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Published: June 19th 2008
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The Crab race
fun on beachcomber island - we bid on the Danish crab but it didnt win - booo Hello
We've not done any updates for a while - Fiji didnt have the fastest internet connections and Bali was very laid back so we decided to leave it until now - so this rather large entry is coming to you from our Hostel in Singapore.
Fiji
we had a great time in Fiji and experienced different sides to the country. landing in Nadi airport we managed to blag some free transport to our hostel for the night. Hostel was ok but we had been put in a room with the squeekest bunkbeds and right next to the main dining and tv room so we didnt get much sleep. No worries as we were off to Beachcomber island the next day.
We caught the island hopper ferry and arrived at beachcomber where it decided to chuck it down - it rained so heavily we couldnt see more than 5 meters in front of our faces. The next day (my birthday) the rain had gone and we got brilliant sunshine, and we noticed that there was another island only a few hundred meters away across the sea. The main dorm which held about 150 people (we werent sleeping in
that one thank goodness!) had leaked overnight during the rain so they had the workmen out on the roof fixing it - no health and safety laws in Fiji as the men scrambled over the roof barefoot, singing all the time. It was quiet a spectacle!
Beachcomber island is tiny and you could walk around it in 10 minutes. We met some really nice people there who helped me celebrate my birthday. We tried Kava - this is the most disgusting drink we have ever tasted - it is made from the root of some plant and pounded down and mixed with water - looks just like dishwater and doesnt taste any better. It is supposed to have some kind of loopy effect on you but i dont think we drank enough to tell. David was made to go first and managed to drink the whole cup - i could only manage 2 sips without wretching. David then quietly dissapeared and i discovered later he had gone to throw up! We experienced kava again but at Matava island which is more typical Fijian and it was the locals who had been drinking it all day and they were loopy -
making mad animal noises - very funny!!
From Beachcomber we moved onto Mana island - a bigger island that is split into 3 resorts - 2 backpacker ones and a 5 star one that runs right across the middle. They have even fenced it so that us lowly backpackers cannot venture into their resort.
When we arrived we thought that it seemed nice and quiet so didnt have any complaints. However at 5pm there was an almighty rumbling started and we found the 5* resort generator to be located right next to our room - but on the 5* side of the fence so we could do nothing about it (except get very drunk so we could pass out).
We decided to walk around the island which took about 2 hours - it was a very eventful journey but we didnt take the camera so have no photographic evidence of it. We were paddling in the shallows and David spotted a sea snake - feeling adventerous he found a stick and decided to see what the snake would do if you put this stick in the water - it reared its head up and at that point we got
out of the water. When we got back to the resort we were talking to the dive master and he explained that this snake is one of the most poisonous snakes that there is!!!!! WHOOPS - we obviously didnt learn from our time at the Steve Irwin zoo.
Next we were walking through rock pools when David screamed like a girl and went running onto the beach - this time he had a baby octupus stuck to his flip flop and foot which he couldnt get off! Very amusing - the stick once again appeared and we managed to scrape the slippery suckered creature off and put it back in the rock pool.
Finally when we thought we couldnt have any more incidents we were walking across the beach and a stray dog decided to follow David for about 30 minutes - the dog would follow every footstep so even if David zig zagged the dog would zig zag too. When David would stop to tell the dog to f@#* off the dog just looked away and waited for David to set off again. The only way we shook it off was beacuse we saw 2 women walking down the
URGH
kava is minging! beach so we caught them up and the dog decided that they were better than us and then followed them!
From Mana we went back to Nadi for the night and then off to the island of Kadavu and the resort Matava. To get there we had to catch a small propeller plane for 45 minutes and then once we were on Kadavu we took a 40 minute banana boat ride across the corals to the resort. We selected this resort because it was more typically Fijian and had good diving (and my bros mate ran it). It had only solar powered electricity so the evenings were spent with kerosene lanterns and head torches - all very chilled and one of the best places i haev been to. The diving was great, expecially the last dive where we saw turtles, moray eels and 7 white tip reef sharks that were circling below us as we did our safety stop - a little scary but really good!
We were invited to the village to see the childrens sports day, this was another great experience and i am really pleased that i got to see real Fijian village life. Fijians are
the most friendly people and are excellent singers! Kava again appeared only this time the Head master was drinking it whilst also running sports day.
David liked the resort dog - you'll have to ask him to explain that one - however all i can say is that he has since washed his rucksack!
After Matava we went back to Sydney for a couple of days and it was great to see everyone again - thanks Debbie for letting us stay and doing my washing 😉
We left Sydney and went to Bali for 2 weeks - we didnt actually do a great deal in Bali except sunbath, drink, eat and have massages. Bali is ridiculously cheap and has the freshest fish and nicest food we have tasted since we've been away. David was having a massage each day for 4 pounds - except when he decided to have a hot stone massage which was 10 pounds (the big girl) We spent a week in Seminyak and a week in Tanjung Benoa - both hotels were gorgeous (we did 4* baby!) and cheaper than some of the hostels in AUS and NWZ.
We are now about
Fijian dancing
entertainment in evenings at beachcomber to leave Singapore and fly to Vietnam to start our 3 week trip. really looking forward to it although the humidity is getting a little unbearable but thats a small price to pay for 6 months off!
so, 8 weeks left and we will probably update again sometime from Thailand.
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