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Published: October 30th 2005
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Bula from Nadi, Fiji!
Caitlin and I arrived in Nadi (NAN-di) Wednesday. The 11 hour flight was not bad, unless you count the awful in-flight movie of the Fantastic Four. At least they give you free drinks! We arrived at the tiny, two story Nadi International Airport at 3 AM. I immediately started to shed my fleece and New England fall mentality. It was humid and about 80 degrees in the middle of the night. Sweeeet.
After customs (no bodily searches this time), Fijians in loud "Bula shirts" (think Haiwaiian type shirts) asked us where we were staying. They ended up being travel agents who act as representatives to resorts on the outer islands (Nadi is on the main island, Viti Levu). To us, they don't charge any more than booking directly. However, they take a large percentage out of these small backpacker resort's profits.
Unfortunately, we didn't know this at the time and we booked two tickets on the high speed, bright yellow "Awesome Adventures" cattameran to the Yasawa Islands. We napped in the airport lobby and hopped on a bus at 7 am to get to the Denarau Port and caught our Yasawa Flyer to the
View From Tent
Sunrise at Sunset Resort Sunset Resort on Waya Island.
After another 2 hours on the boat, we could see the island we were staying at. Waya is a volcanic island so the coast has dramatic pitch black rocky cliffs covered with tons of tropical vegetation that thrives in the fertile soil. The water is super clean, clear and calm. Coral reefs surround most of the islands as well.
The coolest part of Waya is that is connected to it's neighboring island to the south, Wayasewa, by a long sand bar. During low tide, I could walk across without rolling up my pants and get to the other side! There is an elementary school there, so kids will walk to school at low tide across a sandbar in the morning.
We stayed at the Sunset Resort for three nights but it felt like a week in "Fiji Time". It is a very small backpacker resort. We pitched tents in a grove. For the entire staff of 11 Fijian family village members, they only had to attend to Caitlin and I as well as a cute older Swiss couple, Hans Peter and Katie.
The four of us ate all our meals and
had tea together so we got to know each other. It turns out that the couple actually has lived in New Zealand for the past 30 years in Auckland! Unforunately, they were staying in Fiji and exploring the other Yasawas for the next 3 weeks or we would have had an welcome floor to stay on 😊
One day, Caitlin and I went on a 4 hour mountain trek with our resort host and guide Samu. We walked through his village and ended up climbing about 550 meters. The trails were narrow and we were both out of hiking shape, but it was worth the incredible views! We stopped at a rock pool at the bottom of a waterfall, under mango groves and large rock outcroppings that we could see neighboring islands from.
No trail mix on this hike. Samu climbed a coconut tree for us and we drank coconut milk straight from the nut. We also had a couple kinds of mangoes and other fruits as they had fallen off their trees. I struggled a bit, especially with my cold but Samu put both of us to shame. He had told us that he did this trail
often barefoot, and even with his old ratty tennis shoes, he jumped around these boulders like a mountain goat. I struggled in my newer running shoes and my ankles surely would have preferred my midweight boots.
Another day, we also got to go snorkelling off the reefs of our resort. It was Caitlin's first time snorkelling and she almost drowned herself when we saw a sting ray 😊 but it gave us a good laugh. The coral reefs are startlingly large and teeming with life. We saw schools of tiny, electric blue fish as well as angel fish, blue starfish and heaps more.
I was sad to leave Sunset, but we leave Nadi for Auckland tonight! (Well, technically tomorrow morning at 4 am. Who PLANS these flight times?) Caitlin and I walked into the the village of Nadi from our noisy hostel, Horizon Backpackers Resort. Unforunately, it's Sunday and not much is open except the internet cafe and a few tourist shops.
I am sooooo eager to get to New Zealand. Fiji is beautiful but it's just a blip on the screen and I would love to get into a proper city and around some Kiwis. I
will add the incredible pictures of Fiji (and some pretty funny candids of Caitlin) later on. 😉
Next entry... AUCKLAND!
love
a very tan, meesh 😊
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Camm
non-member comment
great blog
real nice blog on an area I'm familiar with...and real nice pics also.....