Welcome to Robinson Crusoe island...

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8/4/09 = Snorkelling and rain in Bounty

Not the good nights sleep I had hoped for. Layered up pyjamas to protect from cold, but ended up way too hot. Typical. Had to get up v.early morning to remove extra T-shirt and de-tuck from bed and then woke up naturally at 7am. Rubbish body clock. Pitch black in room because no windows at all, so had to navigate around using trusty phone again. Chilled and pottered around until 7:45, then woke Deb up for breakfast. Only a few people awake when we arrived at 8am and v.excited to assess eating options. Had fresh bread with one of those fancy, large toasters that takes toast through on a travelator type thing - v.exciting - yummy looking pancakes, jam cereal and fruit. Where to start? Obviously would sample everything, just a matter of order. Had the toast first, followed v.swiftly by 3 pancakes with jam. V.v.v.nice. Tried cereal next, but wasn’t that tasty and already quite full by this stage. Had just enough room to squash another 2 pancakes in…sorry fruit…maybe some other time. V.full/ill by end of it all.

V.cloudy today and not really sunbathing weather. Good thing for us really; needed to write and try and catch up on diary. Even that = nightmare lately, let alone blog. Did a good 2 hours and nearly got caught up, then sun came out and went to sit on lounger. Had done the v.German thing of reserving one with a towel earlier. Dozed and listened to music, moved in and out of sleep, then woke up properly just before lunch. Such a relaxing, holiday type place. Usual herd of people moved over just before 12:30, all of us excited for todays culinary delights. Bread = the usual, salad - still appreciating that - + some kind of beef stew and rice….no bones. All good. Layered up plate as usual, over-ate as usual, then waddled back over to pool, again, as usual. These all inclusive packages not great for the waist line.

Let food settle for a further 30mins, then went for the snorkel should have done yesterday. Needed to start using underwater camera unnecessarily purchased in Kaikoura. Andy, one of English guys came out with us too to be photographer. Water was really cold as flippered out and entry to sea really stony/pebbly. Fish were really good though. Was another really good place to snorkel. Would say Fiji is one of best places to snorkel really. Saw lots of different fish, big shoals of fish and more of the really cool, blue starfish. Got colder the further we swam out though and the sea also got rougher. Quite wary of coral after cutting foot, which still really sore, actually quite painful to walk and definitely can’t wear shoes. V.strange. Also swallowed more seawater than cared for as swam further out. Took some pictures, swam round more reef, then started to head back in. On lookout for the reef sharks after few people already seen them this morning. Know they are only vegetarians, but 1 - 2ms big…no thanks. Surprised I went in at all to be honest, was a time - before trip - that I definitely wouldn’t have done, especially so far out that I couldn’t touch floor. Little things that change about you when you are away I guess…always pushing boundaries.

Not too sacred by sharks, but when Deb spotted big jellyfish, that certainly speeded up the swim back to shore. Didn’t look back. Climbed out over stones and back onto dry land. Could see weather had changed. Dark clouds had come, water was choppy and felt colder. Returned snorkeling gear and went back to pool. Tucked up under towel to read, but only took 30mins for rain to start. All ushered inside into bar area seeking shelter. Sat with English guys had chatted to night before and did the only thing you can do when you’re on a desert island and it rains…we played cards. Played lots and lots of rounds of Sh*thead and then it was 3pm and time for afternoon tea - v.civilised. Declined the tea and biscuits yesterday because was so hot, but today, in rain, couldn’t have asked for anything better. V.English. All us English folk got our tea and biscuits and continued with our cards. The biscuits were even tougher than hobnobs for dipping, in fact, without dipping them in tea, they were totally inedible and would probably break teeth. SAS indeed.

2 biscuits lasted us hours just as the cards did and then it was 4:30 and Matt (the other English guy) had to leave. Waved him off as he got on the boat (he was the ultimate loser of Sh*thead), chatted some more to Andy, then went to get ready for 6pm happy hour again. Love happy hour. Would have been on time to meet Andy at 6, really would have been, but 1 shower for 20beds...it was never going to happen. Ended up getting to bar just before 7pm and found poor Andy having to talk to Oxford guys...unlucky. Got the usual cocktails, then went for our 2nd A la Carte dinner.

