I need some time in the sunsheiiine.

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I'm gonna slow it right down, the days moving just too fast for me...

Bula my friends,

We arrived in Nadi, Fiji on 14th August and quickly sorted out a Youth Hostel, halfway beween the airport and Nadi town. Our first two days were spent trying to organise what we'd be doing for the next 3 weeks which involved getting the bus from our hostel into Nadi. Nadi is relatively small, containing a lot of Souvenir Shops and a couple of Supermarkets.

It felt like we were back in Thailand because we couldn't be left in peace to walk for 10 seconds without being hassled by some locals trying to chat to us. They'd start off all nicey nice asking where we were from and coming out with all this spiel how they love Englnd, the Queen and all this jazz but would inevitably try and get us to come in their shop and when we'd politey refuse they'd get pi55ed off and say "You no friendly"?!? to quote Alan Partridge, "This country!" We decided to get an Island hopper pass for 7 days (The Bula Pass), this enabled us to goto as many of the Yasawa or Mamanuca Islands, which are both off the coast of Nadi- A Catamaran, the Yasawa Flyer runs a daily service to most of the Islands.

One night in our hostel we were introduced to Kava by a local band, The Kavaholics, that play at the hostel for a few nights a week. Kava is a Fijian drink made from the root of a plant and mixed with water, it doesn't get you drunk (just makes your tongue go a bit numb and is meant to give you weird dreams) It is served to you in small bowls (I think they could be coconut shells, but im not sure) from a huge bigger bowl- it looks (and i'd guess tastes) like Muddy Water.

After spending three nights at Horizon Backpackers we were keen to get among the Fiji we'd painted a picure of in our heads- sandy beaches, palm trees, scorching sunshine, cloudless skies... What greeted us on the morning we were due to get a boat out to the Yasawa Islands though was quite different, it was lashing it down, in the ten metre walk to catch the bus to the Marina we got drenched. It was much of the same for the four hour Catamaran ride to our first Island.

Coral View Resort on Tavewa was the first resort we stayed at. The journey from the Yasawa Flyer to the Island involved us getting in a small boat piled with everyones bags, needless to say the boat was weighed down (It's a good job Dan isn't here me and Will thought) and loads of water was soaknig us. The weather in Tavewa wasn't great that night but the following morning it cleared up for spells and we were able to chill in the hammocks.

In the afternoon we headed to our next resort, Kims Place, which is on the Island of Nanuya Lailai. The weather was sunny again and the beach looked great apart from the fact that there was a strong wind that hammered the coastline. Our Dorm consisted of one bunk bed and a double bed, me and Will were in the bunks whilst this Tawainese fella had shotgunned the double, first come first serve eh?! The staff at Kim's Place were really friendly and amongst them was Deborah, although not your average Deborah, considering Debs was a Big Fijian Bloke?!? Apparently Deborah does a cabaret performance as Britney Spears, thankfully we never witnessed it during our stay.

After a night in our thatched dorm, in which it felt like we were in the middle of a thunder storm during the night, we awoke to find it was still pretty windy. After breakfast we headed to the other side of the Island via a 25 minute walking track, this side of the island was sheltered from the wind and looked like something out of a Bounty advert- this was the Blue Lagoon. At the Blue Lagoon there is $1500 a night accomodation, it is also a regular stop off for Cruise ships aswell as being the place where they filmed the 80s film "Blue Lagoon" starring Brooke Shields. After snorkeling for a bit amongst the coral it was time to head back to the windy side of the Island. After crossing the track i'd realised i'd left my Swim Shorts and as we had a connecting boat to another Island to catch they were a lost cause- not to worry though I had a back up pair.

Our next Island was Matacawalevu. We stayed at the aptly named Long Beach Resort, the weather was now scorching aswell so it was beginning to feel more like Real Fiji (Is Fiji truly Australasia, we were often saying to ourselves when the weather was 5hit?!? Banter)

After Long Beach we went to Naviti and stayed at White Sandy Beach, again it was aptly named. White Sandy Beach was awesome, the snorkeling and later the sunset were amazing. The food was also Top Banana. however in the morning me and Wils both realised that our Swim shorts had gone missnig off the line?!?! Nightmare- apparently some kids from a nearby village had been seen knocking about the washing Line, so maybe they nabbed them. So, Plan C- I now had to wear my Thai Boxing Shorts (Again, to quote Alan Partridge, "These may have had an underpant lining but it has long persished) as my swimmers?!? I wore some Boxer Shorts on underneath for added security!

