Our Time on Bounty Island!!

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7th April 2009 - ARRIVAL ON LOVE ISLAND!!!
As we got off the boat onto Bounty Island I felt deflated! Nat and I were back to being on our own. Not a bad thing but we had all formed such a nice group on Mana it was a shame to all split apart. Even more of a shame thinking that it was more than likely I would never see any of them again despite us all getting on so well! Nothing I could do about it though and for all I knew Bounty Island could be just as good! As I walked up the beach to the resort it hit me how small an island it was. I was excited by the fact that the 1st series of Love Island was filmed there...how cool!! Unlike Mana there was no welcome song for us and we even had to carry our own bags...scandalous!! We checked in and were shown to our dorm. It was a big space and I was allocated bed 43!! It was a lot cleaner than our room at Mana though and there was a little flower waiting for me on my bed! Nice touch!! We dumped our bags and headed straight for lunch!!

The thing with these islands is that you pay for a package. There are no restaurants or alternative food choices. You eat the food that is put out at the times it is put out! No choices...a bit like an all inclusive! The lunch looked to be of a different standard to Mana though...it actually looked nice! Spaghetti bolognaise was up for lunch and you didn't have to rush either to get the best food. The staff just kept topping the trays up. There were no baked beans or tinned spaghetti in sight and I actually enjoyed my lunch!! Wow!!

After lunch we went and laid around the pool. Very hot but nice and the pool was a good way to cool off! The sea was not an option at that point as the tide was out and the coral would have been damaged had we tried to go for a paddle/swim. We weren't early enough for a lounger but laid our towels out anyway and Nat snoozed whilst I listened to some music. At 3pm there was a complimentary refreshment break with tea and biccies! Another nice touch but my waistline was not appreciating it! I could tell that I would have to exercise some self control on this island!! Following tea, we headed back by the pool for more sunbathing, and a spot of reading! A pretty chilled out feel to Bounty...would be nice to relax there after all the madness of Mana!!

At 6ish we went to get showered and changed before having a walk along the beach and heading to the resort bar. Happy hour was on and so we enjoyed a cocktail or two and then sat down for tea. Al a carte night...table cloths, waiter service and a menu (though there were only 2 choices to make). How posh!! I had soup followed by Chicken. It was nice enough and was good as the portions were set which discouraged over indulgence!! After tea we moved back to the bar area and sat with a few others....an oldish Scottish guy, a weird NZ guy, a funny farmer from England and guy from Leeds. We all had a good chat and a pretty chilled out evening! Nat and I were both pretty tired and we hit the sack at around 10pm - I was pleased that an opportunity has arisen to catch up on some much needed beauty sleep!!

8th April 2009 - SNORKELLING & SHITHEAD!!!
We woke up at 8ish and once dressed and sorted we headed for breakfast. Scrambled eggs on toast for me which was a nice change from the stodgy food of pancakes, cake and bread! Following breakfast we sat by the pool and wrote our journals for a good hour & tried to catch up on writing about some of the Mana island antics!! Such good times!!

Once fed up of writing, I claimed my sun lounger that I had strategically placed a towel upon earlier...no, I am not German!! I then lazed around the pool with Nat and read some of my book. It was very hot and I had to get out of the sun for a while at one point! Did my washing...one of the worst parts of travelling!! Once all washed up and my clothes were a little bobblier I headed back to the pool to read my book and laze around some more! Lunch was served at 1pm...A tasty rice and meat concoction and not a bone in sight! Wow!!

Lunch over, Nat and I headed out snorkeling with our disposable underwater camera. Some good coral and fish! Very choppy though and some big waves...not very good conditions for snorkeling but we persevered for a while until our bodies had been smashed about enough for one day! After calling it a day we headed back to the pool for some more sunshine. The sun didn't stay out and play for too long though...the clouds soon came over and the rain came down!! It wasn't that fine rain either like in England it was torrential and everyone ran under cover!

The rain left only one thing to do and that was play cards! We teamed up with Matt (the guy from Leeds) and Andy (the farmer) and played a few games of Shithead (sorry for my language mum but that's what the game is called)! I was on fire and didn't lose once!! We had an interval for tea and biccies at 3pm. The biscuits weren't your average 1 dips either...you had to have jaws of steel to bite into those babies!! Back to the cards, Matt was losing badly!! He was a little like me and didn't like to lose either so I took great pleasure in winding him up! We nicknamed him 'halfpack' as at the end of each game he always seemed to have half a pack of cards in his hand! Geez...I am not sure how I come up with them…so original!!

At around 4.30, Matt's boat came in to pick him up and take him back to the mainland. We waved him off and then played a few more games before going off to get showered and changed for tea. The showers were a big step up from Mana...they even had a shower head...wow!! After getting ready we went and sat by the bar and had a cocktail courtesy of happy hour! Dinner was served at 7...another Al a carte night! We sat with Andy and 3 Essex girls that he knew from a previous island. They were nice enough! Once eaten the Island staff sang all of us who were leaving the following day a goodbye song which was another nice touch! I then phoned home to speak to mum. She reminded me that I only had around 7 weeks left and she was counting down the days! It was nice to speak to her and can't wait to see everyone again but at the same time I don't want this trip to end! Following my phone call I chatted some more to the others and then Nat and I went off to bed!

9th APRIL 2009 - Goodbye Bounty Island!!
We got up at around 8am, sorted our stuff and headed for breakfast. The breakfast was good again and we made the most of it as leaving the island today and we didn't know what the food at the next place would be like!! After breakfast we did the German trick again and laid our towels on some loungers before packing our bags and checking out! We were leaving on the 12.30 boat and so once again had some time to kill!

Once packed up, the sun had gone and it looked grey and gloomy...come on Fiji! Nat and I took ourselves off for a walk around the island. So tiny we walked all the way around it in under 25 minutes. We passed the spot where Love Island was filmed but it looked pretty derelict as a cyclone had hit it the previous year. The pool and decking etc had been moved and were the ones at our resort! Wonder if the pool water had been changed sine Callum best swam in it?!! The walk was nice, it was a shame that it was grey though!!

Back at the resort we played a spot of table tennis. I would not call it a sucessful game and we didn't really use the table. The ball hit the floor more than the table and I got some good exercise in byt running after the ball which I had failed to hit! We did manage to get a rally of 10 though! Maybe I won't give up my day job.....oops...too late...I already did!! After tennis, we got the cards out again for an hour or so before lunch. Our final tasty meal on Bounty and it went down well!! We then sat around waiting for our boat. As expected it was on Fiji time and eventually arrived 1 hour late at 1.30pm. The boat ride was so rocky. Big waves and small boat + bad news!! I even put my camera and passport in a waterproof wallet just in case we tipped!! We even ran out of fuel half way across and though I couldn't quite understand the Fijian language, I sensed trouble as they tried to refuel and start the boat again!! We eventually made in unscathed to the mainland and into Smugglers Cove where we had to wait for our next transfer to pick us up and take us to Robinson Crusoe Island. We had an hour to kill and so we checked our emails for the 1st time in days. It was nice to have lots of messages waiting! The bus which was supposed to pick up at 3pm was 45 minutes late!! Typical Fiji!! We got on...next stop Robinson Crusoe Island!!

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