Sat with Andy and 3 girls he had met in NZ, who had just arrived on island. V.typically London girls, nice enough though. Chatted, ate our soup starter - dodged the dessert today - and then had nice chicken and veg. Small portion, with a jacket potato that was smaller than your average boiled potato, but probably a good thing; done nothing but eat for last week. Deb phoned home after dinner, which reminded me that need to talk to Mum. She sent a message yesterday to tell me we got a speeding fine sent through from NZ. Speeding fine…never had a speeding fine in life…although maybe did drive a little quick…sometimes. Anyway, note to self…need to sort that out.

Chatted until 10pm and then went to bed tired and excited for a good nights sleep. Wrote diary for a little while, then bed at 11pm. Got temperature with air-com just right tonight, should sleep well 😊


9/4/09 = A late arrival at Robinson Crusoe

Not a good sleep like I predicted it would be. Woke up really itchy with bites and had to put cream on. Tried to get back to sleep, but turned over to find a large, white figure looming over me, right next to my bed. Heart rate went from resting to maximum within a few seconds. Jumped up, fumbled around for phone and shone light on figure peering at me. It was just Debs’ bikini dangling over ladder, white in patches that looked human. Phew. Heart rate slowed a little, but had already freaked myself out by then…what if I did wake up to someone peering over me?...could nçbe sharing a room with anyone. Oh mo. Had to spend next 30mins playing on phone game just to calm myself down and take my mind off it. Even then I didn’t sleep that well; seemed to drift in and out of consciousness until gave up at 7am and got up for breakfast. Deb got up too.

Different breakfast today = beans and scrambled eggs; they always have the reliable old toast. Didn’t think I would be eating beans for a long time after the torturous Mana sandwiches, but actually enjoyed them. So different when they are warm and on toast. Another nice breakfast, but another grey and rainy day outside. Rubbish. Sat for a while to see if it would clear, but if anything, it was going to get worse. Decided to do our walk around island before rain fully set in. Bounty = one of smallest islands in Mamanuca group and supposedly could walk all around it in less than 30mins. Cool. Set off walking to left side of resort and along coral/pebbly sand.

Realised within a few minutes that had been given bad advice by hostel lady. Had asked if could walk it barefoot, because coral cut still pretty bad and wearing shoes= painful/near impossible. She had said walking barefoot was fine…liar! Coral was sharp and stones were sharp and really painful. Had to find rocks and hop across them. But they were really slippery from tide being in and seaweed. Ended up sliding my way along and cut toe on a bit that was too slippy 😞

Hobbled and slid way along rocks and around the first corner of Bounty. Was round this corner that came across the old set of Celebrity Love Island. Heard most of it had been destroyed by a cyclone, but didn’t expect the rubble that we found. Had been totally destroyed. Only remains = bits of scrap metal and wood, even pool had been excavated and put in our resort. V.good recycling! Moved on and the further we got round island, the more protected and sheltered we got from increasing wind. This side of the island was totally calm, even the water was still. Such a contrast from the gale and choppy water had come from. Quite bizarre really. Carried on looping round until came across resort rather unexpectedly. Really did take only 30mins and then we were back to wind and chopping water.

Me and Deb had a quick game of ping pong…or table tennis…whatever it is called. In fact, we played neither of those, because our ball barely ever touched the table. Was more like a mini game of tennis. No suprises we were both rubbish. 10 sweaty minutes later, gave up and played some cards with Andy; kind of a farewell game. We were all leaving Bounty Island in just a few hours. Midday came and we all shifted across to restaurant to wait for boats, which were all due at 12:30. Lucky for us, our boat came late and food came out early. Managed to grab one last lunch of spaghetti bolognaise and salad. Tasty . Andy’s boat came on time, so him and girls shot off. Our boat came 45mins late…typical. They were on a large, sturdy looking vessel, we had to clamber back onto our floating wooden shack. Was quite a funny scene even when boat did finally arrive. Try as it may, it couldn’t make it into shore, it wasn’t safe enough. We had to all get on board a local boat, which then ferried out to our wooden lump that was barely floating in middle of ocean. Holiday over, back to traveling!

Had to jump across from one safe boat to one v.unsafe boat and prapre for journey to mainland. Knew it would be bad because water was choppy, but turned out to definitely be one of worst boat journeys. Good job don’t get scared at things like this, because all could do was laugh. Well, it’s laugh or cry really. Spent an hour being tossed around in boat, kicked up and down by waves and then just as were near dry land, engine kicked out…boat had run out of fuel. Ha! Had to stop mid-ocean while boatmen sucked up gas from one canister to another and then could move on again. Funny to think that such a journey would have freaked me out 6months ago…just seems normal now.