Waya was our next Island, this is quite a new resort, upon arriving on the Island we were made to wear a flower in our hair and didn't see ANY females at first- we were beginning to wonder what we'd got ourselves in for- this fear soon abated though. We randomly bumped into two girls who we'd met in the Woolshed (A Bar) in Cairns 4 months ago! As Sprigsy would say, "Crikey O'Reilly Chilie Con Carnie, Small world!" We played a bit of volleyball on Waya and had a bit of Kava at night. We got up at 6am to do a Sunrise Walk only for the guide not to show up- too much Kava the night before methinks! Sunrise was pretty sweet from the beach though. the other thing of note on Waya was a huge group of middle aged/ pretty old Italians who complaned about everything, the food... their checkout time. they even insistd on the Island getting some Pasta in so they could cook themselves- cheeky so and so's- they were off to Beachcomber Island next, which is supposed to be a bit of a Party Island so it will have been interested to see how they found it there!

A handyman who done odd jobs on the resort called Tom was holding a Cocunut Demonstration, we decided to check it out expecting him to crack open a Coconut and then be off. what ensued though was about an hour and a half of sheer coconut entertainment. the things you can do with a Coconut, tom loved telling us how their is no other fruit in the world like the coconut: you can build houses, make bags, make tools, eat- all from the Coconut tree. He weaved a bag from the Coconut trees leaves, made rope out of the Coconuts fury hair- the best thing though was when he dropped some Mr Miagi (spelling?!) 5hit to split a coconut in two- with his bare hands- Daniel Son, always eye.

Our final Island was South Sea Island, it is so tiny: it consists of a bar with a Dorm room above it and has a bit of a beach and Palm trees. It takes just 5 minutes and 40 seconds to walk around it by my watch. This was my favourite Island we stayed on, the food was brilliant. At most of the Islands they bang a gong or beat some drums when they want you to gather around for meals or activities, this was the case here aswell. We arrived at South Sea at 5pm, which meant that we would have pretty much a full day their the next day. The electricity on this Island stayed on till midnight aswell which was a welcome change, usually we were lucky if electricity on an Island held out till past nine.

Done some snorkeling, sunbathng and a lot of reading the next day on South Sea, we had a huge Barbecue Lunch which was sweet as a nut aswell.

After leaving South Sea Island we headed back to the mainland and back to Nadi. All in all the Island's were all great, all of the people who worked at the resorts were so friendly: I thought the staff at Waya made us feel particularly welcome. I'm surprised i've manged to write a blog at all about them because a lot of the time on the Island's consisted of doing nothing at all?!? Which suited me just fine. We're gonna get the Fiji Experience Bus around the mainland tommorow before heding to Beachcomber Island for our final send off (Thats the plan anyways!)

Mike

PS I have finally finished War and Peace now, after getting stick all the time from JJ and Wilson "OOh have you not finished War and Peace yet Smith" as i'd be struggling on page 400 or something! Back of the net.

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Photos

Alright Trigwell my son,
Delboying it up with a cocktail on South Sea Island. Got me and will thinking of classic Only Fools with the Jetski, classic!

And so it begins
General wetness at the beginning of our Island adventures.

This is what it's all about
Our first Island, Tevawa.

The Blue Lagoon
The setting of the 80s film of the same name staring Brooke Shields- I've never seen it but all the brochures mention it.

Long Beach
So named because... It is quite a long beach.

Thatcher!
Will pointing in disgust at how Thatcherism has spread as far as remote Fijian Islands. (This is the Hut where we slept by the way)

Does exactly what it says on the tin.
White Sandy Beach is indeed very White and very Sandy

Farewell My Friends
Our Farewell Song upon leaving White Sandy Beach.

All Aboard
On board the Yasawa Flyer Catamaran that transported us between the Yasawa Islands.

Now you see it
When the tide was out we were able to walk along the sand to the nearby Island.

And like that...It's gone.
OK so you can still see the sand "bridge" under the water, but you couldn't cross to the other Island without getting your feet wet.

Blink and you'll miss it.
Approaching South Sea Island,you could walk around it in 5 minutes.

Comments

[Catherine Smith]

This is the life
Forget it lad...........don't get too comfortable. The closest you'll get to Fiji back home is the bottle of Malibu in the drinks rack and you'll have to get that yourself. Oh are you in for a comedown..........work, national insurance and income tax all await you. Enjoy the dream while you can son. Does look and sound very dreamy though. Might try it myself some time.