Fiji

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Our flight into Fiji arrived in Nadi at 6.30 in the morning! We had a hotel booked for that night and were taken by taxi to it where we went straight back to bed! We surfaced at about 1pm and then explored our hotel which was marvellous for 11 pounds a night! We were in a dorm but it had air con, the hotel had 2 swimming pools, 2 restaurants, shop and games area. We spent the afternoon aclimatising by the pool and then had a lovely dinner for about 5 pounds!

The following morning we were picked up by Awesome Adventures at 7.15am to begin our island hopping. Awesome Adventures is the company we booked our trip through and it is a 7 day trip around the Yasawa Islands, travel, accommodation, food and activities were included! The coach took us to Port Denarau where we met the ferry which is a bright yellow catamaran that cruises the islands daily like a bus service. We were on the ferry for over 4 hours while it took us to the furthest away islands of the Yasawa's. We were to spend 2 nights on Tavewa island at Coral View Resort. We were transferred from the ferry to the island by little boats that came and picked us up, it was quite surreal the first time! The staff from the resort were on the beach waiting to greet us as we disembarked, they were really welcoming and treated us as if we were 5 * guests! We sat in the dining area while they introduced themselves and gave us information about the island, then lunch was served. After that we spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach and lazing in the hammocks strung between the palm trees. Bliss! In the evening after dinner, the staff put on some entertainment for us, they sang us a few songs and then had everyone up teaching us the Bula Dance. It was great fun. The following day we went on a trip to the caves on another island, legend has it that if you don’t see the caves then you haven’t seen the real Yasawa’s. We climbed down into the cave and then jumped into the deep, dark, murky water for a swim. The next part was really scary as we had to swim below the surface between the rocks to get into the main cave. It was really narrow and pitch black, we were both a bit freaked. The tour guides have torches and we had to swim towards the light under the water and surface slowly so we didn’t bash our heads on the rocks! Inside the cave it was pitch black and we had to tread water until everyone was through so the guide could use the torch to light up the cave. He told us about the history of the cave and then we had to swim back through the gap to get out again. After that we got back on the boat to Coral View and chilled on the beach again. It’s a hard life!

The next day we boarded the ferry to the next destination which was the Wana Taki crusie. It was the same size as the ferry, containing an upper deck with kitchen, bar and table area. Downstairs was one big dorm room but had air con! Thank goodness, as well as a TV area. The bathrooms were down more stairs. They took us out snorkelling and there were so many fish including a blue starfish! After dinner that evening we had a crab race and we both had our crabs (Clive and Rex) in the final race! We played other games before going to sleep. In the morning we went out snorkelling again but it started raining. We spent the rest of the day watching dvds, as what else is there to do on a boat when it rains! We were picked up by the ferry at 3.30 and taken to the next island.

The next island was called Waya Lai Lai, it was a bit more basic than Coral View with electricity being on for only a few hours a day, still it was a good island and again the staff were all really friendly. On our first night there they also put on entertainment for us including traditional Fijian dances and a fire dance. After we all joined in with a couple of the dances before going to bed. The following day we went out kayaking, It took us about 20 minutes to get out to a point on the island and then longer to get back! It was good fun though and something different to do as we had done so much snorkelling. At 4pm that afternoon we went on a hike to the summit of the island, this big rock right at the top. The climb up took an hour and a half, it was a steep climb which was also slippery in places as it had rained, we were all really hot when we got to the top but the views were astounding. To reach the actual summit rock we had to walk across a rock that had a shear drop each side! Sitting at the summit was like being on the top of the world, we could so many of the islands on the horizon. The guide showed us which islands were which and where the mainland was. Walking back down was a whole other adventure! It was starting to get dark by this point, so climbing down rocks and muddy paths proved very interesting. Our guide told us to go ahead while he waited for a slower group at the back. However, we took a wrong turn and ended up in a creek, muddy, wet, exhausted and stranded in the dark. Eventually our guide found us and we had to go partly the way we’d gone down to get back on the path. When we finally got back to the resort we’d missed dinner but the staff had saved some food back for us all so we tucked in extremely hungry!

The last island we visited was South Sea Island which is tiny. It looks beautiful, surrounded by a beach and clear blue sea. You can walk around the island in under 5 minutes and it would fit into a football pitch. It was a sociable island, probably because of its size, so we spent the evening chatting to everyone inside as there was a storm. The next day was our last in Fiji and we went on a day cruise. It was a sail boat and took us to a Fijian village where they performed a welcoming ceremony involving Kava which is a Fijian drink made from natural plants. They had market stalls for us to buy jewellery etc which we obligingly did! We were served an amazing bbq back on the boat and then taken to island where they filmed the movie Castaway. It is an uninhabited island and the beach was stunning. We snorkelled here too, until it started raining again! After the cruise we went back to the mainland via the ferry and spent our last night at the Nadi Bay Hotel. We enjoyed a nice meal before going to bed early ready for our trip to the airport at 6am the next morning.

We got to the airport ready to check-in only to find out that our flight had been delayed by 10 hours!! Qantas transferred us to a hotel for the day, it was called Capricorn and not quite up to the standard we received in Bali! We got free breakfast and lunch so can’t really complain but we were eager to get to New Zealand! We returned to the airport at 3.30pm and checked-in. Our flight left at 6.45pm, however we were not on a Qantas plane, Qantas had had to charter an Air New Zealand plane for the flight. We were able to enjoy a luxurious flight on a Boeing 777. It was a brand new plane with all the mod-cons and even though it was only a two and a half hour flight we could choose which films we wanted to watch! They even provided lovely big fleecy blankets which we accordingly stole in case we needed them in our campervan in New Zealand!!

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