When Jon slept through Tuesday and Damon stole the weekend

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Well - weren't we glad to get out of LA - a very interesting journey to the airport however where the woman in our bus decided to tell us about how she had met a man who was about 10 years younger than her in her first week in america - 2 weeks later she was on her way back to oz to tell her parents she was pregnant with his child and moving to america - all this on a holiday that her ex boyfriend had paid for her to go on!

Anyway - during the flight we crossed the international date line meaning Tuesday passed in the blink of an eye - during which Jon was asleep and i watched some atrocious golf documentary! So landed in Fiji on Wednesday morning at 5am and could feel the heat and humidity as soon as we stepped of the plane. We met a guy called Francis at the airport who sorted us out with some Bula passes (which meant we could travel the yasawas as much as we wanted on a ferry thing) and our first few nights accommodation plus gave us a shell necklace each. We then went down to the harbour to get on the ferry out to the islands. Our first stop was the furthest islands away called Nacula where we stayed in a resort called Nabua lodge - the ferry journey was over 5 hours long - needless to say debbie suffered a wee spot of sea sickness!. We were sharing our dorm with two girls called Gemma and Kim who were from just outside Nottingham and were really nice and good fun. Nabua was basic to say the least however we dumped our stuff in our dorm and went to the beach for some swimming and sunbathing.

Everything in fiji runs on drum time so whenever you hear this drum being hit it means something is about to happen (usually a meal - since all the islands are so far away from civilisation all your meals are included in your accommodation as there is no other option for eating). So the drum sounded and we went for dinner. After dinner all us new arrivals had to introduce ourselves to the existing guests and then we all did this dance called the Bula dance (Bula being the fijian word for hello which seemed to mean a load of other things as well) - this generally involved a lot of waving your hands around with a wee bit of the macarena thrown in. We were then introduced to Kava which is a fijian drink made out of the root of a pepper plant - it is supposed to make you hallucinate but it didnt! Just tasted like muddy soapy water. Kim and Gemma headed to bed when Gemma quickly returned due to there being a giant spider eating a cockroach on her bed - cue much laughter before bed and Jon being the hero of the hour - in a way!

The next day the four of us (me jon gemma and kim) got the boat over to Blue lagoon resort which was on an island just opposite ours. Here me and jon went snorkling which was incredible - so much reef and loads of fish of all different colours including some electric blue star fish. We returned in time for lunch which mainly consisted of carbs - as does every meal in fiji - and went for a mini explore of the island. We then had a gourmet dinner of soup which tasted like salt water followed by hard fish on raw cabbage with the remains of the soup on top!

We decided to leave this island a day earlier than planned as there wasnt a huge amount going on and whilst it was rustic we wanted to see what the other islands had to offer. Off we popped a little closer to the mainland to a resort called white sandy beach - here we said goodbye to Gemma and Kim. the beach here was beautiful but the sea wasnt very deep so you couldnt really swim. They also provided afternoon tea which felt very british! We played some cards with one of the locals and a girl called Hannah and played some volleyball with the locals but due to us being rubbish we were quickly kicked off the team. Friday night on this island was Fiji night so we experienced some traditional fijian food cooked in the underground oven followed by an evening of traditional Fijian song and dance.

Chilled out on this island for the morning and then hopped back on our ferry to head towards Manta Ray islands. On the ferry we bumped into Caroline and Peter who me met at Nabua who were also heading to Manta Ray with us. This was much more touristy than the other islands but beautiful beach, good swimming and amazing food. After dinner on our first night we chatted to some people - this guy called Jessie wowed me with some amazing magic tricks (not in his pants) - then Jon went to bed (sick from 'traditional food'/POISONous crabs (not the STI)) and I ended up drinking some Kava with an Irish guy a French guy and some locals. The next day we took out a couple of kayaks and did some exploring and some snorkling and saw even more fish and coral than at blue lagoon. After lunch we made bracelets out of coconut husks and Jon went and played some volley ball with Caroline and Peter. We then all walked to the other side of the island to watch the sunset which was beautiful but a little bit cloudy.

The next morning Jon and Caroline went for a long snorkel where they encountered multiple Jellyfish - so i was quite glad I stayed ashore. However on returning to shore Jon discovered he had lost his shorts!! (I did have more than one pair so not a huge issue) We were moving on to another islands with Caroline and Peter so after the locals singing their goodbye song we got back on the ferry and headed to Octopus resort - only one word can describe this resort - PARADISE! It was beautiful with a swimming pool and a gorgeous restaurant with cocktails and a sand floor bar and really good food. We made the most of all the facilities (hot water showers included) and then did a little stargazing before bed. The following day we chilled out doing swimming and reading in the sun, Jon getting very sunburnt legs and Debbie gaining further Blotches - we were then scheduled to go on a handline fishing trip however discovered that the boat had left without us 😞 to compensate we had a couple of cocktails instead. After dinner there was a wee spot of crab racing - Caroline, Jon and I all entered crabs who made it into the semi finals and then lost so no $30 bar tab for us! Jon and I then headed to the beach and did some star gazing (we saw some shooting stars 😊 ) whilst serenading the other guests on the beach with our text book rendition of Elephant Love Medley, A whole new world and a few other classics! Before leaving Octopus Jon went on a hike to the top of the Island which culminated in a swim in a waterfall but I'll leave him to tell you more about that...

Yes... I shall. Got up early for the 'wee' hike that I did (debbie seems to have gone scottish in this blog), Anyways, we were guided on a hike by Atu, it took about 2 hours to get to the peak of the mountain and I had to help some old guy from Australia up but it was worth it when we got to the top and saw some amazing views. We had some fresh fruit which was carried up by Atu and then after a while snapping away we started the long (hot and sweaty) descent. There was a really nice waterfall at the bottom which we got to swim in to cool off in with some of the local villagers. Nice walk. the end.

We then sed our goodbyes to Caroline and Peter who we knew we would be seeing again on a different island in a couple of days and boarded the ferry to Waya Lai Lai. this resport was again back to basics with our room being at the end of a very prison like corridor. We chilled out for a bit but it was very windy due to rumours of a cyclone the other side of Fiji. It was Fijian night at this resort so after a Kava welcoming ceremony we had another Fijian feast cooked in the underground oven. We then played cards with a guy called Rich and a girl called Courtney before the 4 of us headed to the beach to look at the glow in the dark plankton! We were greeted in the morning by a lot of wind (not from Jons bottom) and a very overcast sky - this meant that none of the activities could take place as the sea was too rough. We just sort of ambled about playing cards etc until lunch when there was an announcement that due to the impending arrival of Cyclone Damon the ferry would not be running for at least the next 2 days. We didnt fancy staying on Waya Lai lai for that long as there wasnt a huge amount to do so we braved the ferry back to the mainland. A bumpy ride would be an understatement however Debbie did somehow avoid feeling seasick! We also met Caroline and Peter on board who were doing the same as us and the four of us headed to the Nomad Skylodge on the mainland. We all went out for chinese together and then back to the skylodge bar - where somehow in the course of the evening 5 bottles of wine and a huge Chinese meal were consumed!

Feeling not at our peak Jon woke me up at 5 the next morning saying he had got us onto a flight that morning (3 days earlier than planned) and that we had to be at the airport in an hour. We left a farewell note for Caroline and Peter and headed to the airport. Good job we did really as it was the last flight out of Fiji until after the cyclone had passed.

Overall Fiji was an absolutely incredible place, its just a shame we had to leave a bit early. Hope that the photos do this incredible place justice.

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