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Published: November 6th 2009
It's Fiji time!!
During our three and a half weeks in Fiji this was a saying which we came to use on a daily basis. Life in Fiji runs on Fiji time! Things happen when they happen, no rush, no worries!
Our flight from Los Angeles to Nadi, Fiji took around 10½ hours and due to the international time zones we lost a day flying. We left Los Angeles on Thursday 10 September and arrived in Fiji on Saturday 12 September so we had no 11 September this year!
Our plan for Fiji was to spend a few nights on the mainland and then head off to the Yasawa Islands which is a chain of islands running up the west side of Fiji, traveling from island to island via the Yasawa Flyer. The Yasawa Flyer is a big bright yellow catamaran that provides a daily service to the Mamanuca and Yasawa Island chains. It travels north from the mainland (Denarau Marina) for 5 hours and stops at various islands / resorts on the way to collect and drop off passengers, it then turns around at the top of the chain and heads back to the Marina stopping again
at each resort.
To be able to use the Yasawa Flyer we booked a 'Bula Pass' through a company called Awesome Adventures. We booked a 21 day pass which gave us unlimited travel up and down the islands for 3 weeks. It meant that we could stay on a few different islands and resorts to get a real feel of Fiji has to offer.
Before we left for our trip we researched where to stay and what to do in Fiji on the Internet and almost everyone who had been to Fiji advised to only spend a day or so on the mainland as it was not meant to be very nice. Nevertheless, as we had 3½ weeks to spend in Fiji we decided to spend 5 nights on the mainland and the rest on the islands.
We wanted to experience as much of the real Fiji as possible and decided that the best way to do that would be to stay with a Fijian family rather than in a backpackers resort so we booked into a hostel on the mainland called 'Drift in Fiji Hostel' which is a family run hostel where you stay in the
family home. From the moment we arrived, we really were made to feel like one of the family.
Donna and Junior, the owners, were some of the nicest people we have ever met. We arrived at the hostel at 6am and were warmly greeted by Donna who showed us to our room and then made us a lovely breakfast - we were even invited to have dinner with the family every night free of charge.
Breakfasts at the hostel were delicious and very original and consisted of beef and onion pie, pasta, omelette, cheese, bacon, corn bread, banana, toast and cold beans. It was the first time we had eaten a beef and onion pie for breakfast and it was nice, if not a little strange!! Still, when in Fiji.....
With full bellies, we decided to head out and pick up some essentials so jumped on the bus and headed to Nadi town where the supermarkets, shops and local amenities are. We stocked up on mosquito repellent, a mosquito net and bottled water and then headed back to the hostel on the bus. As soon as we got back to the room (around 3pm) we fell asleep
and did not wake up until 8am the next day! During the night, around midnight we think, the heavens opened.......
We woke up to heavy rain on our first full day in Fiji! Nevertheless we made our way out to the sitting area for breakfast where we met John, a New Zealander who had just flown in from Samoa on his travels. We sat chatting to him for hours and before we knew it, it was lunchtime! We wiled away the day chilling out, chatting to John and also met some of the other people staying at the hostel. As the evening came, the smell of curry drifted from the kitchen and before we knew it, Donna was calling us in for dinner. After a delicious chicken curry, we settled in the lounge area and took part in one of many Kava ceremonies which is a Fijian custom. Kava is the root of a pepper plant 'piper methysticum' and is non-alcoholic and non-narcotic but causes some numbness in the tongue and gives a slightly euphoric feeling. The ceremony consists of everyone sitting in a circle round the Kava bowl whilst the 'Master' (host) pours the ground Kava root into
a bag (the bag looks a bit like an old t-shirt) and then proceeds to dunk the bag many times into the water of the Kava bowl and then kneads out the bag so that all of the Kava (and soil) extracts go into the bowl. He then fills a 'bilo' (a cleaned out half of a coconut shell) with the Kava and passes it round to each person in turn who have to down it. Needless to say it looks, smells and tastes like muddy water but when in Fiji...
It was on this day that we met 'Big Momma' and became her Fiji babies!!, Big Momma aka Sarla is Junior and Donna's neighbour and an absolute character (a bit of a nutter but great fun). She works for a company called Explore Fiji which is a coach company that takes people/groups on tours and day trips around Fiji. During the evening Sarla announced to us all that she would be coming back in the morning to take all her Fiji babies out for the day in her coach (completely free!) - a trip to Natadola beach plus a picnic.
