Fiji

One of the many small islands

The plan for Fiji was simple; enjoy a week on the beach with snorkeling to see the underwater life on the coral reef and take part in some of the resort's activities. We had booked into the Blue Lagoon Beach Resort on the Nacula island, part of the Yasawa chian of islands to the north west of mainland Fiji. After landing and taking the complementary bus to the marina we boarded the Yasawa Flyer, a high speed catamaran ferry stopping at all the main island resorts. The voyage took about 4 and a half hours. The first few island stops look exactly how you imagine a small tropical island should look. Sand all around with palm trees lining the beach. It looked like they would take about 10 minutes to walk around.

Island idyl

Getting into the Fijian spirit

Our island was considerably bigger and would take several hours to walk around. The Flyer, as the ferry is referred to, is too big to negotiate the numerous coral reefs outside each resort. Therefore, smaller outboard boats would pull up alongside and take the passengers and their luggage into the beach. The luggage was often thrown from the Flyer to someone who would catch it on the waiting smaller boat. Statistically they were bound to drop one overboard every so often but luckily we saw our bags safely on the deck. One of the first things we noticed was how sunburnt alot of the people were. We resolved that we would not look like that when it was our turn to leave and therefor we used up a whole sun tan spray can supplimented by factor 60 on our faces and shoulders. This plan succeeded.

The Welcome Committee

When we disembarked on the beach the local people gave us a traditional Fiji welcome dressed in straw skirts and singing with guitars playing the local rythms. As we were later to see, this happened twice everyday as people left the island and as the new comers arrived.

Shades of blue and green

Our accommodation was a simple room with a double bed and a fan on the ceiling in the middle of the room and not a lot else. We only slept in the room so this was fine. The bathroom facilities were shared with the other guests and although we were a bit sceptical at first but we soon got used to brushing our teeth next to our neighbours in their underpants. Those paying more forfeited these early morning and evening intimacies.

The local village

So, all that remained was to throw ourselves into the daily routine of lying on a sunbed and cooling off in the sea at regular intervals. Cooling off wasn't as effective as it is in Norway since the temperature of the water was 29C on the warmest day. We have not done much snorkeling before and so the colours of the tropical fish never ceased to make us smile to ourselves whilst our heads were underwater.

View from the walk to the village

There were several trips available everyday: We walked with our barefooted guide up the nearest 'mountain' along the ridge and then down to sea and along the beach back to the Blue Lagoon. This took just over 2 hours. From the top you could see a beautiful view of the whole island and all the coral reefs surrounding it.

We had a great trip to a limestone cave that required a short underwater swim to get into and a torch to see anything once inside.

The local fishermen delivered dinner

Hmm, dancing with the locals

We visited the local village where 450 people lived. They put on a traditional dance in the village hall and sang for us. They put out their handicrafts where Iren bought a pink shell necklace.

We also thought we would take a diving course over 4 days. We took the introduction course which involved watching a video covering the basics of how to use the equipment etc. After that we got into the water to practice what we had learned and then went diving for about 30 minutes. Unfortunately Iren felt queazy and it gave her a headache so we decided not to do the 4 day course. However, we got a certificate which means that we can dive with a guide if we want to in other places on our trip.

This is the life

First prize: Breakfast on the beach

Meal times were very sociable as all the guests ate together. We met lots of nice people during the week ("Hello!", if you're reading this) and so it was always a bit sad when the new friends we had got to know had to leave. Many people were doing the same as us so there was alot of talk about travelling. Our week soon came to an end although the last breakfast was a bit different since our team had won the prevoius nights 'Survivor'  (quiz and games in the bar) competition with a first prize of a Champagne breakfast on the beach.

Bye, bye Fiji!

The end of another relaxing day

The Flyer then took us back to Nadi where we stayed for one night before catching an early flight to Sydney. Next week we will be driving from Sydney to Mellbourne via the Blue Mountains.