Bula!

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Arrived in Fiji on Thurs 30 March to absolutely peeing down rain, but it was hot so who cares?! Greeted at the airport by Fijian musicians which brightened things up considerably and got me in Fiji mode straight away. Transferred to a hotel in Nadi for the evening and with ten minutes the mozzies had got me the gits. Jenn and I donned our cozzies and jumped in the pool, swam a few token lengths and then lounged there supping bubbly - well why not?!

Picked up by an Octopus Resort driver on Friday and taken to the marina where we caught the resort boat to Waya island, which is one of the first in the chain of the Yasawas. The rain had gone overnight, the sky was blue and the sun was shining and on approaching the island I was gobsmacked at how beautiful it was. Didn't expect it to be any different to Thailand, however where as Thailand's islands are fairly developed, Waya island showed no sign of tourism other than the occasional bure thatch roof poking through the palm trees. The sea was an emerald/turquoise colour against the white sand beach, surrounded by trees and hills - it was beautiful. The staff appear on the beach singing a song to welcome us to the island, accompanied by guitar players. Our dorm (not a bunk in sight) is only about 50m from the pool and 100m from the beach. Each bed has it's own mozzie net (phew!) and fan, with beach and bath towels provided - absolute luxury in comparison with hostels! Lunch can be chosen from a blackboard menu of 8 options which all sound delicious - yep the healthy things sounded good, even to me! The restaurant is just off the beach, but has a sand floor and views out to sea. Then dinner was buffet style, eat as much as you want. It was all fantastically prepared and tasted equally as good. There was me thinking that, being fussy, I would probably starve this week- not a chance, we seemed to be eating every couple of hours and loads of it.

We were due to go on a boat trip on Saturday but it was cancelled due to there not being enough people willing to tear themselves away from the beach or the restaurant. Have to make do with lazing on the beach instead - god it's a hard life. Go for a wander over the rocks to the next beach which is even more beautiful than ours and get snap happy trying to create the Athena picture of palm trees overhanging the beach! Watch a local guy line fishing, where he catches a sardine sized fish which he leaves on the hook to then use as bait to catch a larger fish. What looks like dark rocks/reef in the shallow water is actually a massive shoal of fish which every all leap out of the water at once every now and again. After lunch we do end up going on a boat trip after all. The resort is currently managed by a scottish couple and today is the first anniversary of them being there so they invite us to celebrate on Nova beach which is around the headland. Spend the afternoon chilling out and drinking beer, then the boat trip back allows us to witness a fab sunset (yep more sunset pictures I'm afraid!) Tonight is games night and I come joint first in the limbo competition. Jenn and Al pair up and win a couple of games too, resulting in bottles of bubbly being won.

Shock horror, I went to church on Sunday! A group of us walked to Nalauwaki which is the village about ten minutes away to join their church service. A passionate, loud preacher and superb choir made it good to witness although an hour and a half was a tad long in the stifling heat. We met the local kids afterwards who were all so cute and pleased to see us. We'd take photos and they would be fascinated and excited to look at themselves on the digital screens, crowding around the camera rugby scrum style and giggling. Tonight's entertainment was movie night and a big screen goes up on the restaurant wall as it couldn't be on the beach as usual as it was threatening rain. Tom Cruise in Top Gun - classic! It didn't actually rain, but we did have a fantastic light show in the form of lightening which as it turned out happened most nights.

Up at ten to six on Monday morning as five of us had arranged for a private guide to take us on a mountain hike and we wanted to avoid the heat as much as possible. We first walk through the village and then into the trees to start our ascent to the highest peak on Waya(537m I think). It's a fairly overgrown, narrow, steep path. Begin to wonder what the hell I'm doing as how was I ever going to get back down with my fear of downhill slopes?! It's so hot, even at that time of day and when we stop after an hour only halfway up, I consider not continuing. Tell the guide my fears about getting back down in one piece and he tells me he'll help me down so I decide to carry on. Had to climb a few rocks without the reassurance of harnesses and ropes, but managed to get up them ok. We reach a flat, grassy part just before the rocky summit and can see the chain of Yasawa islands so assume we've reached our final destination. But no, the guide legs it up the vertical rock face like a mountain goat(in his flips flops!) and expects us to follow. We tenatively take the same route and are glad we did when we get there as the view is even more stunning. We rest for fifteen minutes to take in the view and then start our descent. I warn the guys that I may freak out on the way down, but the guide is very patient and helps me down the slippery bits as promised. A couple of the others slip up on their bums, but by cheating I manage to avoid this! Make it back down in one piece apart from a few scratches on my legs from the bushes. We're all totally drenched in sweat and I reckon I could have wrung my t-shirt out - ok so you could have done without that bit of info! Get back to the resort at 10am ready to start a hard day of relaxing on the beach, but think we deserve it after all our effort. Al and I go back to the village in the afternoon to the craft market. Another group had already gone on ahead to watch a meke - performance of traditional dance and music. They were on Fiji time though, as when Al and I got there they hadn't even started. We sat down just as they were doing the kava welcome ceremony which was something else which we'd already experienced and weren't in a hurry to do again. Kava is a local drink, but it's nothing like the Asti from Asda, but more resembles a dirty, muddy, gritty puddle in looks.....and in taste, but with a slightly anaesthetic effect on your tongue! As on the first night, we grin and bear by participating in two rounds in order to be polite and not offend the Fijians, but politely decline any more after that. As it turns out we were both glad that we got to see another meke as the village was a far better setting for a traditional performance than round a swimming pool where we first saw one! Dinner tonight was cooked in a lovo which is a similar idea to a New Zealand hangi and resulted in very tasty food.

Cor my thighs hurt on Tuesday following the mountain hike, so out of condition! Went for a snorkel today. The coral is only a few metres from the beach in shallow water and was pretty impressive, more so than snorkelling in Thailand. Very colourful coral and fish and chase after them with an underwater camera. Entertainment of the evening was crab racing! Put in a team effort and buy one crab between the three of us. I tentatively choose and pick up the crab, squealing like a girly wuss as I did so! Guess what? Our crab won! Think it was our enthusiastic cheering that did it - he was obviously trying to get away from us! Get a $30 bar tab to spend as a prize so invest in a bottle of bubbly.

Jenn and Al leave on Wednesday afternoon to go back to Nadi on the main island. I was originally due to go too, but their flights were going early on Thursday whereas my mine wasn't leaving until 10pm so decided I would rather spend another day on beautiful Waya than in Nadi. Not long after they left, the heaven's opened and for fifteen minutes it absolutely chucked it down. Rather than run inside like everyone else I opted to stay on the beach and get in the sea instead where it was warmer! Once it cleared up, I lounged in a hammock enjoying the view while I could. Took part in a quiz night that evening. Questions were mainly based on the resort and Fiji with a couple of music rounds thrown in. For bonus points each team had to do a party trick. Ours was forming a human pyramid by kneeling on one anothers backs which fortunately worked out ok with no broken bones and apparently looked quite good. We didn't win though, but did come fourth which wasn't too bad!

Spend as much of Thursday as possible on the beach before having to leave at 2pm. Very apt that it's raining again in Nadi, so I leave in the same weather that I arrived in!

Fiji was beautiful and I would highly recommend Octopus Resort to anyone. The staff and locals were so friendly and made you feel very welcome and the scenery was amazing. I could definitely cope with the Fijian pace of life! Next stop Mehico......................

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