Finally arrived back at Nadi at 1:50. Jumped off of shack and into the grotty water of mainland, Smugglers Cove. Had to go into Smugglers to confirm pick up for Robinson Crusoe Island, which was in 1hours time. Used some v.expensive internet in meantime ($8 per hour = rip off), then waited around for bus, which also came 30mins late. Fiji time can be funny, but novelty soon wears off when you spend lots of your day waiting around. Normal time please!

We were the only 2 people to get on bus when it came and driver took us into town to use bank and buy alcohol; alcohol ridiculously expensive on islands. Not a long journey into town and was a lot more built up then I thought. Lots of shops and shopping complexes and quite clean too. Made our way to the bank and couldn’t believe the queue. They were queuing all the way out of the door and down the street. Can’t be right. Went to find another bank just round corner, but was same thing again…what was happening. Went back to first bank and joined massive queue. Were definitely going to be late back for bus; driver told us we had 10mins…he obviously hadn’t seen the queue! Spent 15mins inching forward and chatting to a really nice Indo-Fijian lady. Then could finally draw money out and run back to bus. Driver had been driving round block waiting for us - he wasn’t allowed to park - but seeing we hadn’t been to shop yet, he gave us another 5mins. Bless. Ran into supermarket and bought the cheapest paint-stripper vodka ever accompanied with Fanta orange…maybe Fanta will make it taste good? Doubt it. Got back on bus then and onwards to Robinson Crusoe. V.excited.

Was a long journey on bus, lot longer than thought it would be. Drove through lots of little towns and villages on way, full of local people. This was real Fiji. V.run down, lots of small wooden houses falling apart, adults and children selling fruit and foods at side of road and animals roaming freely on roads, including horses. V.different to island resort living. Mum rang mid-way on mobile. First time heard mobile ring for months…didn’t even recognise tune. Had a quick, 3min conversation about NZ speeding fine = $190 for doing 103kph in an 80zone. V.annoying. Don’t know which one of us was driving yet, but obvious that person was trying to stick to 100limit, which most of NZ is! Weren’t going to pay fine because can apparently get away with it once left country, only a problem if you want to return. But, for sake of 38pounds each, just paid it. You never know…might return to NZ. That’s all talked about with Mum, mobile call = ridiculously expensive for both of us. Still, nice to hear her voice, not rang home in a while.

Got v.sleepy on rest of journey after that, which was still hours long. V.happy when did finally arrive. Got off at some kind of pier and put bags down. Nobody told us what was happening, but all Fijian people had sat down…guessing we were waiting again. No other tourists or travelers, just me, Deb and the locals. Hope people are actually on this island. 30 Fijian mins later, 2 boats pulled in and loads of people disembarked. Was dark at this point. Spotted Matt had met on Bounty and he had had a really good time; said island was good = good news. Was finally time for us to get on boat then. Me, Deb and 2 Fijian workers set off towards Robinson Crusoe.

Could already tell that this was going to be a totally different island to all others visited. Boat was now passing along what looked like a dirty river, with jungle either side. It wasn’t the sparkling blue water of Mana or Bounty and I was doing more crocodile spotting than fish spotting. Looked v.much like a crocodile river…dark and murky. Whizzed down it on Fijian jet boat, spotting only jumping fish, no crocodiles…probably a good thing. Even when came out of the river area and into the sea, the water was still dark and murky. Then got first view of island, which was different again. Not the clean, white sand of Bounty with an infinity pool, but rather a lump of jungle surrounded by gloomy water. All could see was trees…endless trees of every species. V.different…v.Robinson Crusoe. Looked exactly like the pictures from my kids book and could easily imagine pirates up in trees and obscure tribes living below. Exciting.

Pulled in and heard familiar sound of Welcome Song. Really nice that they were singing and playing even though there were only 2 of us. They grabbed our heavy bags and we made our way to reception; already dark on island…everything looks different in dark. Should have been a really easy check in, but turned out to be a nightmare. She took one look at our booking and said a big mistake had been made. We were due to leave on Monday, having stayed 4 nights, turns out, this wasn’t possible. There was a private wedding on Sunday and all guests had to leave island on Saturday. What a joke…that was a whole 2 days early and we had already paid to stay for 4 nights. The conversation was v.circular, her insisting that we leave, us insisting that we stayed for what we paid for. Eventually, she said she would have to talk to her boss and showed us to our room in meantime. Stress.

