Blogs from Mamanuca Islands, Fiji, Oceania - page 12

Just thought i'd share a few pics from my birthday with you all! Sarah and Sean decided that they'd surprise me and have a cake made and it was yummy considering all we'd been eating was rice & bread! Mama and her team spent all day baking it and even had to get the ingredients and candles from the main land. As you can see we had a big table of friends by the time the cake was ready ;o) ... read more

We are waiting outside our hotel as we have been told we are being picked up at 0830 for our transfer over to Mana Island. There are about 30 other people here too but they are all waiting for either the Feejee experience or the awesome adventures buses. By 8.45 we are still here and everyone else has gone. Sean & Sar go inside to ring them, apparently we are now being picked up at 9am and our boat is now at 11am (it was suppose to be at 9.30). We are abit mad as we are now going to lose half our day travelling! At 9.20 an Indian lady comes running up to us saying how sorry she is and that we have to go quickly as our boat leaves in 10mins (i guess the ... read more

penultimate stage over - very sad !!!! just at the airport waiting for our 10.5 hr flight - we fly tonight (Sat) 11:30pm and miraculously we land Sat afternoon 8hrs earlier in LA - something magic called a datelline - that's really gonna mess with our body clocks !! We've had a fab time chillling on our own little bit a gorgeous beach all day right in front of our little bure, snoozing in our hammock, snorkelling with the fishes in the coral reef that ran around the bay, me beating carl at chess and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes (they are seriously nasty out here) - but the biggest dissappointment was the feeding sessions ! I think we have actually lost some of the pounds we put on over the past weeks - carl is ... read more

It was so tough being in Sydney that Orla and I decided we needed a week in Fiji, so we duly flew to Nadi with no plans and no place to stay and hoped that we would have a Pacific adventure. We were not far wrong with all sorts of wrangling and comedy of errors including missing boats, seasickness (not us, thank goodness!), torrential Pacific downpours and being ripped off by (probably) well-meaning, but unclear, travel agents. However, it was all part of enjoying "Fiji time" i.e. being so laid back we were horizontal and you couldn't help but have a great time on these beautiful islands: Treasure Island, Musket Cove on Malololailai, and Sonaisali. We felt almost like the Famous Five given the names but didn't think that George, Anne, Julian, Dick and Timmy the ... read more

Woke up when the fan goes off and had breakfast. Went on a short walk through the village on the island. This is a good place because the locals are friendly and you can wander through their backyards and chat with them. There is no 'them-and-us' which exists on some other islands, despite the obvious poverty in which some of them live. A far cry from the luxury resort next door where those with too much money are spending 250 pounds a night(!) for exactly the same view. It really is too hot for much midday walking so we head back for lunch and stay in the shade until later where we walked across the island (in 10 minutes) to a remote beach with only us there, and did a bit of snorkeling in the clear ... read more