Advertisement
Published: April 13th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Just over two weeks into my travels and I have already visited three countries… Without planning on going to Fiji, I got an invitation to go there which I couldn’t refuse (plus given that I don’t really have any ‘official’ plans it is easy for me to just hop on a plane to wherever). Another early start at Sydney airport - becoming a bit of a trend - and then it was on the pacific blue flight to Nadi (pronounced Nan-di, as with every Fijian word there seems to be a rogue ‘n’ after vowels!). Coming into land and seeing the colour of the ocean was breathtaking, then we had to work out how to get to ‘our’ island… This involved a negotiation with an afro-haired lady in the ‘Beachcomber Resort Island’ office at Nadi airport, a 30 min wait, then a taxi ride in a car that looked like it would barely make it out of the airport car park let alone to where we needed to catch the boat from… But of course it did make it! And so off on the boat to Beachcomber Island.
Went past Bounty Island, where Celebrity Love Island was filmed (yes, that
quality tv programme!), and then after an initial drop off for Treasure Island we transferred to a smaller boat to take us to Beachcomber Island - and my suitcase somehow got thrown on the roof of the boat (without anything strapping it down) so I was having ‘kittens’ that it was going to end up in the water... Thankfully it didn’t end up on the bottom of the ocean!
Beachcomber Island was stunning - very small (so small in fact that you can walk around it in 7 minutes or so!), with a large dormitory accommodation and several private bures. We stayed in Bure 14, which was essentially a wooden hut with a very high thatched roof, and had its own private decked area complete with a hammock that looked out onto the beach (not hard given that it was right on our doorstep)... Sleeping at night under a large mosquito net was a fairly unique experience though. Also had several girlie squealing fits one evening as well when I saw a large lizard climbing up the inside of the roof - poor thing had sheltered there when it threw it down with rain (and thunder)... Just wish that
it had picked someone else’s bure to hide in!
The days in Fiji were spent chilling and relaxing on our private beach (after trying the ‘communal’ beach on the first day for a few hours, we soon retreated to ‘our’ beach). There was plenty of snorkelling opportunities too given that there was a large reef just off to the side of the island - the water was clear and saw loads of fish, coral and blue starfish! Discovered that when the tide went out in the afternoon there were lots of rock pools uncovered, which provided plenty of crab hunting opportunities... One afternoon a local Fijian man was clearing our beach of rocks and seaweed, and we discovered his spear that was used for spear fishing - this provided endless photo opportunities and was also used for self-defence when Toby went wandering off the rocks into the sea and saw a shark! Thank god it wasn’t me that saw the shark (albeit a baby shark, but still a shark nevertheless) as I have the biggest fear of sharks in the world - just ask Chloe to tell you about the Jaws ride at Universal Studios if you ever need
confirmation of my fear.
Evenings on Fiji were also fairly chilled - communal mealtimes spent sat at long tables (eating buffet style food which was ok, but not as tasty as Claridges!), a few drinks, listening to the band playing, watching the bula dance (which we never quite got to grips with!) and then the obligatory few bottles of Corona in the hammock by our hut - but always, always after completely covering ourselves in bug spray (I hate mosquitoes soooo much!). The funniest evening’s entertainment was the night of the crab race! After our new found hobby of crab spotting (1 with red eyes and 1 with very distinctive turquoise print on its shell - check out the photos on FB and ok so we’re quite sad!), we were slightly too excited about the crab race... Even to the extent that Toby requested that one of the crabs was renamed ‘Mutatu’ in honour of the Kenyan Rugby 7s team! A request that was granted - and so we bid successfully for crab #4 at the crab race auction, our little Mutatu cost us $22 fiji dollars - shame it didn’t win the race. After tension was sufficiently built
up in the bar area, the crabs were brought to the table in a large bucket and placed in the middle of the table - and the bucket was removed to reveal the tiniest hermit crabs you’d ever seen!!! We were expecting crabs of the size similar to that which we had seen in the rock pools, and given the giggles and gasps coming from the other crab race spectators we weren’t the only ones thinking that. Fair play - the joke’s on the tourists!!! (Oh and if you’re wondering the ‘Springbok’ crab which was #18 won - and that was the ‘islands’ crab, so they kept the F$150 - a fix?! Unlikely, we hope...).
Friday came around and it was time to leave Beachcomber... Three days was long enough to spend on the island, but you left feeling so relaxed and chilled (and also with a bit of a suntan too!). This time our little boat from the island connected up with the big South Sea Islands ferry - so a spot of impromptu tanning could take place whilst sat on the upper deck... After an hour long transfer from the port to Nadi airport, we discovered that sunburn was the cost of the impromptu tanning session on the boat! A purchase of coconut body lotion later and several applications later, we boarded the plane to Sydney somewhat smelling slightly...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.121s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 13; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0763s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb