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Published: August 10th 2008
From tourist to traveller, Bula! And welcome to Fiji.
Bula - Hello, Welcome, Cheers and at least another half dozen meanings to the word, Sorry we haven’t updated the blog in a while, we have been in the most remote areas the last two weeks and internet and mobile phone signals were not forthcoming. So let’s start with our adventure and what an adventure it was. We arrived in Fiji via Pacific Airways, slight bit of turbulence but not as worrying as James’s comment just as we were about to land. Now no joke guys he said this and I quote “Look at the Island outside the window, it is in pitch black, I guess they don’t have any electricity like we have been advised” To which Kim replies “James are you kidding me…that is the wing of the plane!!!” I think he is starting to loose his marbles or maybe it was the half pint of whiskey that he had had (Fijian measures).
Our fist night in Nadi wasn’t much to talk about really, there was a pool much to Kim’s satisfaction and the accommodation was seemly. We didn’t venture out of the hotel as we had
been flying the whole night and had been advised only to take taxis from the hotel rather than walking about the town. We had to be up early the next morning to catch the Awesome Fiji boat to the Yasawa Islands from Nadi harbour which was obvious to us the next morning that this is where the wealthy people of Fiji lived.
We checked in our luggage and retrieved our Bula pass and accommodation passes. For those of you who don’t know a Bula pass allow us to hop on hop off the boat and travel to the different islands for one lump sum. The accommodation pass included your night’s accommodation and 3 meals a day. We sat on the boat, met a few people, four hours later we still hadn’t moved. The steering on the boat was faulty so we weren’t going any time soon. We hadn’t planned which Islands we wanted to go to so at a last minute decision we chose our first resort to be Bay of Plenty which was located at the top of the Yasawa Islands and we were going to work our way down to the Mamanuca Islands.
We arrived at
the Bay of Plenty at 16:30 by water taxi from the boat, just the two of us, to the sound of the Fijians singing the Bula song and playing on their guitars. We had a private Bure with en suite. Bearing in mind the brochure had said that all the island resorts were of a basic standard with no hot water and no facilities for hair dryers etc, the accommodation was pleasant. The meal were nice, it felt very private and exclusive just to the two of us as we were the only ones there, electricity was on for an adequate time between 6pm and 11pm and we only had one big cockroach run from under our bed. When we were in Nadi (our first night) Kim had heard one of the girls back at the hotel saying that the main land was luxurious compared to the islands, we didn’t know what the fuss was all about. Oh weren’t we in for a surprise!!! The next day the manager’s brother gave us a tour of his farmland in the middle of the island, now us being us had lost our mosquito repellent and trekked in flip flops. On this mini
adventure Kim encountered her first spiders as big as the palm of your hand up in the banana trees, James tried some fresh coconut, we got to see some livestock such as cows and chickens, which may we add were very scared of the machete our guide was carrying and we got to see lots of vegetables including the Casawa which is a Fijian vegetable very precious to them. Hammocks; not so easy to get into and it requires practice you especially feel a bit queasy when the manager thinks it is funny to swing you from side to side.
Mosquito Bite Count:
Kim - 3
James - 0
The next day we took a water taxi across to another resort called Gold Coast. This has got to be the wettest ride we have ever been on. The fact that the Pacific Ocean was a bit choppy that day didn’t stop the driver from slowing down it just made him want to speed up. Imagine a little dingy boat with 3 benches in the middle of it in the middle of the choppy Pacific Ocean. James was waiting for Kim to freak out at this point as she
This dead spider haunted us for a week!
Just look at the size of the bloody thing!!!couldn’t see due to the copious amount of mascara and sea water in her eyes, however she didn’t, but James did reluctantly swap places with her.
First impressions “What a lovely little thatched Bure, very cosy, it has a mosquito net and it has got its own toilet and shower” Oh how we misjudged this place. It didn’t have electricity, okay we can get buy but Kim being Kim spots a gigantic spider the size of your hand hanging down from the beam just blowing in the wind. We both were cringing at the shear site of it, James did the manly thing and prodded it with a stick and it disappeared. As we both looked around curiously for it, it came down on its web. I have never seen James move so quickly out of the Bure or heard myself scream so loud. The other people in the resort heard me as they mentioned at dinner. Luckily for us it was dead (we made certain by smashing it to sh*t with our flip flop!); however it was enough to make us uneasy for our stay at the resort. We had a lantern for the evening, cosy yes but
Kim getting showered in near pitch darkness
with no electricity and minimal water....oh happy days! in spider infested homes no! We didn’t have a sink, our toilet and shower was in a pitch black room with a dribble of cold water. We think it is fair to say that we have both become a little closer as we are now toilet pals. As there was no light we had to hold the lantern for each other every time one of us needed the loo and stand on watch guard for any little critters. We were visited by many creatures that night included centipedes, spiders, mosquitos and moths. Lets just say we didn’t sleep too well that night!
