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Published: March 13th 2007
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Flew out of Auckland on a sunny summer afternoon providing some fantastic aerial views of the city and the harbour as I left. Three hours and a bit of turbulence over the South Pacific later, the plane was making its approach to Nadi International Airport. The first thing that struck me about Fiji was just how green it is. Less developed than I expected, even as the plane came in to land I was convinced we were going to put down in a field until just before the wheels touched down, thankfully on a runway! Certainly the best airport views I have seen so far, encompassed as it is by lush, green mountains. Got myself through customs fairly swiftly, and was greeted by the sight of some portly locals in Hawaiin shirts playing ukeleles and bellowing "Bula" (hello/welcome) at unsuspecting tourists filing towards the baggage claim area!
Straight into Nadi City to the hostel, and realised pretty quickly that this is not somewhere you would want to stay for two nights, let alone two weeks! Got my first taste of 'Kava', the local speciality, a drink tasting like dirty water and although not alcoholic, provides some form of narcotic effect.
I did have to wonder if it was a coincidence that they invite you to drink as much Kava as possible right before they try to sell you all your accomodation and travel for the duration of your stay in Fiji!
My preferred choice, visiting the Yasawa chain of islands was unfortuneately way above and beyond my remaining budget, in fact I was completely unprepared for the price of travelling in Fiji. After much deliberation, I decided that I had to leave mainland Viti Levu for at least one of the islands, due to Nadi City being such a shit-hole. The cheapest option was to spend a week on 'Mana', a beautiful Fijian island forty minutes away by boat. Still not what I would consider remotely cheap, at a hundered dollars for the boat and forty-five dollars a night for a fairly shabby eight bed dormitory, I was starting to think that two weeks in Fiji could spell financial ruin for me!
Speeding away from Viti Levu on the boat, the mountains disappearing into the horizon, you pass some fantastic little islands. One of the islands known as 'Survivor Island' is where one of the US television programmes
'Survivor' took place. Another, 'Bounty Island', may be better known to UK television viewers as 'Celebrity Love Island', the setting for which has now been converted into a pricey hostel, so thankfully they won't be making that show again!!
Arriving on 'South Beach' at Mana, the scene is stunning. You know how you always see pictures in the brochures, and the place never looks anything like it? This place looks like a proper "paradise island" from the brochures!! White sandy beaches, palm trees, friendly locals lazing in the shade, incredible green and blue waters, it checked all the boxes. The only downer so far was the price, for travelling around the Yasawas I would have been looking at around a thousand dollars for a week. Okay for wealthy flashpackers, or people with that money already set aside, but Mana was as far as I could go. To be fair it looked plenty good enough, I was more concerned with what the hell I could do cheaply for my second week in Fiji!!
After my first couple of days in Fiji, the novelty of people crying 'Bula' and the Kava ceremonies had definately worn off. The hostel didn't really
have the usual hostel atmosphere to start with, mainly it was couples and groups of mates, all of whom just sit on the beach all day and unusually I failed to make any friends on the island until just before I had to leave! To be honest, sitting on the beach all day is not really my cup of tea. The only alternatives were very expensive trips (No!), or making my own entertainment. I still had my fishing rod that I bought in Australia so killed a bit of time
not catching any Fijian fish, and spent a while exploring the island by foot and chatting to the locals.
The evenings are the worst thing in an isolated places when you can't find anyone to talk to. As I sat alone on the beach one night, drinking beer with the Fijian sand between my toes and the distant sound of dancehall music and laughter ringing in my ears, I contemplated what a shame it was to be so bored in a place so beautiful. Maybe I should just not drink beer alone on a beach, but the routine of my working life in England seemed slightly less depressing! I
think maybe it was some sort of continuity or stability I was craving more than a routine. I certainly couldn't live my whole life as an international nomad, I think travelling for a year non-stop has taken a toll on me emotionally, twelve months worth of making new friends on a weekly basis, then saying goodbye, twelve months worth of aborted relationships, twelve months worth of not knowing where I am going or staying in a strange new place. Tiring stuff!
Ah well, I'm probably still stressed about the financial situation. As beautiful as the place is, I can't help but think that for the money I spent for a week in Mana, I could have lived very comfortably for two or more weeks on a Thai island comparable in beauty and a lot more entertaining! Either that or a week in southeast Asia in real luxury on a 24/7, mother of all parties! Maybe I'll have to save that for another day...
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