In the morning, after another original but
The beach 5 minutes walk away from Drift in Fiji Hostel
We spent a few days here swimming and snorkelling the water was so warmexcellent breakfast Sarla arrived with her coach and we all set off for Natadola Beach, one of the nicest beaches on the mainland. When we arrived, we all stripped off and headed straight for the sea. While we all frolicked in the sea, Donna, Junior and Sarla stoked up the BBQ and set out the picnic. They cooked up a MASSIVE amount of food on the BBQ for the 12 of us and we spent a lovely afternoon, chatting, swimming and eating. On the way back to the hostel Sarla announced that she would be taking us all to the Sugar Cane Festival in the evening! A couple of hours after getting back to the hostel, with just enough time for us all to shower and change, Sarla was back with her coach ready to take us all to the festival in the neighboring village (45 minutes away).
Unfortunately 10 minutes after we got there the heavens opened again so we ended up leaving earlier than expected and headed back to the hostel where we partook in yet more Kava. It was on this evening that we met Ben and Polly, a really lovely couple who had just arrived
Partaking in one of many Kava ceremonies while at Drift in Fiji Hostel
In this picture are 'Big Momma', Junior and some of the guys we met at the hostel good times! at the hostel and who were doing a similar trip to us but the other way round. We stayed up until 4am chatting and drinking Kava and beer. Needless to say, Dianna was feeling a little worse for wear the next day!
We spent the last few days on the mainland at the beach where we went swimming and snorkelling - the water was so warm - just like getting into a bath. The evenings were spent enjoying Donna's delicious dinners (mutton, currys and barracuda) and sitting around drinking Kava and socialising.
We were very sad to leave Drift in Fiji but also excited to be heading out to the islands. A coach picked us up from the hostel and took us down to the marina to catch the Yasawa Flyer. We were slightly worried boarding the flyer as it had just started to rain and the further we went, the harder the rain fell! We had to endure 2½ hours of wind, rain and choppy seas.
Whenever the flyer stops at an island, it stops out in deep water and a vary small boat from the resort comes out to the flyer to collect passengers. When
you are called you have to claim your bag, which is then thrown from the flyer into the resort's boat and you then have to climb aboard the boat yourself (which is easier said than done when it is windy, rainy and choppy!) We were dead lucky as it was heavy rain and choppy seas the entire journey until about 5 minutes before our stop and then all of a sudden it just stopped raining and the sea calmed down and then about 5 minutes after we had got to shore and inside the heavens opened again so we managed to catch the only dry 10 minutes of the entire day. We were still lucky not to fall in the water when disembarking the flyer as it was wet and slippery and we counted our blessings that our backpack did not end up in the sea (we had heard stories of this happening!).
During our stay in the Yasawa Islands we stayed on four different islands. Our first stop was Octopus Resort located on Waya Island. Octopus Resort is one of the biggest resorts in the island chain but we chose this resort and decided to stay here first
as it had a diving school where Matt could do his PADI Open Water Diving Course. As soon as we arrived and had a welcome drink, we were shown to our dorm. We had booked into the 14 bed dorm and we were very impressed - it was nice and spacious - there were no bunk beds, just single beds and each bed had a bedside table, a reading lamp, a fan, a mosquito net and towels.
Once we had dumped our bags, we headed straight to the dive shop to book Matt's Open Water course. The course takes 5 days to complete and seeing as we were only stopping at Octopus Resort for 6 days he had to get started as soon as possible so as to have enough time to complete the course. Once it had been booked he started that afternoon. It was a good time to do the course as it rained for 2 days straight but seeing as it was a diving course the rain made no difference - Dianna passed the time reading, sleeping and chatting to the other people in the dorm.
Matt had intended doing his Open Water course before
we left home but ran out of time. In the UK, the course would have cost around £350/£400 but at Octopus Resort it only cost £180. In some ways it was handy that he didn't do it at home as it saved a lot of cash and the course would have consisted of going to public swimming pools for 5 sessions then going to flooded pits 4 times which would have been FREEZING!!!!!!! Instead he got to do it in the pool at the resort (which was heated) and then out in the warm Fijian sea with all of the exotic fish and animals to look at - he couldn't really have wished for better conditions to do his qualification in.
We wont go in to the full details of the course and what it consisted of but basically there were lots of skills Matt had to learn such as losing his air supply underwater and retrieving it, clearing his goggles underwater, safe emergency assent and lots more. Needless to say Matt completed his course successfully. The course took 4½ to days to complete and he scored 92% on his final written test. During the course he saw the
loads of cool things including tonnes of coral, Lion fish, Lobsters, shrimp and 100's of species of tropical fish.
Matt has to say a quick thank you to Andy for the use of his diving watch as this allowed him to log all of the dives correctly in his official diving log including the temperature of the water, the depth dived to and the duration of the dive. It also tells him the safe assent speed (to stop the bends, etc) so it was a great help during the course and will certainly be put to further use throughout the trip
The food at Octopus Resort was phenomenal. Breakfast consisted of a buffet with all kinds of food to chose from; cereal, toast, muffins, pancakes, omelette's, cake, fruit, yoghurt, tea, coffee and fruit juice. The lunch menu was amazing - you had around 10 options to chose from which included burger and chips, fish and chips, ceasar salad, lime cured Walu in coconut milk and rice, fruit salad and Marlin Linguine amongst others. All of the lunches were as big, if not bigger, than the main course at dinner which was a three course meal. The main meals
Some Fijian fire dancing
Evening entertainment at Drift in Fiji Hostel always started with soup and ended with some form of cake. The main courses consisted of fish pie, beef stir fry, chicken, potatoes and vegetables, a Fijian buffet, a meat BBQ and a fish BBQ. Suffice to say, after a few days we were almost dreading the next meal as we were consistently full!
Octopus Resort also put on evening entertainment every night which included crab racing, beach volleyball, movie night (we watched The Hangover and free popcorn was supplied!) and a quiz night. The quiz night took place on our last night at Octopus Resort so we formed 'Octopussy' with some of the guys from our dorm and won a bottle of champagne as we came 3rd overall (out of 8 teams)!
We spent 5 nights at Octopus Resort (just enough time for Matt to complete his course) and then hopped aboard the Yasawa Flyer once again to travel to our second island, Oarsmans Bay on Nacula Island, 2 hours further north. Luckily the weather this time was good and we managed to get some nice pictures from the boat. We decided to book into Oarsmans Bay as it was meant to have the nicest beach in
Us on the Yasawa Flyer headed out to the Yasawa Islands
Not long after this picture was taken, the heavens opened! Fiji and it certainly did! The sand was pure white and the water was crystal clear as you will see in some of the pictures. Absolutely amazing. What was even better was that we had booked into their 20 bed dorm but as it was being painted we were upgraded to a private en-suite beach front bure (hut) at no extra cost!!
As Matt had completed his diving course, he could finally spend some time relaxing and we spent most of our time at Oarsmans Bay snorkelling, swimming, sunbathing and chilling in their many hammocks.
The food at Oarsmans Bay was good and breakfast consisted of cereal, toast, muffins, cake, watermelon, tea and coffee. Lunch included lamb kebab and spaghetti bolognaise. Dinner was a three course meal (again soup for starter and cake/ice cream for dessert) and while we were there the main course consisted of a BBQ, fish with potatoes and vegetables and a traditional Fijian 'Lova' BBQ which is where they wrap the meat up in leaves and bury it in the ground and then light a fire on top which slow cooks the meat. It was, without a doubt, the softest 'slip of the bone'
Beachcomer Island
One of the islands we passed on the way up the Yasawas meat we have ever tasted.
As Oarsmans Bay was a much smaller resort than Octopus and as when we stayed there were only a handful of other people staying there was not much in the way of evening entertainment which suited us fine as we could spend the evenings relaxing with a drink in our bure.
While we were at Oarsmans Bay Matt decided that to celebrate his new diving qualification he would make his first qualified dive a good one by going shark diving. He was taken out to sea and went down to the sea bed (25 metres down) where he held onto a rope while the instructors came down with a big recycling bin full of dead eels and old fish which they poured into the water and Matt watched as 100's of tropical fish came in to get the food. Not long after that 4 reef sharks (each about 1.5m long) and a leopard shark (about 3m) came in to feed. They started attacking the food and then swam around close to Matt and the other divers which apparently was incredible but quite intimidating. In Matt's words 'I now have a new found respect
for Jaws'. Dianna was very relieved when Matt returned with all his fingers and toes intact!
We spent 4 nights at Oarsmans Bay and then hopped aboard the Yasawa Flyer again to travel to our third island 'White Sandy Beach' on Naviti Island which was 1½ hours south.
White Sandy Beach Resort was much more basic than the other two resorts we had stayed at (there was only electricity between 7pm and 11pm and no running hot water) and was therefore cheaper so we could afford a private bure. It had an inside toilet, an outside shower (no hot water). Having a cold shower took a bit of getting used to and the key was to shower during the day when the sun was still shining and the water was a couple of degrees above freezing.
What White Sandy Beach Resort lacked in facilities and amenities, it made up for in entertainment. Every night after dinner, all the staff got together and put on a dance show for the guests. The resort was only small and while we stayed there at most there were ten of us and on the last night Matt and I were the
only ones staying at the resort. They still put on a show just for us though and afterwards, they built a bonfire on the beach and we sat around with the staff drinking, singing and chatting. We learnt from one of the staff during the bonfire that there had been an earthquake and tsunami that morning not far away but they did not know much more than that as they have no TV's or radios, etc.
The food was good at White Sandy Beach. Breakfasts generally consisted of tea, coffee, banana, papaya, pancakes and cake. Lunch was basic but filling; cheesy pasta; potato curry; rice and vegetables; pork, sausages, potatoes and vegetables. Dinners were delicious: curry buffet; spaghetti bolognaise; meat BBQ; chicken, potatoes and vegetables.
