Fiji

Its been over 2 weeks since we last posted and since then we have sunned ourselves silly in paradise! It was winter when we were there and the guy who picked us up from the airport was wearing a hat for their subzero temperatures if you can call a low of 25degrees C cold! During the day it was pushing the 35degrees but that was nice with a sea breeze.

We spent all but 2 of our nights in Fiji on the islands known as the Yasawas. The islands are where the picture perfect postcards are all taken. We took the big yellow boat (the flyer) up the islands to the very north 5 hours it took we went up to an island called Tavewa at Otto and Fannies resort, we happened to be the only people staying there, imagine that a whole beach to ourselves! During our 2 week stay we stopped at a total of 9 different islands resorts, the most beautiful being Blue Lagoon which was actually where the movie was filmed, the Crystal clear waters here and the white sandy beaches surpassed anything you can ever imagine. The snorkelling was unbelievable here all the different tropical fishes, Nemo and Doris were everywhere, swimming is great schools close enough to touch. As well as sunning ourselves we took in some of the tours; I (JP) saw the Saw-wi-la caves which involved an underwater swim under the rocks into another cave, pretty scary when you are the first to go through and met with nothing but deeper water and complete darkness. Also involved a climb up the rock face, whilst wet, up through a small passage known as the pregnancy cave because those that are pregnant cant get through that gives an idea of how tight it was. I was surprised that they were able to do this part of the trip and that nobody had been killed before! We also did some Voi Voi weaving in which Charlie made a nice bracelet and I made a rather pathetic bookmark, dont thing weaving is for me! We both really enjoyed a visit to a local village, in particular the school where all the local kids wanted to play, they loved our cameras taking pictures and then looking at the results, Charlie even had a bit of trouble getting hers back from one of the kids! On one day I even took on the ridiculous idea of swimming from one island to another, I managed it just, but this was far toughter than I had expected and I must have swallowed enough sea water to start an aquarium! The swimming with sharks had to be the highlight though, taken out into the middle of the ocean to where there was a reef we jumped in and snorkeled along until we saw 4 white tipped reef sharks, they just swam amongst us getting there free feed from the guides. Charlie managed to touch one but I didnt get close enough, those who dares wins!

The night life was a little more laid back than I would have thought, but that may have been down to the amount of food they fed us! Every meal was 3 courses and there was always extras for those who wanted it. If you dont like fish though do not go to Fiji, every meal even breakfast included fish! Most nights there was entertainment, some of the highlights were the international crab races but we never won. The Meke and the fire dancing we saw on Wayalailai was probably the most impressive a real insight into some of the more traditional side of Fiji. The fire dancing was slightly scary though as one guy was clearly learning as he kept dropping his flaming stick, not good for those sat in the front row, thankfully we were up a height and out of the way. They love their Cava in Fiji, it is basically a drink made from the root of a plant which they leave to dry and than crush into a powder and mix with water; leaving a lovely muddy brown water to drink! We partook in many of these ceremonies not always by choice but after you got used to the taste it wasnt so bad and it always numbed ours tongues and helped us sleep better. One traveller I chatted with did it for 10hours and lost the feeling of his legs!!

Think that pretty much covers our Fiji experience, a truely beautiful place which cannot be described in words!

Now for the cold cold land of New Zealand!