Attractions on the island included Blue Lagoon on the other side of the island. As the walk around the island along the stoney beach was rather a painful one, we trekked across the island for forty minutes in the wilderness areas. Picture this! James and Kim are clapping to scare off any snakes that were hiding in the long grass as they come to the beach, they hear a grunt and catch site of a black bottom of a four legged animal. James and Kim look at each other in shear terror as it sounded like a
wild boar. James tells Kim to run as fast as she can to the beach trying to be as quiet as possible! Will the excitement ever stop? It turned out to be a pig, thank heavens. Kim tried snorkelling for the first time in Blue Lagoon. For those of you who know Kim is afraid of the sea and for her to be on a boat and using water taxis makes her very proud of herself. On our first snorkelling experience we encountered an octopus, fishes similar to the ones you see in Finding Nemo, some rather large fish which were not shy of showing us their teeth, a sea caterpillar, and lots of coral. Kim was a bit unsure of whether she liked snorkelling and didn’t think that she would do it again.
Although for us Gold Coast wasn’t what we expected we happened to be there when a fundraising night was happening which included elders from the village and other resorts. The drink of the night was the traditional Cava, not the bubbly champagne we all like but a fowl tasting drink that is made from the root of a plant. It tastes a bit like wood
and looks very similar to muddy water but it is supposed to have a numbing effect on your tongue and make you a bit spaced out i.e. a mild drug!!. The idea of the fundraiser was to play a kind of drinking game were you basically have to pay for someone else to have a bowl of the disgusting concoction…..most of the time they were not that grateful. You could buy people a small 50 cent bowl of cava or if you are feeling a little flash / cruel you could splash out on a larger 2 dollar bowl. James had six bowls and Kim had four bowls. You clap once before receiving the cava and three times after you have given it back to them. However on the forth bowl Kim bawked on hers and was nearly sick in front of the whole village. James cringed with embarrassment. So not to make Kim sick the tribe bought out a bottle of rum which she could have drank instead. We didn’t feel the effect as much as we wanted too but we slept very well that night.
Mosquito Bite Count:
Kim - 6
James - 0
Our
next resort was Coral Review and was luxurious compared to the shamble we had been in the last few nights. The maid must have thought we were crazy the way we were getting so excited about the fact that the Bure wasn’t thatched, there was a sink, a mosquito repellent plug, electricity full time, a cold but powerful shower and generally the food was far better. The things you learn to appreciate! It was so nice we extended our stay for the next 3 nights. The beach was nice and lined with hammocks, very relaxing, the restaurant was in a sand pit to add to the atmosphere and the cocktails kept coming Kim’s way. Insect encounters only numbered two….. a cockroach the first night which Kim killed, sorry God! James then thought it would be funny to make Kim paranoid by running the joke that when they are killed they give off a scent to other cockroaches. Well he got his comeback. One night as we were watching Scrubs on the laptop the biggest grasshopper we have ever seen jumped onto our bed and then onto our roof. It was at this point we thought we were going to go
back to the mainland the following morning.
The days at this resort were spent sunbathing (nicking sun beds from other peoples Bures like Germans), eating 3 prepared meals a day, a sneaky cocktail in the afternoon and cake, hammocks, good books and a bit of rock pooling. It reminds us a little of summer camp being here as the Fijian are heavily into routine. The bongo sounds at half seven for breakfast, checkout is at half eight, lunch is at eleven forty five, afternoon tea is at four thirty and dinner at seven. Also Kim found the mosquito repellent hidden in her bag cursing herself as she looked at all the bites she had got in the last few days from thinking that she didn’t have any. We had our first experience of crab racing. There are twenty crabs and each person bet on one crab. James could feel his eyes draw back into his head when he heard Kim’s voice say 16 dollars. That’s $16 dollars she paid just to have a crab in the race. His name was Mr Perfect! So we were slightly optimistic. The crabs are put in an inner circle and race to the
outer circle, first one there wins. Funny thing was these were not ordinary crabs they were little hermit crabs, so cute! Kim lost so she had to give up drinks for the next day as crab gambling was not in the daily budget!
Mosquito Bite Count:
Kim - 5
James - 0
Our next resort was White Sandy Beach resort…now the beach was amazing on this island; a stretch of white sands and crystal blue water. There were three resorts along the beach; James and Kim were reminded of their backpacker status as they walked past the resort which had a swimming pool lining the beach and flat roofed bungalows which had become a distant dream to them. We think we had our bad luck at picking these resorts because to stay in that resort was only an extra five pounds a night each, however that didn’t stop us making use of their bar facilities pretending to be guests. It wouldn’t have been the first time we were asked to leave for using five star resorts facilities especially the toilets, hehe.
The accommodation was thatched again, this time it had an outside shower with a
spider on the showerhead, what fun this was going to be. Before it got dark we thought we better get cleaned. James was the first to scrub himself, he gets naked as per usual and gets under this cold dribble which didn’t even get the shampoo out of his hair. The shower was in the corner bedded amongst tall wall plants accompanied by bullet ants on the floor which crawled up your leg as you stood there. The mat under the shower seemed to harbour every guests body juice from the last couple of days so showering in flip flops was a must. This was one of Kim’s worst showering experiences since we had been here, but James seemed to really enjoy it and getting back to nature.