We spent 4 nights at White Sandy Beach Resort and then hopped aboard the Yasawa Flyer again to travel to our forth and final island 'Naqalia Resort' on Waya Lailai Island, 1 hour further south.
Like White Sandy Beach Resort, Naqalia Lodge only had electricity between 7pm and 11pm and only had cold water. More cold showers for us but at least the shower was inside this time!! Again, we booked into
a private bure and when we got there we were very impressed. Our bure had a lovely balcony with a table and chairs and inside the bure it was spacious and bright. This resort was tiny - it only had 3 bures and the dorm was still being built. Like at White Sandy Beach Resort, on the last night at Naqalia Resort, we were the only people staying!
We were made to feel very welcome at Naqalia Lodge and made to feel like one of the family during our stay. Every evening we were serenaded during dinner by the locals and the food consisted of a traditional chicken and fish lova; freshly caught fish with jacket potatos and salad; chicken in a gorgeous fruity sauce with vegetables and salad. Breakfast was nice and consisted of tea and coffee, pastries, porridge, cereal, pancakes, muffins, banana and papaya. Lunch was filling and consisted of sausages, omlettes, bread, salad and fruit; sausage stir fry and rice.
While at Naqalia Lodge we were able to walk over to the neighboring resort which had Internet access. When we logged onto the Internet we read about the Samoan Tsunami and couldn't believe the devastation
it had caused. We also thanked our lucky stars that it had not hit Fiji as it had been expected to do. When we checked our emails we had a few messages from people checking up on us and we were pleased to be able to confirm that all was well.
This resort also had a diving school so Matt signed up for his final dive in Fiji. This one was meant to be just a straight forward dive but whist down Matt had 5 white tip reef sharks (each about 2m long) swim right around him and the other divers (3 of them). He also saw an anemone with some clown fish in it and the dive instructor signaled for Matt to watch as he coaxed them out and started stroking them. He then got Matt to have a try so Matt actually got to see and stroke 'Nemo' which was pretty cool.
We spent 3 nights at Naqalia Lodge and then reluctantly hopped aboard the Yasawa Flyer again to travel back to the mainland.
While in Fiji we met some great people, many of whom we will be keeping in touch with. One Australian couple
Matt during his diving course
training in the swimming pool we met at Naqalia Lodge have invited us to stay with them when we get to Adelaide in January and we are also hopefully going to meet up with another couple we met at Octopus Resort who will be in Sydney in February.
During our time in Fiji we learnt that the simpler the life the happier the person. This was really evident whist at White Sandy Beach Resort where they only have electricity for a few hours a day but what time they did have with it they spent listening to music, singing and dancing (no TV's, XBox or PS3). When they had no electricity they just talked to each other, sang and made up their own music and danced to it. Money was not important for them. They provided Matt with quite a few (VERY potent) cocktails for free and also gave away free drinks as prizes when playing games with them like papaya cracking and coconut throwing. It was more important for them to make sure you were happy and enjoying yourselves. They don't have any hot water but that doesn't matter to them, showering in cold water is not a problem for them. We have
Matt during his diving course
Training in the swimming pool never met a happier, friendlier and more content bunch of people than the Fijians before and we are contemplating becoming Fijian ourselves :-)
It was strange to not have electricity or hot water but after a day or two you simply adjust to it and after a few days you just don't miss it. We did attempt to make our own solar shower one day (see picture) just to try and get some warm water as it doesn't matter how hot it is outside, a cold shower is still cold!
What can we say about Fiji? Paradise pretty much sums it up and we have already agreed that we would definitely come back to Fiji for a holiday if we could afford it. We went to the Maldives for our honeymoon and we did not think that anything could beat that for our idea of paradise but Fiji certainly comes close. We barely looked at our watches while in Fiji. Everything runs on Fiji time. All we needed to do was listen out for the Fijian drums which sounded three times a day at every resort to let us know that breakfast/lunch/dinner was ready. We spent the rest
of the time swimming, diving, snorkelling, sunbathing and laying in hammocks - absolute bliss!
Thank you to all of you who have left comments and messages on our blogs. We love hearing from you - keep it up!
Take care - next stop for us is New Zealand!
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BBS (aka Claire)
non-member comment
OH MY GOSH!!!
I am soooo jealous....Fiji looks just amazing! You both look so relaxed and chilled....must have been all that Kava!!! Dianna I can't believe you actually have a tan....there is not photographic evidence that you can get brown! LOL And Matt, loving the hair! :0) Missing you guys like CRAZY! Can't wait to see pics on New Zealand! Love you guys heaps! Take care and keep safe. BBS