Other than that, island looked really good. All buildings built into and disguised in trees. All v.hut style and authentic tribe looking. Dorm was v.cute. A 2 story wooden tree house type building with murals painted on inner wall. Showers were even better. A guy called Joey took over showing us around and couldn’t believe his explanation of showers. Bucket showers. What exactly is a bucket shower? Well, turns out, bucket shower is exactly what it sounds like. In place where a shower head would be, there is a bucket that has a tap on the side, which you open to let out water. In order to fill bucket, have to hoist it down from roof - is tied up on a pulley type system, with rope - and use another bucket to transfer water into in. Then hoist bucket back up and Bobs your uncle…a bucket shower. Can one average sized bucket of water really wash a whole body and shoulder length hair? No way! V.cool though.

After our quick, dark tour round island, went back to reception to try and solve problem over stay. Went back to reception, with same lady, having same conversation. Glad when Aussie owner finally stepped in and said he would refund some money. He also said we could stay until late Saturday night so we could catch the night show. Seemed like a nice enough guy, so agreed to come back tomorrow to finalise money. Was already 6.30 at this point and dinner was at 7pm; didn’t want to miss that! Had a really quick chat with an Irish couple sharing room with and turns out a similar thing had happened to them, except thay were only losing one day of their stay. What a mess!

Quickly got changed for dinner then and didn’t make it to queue until 7:15 = late for us. Didn’t worry too much though; Irish guy said everyone was quite chilled with dinner here. What a lie! Were only 15mins late and loads of food had already run out. We were last in queue and some people had finished eating. Moral of story: never turn up late for dinner. Food did look really nice though; much better than Mana. Had bread, salad and a nice beef stew. All good. Didn’t really know where to sit because everyone had formed groups already, which seems to be the way with islands. Saw a table with a few girls and some spaces and asked if could join them. Turned out to be a good decision, they had just arrived today too. There were 2 Irish girls (Diedra and Ashleigh), an English girl (Catherine) and a Philapeano girl called Thara + a German guy she was travelling with, but never spoke. Ate and had the usual ‘first meeting chat’ = Where have you been? How long have you been away?...have anwsered and asked these questions probably 1000’s of times on this trip!

Finished dinner and got some drinks from bar. Not too expensive, but would definitely have to sneak own down at some point. Not allowed to drink own alcohol on islands…have to be sneaky! Chatted, drank and then it was time for the Cava Ceremony. Oh no…not another one! Hate cava! All went into the Pirates Nightclub and sat in the usual circle. A Fijian guy started to tell us about the tradition of ceremony, but talked way too much and after 10mins, we were all bored. He seemed to say the same thing on repeat, just in slightly different ways…maybe accounting for variety of languages? I switched off anyway. Was happy in my own little world until Ashleigh spotted a rat scuttling across the beam that was right above our heads. Urgh. That woke me up! Spotted it and could hear scuttling…hurry up with the ceremony already. All inched forward in circle a little - imagine a rat falling down on you - and couldn’t wait for cava then, just so could drink it and get out. Forever later, he finally finished talking and cava came round. Shotted it down - not actually that bad = worrying - then quickly escaped from rat den.

Went back to tables then and it was fun and games time…that’s not my saying, 9pm actually was ‘Fun and Games time’. Just like being at Butlins…I imagine…have never actually been. Played the number game where all had to get into groups of the number the leader shouted. Was fine until had to get into pairs; then had to do actions too. Wheelbarrow is bad enough when wearing a skirt, but sexual positions is a step too far for me after only 1 drink! Me and Catherine stuck together for all pairs..she definitely got a good look at my pants, and hopefully only her! Not my kind of game, especially when were 2 little kids were playing too. Oldest was only 10 and hearing him ask a guy what a 69er was was just wrong! V.glad when did get knocked out and went back to table to join Deb. Not a long rest, next game was limbo. Like a bit of the old limbo. Had a few rounds of breaking my back, then left game before a serious spinal injury ensued.

All ‘fun and games’ had finished then and re-joined table to chat as a group again. Did attempt playing cards, with a v.wrong combination of mine and Ashleigh’s, but gave up and settled on chatting instead. ‘I love dogs’ is just not right with ‘I love c*ck’. Was bonfire at midnight, but were all shattered from travel of day, so headed to bed at 11:30. V.different island here already; looks and feels like living in a mini community, like we really are all shipwrecked. Think it will be good. 😊

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Photos

The old Love Island set
...not quite how it looked on T.V.

Another cava ceremony
More cava...please no!

Too much limbo!
O.k., leave it now!

Really...TOO MUCH LIMBO!
This could have been the photograph recording the moment my back broke...v.close...painfully close!