George’s Adventure

Friday 30 June 206

Bula!  Have spent a day in Denarau Island.  There are loads of upmarket resorts there and the island is built on mashy land (i am sure it will all sink one day).  You can get a ‘Bula Bus’ (everything is bula here!!) which is free and takes you around all the different resorts.  We went to the Sheraton Royal and spent the day on the beach.  One of the gardeners chopped down some coconuts for us and showed us how they cut them, drink the juice and then scoop out the flesh to eat.   Delicious.

We went on a trip to South Sea island.  This is a 25 minute boat ride from Denarau Island.  You can walk around this island in 7 minutes – i tried to do it faster but your feet sink in the sand too much.  The snorkelling is great here and free too.  We also got free Fiji beer all day!!!

In Nadi we tried game fishing from our resort.  We were trawling for fish.  Jenna caught a belt fish but we had to put it back.  We didnt catch anything else but it was very fun anyway. 

We said goodbye to Jenna on 22 June and Janine and I went off to discover the Yasawa Islands.  You can get a ‘bula pass’ for various amounts of days to take you on a return journey of the islands and you can  go to as many as you would like to.

Bounty Island was our first port of call.  This is where the adventure of the missing bag begun.  They have a system where you get off your free coach transfer from your resort at Denarau and you have to check your bag has been labelled correctly for the island you are off to.  Once this is done you get on the boat and they take your luggage on board.  When we went to get off the Yasawa flyer onto a smaller boat to take us to Bounty island, our luggage wasnt on board.  After shouting that we didnt want to get off the flyer they passed it off saying that our luggage would already be on the island.  When we got to Bounty island my bag had been thrown onto the jetty and Janine’s bag was not there.  Janine had to go for 2 days without a bikini and clothes etc etc.  The bag had gone missing around another set of islands.  The captain of the flyer suggested that we hadnt labelled her bag correctly.  I nearly told him where to go.  Anyway the bag has now returned…..back in the arms of its owner.

Bounty island is where the first Celebrity Love Island was filmed.  They have photographs of the “celebs” framed on the walls….you can use the pool they used and walk to the love shack which is now derelict.  They have ripped out all the fixtures and fittings.  In my hunt for the love shack I walked around the island at high tide thinking it wouldnt take that long – of course the tide comes in and out very quickly in Fiji and it meant that I was scrabbling on rocks thinking i might have to swim back….the rocks of doom i named them!

The second island we went to was Nanuya Lailai.  This is further north in the Yasawa islands.  Here we stayed in a very traditional bure.  The toilet and salt water shower were attached to the bure.  Divided only by a type of shower curtain.  The food here was typically Fijian and lovely.  The fish tastes so fresh.  While we were on this island we met some Swedish people who were expaining to me that they normally celebrate the longest day by doing a frog dance.  This day is called Midsummers day.  That night they demonstrated this and I joined in.  It was such fun.  The pole had been made by this Swedish guy with some help by the locals out of the coconut trees.

On Nanuy Lailai you can take a 30 minute walk through the top and over the other side of the island to a place called the Blue Lagoon beach.  This is the place where both Blue Lagoon films were made.  It is beautiful there, lots of yachts in the harbour, and a wonderful beach and breeze.

We stayed on Yaqeta and Naviti island next.  These were my least favourite islands although on Yaqeta we took a walk accross the island and found a completely secluded beach.  Amazing.

On Naviti we did some traditional dancing and we all had to take off our sandalls.  It was very dark and when i went to put my sandalls back on i thought they felt a bit odd but i didnt think anything of it.  The next morning I looked at my sandalls and they looked like mine but felt different – too tight.  Another girl was walking around with mine on and she didnt even realise!!!

Waya Island was our last and most amazing island.  We stayed in a place called the Octopus resort.  They have sunbeds!!! Most of the islands do not so this is a luxury.  We did snorkelling here and met some really lovely people.  I could have stayed there for longer.  We went on a village visit (the village is called Nalauwaki) there and saw how they live in tin huts and keep pigs (which smell really bad) and chickens.  We also went into their church and I bought a bracelet made from coconut which they make themselves.

We fly to New Zealand today…looking forward to a colder climate x

Sunday 18th June 2006

“Bula!” (That means hello – everyone says it here! – People are so friendly).

We arrived at 3am at Nadi (pronounced Nandi). The flight was about 11 hours 15 minutes and because we were travelling from America we have somehow lost a day. It feels funny to have just missed a whole day. We got a free pick up from the airport to our ‘skylodge’ which was great but when we went to check in we were told that we had to wait until 1pm. Not funny! So I thought I would check my emails – internet not working and no others will be open at that time in the morning. No breakfast served until 7am. Waiting and waiting. HUNGRY!

When we finally did check in they tried to put us in a 20+ person dorm which is not what we had booked, then we got locked into our room – someone thought it would be funny to lock us in and why they have a lock on the outside I have no idea?

Then the hook fell off the wall……it’s great here!!

Aside from the ‘skylodge’, last night we went to an island just off Nadi called Denarau Island and had dinner there and watched fire walking. It was in another hotel which was lovely and right on the beach.

We also made a trip to Lautoka where we walked around this amazing market – so many different smells. They sell lots of Kava root in the market. This is something that the locals drink like tea. They grind up the root and strain the powder with water through a cloth (some people we have met have even seen it being strained through a sock! Nice). In the mountains where the real villagers live they have a kava ceremony where you have to clap and say ‘bula’ and then ‘vinaka’ – which is thank you.

In the market we were in we met a policeman on his day off and he took us to drink kava. Janine thought it tasted like muddy water. It definitely looks like muddy water. I didnt mind it but it made my tongue go numb. You have to drink it if it is offered to you as you are thought rude if not.

We also took the bus, which plays the radio at full blast and plays music like Snoop Dogg and Britney Spears – very odd, to Nadi town. The town is bustling and it is so humid and sunny that it is tiring to walk around.

We have had our first Fiji Gold beers though in Nadi town. The beer is very very nice.

On Friday we moved to another hostel for the night where we met up with my friend Jenna. It is good to have 3 of us together now. Yesturday we checked into ‘Club Fiji’. We have a little bungalow on the beach – it is amazing. Today it is raining but yesturday was so hot and sunny – we sunbathed in our bikinis.

The tide goes out really far and the sand is unfortunately not golden but black. It is still soft though. Everyone has told us to head to the islands where it is beautiful and the beaches are better.

Fiji is a wonderful place – I cant wait to explore the islands.

11 June 2006

Since I last wrote I have done quite a bit. The LA tour was great because it gave us a glimpse of lots of the different parts of LA and meant that I could then decide which ... [Continue reading this entry]

7 June 2006
Hi,

Have arrived in LA. It's just like the movies here. The strees are really long, never ending and tree lined avenues with rows upon rows of housing could be seen ... [Continue reading this entry]

Welcome to my blog!  This is very exciting and scary all at the same time!  I leave in 5 days.....prepare for the adventure.....