Bula Fiji!

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On the way to Fiji we got free drinks on the plane, so naturally we took full advantage and ended up a little tipsy. We were welcomed off the plane by a fijian 'band' (some guys with acoustic guitars and flowery shirts) which was a nice touch. When we got to Nadi we met some people we knew by association from Leeds and so carried on drinking with them. Our hostel wasn't very nice, but we had full access to the plush Smuggler's Cove next door, complete with full use of bar, restuarant, pool and private beach; we also had free access to any of their entertainment. This first night they were holding a traditional Kava ceremony. Kava is a plant that they take the root room, grind it up and mix it with water resulting in a muddy water that they drink from coconut shells as a welcoming to visitors to their village. We drank a fair amount of this, its not the nicest stuff as it literally tastes like dirty water, but you get used to it and the singing during and after the ceremony was good fun. We could tell straight away that we were going to love Fiji.

The next day was valentines day. As all romantics do we spent 40minutes queuing at a bank in Nadi to withdraw money, whilst Vanessa kept almost passing out with the heat and her huge hangover. After queuing for 40mins the machine refused our card, so we had to queue at the other machine in Nadi for another 30mins. There's only about 2 machines in Nadi as far as we could tell, as everyone seemed to be withdrawing at these ones. After this we booked our island hopping and had a nice dinner by the beach to celebrate Valentine's day.

Wasting no time the next day we set off early for the Yasawa islands. The boat ride to our first island was 6hours long, so we met a few people on this and got chatting. When we arrived at Coral View on Tavewa we were greeted off the boat by more singing Fijians and a huge 'BULA!' (means hello/welcome). The resort was really nice and we spent the day in hammocks and snorkelling (seeing giant clams and more nemos). At night we got to know everyone on the island with some drinking games until early in the morning.
Next day we had a trip to do some cave diving, after a huge amount of confusing boat swapping we made it to the caves. You swim into the first cave which was really cool, with huge walls about 60metres high, from here you had to swim through an underwater passage into the second cave, following a torch light as the second cave was pitch black. After treading water, waiting for everyone else to swim through, we swam through the second cave and into the third which was slightly better lit from a hole in the ceiling.
That night we spent lazing round in hammocks looking at the stars and telling jokes. We managed to cram 4 of us (me, Vanessa, Chloe and Tara) into 1 hammock, not the comfiest we've ever been but was funny.

Our next stop was for a day and night on the Wanna Taki boat. We did some snorkelling, cruised round the blue lagoon area (from the film of the same name) and jumped off the boat when ever we stopped. That night we did some crab racing and a quiz, we won neither! My crab hid in its shell til all the others had finished, whereas Vanessa's attacked her and clawed her finger.
The next morning we agreed to what we thought would be a fun and leisurely Kayak relay race. It was neither! One team stayed on the boat, whilst the other team were taken to an island miles away. Vanessa and Tara won their leg in paddling to the island. I took over from the team that came last and had to paddle back on my own against the waves, was knackering! After recovering, we did some more diving off the boat and headed to Waya Lai Lai.

After another greeting of songs and "Bula's" we had another Kava ceremony. This time it was more traditional and we only had to cope with one coconut full of muddy water. As it was a traditional night we were told that we had to eat tea with our hands. We were expecting simple buffet food...not salad, potato salad and spaghetti bolognaise! Turned out to be rather messy but good fun.
The next morning we got a small boat out away from the island to do some snorkelling with sharks. As soon as we got in the sea Vanessa spotted one right underneath her (luckily they were only white tip reef sharks, but was still abit scary at first.) We ended up seeing loads of sharks and the Fijian guys kept swimming down to them and grabbing their tails and fins. I wasnt too impressed when the guy did it right in front of me with the sharks teeth inches from me. That day we also did some weaving with the women from the village. Vanessa made a bracelet out of leaves in silence as her woman didnt speak to her and i made a bracelet, bookmark and ankle bracelet because i hit it off with Nancy the 54 year old Fijian lady with boobs to her kness. Later that day we also went Handline fishing. We didnt catch anything but one girl almost caught a squid but it squirted water at her and she nearly fell backwards off the boat! We also saw hundreds of small flying fish but unfortunately none fell into our boat.
The next morning we got up at 5am to go for a summit walk to view the sunrise from the top of a mountin looking over the village. We saw some great views and visited the wobbling rock, a big rock that wobbles.

Later that day we headed to South Sea Island, which is the smallest of the islands, taking about 5 minuites to walk around and from any point on the island you can see the ocean all around you. After an amazing tea the whole 7 of us on the island joined the locals with some more Kava, finger pool and singing into the night. We had an amazing night on South Sea Island, it was one of the best nights we have had whilst travelling.

Unfortunately we didnt have too long on South Sea, but headed off on the SeaSpray cruise in the morning. This was a sailing boat that took us to some more islands, a local village for yet another Kava ceremony and the island where they filmed Castaway. During the cruise all alcohol was free and they made us an amazing BBQ lunch, so again, naturally, we took full advantage and ate and drank more than our fair share. This marked the end of our island adventures and so afterwards we headed back to Nadi, where we returned to Smugglers Cove for a last meal with Chloe and Tara (who'd we spent the last 6 days with nonstop).

The next morning we headed to the Coral Coast on the south side of the Fijian mainland. Unknowingly we booked ourselves into the hostel where they filmed Celebrity Love Island. It was the cheapest on the coast, but still had a gorgeous pool area, big dorms and free scones and tea at 4pm! We spent 2 nights here lazing in Hammocks by the pool or beach, it was incredibly stressful...oh we also had another Kava ceremony but the seasoned veterans we are we let the new kids get excited and retired for some tv.
We met a few people here who had spent their whole time in Fiji there, which is ridiculous. Although the place was really nice, it was a resort, and you didnt get to see any of the real Fiji or much of the real Fijian people. Shame.

Once again after this we headed back to Smugglers Cove for 2 nights. The first night we had another Kava ceremony in which I was mad chief. This basically meant I and Mrs Chief (Vanessa) had to have the majority of the kava and had to say when more could be made, it also meant that for the rest of our time there we were known as Mr and Mrs Chief to all the staff.
Our last day in Fiji we spent relaxing in hammocks (again) and at night watched a show of island dancing (including fire dancing and the scary machette dancing). As Mr and Mrs Chief we were also pulled up to dance, luckily without the fire or razor sharp blades.

We were really gutted to be leaving Fiji, we met some good friends and had an amazing 2 weeks. I know we've said this about most places, but Fiji probably is the best place we've visited. The islands are gorgeous, the beaches were all pure white fringed with coconut trees and the sea is the clearest we've ever seen. Also the people (especially on the islands) are the most genuinely nice and funny we've ever met. We'll miss it.

Isa Lei

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