Two weeks in Paradise

We've had a great 2 weeks in Fiji, hanging in hammocks, snoozing in the sun and being on 'Fiji time'.

We arrive in Fiji on the 8th February where there is a three man band singing a welcoming Bula song in Immigration. We get our passports stamped and realise we can be in Fiji for 4 months on a tourist visa. Becky is pleased to get another stamp - and head to the Awesome Adventures office to collect our Bula Combo Pass and Hotel vouchers. We are booked into the Tanoa Skylodge hotel and get our courtesy shuttle there. We check in to our room and find it to be pretty nice! All the normal stuff you would find in a hotel, plus air con which is bliss considering its 34 degrees outside!

We head out for a wander and come across a supermarket where we buy some water and get collared by a Fijian who’s selling 'handmade jewellery'. I really should learn to smile and walk away rather than get talking!! When walking around we see the water damage from the recent floods – thick mud along the roads, huge potholes in the roads and pavements broken down.

We head back to the hotel and chill out, have dinner in the restaurant and get to bed.

Thursday we're up early to be collected by Awesome at 7.15. We soon learn that we need to get used to these early morning starts! On our way to Port Denarau the rain starts to hammer down - we can't even see the road in front of us! By the time we get to the Port the rain hasn't eased and we hope the weather doesn't remain like this for the foreseeable future! We grab our boat pass and board the Yasawa Flyer. Our paradise trip has begun, even if it is a bit of a soggy start.

So the plan is to tour the Yasawa Islands - we have a Bula Combo Pass that provides us with all our island transfers, our meals and all our accommodation for 13 nights. The Yasawa Island group consists of 20 ancient volcanic islands, 4 of these having dramatic elevations with summits just short of 600 metres above sea level. The islands are set in crystal clear waters with palm fringed white sandy beaches, lagoons and coral reefs.

We decide that our first stop would be on Kuata at the Natural Resort which takes 2 hours from Port Denarau. When we have to disembark the Flyer, by this time the rain has thankfully stopped, and we board the small boat that takes us over to Kuata. It’s interesting trying to board a small boat in the middle of the ocean!!

As we come up to the beach of Kuata we are informed that we are the only ones on the island until later in the afternoon. Basically we have the whole island to ourselves! And what with the sun coming out for us, we decide it’s best to hit the hammocks straight away with our books ready to read! Around midday the horn was blown to indicate it was lunch time. We sit down to a hearty lunch and are serenaded by a Fijian singing and playing his guitar along with 2 other ladies. It is a bit awkward as they are watching us having lunch.

In the afternoon we take a walk down the beach and get some photos. We also have a couple of coconuts opened up for us and we are encouraged to drink the juice and eat the flesh.

We sit down for dinner in the evening and are joined by the new guests. There is an English couple, Holly and Mat, that we get talking to. Dinner is chicken curry, fish curry, rice and homemade bread. It is all delicious but there is so much of it! At this point we realise we won’t be coming out of Fiji any lighter than when we arrived! We make it to bed in our ‘Bure’ (double room) and have the fan cooling us from the heat. However, due to the islands not having mainland electricity, they have to use generators fuelled with diesel. The generators are only run when necessary so by 11pm all the power went off…..and served us a very hot sticky night!

 Friday and we’re woken for breakfast at 7.15am. We let them off such an early start as we have pancakes and watermelon. We wake up to the sun shining but it doesn’t keep this way – just as we are ready to board the boat to leave Kuata, in comes the pouring rain. We have to get the boat to The Flyer and we get absolutely drenched. I think we would have been drier by swimming to the boat! When we are on The Flyer the first thing we see is a man up-chucking into a sick bag. The sea is pretty rough and it is taking a toll on its passengers! I find a sheltered seat at the top of the boat and stay there for the 2 hour journey to our next stop, Long Beach Resort. The journey was so bumpy and rocky – we were crashing hard into the sea. But, again, as we arrived at the resort, the rain eased off and the sun came back out.

Long Beach, Matacawalerau Island, was a really nice resort – nice accommodation, great food and a superb beach that we walked along. We spend most of our time relaxing in the hammocks, reading our books and doing the odd activity. We decide to stay 2 nights there and one morning we do some kayaking.

Ruben, one of the workers there, offers to give us a coconut demonstration. He shows us how to open up a coconut with a branch and teaches us the differences between a green and a brown coconut. The green coconuts are the young ones where you can pick them off the tree and drink the juice. The brown coconuts are the coconuts that are exported to other countries and these are what we know as coconuts. The flesh and the juice are much more coconutty. Ruben showed us how to grate the flesh of the brown coconut so you get the coconut flakes that you would find in something like a bounty (something Fijians have never heard of). We give the grating ago and then get shown how to squeeze the gratings as to get coconut milk.

From Saturday onwards we are blessed with sun for the remainder of our trip. We spend all our time chilling out, relaxing in hammocks and eating plenty! We make sure that we visit as many islands as we can:

We spend 3 nights at Safe Landing Resort, Nacula Island.

We really enjoy it here and don’t want to leave but want to experience some of the other islands. In the evenings we are encouraged to join in some of the games. Some are pretty rude but others are pretty light hearted! I manage to win a bracelet.

There is a tea shop that is just down the beach which we end up making a daily visit to. The first day we had a slab of chocolate cake, the next day was a sponge cake with Papaya, Lemon and Lime drizzle. Too nice!

We go for a tour into the village and have to introduce ourselves to the chief by crawling up to him on our knees. Many people of the village are in a meeting in the hall. Apparently a new law has been put into place that stipulates anyone who is not married is not allowed to drink Kava, Alcohol or smoke cigarettes. (Kava is a Fijian drink that is made from roots and tastes like soapy water!!) Apparently this has been put into place as they do not want to lose the Fijian culture and also, before, men were only interested in their Kava so no children had been born in a year.

We spend 2 nights at Coral View Resort, Tavewa Island. So far we have not had a hot shower, just cold. This is still the case! We walk up to the top of the summit and watch the sunset.

 We spend 2 nights at Gold Coast Resort, Nanauya LaiLai Island.

They do not have any electricity at all in the rooms. However, our bed is huge! Never seen such a big bed – just wish we had a fan! At dinner time we go up to the main hall where they have a generator running for light. But as soon as we have left and get back to our room (with a lantern they provide), the generator is turned off.

At Gold Coast they have 3 little puppies – they found them abandoned in the woods further around the island. They are very sweet!

We spend 1 night at Mantaray Island Resort, Nanuya Balavu.

This is by far the best island we have stayed at. We pay an extra $66 for the privilege but it is worth every cent! We stay in a treehouse bunk and have a nice cosy double bed, electricity 24/7 and a fan! The food is amazing too! We spend the evening sitting with others chatting and drinking.

1 Night at Bounty Island, Mamanuca Islands – our last night on the island. Unfortunately it is not all that it is cracked up to be. We walk around the whole island in 20 minutes – only has 48 acres of land in total. Even on our last day we are lucky that the sun is still shining!

We get back to the mainland on Tuesday 21^st and head back to The Tanoa Skylodge. We feel shattered from our island hopping so get to our room, unpack our washing and then go for dinner. We have the luxury of a hot shower once again – it has been greatly missed – so make the most of it and then head for bed.

Wednesday we get on and do some of our chores – we get our washing done, we head to the shops to buy some water and food for lunch and for our travels to New Zealand and we buy some souvenirs. We buy an embroidered Fijian Flag that we can attach to our bags and Becky teaches me how to sew it on. I have never done so much sewing in my life!

We have had a great time in Fiji, soaking up the sun, building a nice tan and seeing another part of the world. It has been the friendliest of places I have ever been and would recommend it to anyone! Now it is time for our adventures to move to the Kiwi land……New Zealand. Here we come!!