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Published: January 29th 2007
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So, after leaving the fun of the flight from LA, landed in Fiji 12 hours ahead of London time. Were greeted by a group of Fijians playing local instruments and sailed through immigration. Grabbed bags, went to the ATM and caught the free shuttle bus to the Nomads Skylodge hostel about 20 minutes away. The room was so nice, with air conditioning and ensuite and the hotel grounds had a swimming pool and lots of little holiday bungalows. Although it was only 06:30 in the morning, it was pretty hot and the sun was raising fast. Decided it was time to hit the beach, so jumped on the bus and talked to a random local to find out where to get off. After a 20 minute walk in the boiling heat and midday sun, we found a nice beach. Lay around in hammocks for the rest of the day, but decided that there must me be a better beach somewhere else.
Decided to go visit the 2 big cities of the West coast of the main Fiji island. Lautoka was about 1.25 hours away on the ricketty bus and cost about 35p! Passed a few military checkpoints on the way,
one of them the soldiers were all in their tent next to the road drinking tea and the other we only stopped at because someone happened to want to get off the bus there. The soldiers were smiling and waving at everyone on the buses. Thats the Fiji way to do a coup I guess. Lautoka was a fairly busy place, by the coast and with a cool market full of some crazy fruit and veg. Me and Andrew got caught out by some dude selling us this wooden sword thing each with our name engraved on it for like 2 quid, he seemed - pleased with himself. Then got the bus back to Nadi after some lunch and visited the Hindu temple, which was insanely colourful. Got slightly conned out of buying some stuff at a Kava welcome ceremony, which means you drink this dirty milky coloured liquid made from crushed roots. Makes your tongue go fury and is a narcotic, which you can tell after a couple of coconut shells full. Tasted like a mixture of brazil nuts and coconut husk, but gives you good luck on your travels and welcomes you to Fiji, so it was all
good. And I got to be Chief as I was the eldest. ha ha. Was during this day that I realised just how friendly the Fijians are - they talk to you on the bus, say "Bula!" (hello) as you pass them on the street and even stop their cars/vans/buses in the street to ask if you would like a lift, and not in a 'get in my car I want to take all your money' - kinda way.
The next day, caught an early bus and boarded a Catamaran to Bounty Island, which coincidentally was where they filmed the first series of Celebrity Love Island. The boat stopped a fair way from the beach and a small boat came to collect us, taking us to Bounty Island. The Island was absolutely beautiful, and took a grand total of only 25 mins to walk around very slowly with toes dipping in the sea. Grabbed some snorkelling gear and saw some amazing corals, blue starfish, little blue Dorey (from Finding Nemo) fish and this amazing rainbow fish that opened clams by smashing them against rocks. The water was so clear and really warm, even about 50m out. Did some sunbathing,
kayaking, baby tutle feeding, had a free beach BBQ and walked through the island. Found the site of the Love Island tv show which had been totally abandoned and left in a complete mess, with materials all over the place and rubbish everywhere - it totally destroyed the beauty of the island. Other than that, the sea and sand made up for it, and really didnt want to leave.
In order to get a better beach experience, we had to move to another hostel. We got a shuttlebus from the Beachouse hostel (just over 3 quid) and travelled for 2 hours to a village just outside Korolevu on the South Coast. Was only on the way to the new hostel we realised that due to pure coincidence this new hostel was the setting for the latest series of Celebrity Love Island. Was wierd being to this place which was on tv - they had shut the resort for over 4 months to film it. Anyway, if you watched it, you will remember that it was amazing. The dorms of the hostel must have been less than 2 years old, and only about 8 quid a night. The beach was
30 seconds away and the waves broke on the corals out to sea, meaning the water was so calm, warm and clear. Were actually able to walk 500m+ out to sea and still stand. Spent 2 amazing days lying in hammocks, getting fed loads of food buffet style and basically admiring the palm trees and worshipping the sun on a beach for just the people in the hostel (so about 20 other people)!. So worth the money and if we all get the money one day, and the spare 1.5 days to actually get there from the UK, would be an amazing holiday location! Honestly could have spent another 4 weeks at this place, so so nice. Anyway, that was broken by having to leave the resort at 3 in the morning to catch our flight to Christchurch, New Zealand. The driver charged about 6 quid to take us at this time of the morning the nearly 2 hours back to the airport.
Flight was only 3.45 hours, so felt like nothing compared to the 11 hours of before. Was really rough flying over the mountains of the South Island, but the views were fantastic. So, for the next
6 weeks, time zone I am on is 13 hours ahead of the UK!
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Tommeh
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Wibble
*vomits in jealously*