were given healthy food we ate it and appreciated it too. 2pm the boat had arrived and we were on our way; we arrived a swift 2 hours later. ... read more

Oceania » Fiji October 17th 2009

We got a sending off with a song and im not sure if i mentioned earlier i thought that the guy that owned it was a bit of an idiot, well i think he heard me say it, now he especially waved us off and said see you later, hmm...strange as he had been ignorant before. Still we loved it there and would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Fiji. We arrive at White Sandy Beach; the next destination to our shock. Our room is not insect resistant at all; i mean there is on the windows but with holes in the netting. Although they seemed to forget that there is a 4” gap between the top of the side walls and the roof where it overlaps....Anyway.....we also had an outside shower and bath, was very ... read more
The shower
The bath
Dining area

Oceania » Fiji October 16th 2009

This morning, I had re-planned my scuba diving and was set to go at 10.30. all went well, was amazing, the coral that changed colour, the 2ft eel that we saw, I was allowed to dive to 12m as I didn’t have the right certification, which I had planned here to come and get but Charmaine decided it wasn’t for her when reading the book; Which was fair enough. It was something else, and once you got the hang of going down and keep popping your ears, getting your neutral buoyancy, it was like floating through the water effortlessly. I was underwater for nearly an hour and it was a completely different experience. It is something that later on I want to definitely do again. I have also decided that i want to do my open ... read more

Oceania » Fiji October 15th 2009

Today we visited a local village called Nalauwaki. On the way we saw lots of pigs, which were in pens made out of sticks, it was smelly though as you would imagine. Some were even roaming around but you could tell how scared they were we approached, as they quickly scarpered; after all they are only food. Once we approached we were told we had to not have our bags on our back and to cover up our shoulders and shorts down to our knees. We attended a classroom and the children, aged between 3 and 5 sang some songs they had learnt. It was great. They seemed very clever and could speak some English already. After they had finished they came up to us and high-5 us and hugged us, it was really nice and ... read more

Oceania » Fiji October 14th 2009

Woke up bright and early, sun is shining. Woke up a few times because of the heat and heard some sort of cat fight outside last night. Thanks for waking us both up... So today we decided to change our plans, we weren’t going to do the scuba diving course, was thinking about money and using it more effectively really. I did the diving taster at 2pm though and found that I didn’t mind it too much so tomorrow I am going out on a proper dive about 2pm in the ocean. I think it’s going to be good. Let’s hope so... Breakfast was nice this morning though, and had egg and bacon on toast with orange juice. I was rather impressed. We then led on the beach for a few hours then decided to hire ... read more

Oceania » Fiji October 13th 2009

This morning we woke up bright and early, I’m talking 5.45, the simple reason being that we went to be at like 6pm last night. We caught the bus ok, and arrived at a rather impressive Denarau Marina with shops and a bakery, and an atm to get out every pennie we could to last 3weeks on what seems to be a simplistic place that we are heading to. The boat journey turned out to be longer than we expected as the weather and sea conditions were not very good at all (but have been told they are getting much better tomorrow). YAYY. Arriving we had to get off the rear of the boat and board a mini boat which would take us onto the island and the warmth and gratitude we were greeted with were ... read more
Made my bracelet
Our hut
Our first room

Oceania » Fiji » Nadi October 12th 2009

Well after realising that i could not do the online check in i was dreading the seats that we were going to get. Today we decided to chill out and go for a walk down to the grove which i mentioned before and found a sneaky little market; Farmers Market, in there seliing all sorts of things and foods. Well put it this was there was a sticker shop. a shop full of different stickers. COOL!...but no i didnt buy any. We then walked down to Farm Foods which is a kind of supermarket but has a kind of help yourself and then they charge you on the weight. We decided to get some good foods in us, charmaine had a salad with hot chicken, and i had greek salad (with wayyy too much dressing on) ... read more

North America » United States » California » Los Angeles » Hollywood October 10th 2009

Well after realising that i could not do the online check in i was dreading the seats that we were going to get. Today we decided to chill out and go for a walk down to the grove which i mentioned before and found a sneaky little market; Farmers Market, in there seliing all sorts of things and foods. Well put it this was there was a sticker shop. a shop full of different stickers. COOL!...but no i didnt buy any. We then walked down to Farm Foods which is a kind of supermarket but has a kind of help yourself and then they charge you on the weight. We decided to get some good foods in us, charmaine had a salad with hot chicken, and i had greek salad (with wayyy too much dressing on) ... read more

North America » United States » California » Los Angeles » Hollywood October 9th 2009

Firstly i wana clear up the bag stuff...it didnt exactly get lost...well did but didnt, it missed the flight so got on the next one and arrived by the time i woke up on the 1st morning i was there...so were all good on that front. Dont panic people. CLOUDY.....Woke up early this morning, im talking 7! ahhhhhhh all because of the early night again and accidently falling asleep early. So, once again making the most of the tea and toast....as usual, then finding out that our new buddy charlotte was going to santa monica today she offered us a lift as we were going to catch the bus there. Her sister and her boyfriend (emma and ian) were out here visiting and staying in a hotel with a car rented so this is how we ... read more
Cool hats?...hmmmm
Mee
Charmaine and her diplodocus

North America » United States » California » Los Angeles » Hollywood October 8th 2009

Well...woke up about 10 this morning and straight downstairs for free tea and toast. Cant go wrong with tea and toast. Decided to go for a walk today, checked out some place called The Grove, basically its like a shopping place where cars cant get down, kinda like a little high street. everything was so clean and like...perfect, little stalls here and there on wheels kinda... very nice. I seriously needed some new trainers as mine were smelly and dated! brought some new ones today in a shop called ROSS, basically like t-k max. Got some seriously funky trainers and charmaine got a new dress...it was the best deal i could get out of her! My trainers cost $19.99 absolute bargain. Found out in the shop next door has a little fast food bit in it, ... read more
Statue at the grove
The grove once more
Very tidy




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