We had the best carrot soup we have ever tasted on this island. I know its only soup but after days of rice and meat and pineapple it was a blessing. Night entertainment included the Bula dance (the Fijian version of the Macarena) and musical statues (we felt like we were back in primary). The next day we went to Honeymoon Beach on the other side of the island. This was
after Kim found a rather large cockroach in her bag which fell into her dress! James had never seen Kim get undressed so quickly! James snorkelled at Honeymoon Beach for three hours. Kim was getting quite distressed when he was out of site but luckily he was accompanied by other snorkelers. He saw some sea snakes which are poisonous and can kill you if you are bitten between the hands and toes.
Mosquito Bite Count:
Kim - 2
James - 0
To get away from the sand and insects we decided to stay on the Wana Taki Cruise (a small cruise ship owned by Awesome Adventures Fiji) for two nights. I suppose we didn’t think about the consequences of staying on rough water for 48 hours. Our first impressions were great because it had hot showers, insect free bedrooms, lovely cocktails but all of this didn’t stop us from feeling sea sick. Kim was fine as her mother had equipped her with travel sickness tablets but James was a little worse for wear…it didn’t stop him from drinking that night though as nothing ever does. Entertainment was excellent we took part in crab racing again as mentioned
earlier however this time is was only 2 dollars per crab. Ours would have come first but Kim kept screaming at it and she wondered why it just hid in its shell. We played “Suck and Blow” where you have to pass the playing cards from one mouth to another using the power of suction. Kim just kept dropping her card so she could purposely kiss the guys. We also played “Pass the orange” which was done via the neck, chins, breasts and other unusual body parts…..it was really quite erotic to anyone watching.
Mosquito Bite Count:
Kim - 1
James - 4
Our last Island resort that we stayed at was on the Island Waya LeiLai. This was home to Kim’s second breakdown since we had been to Fiji as the Bure had a thatched roof again leaving it a matter of time before they would encounter their next insect story and she had hurt her knee whilst she was moving from the water taxi onto the Wana Taki cruise, she had been in some pain for the last couple of days, and not stopped moaning to James about it. The entertainment included fire dancing which
we got some great pictures of, however we snuck away early as we didn’t want to get pulled up to dance for the eleventh night on the trot. Much to Kim’s surprise the insect encounter belonged to James. One morning James needed the toilet and we had already checked out so he had to use the communal toilets where the lights were not working so you had to do your business in pitch black. James came back to Kim, his face white with fright. He had been sitting on the toilet in pitched black shining his torch around the room and caught site of a leg moving on the ceiling. He came across a Red Huntsmen spider only about 15 cm in length just looking down at him! He said he had never done a no.2 and wiped his bottom so quickly in all his life! Hehe a bit graphic but a funny story!
The following day we both went snorkelling with reef and white tip sharks. This was an unbelievable experience and considering Kim wasn’t too sure about snorkelling in water 2 foot deep the fact that we were snorkelling in the middle of the ocean with huge
waves passing us bye and massive sharks swimming below us was superb! Kim remembers swimming at the coral edge looking down and there were four sharks swimming right below her. The sharks were not scary as long as they kept their distance from you. The feeding of the sharks was amazing to watch in one of the coral caves, slightly nerving as more and more sharks were coming and now swimming around the people who were curious to touch them. Needless to say we were both glad to be back on the boat safe with no limbs missing, however it must have been the most inelegant slight when watching Kim clambering into the boat, boobs hanging out and cutting other people with her flippers!! Later that day we had heard that the day before people who were doing the tour had seen a hammerhead shark on their way back to the Island the size of their boat…very scary!! It was a great way to end our Fiji trip.
Mosquito Bite Count:
Kim - 1
James - 1
For our last two nights we are staying in Nadi again recovering from our ‘Castaway’ experiences before we are due to
fly to New Zealand. We look back at Fiji as a learning curve which has been truly memorable. The Beaches and scenery have been well worth seeing; they are the true definition of paradise. But on the other hand you realise although the surroundings are paradise having legs and arms covered in mosquito bites, having no electricity, having to hide under the mosquito net from spiders and wasps 2 inches long, having a dribble for the cold shower, using a towel which doesn’t get you dry and stinks, having to turn your knickers inside out to save on washing, having to pee in the darkness whilst watching a centipede crawl into your bath sponge, sleeping with sand and having to wake up your toilet buddy every time you want to go to toilet we think it is fair to say that we took what we had at home for granted.
Mosquito Bite Count:
Kim - 1
James - 0
Total Mosquito Bite Count:
Kim - 18
James - 5
We are starting to feel more like travellers now and are really looking forward to the adventures we can expect to face in New Zealand. It
is going to be a massive shock going from beautiful hot sandy beaches to the snow capped mountains and extreme sports.
One month in and we are both having a fab time and are looking forward to the next 11 months….watch this space!
Kim & James. X
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Marjorie Horner
non-member comment
You must be having a wonderful time...
I wish I in your backpack!