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Published: August 29th 2010
Bula!
I’m writing this in Nadi Horizon resort, after a fortnight of cruising around the Yasawa and Mamuca islands and I’ve got lots of tales to update you on, so I hope you don’t get bored. We’ve had an amazing time already and I might go as far as to say it’s been the best experience we’ve had so far!
It was only 2 weeks ago that we were in Auckland, in a ropey hostel, enjoying cloudy weather and a prison like bedroom, counting down the minutes to our Fiji trip. The premiership season had kicked off back in England and Everton were playing Blackburn at 2am NZ time...so I was feeling a little bit far from home for the first time (Clio obviously didn’t care about the football :-)). However, I was confident the change of weather and scenery would take my mind off the small bout of homesickness
The flight to Nadi was a bum-friendly 3 hours long and we stepped off the plane to….more clouds! Apparently this was the first cloudy day they’d had for a few weeks in Fiji so it was great timing! However we were also met by a Fijian band playing a
welcome song as we walked through arrivals - a nice touch!
The bus took us from the airport through the completely alien surroundings of Fiji, with local villages dotted with long coconut trees and wooden huts. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a place like this before and we were both excited to see what our hostel would look like.
We made the school boy error of forgetting to withdraw cash at the airport, so it was back in the taxi to Nadi town centre to find an ATM (a lot of places take cash only). I’m pretty bad on my car knowledge, but I’ll roughly describe the local taxi as a really old, really crap car with no seat belts and a musty odour. The driver proudly points out landmarks such as the local village shop and the new Mcdonalds (sticking out in a bizarre contrast to its surroundings!)
We finally check in and somehow score a free upgrade to an ensuite family room, with air conditioning. Even with the current cloudy weather we knew that this is a bonus! It also randomly has a TV, which is kind of pointless in Fiji as it
picks up only one channel that seems to only broadcast live netball tournaments.
So first impressions of Fiji is that the locals are VERY friendly and they LOVE to sing. At any given moment a Fijian man will whip out a guitar and sing you a tune. They also love to say Bula! (which means Welcome/Hello) so you get used to shouting it back to them. Fiji beer and food is cheap as well, and the meals are delicious and packed with fresh ingredients such as fish and coconuts (there’s plenty knocking about!). ‘Kokoda’ quickly becomes a firm favourite ours (it’s Walu fish, marinated in coconut milk, lime and chillis).
On our first night we watch a traditional fire dance, performed by local guys and girls. We drink plenty of Fiji beer (a quid per stubby bottle…and they’re BIG subbies) and catch up with Tasha and Max, who we met on the Magic Bus.
The next day, we’re happy to see the clouds are a thing of the past and the sun is shining brightly. We get ourselves down to the beach straight after breakfast and get to work on our long faded tans. I seem to
develop a form of Attention Deficit Disorder when I’m on the beach, so I find myself getting involved in any activities going on, whether it’s kayaking or even bracelet weaving (I lose serious cool points for this)…Clio is content with lying in the sun. Nadi is nice, but not representative of the rest of the county - the island adventure begins the next day.
The only way to get around the Yasawa islands is on the Awesome Adventures boat, a bright yellow catamaran, that transports people to over 30 island resorts. We’ve booked a 14 day pass and hastily put together a schedule of 4 different island- varying in price and standard. You pay for accommodation and a meals up front (as there’s no supermarkets nearby!) so you have to eat what they cook for you!
First stop is Blue Lagoon resort, which is 4 hours away and named after the classic (?) 80’s film where it was filmed. The catamaran is too big to get close to the resort so a little boat comes to transport us to the beach. We’re welcomed by the staff, with cocktails and a verse of their welcome song - what an
entrance!
Blue Lagoon resort is only 6 months old and is situated on Nacula which is a beautiful volcanic island. It’s very much the Western version of true paradise, with crystal clear waters, white beaches and amazing coral to explore. Even though it’s a high end resort, the canny owners cater for backpackers, with a dorm that fits 8 people. They’re all comfy single beds with air conditioning and we feel immediately relaxed in our new home.
The resort has a mixture of travelers - families, couples and lone backpackers all mingle together. The food is amazing and we all sit together at dinnertime, so it’s really sociable. At first you feel like you’re playing dinner table Russian Roulette, but we’re lucky enough to meet some great people on our first night. In particular, a Dutch guy called Karst and a French Canadian girl called Belle, who we end up spending most of the next 2 weeks with. There’s also a nice American couple called Jesse and Janette, and a couple of funny Geordie lasses, Jacqui and Helen.
The Blue Lagoon is our first experience of a Kava ceremony. Kava is the national drink of Fiji and
the locals drink it every night. It’s made from the root of a pepper plant, which is dried out in the sun for several days and then mixed with water in a bowl using a cloth.
When they prepare the Kava, it actually looks like they’re washing their underpants in a bowl! The resulting liquid, looks, smells and tastes like muddy water! During the ceremony, you sit in a circle around the Kava bowl and they serve it to you in a coconut husk. You’re supposed to clap once, shout ‘Bula’ and then drink the concoction. It actually acts like a narcotic and makes your tongue go numb. Even though it tastes very strange at first, you eventually get used to it and I like the fact they drink it to unwind each day - its very sociable.
Each night we’re treated to evening entertainment after dinner such as Crab racing (seriously!) and Movie night (under the stars). What better way to watch the infamous Blue Lagoon movie than sat on Blue Lagoon Beach? However if you haven’t seen it, please, please don’t…unless you like a saucy island adventure with frolicking 14 year olds!
There’s a quiz
on the final night and our team, against all odds, manage to win - thanks in part to my anagram solving skills (I knew all those days of watching ‘countdown’ would pay off eventually). The prize is a champagne breakfast on the beach, which we unfortunately miss as we have to set off early the next day.
The 2nd resort is on Waya Island, called Octopus Bay. It’s actually a sister resort to the Blue Lagoon, so we settle into a familiar routine of sunbathing, snorkeling, eating and playing volleyball…it’s hard work! We’re joined by Karst and Belle from Blue Lgoon who are really good company and it's nice to have our own gang for a while. On our third day we receive a package from Blue Lagoon… Janette and Jesse decided to send us a bottle of champagne as we missed the champagne breakfast! What a nice gesture! So we have a glass of champagne on our last day at sunset, which finishes things off nicely.
We start to get a nagging feeling that we may have peaked too soon, especially as we have 2 islands to go and they can’t all be this nice, can they?!
Well Bounty Island, our 3rd stop is definitely a come down.
It’s a very small island in comparison to Waya, and would take you only 15 minutes to walk around! It’s run by locals, which means the standard is much, much lower. This is exemplified by our dorm room - which is a dive! It’s got a broken patio door which doesn’t close properly, sticky tarpourlin on the floor and a toilet that is reminiscent of the one from ‘Trainspotting’. There’s a massive dorm next door, which is crammed full of Fijian families. It turns out we’re in the Fijian version of Butlins!
The food is ok, they’ve got a nice enough communal pool but it’s just a but run down. We have a very sleepless night in the sweaty dorm room, with a slow moving ceiling fan giving very little respite. We decide to move to a slightly nicer bure the next day.
Bounty Island is actually where they filmed the car crash TV show ‘Celebrity Love Island’ - imagine our excitement when we realized we could walk in the footsteps of ‘Paul ‘Dangerous’ Dannan and Abi Tittmus! The set has since fallen to bits, but
apparently you can see it on the other side of the island. Clio and I hire a kayak and set off in search….after half an hour we see what looks like a run down Fijian building…maybe that’s it? No, we’ve actually gone all the way round the island and we’re looking at the resort where we’re staying! That gives you an idea of how nice it is!
So onwards to our final destination, Magical Manna Island and the Ratu Kini Backpacker resort. It’s actually a bit nicer than Bounty and has the added bonus of being set within a Fijian village. We walk past a school and a church before we arrive at our accommodation. It’s actually quite comfortable and the staff are very friendly. The downside of the resort is the lack of sun loungers- which we didn’t mind… until we got bitten all over by sandflies (I’m still scratching as I write this) and the food is pretty rough. Their ‘gourmet sandwich’ turns out to be a spam sandwich - yummy!
Our final day is a special one, though as we book ourselves in for a trip to the island where they filmed ‘Castaway’ with Tom
Hanks. Clio and I set off at 8am with our guide, Messe, who drives us in a little boat to the village that own the island. You have to pay a landing fee to the village chief before they allow you to visit. The island is beautiful and completely uninhabited. Even though it’s been years since I saw the film, I recognize a few landmarks. Apparently Wilson moved on a few years ago though :-)
Messe takes us snorkeling around the island, before we scramble over rock in our bare feet, which was quite tricky. It’s an unforgettable experience and a nice way to finish our trip. That night the local lads put on a fire dancing show and we stay up drinking kava with Messe and his friends. They’re really good fun and even though their English isn’t great, we still have a good laugh.
So now we’re back in Nadi, and we start our 4 day trek around the main island tomorrow morning. Sorry it’s been such a long blog this time but a lot can happen in a fortnight. I can’t believe it’s only a week until we land in Australia as well!
Keep
the posts coming, we love reading them and it makes us feel like we’re not so far away from you all
Bula
Ali and Clio xx
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sheena
non-member comment
Fabuuulous!!!! How jealous am I. It looks and sounds amazing, apart from the sandflies!So many great memories I'm sure xxx