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Published: April 24th 2009
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11th APRIL 2009 - A DAY FOR DOZING & SPECTACULAR NIGHT SHOW!!!
Nat woke me up at 8am for breakfast. I think I was still a little drunk...damn those drinking games! I still managed to get dressed and head down for breakfast. A little cereal and some toast sorted me right out! A few people were leaving on the 9am boat and so I hung around and said my goodbyes before going back to bed for an hour....so so tired!!
Check out was t 10am and so I got up and made sure I had packed up and was out of the room by that time. Nat and I weren’t heading back to the mainland until 9pm and so we put our stuff behind reception and chilled out for the day. I headed to the beach with Jen and Alex. The others were on the nicer part of the beach but I was being lazy and could not be bothered to walk around to meet them. It was pretty hot too but I persevered for an hour or so and had a good chat with Jen and Alex about their travels and the Irish mentality to travelling. So weird over
there….it is stranger to stay home than travel in Ireland. Everyone seems to take a year out and spend some time somewhere! Good on em!!
At 11.30 the boat came in and all the islanders left got on it. Nat and I were the only 2 staying apart from the wedding guests that had already arrived. Most of the Fijians went done to the beach where they sang a goodbye song and waved the boat off. It took longer than expected because it kind of got stuck and half the passengers had to get out and push! Nat and I stood with the Fijians and waved. Felt weird to be the only ones left…almost felt like I was really marooned there!
After the boat left we just lazed about. I sat and whittled my day away in a hammock in the shade. Too hot for me which is unusual! Nat baked in the sun…her heat tolerance is way higher than mine!! We got a bit of a raw deal as all the island staff were so busy preparing the island for the wedding that there were no activities on that day! Not really fair as we were still
paying guests but that is the way the cookie crumbles I suppose!
At 12.30 we went to see Reneal (Island staff agent who helps sort out trips). He helped us plan our remaining days once we got back to the mainland. We couldn’t afford to do the Feejee Experience but wanted to do a similar route only on a budget! He went through where we wanted to stay and said he would book it all for us. Cool by me…I wasn’t in any mood to spend the day organising accommodation! Trip organised we went for lunch….creamy pasta, rice, salad. More stomach expansion….not good!! After lunch we lazed about some more as it was too hot to do anything else!! A few boats arrived with wedding guests and the island got a little busier though they wee all family and stayed away from us as we were blatantly riffraff!!
As the time got later and we had spent enough time in the sun we headed for another bucket shower. Another workout for the arms hoisting that bucket up! And again…it wasn’t even Tuesday!! Once clean and de-sanded, we headed out to the beach to wait for the night cruise
boat to arrive. A big bonfire was lit on the beach and it all looked pretty spectacular! I really love Fiji! As the boat came in, a welcome song was sung to them by the Fijians and we all sat on the beach watching the sun go down. Once the sun had gone to bed, the Kava ceremony began. Nat and I scuttled off like little mice until it was over! Neither of us wanted to take in any more Kava!!
Ceremony over, we were taken to show how the food had been cooked. Just like hangi in NZ. A big hole in the ground and the food cooked on hot rocks! Just their traditional way of cooking….equivalent to the Aussie bbq and an American microwave!! Very impressive to actually see the food coming out of there! Once the food had been removed, 3 of the Fijians walked over the hot stones! Ouch!! We then sat down for dinner! It was tasty….we had fish, chicken, beef, potatoes, veg, and onion gravy….all cooked in the ground and had a slightly smokey flavour! Very filling and I was stuffed like a turkey at Christmas!!
The show then started. Lots of
Fijian dancing in the traditional sense. The men have really fierce moves with lots of stamping, knee wiggling, growls. Vey strong and sharp! The women don’t do a lot but wiggle…gracefully wiggling until they could wiggle no more! Really good contrast and the whole dancing part of the show was brilliant! The show ended with some fire dancing by the men. When I say Wow I really mean wow!! They put any other fire dancing I have seen to shame. They were spinning fire so fast it became a blur. They stood on shoulders to spin it, built a human pyramid and one guy had 2 others balancing on him whilst they all span fire! I was spellbound by it!! Truly amazing! My camera died so was a bit gutted at that but all in all it was a fantastic night!!
After the fire show we went to Reneal to pick our vouchers up for the accommodation and then picked up our bags. By the time we got to the beach the boat had left. Where was Fiji Time when we needed it!! The Fijians shouted it back for us and we got on ready to head back to
the mainland!! I was so so tired and would have given anything to get into my own bed at that moment!!
Off the boat we got on a bus and were taken to the Coral Coast. It was a good 2 hour ride and we dropped loads of people off at different resorts along the way. I slept for most of the journey! We eventually arrived at ‘The Beachhouse’ at around midnight. The reception was locked up but the night watchman gave us a key and let us into our room. The guys in there were from Mana and Robinson…small world. It was then a case of cleaning my teeth, pajamas on and bed!! I knew I would sleep well!!
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