FIJI - LAND OF ISLES, SMILES, FREE NARCOTICS AND DANCE-OFFS - Sam's Entry

Bula.
We left Melbourne for Sydney, then flew from Sydney across the giant Pacific Ocean with absolutely no idea of what we were getting ourselves into. I fail to remember why we even decided to go to Fiji in the first place. We knew nothing about it's culture, what to do there, and how expensive it was. And by this stage we've had our fill of culture, parties and sunbathing so it was really a chance to lay back, do whatever was easiest and not really bother in the way we usually do.

We got to Nadi in the afternoon and stepping off the plane was like being slapped in the face by a wet towel-wielding child; not only was it extremely humid but Fijian people were lining the exit to the plane shouting BULA and shaking our hands with big grins on their faces. In the foyer there was a mad scramble of taxi drivers and hostel touts trying to get business - we immediately looked at each other and thought, Thailand. Our assumption that this was another third world, tourist-dependent country where everyone is fake and needs to take your money was vastly, deliciously wrong. After we checked into a pretty dingy hostel (for 4 quid, mind) we wandered the dark and intimidating main street, and I saw some drunk-looking massive Fijian guys sauntering towards us. I was expecting glares or hungry stares at the minimum, but instead they all split their grins open wide and shouted BULA! (much used word for kids and tourists, meaning hello, welcome, come inside my shop, congratulate me on my fire-eating, please buy my stuff, feel free to open up a tab at my bar etc). My love for Fijian living hasn't diminished. Fijians really do love life at a laid back pace... they are serious only about the pride they have for their standards and tradition. Everything else is operated on 'Fiji Time', meaning whevener. Loved it.

Nadi was a bit of ghost town, and one of the only places open was an Indian-Fijian restaurant. I got myself Ika Vakalolo, which was fish in coconut sauce with turmeric and cassawa. It tasted pretty good, but I found out that cassawa was the Fijian word for Tapioka root. I had my first experience of this in Vietnam, and it's what they used to survive on in the tunnels to prevent themselves starving to death. It's a cross between sweet potato and chewing on string. I got through it and looked enviously at Dave's spanish mackeral teriyaki steak and chips.

We got a taxi to the ferry and began our cruising early in the morning. I'd packed my bag like a buffoon in the airport and had been parted with my suncream, aftersun, deoderant and mosquito repellent so I stocked up then got on the boat, which took us to the Yasawa islands. We passed everthing from tiny sand patches in the sea to giant mountainous headlands, and five hours later we saw our resort, Coral View. We sunbathed on the beach... went snorkelling for clownfish from Finding Nemo... lazed around... then had a rice-based dinner in the giant Bure hut. We met two Aussie girls, three girls from London, two twins from Huddersfield and three Australian guys among a couple of others who flaked off early, but as I remember it this was the bulk of our 'crew' on the first night. We met after dinner when the hotel manager forced us all to do some Fijian line-dancing, and the Fijian women flocked out to pick boys, Dave getting lunged at by a flower-toting 10 year old within mere seconds. I was content with a more homely dance partner. We sampled the Fijian beer afterwards, and whipped together a fierce game of Ring of Fire, ending somehow on the beach with people blindy searching for crabs, falling over and singing Waltzing Matilda. There was a lot of North vs. South banter as well, and I feel I came out on top (both in debate, and in average demographic wealth. Touche.)
We left Coral View with heavy heads, and went to the island of Korovou, where, to be honest, much of the same occured. We journeyed on with the three Aussie lads, and took a boat out to an amazing set of caves. The first chamber was down a staircase on an island, and it was deep enough to dive into; the second chamber required the brave to swim into an underwater tunnel a couple of metres down. There was no way we were saying no, so we got our heads together and took the plunge into pitch black seawater, a little tunnel illuminated by a torch. Drowning down there would have been rubbish so I swam frantically hard, and popped up into a pitch black chamber a few seconds later. The guys with the torches came through revealing an immensely high cavern, and I felt great to have conquered a minor fear.
Later on in Korovou we spent some time in the pool, then played frisbee with one of our Australian mates before a horde of people turned up to set up a volleyball game. I've never really played it before so I was having a really good muckabout until an American bloke decided the aim was to win at all costs and my appalling hand-eye co-ordination became an obstacle on his path to ultimate team glory. I began to actually feel bad that I was letting this American Allstar down, and Dave was starting to shed serious amounts of blood from his hands and elbows in order to adapt to what was now serious play. After the game me and Dave found a Rugby ball and I found a brief period of enjoyment before a massive, physically unstoppable Fijian sauntered over and announced that he used to play for Fiji U21 Rugby League - did we want a game. My athletic suffering was set to continue but thankfully all he wanted to do was pass the ball around so we did that, had a shower than got round to what I actually feel on top of my game doing - sitting down with food and a beer. My spirits were lifted by a brilliant night with another duo from Huddersfield, an air hostess from Leeds and a sickenly hardcore Irishman who carried around a hipflask of maggots in vodka.
Our next stop was Waya Leilei, which was a beautiful resort set at the bottom of a 350m high rock. We engaged in some reef snorkelling, which was the best snorkelling I've ever done - we commando dived out of the boats, floated around looking at coral then got sniffed out by an army of white-tipped reef sharks! I was bricking it but they were harmless and the guides were holding them for us to say hello to. We booked in for some sunset handline fishing and got some more sunbathing in before it was time to hit the boat again. Only three of us went on that boat - me, Dave, and Kai, the sullen Dutch oil tanker engineer. The few things he said included "I was a fisherman for many years". And, "The Dutch government takes all of my taxes. I hate the government." We decided not to talk to him. He caught two fish though, and we caught none. It was still worth it.
That night we ate food from a lovo, which is a Fijian underground oven. There was a Kava ceremony going on with the islanders sitting down in a tribal arrangement around a huge vat of muddy water. Kava is a natural narcotic made from the ground roots of the Kava plant and water, taking on the appearance and taste of mud and making the user feel very sleepy and happy. We got the chance to sit down and perform the respect rites of clapping and downing the bowl in one, then went to bed not sure what the fuss was about. It was a bizzare kind of treat after a hard day - we wanted to hike up the Waya Mountain at 5am for sunrise but my phone alarm failed us so we slept in, but Dave was still burning with determination so we persuaded a poor old guide to come up with us in the scorching heat. We managed it in 3 hours, taking water from the stream, wobbling a big wobbly rock, and climbing to the rocky summit where the view was biblical. It was a sea of turquoise, bright green and stark white from the sun going on endlessly, and we spent a good hour standing there captivated.

Leaving Waya Leilei, we were dumped on an island so small that we were able to walk across it in 3 minutes. They called it South Sea island, and we didn't have time to go mentally insane and befriend any inanimate objects called Wilson because we got there as the sun was going down. We met our fellow travellers around a 2-course fish meal; Dom, the dwarfish Kiwi with an irrational hatred of Asians; a couple of English girls who went to bed early; Dave the sarcastic Guernsey-dweller; and two attractive but immovably humourless Germans. Between the two of us we spent $40 and 20 bowls of Kava in order to try and make them enjoy life in some way, but failed. We drank a lot of Kava that night, and we were almost outdrinking the Fijians before it became clear we were out of our depth and needed to go to bed. We were in our own little Kava world and nobody could understand or sympathise with us (especially at 2am after we realised we were the last two dancing around in the dorm). A tactical chunder was neccessary but we still suffered the next morning with massive Kava belly, a strange nauseous version of the common hangover. It was soon time to board Seaspray, an overpriced vessel that took us to Monriki Island (where they filmed Castaway with Tom Hanks and Wilson) and to a 'traditional' Fiji Village. The village elders wer unfortunately busy - oh well, we were Kava'd out anyway - so we were left in a tourist trap, expected to buy rubbish souveniers. We spent the time mucking about with the local kids and talking about the Aussie's job in McDonalds. We re-boarded the boat and took advantage of the unlimited BBQ, beer, wine and drinks... and then it was time to leave already!

We said goodbye to our little crew of the Aussies and Vicky from Leeds, who proclaimed me her adopted nephew, and went off to explore Mana Island. There's a lot of upselling of Mana back home when you walk into travel shops, and if you're willing to part with money and go diving a lot it's a really good experience. We didn't do either of those things so sitting on the beach and eating their food, doing crosswords and reading was enough. I can't say it was boring; for the night's entertainment we got the standard Fiji haka and dances that thy did for us on every island, but on top of that the two dancers got out machetes, started whipping them around blindfolded, then did an insane firedance on the beach, on eath other's backs, setting fire to the sand with flaming oil and putting the fire into their mouths for cringeworthy lengths of time.

We're back on the mainland now, within reach of an ATM and internet, and I have to say it's been excellent. After a few days the tourism rigmorol makes you numb to all the nice things about Fiji; the way every time you arrive or leave an island a band of 4 musicians come to sing you a song in harmony; the way everyone smiles and calls you nice names, pats you on the back and offers to make phone calls for you, take you where you want to go or meet their friends; the fierce sun and the lines of hammocks on the pristine beaches; the party atmosphere every night that we could dip in and out of at leisure.

I also missed home a little bit for the first time. I don't know why - maybe it's just too much of people being nice to us. But i've been thinking a lot about what I want to do with my life whilst reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and I think I might have decided what I want to do as a career. I'm going to keep it under wraps until I'm home just in case it's a fickle thing, but we'll see what happens.

Really looking forward to New Zealand. Please wish me luck as I try to find a job. Alternatively, don't... and I'll see you all in a few weeks dragging my poverty-soaked tail between my legs.

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Bula from Fiji!
We have been sunning ourselves in the South pacific for a week or so now and after the memorable visit we have had to Fiji we decided it was only fair to tell you all about Paradise.
We started off in Nadi, landing late into the evening after leaving from Australia. With our stay in Nadi only being a brief one before our boat trip started the next day, we settled into some Fiji style cooking and relaxed, preparing ourselves for mentally and physically for the ultimate relaxation we were about to experience on our adventure around the Yasawa islands.
Our Big Yellow (Subtle) Awesome Adventures boat was our vessel and over the last week it has done a sterling job of transporting us from island to island. Carrying on the nautical theme, the first port of call was Coral View resort, far North into the chain of the Yasawa Islands. Before coming to Fiji I expected sandy beaches, perfect waters and to be spending alot of time in a hammock with the only serious thought being given to wether to have a Fiji Gold or Fiji Export beverage with dinner that night. The slogan "The only rush is the hurry to slow down" summed things up nicely. It hasn't dissapointed. In fact it has over exceeded any of my hopes. The people here are incredibly friendly and we have managed to meet some really cool travellers on our various island stays too which have enhanced an already fantastic experience.

Coral view was a relativly small island and after a quiet first day, socialising with our new found Australian friends we had a lazy evening under the stars, getting adjusted to what the locals call "Fiji Time". The next day we set off early in the morning for a visit to the famous caves of the Yasawas, the visits main attraction, the pitch black caves required some effort to reach as we had to dive under the rock, with nowhere to emerge for air until we reached the other side. Luckily we managed to negotiate the passage with relative ease and swam around screaming, following our Fijian guide, the only man with a torch through the pitch black, echoing, eel infested waterworld. As if all the excitement of that wasn't enough I decided that it would be a good idea to scale a slippery, steep and generally uninviting rock face and jump off into the plunge pool below, no injuries and a warm reception upon leaping justified the decision.

The rest of the day Sam and I snorkelled near the resort, with only the emerging storm causing us any distress. The same clouds also ruined the potential that the sunset walk held but we trekked to the top of the hill regardless, accompanied all the way by our excellent companion Patches (The village dog) and despite seeing nothing but an approaching monsoon we sat and relaxed at the top for a while before stumbling back down for dinner. With the night before being a subdued one, Sam and I were keen to take advantage of the cheap beer and spacious venue so after a resort dance competition in which i partnered up with a quite lovely Fijian girl we started up a game of ring of fire. Things from then on became very silly for the most part and by the end the 15 or so involved were all certainly acclimatised to Fiji time and we had guaranteed that Fiji time would be followed rigidly the next day.

