Advertisement
Published: January 6th 2008
Edit Blog Post
We arrived at Nadi airport at 4.30pm on Wednesday 19 September and Ian picked up his hire car and I got a transfer to my hotel. After finding my bed in the 32 bed dorm, I had dinner and then went on the internet before going to sleep at 10pm. I got up at 8am on Thursday and had breakfast in the hotel bar on the beach. Then I sat outside writing my blog and chatting to other guests until I had lunch at 12.30pm. After lunch, I lay in a hammock on the beach soaking up the sun and reading a new book. Then I got talking to a local Fiji guy who showed me how he climbs trees to retrieve coconuts. When it started to rain I went on the internet for a while and then I lay on my bed reading. In the evening, I had dinner at the hotel while watching rugby and then returned to my room to read and listen to music. On Friday I spent the day sunbathing and I finished reading my book. On Saturday morning, I joined a tour bus for a 4 day tour around the main island. Our first stop
was Nadi town where we looked around the shops and market and saw the largest Hindu temple in the southern hemisphere. We then drove for an hour down the coast to Natadola Beach for a BBQ lunch and some sunbathing while also trying to jump the big waves in the sea. Further driving took us to Malomalo village where we learned about some local customs and also the ritual of a kava ceremony. Our next stop was the Sigatoka sand dunes for some sandboarding before we continued to the Coral Coast where we were staying for the night. The evening was spent having dinner and drinks while being treated to a cultural performance where local people performed various songs and dances. On Sunday morning, we drove to the Namosi Highlands and began our 4 hour trek through the rainforest and, for a lot of the time, through knee deep water. We were exhausted by the end of the trek and we sat on the bank of the Navua River having our lunch in the burning sun. Then we went tubing down the river to a secluded waterfall where we went swimming. Following this, we jumped into a long boat and
made our way to the coast. We drove to our accommodation in Suva where we spent the evening having dinner and drinks in the outside bar while local people performed for us on the stage. A few of us stayed up late playing beer pong and then we watched Fiji playing in the rugby world cup. On Monday, we visited a local school and met the Fijian students who were happy to show us around and tell us about their schooling. Then we visited a remote village for a sevu-sevu ceremony where we drank lots of kava with the chief of the village. After this, we walked to the Wainibuka River for bilibili rafting (rafts made of bamboo poles) and everyone managed to get soaked. We then drove to the top of the island to Volivoli Beach, Rakiraki where we were staying for the night. We had dinner and drinks in the outside bar but had to stay undercover due to the amazing thunderstorm and torrential downpour. On Tuesday, we headed to the north west of the island through sugar cane fields and ‘Bollywood’ film locations to the Indo-Fijian town of Ba. We sat on the rooftop terrace of an
Indian restaurant for our curry lunch. We then drove to the base of the Sabeto Valley where we all got into a hot mud pool followed by a steaming hot pool to clean the mud off. After showering, we got back on the bus for the final leg of the trip back to Nadi where I checked back into Smuggler’s Cove Hotel. On Wednesday morning, I took the shuttle bus to the marina where I caught the 9am ferry to Beachcomber Island. On arrival, I was shown to my bed in the 80 bed dorm room. The day was spent sitting around chatting with other people and the ‘all you can eat’ buffet lunch was so tasty that you just had to overeat. Due to the rain, everyone started drinking early and by the time happy hour started at 5.30pm, the bar was packed. The dinner buffet was served in the bar at 7pm so there was no need for anyone to stop drinking. Entertainment for the evening was in the form of traditional dancing and singing and by early morning, people were scattered along the beach. I eventually got to bed at 5.30am and got a few hours sleep
before spending the day on the beach sunbathing, reading and listening to music. The evening followed a similar pattern with drinks, dinner and more drinks with the main event being the crab race. The weather was a lot nicer on Friday and I went out on a boat for some snorkeling by a reef. The rest of the day was spent on the beach reading, listening to music and chatting to other people. Some of my friends were leaving on Saturday morning so we finished all their bottles of drink in their dorm room before going to the bar for more drinks, entertainment and partying. On Saturday morning, a couple of us woke up at 6.45am to watch England play in the rugby world cup. It was nice watching the boys put in a good winning display as we had our breakfast watching the sun come up on the beach. Ian then arrived on the island and we spent the day on the beach catching up with each other from the past 9 days. Our last night on the island was spent, once again, drinking, eating, drinking and dancing to the early hours. On Sunday morning, we checked out and then I went snorkeling before having my last meal on the island, another delicious lunch. We sunbathed on the beach for the rest of the afternoon until our boat departed for the mainland at 5pm. We picked up my bags from Smuggler’s Cove (less one that I forgot and is still there) and had dinner at the restaurant next door. Then we took a taxi to the airport for our 11pm flight to Hawaii.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.18s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 12; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0795s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb