I have just started my bus tour around the main island of Fiji, Viti Levu. I arrived in Fiji on Saturday night and so far am loving it; on Sunday I visited two tiny islands, South Sea Island and Bounty Island, which were like a tropical paradise. The latter was used in the celebrated British TV show "Celebrity Love Island", which is a claim to fame if ever I heard one, and the former could be walked around in under five minutes, which is just the sort of physical exertion I like. On Monday, I jumped on my Feejee Experience bus which has taken me through a traditional Fijian village, to some of the most stunning beaches I have ever seen and even got me doing some unusual activities like trekking and taking part in a kava ceremony (a drink which looks like muddied water and tastes not much different). The trek today was the muddiest thing ever. I don't think my converses will recover. But one of the guides took pity on me and took it upon himself to carry me much of the way on his back and his shoulders, which was actually more uncomfortable than struggling across marshland by foot, but I wasn't really in a position to complain.

So my trip here, though brilliant, is not proving quite as relaxing as expected, building upon a non-stop last week in Australia. My seven day tour from Alice Springs to Darwin was packed with some lovely 4.30 and 5am starts and lots of walking and even more driving. Firstly, I went to the middle of nowhere in the centre of Australia to see Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kings Canyon and another gorge that I couldn't pronounce. It was so astounding to see these places, especially Uluru, which we saw at sunrise. We camped out under the stars in swags that night which was defintiely one of those once in a lifetime experiences!

The trip between Alice and Darwin was long (three days of pretty much continuous driving), so not much to report there, but the destination made it worthwhile! In Darwin, I did a two day trip to Kakadu national park where I saw some of the most incredible scenery including waterfalls, gorges, and a lot more of those massive rocks they seem to do so well in the Northern Territory. In my spare time in Darwin I visited the night markets and enjoyed the hot weather, which felt pretty great, after finding much of the rest of Australia much colder than expected! Even here in Fiji it's not as hot as anticipated, but it's good enough. I don't know if the heat wave is still going at home, but I imagine you will all be much more tanned than me by the time I get home in just over two weeks!