Waking up with a hangover in Fiji is about the only negative thing I have experienced here. The day was very, very quiet with plenty of coffee being consumed at regular intervals to make sure we were awake when the boat transfer came to take us to our next stop, Koravou island. Arriving at Koravou we had a spring in our step and had managed to shake off most of the ill effects of the previous night. As a result we got involved in a competitive game of ultimate frisbie, using an actual ultimate frisbie and then a quite ridiculous 2 hour marathon volleyball game in which I managed to graze a considerable amount of skin causing my dips in the sea over the next few days to be sharp affairs.
After our games of volleyball and frisbie we were invigorated to play more sport so we wandered along to the white sandy beach resort in search of a rugby ball. We managed to find one and soon after were joined by "Bill" an ex Fijian under 21 rugby player. Needless to say he was a big lad. It was probably for the best that the other guys had stuff to do so the usual game of touch didn't start before the dinner drums were banged, otherwise our stay in Fiji could have been a much longer one (not neccesarily a bad thing). The sunset that evening was incredible, with the pacific skies merging between pink, red, orange, blue and the pure white of the small grouping of clouds. The colours that seem to emerge at sunset here are extraordinary, unlike anywhere I have seen before. After enjoying the spectacle we got stuck into the Fiji themed night, learning the Bula dance, playing more dance games and finally deciding to throw off the final lingering shackles of our hangover and get a round in. One thing led to another and before long it was 3 am after another hellishly heavy game of ring of fire and we were in the swimming pool, well after closing time, enjoying the good life.

The day after, once again, was not so enjoyable. In fact it's fair to say that it was a completely wasted day, with the only real activity being dragging ourselves back onto the boat for our transfer to Waia Lele island.

The next day was more of an active one with us going on a shark feeding snorkelling adventure in the early morning. We saw a few 3-4 foot white tip reef sharks with the local guides feeding them right by us, the sharks were swimming all around us, dipping and diving in and out of the group, through our legs and at times straight for us before slipping gracefully out of the way at the last moments. The experience was awesome, and despite these being small sharks, they set my heart racing, sharks are such mercurial creatures and so much myth surrounds them but I can say now with certainty that witnessing them first hand is an excellent experience, they are incredible animals. With nothing much to do until the evening, we relaxed all day and got on board our sunset fishing trip at around 5pm. We bobbed around in glorious late afternoon sunshine in a tiny boat with only the 2 guides and one other traveller in the gentle bays around the island. We didn't catch anything but in the end it didn't really matter, it had been superb. Fiji really is paradise.
The day after was a relaxed one, spent on the beach and that night we hydrated ourselves thoroughly with Cava (the traditional celebratory drink here), we possibly hydrated too much as despite its lack of alcohol, Cava is potent in terms of it's effects when you have to much. I swayed all the way to bed in the dorm, happy to have shared an evening with the Chief and the locals. This was our first cava experience but after having such good fun we were determined to make sure it was not our last.

Before we left the island we wanted to do the trek to the top of the hilltop but after we missed the morning trek after accidently oversleeping so fearing we would miss out on the views from the top of the 350 metre lookout point, we asked bashfully for a guide to take us up. As is the Fijian way are request was greated with a wide smile and all the help we could have hoped for. On top of Fiji being paradise, the people might well be the friendliest in the world too, a pretty good combination! The view from the top was absolutely immense and we sat with our feet hanging off the ledge looking down at the sheer drop below, throwing coconuts off and watching them drop was terrifying but also great fun. Then we headed off again, for South Sea Island, which is so small that you can walk around the entire island in 3 minutes - so we did. The walk was in fact so physically demanding that we decided to reward our hard work with a 4 hour cava session that evening with the local boys and a small, hardy collection of fellow travellers. All dropped out one by one until it was merely Sam and I left drinking with the locals into the early hours of the morning. We paid for such determination the day after on our Seaspray sailing adventure, where even visits to the Castaway island and a local village couldn't rouse us to any great feats of motion. We did endevour to make the most of the day though and we got off the boat at every scheduled stop after some gentle persuasion.
That evening we headed back to Mana island where an early one was due and today we have been relaxing on the beach before we made our way back to the mainland and Nadi this afternoon, ready for our flight to Nz on tuesday morning.

Fiji has thrown up alot of suprises. All of them have been good. We didn't really know what to expect, in many ways we saw it as something we should do rather than something we had to do when we were first planning our trip. I can say with all honesty though that it has turned out to be one of the best weeks i have had yet. It really is paradise here, the people are generous, kind and always smiling. It may be a long time before i come back to Fiji with so many other places in the world still to see while I can. I'm sure though that one day I'll be back though, Fiji time may well be my favourite time zone yet.

David