Paradise Found

Bula!!

Fiji was incredible: stunning beaches and excessively friendly people.

After a night on the mainland, and a trip on a catermaran, we jumped onto a tiny boat (that was very dodgy for a clot like me) that took us to Wayalailai Island. It looked like paradise. As we got closer we could hear people on the beach singing to welcome us. Again, the hop from the boat to the beach was precarious - nearly lost my flip-flops.

Most days on the island were pretty much the same: get up, breakfast, beach, lunch, beach, afternoon tea (yessssss actual proper tea), hammock nap, dinner, Fijian entertainment, cards, drink, bed. Beautiful. The food wasn't amazing (we were sick of rice by the end) but it wasn't bad either, and our resort was costing us half the amount most other islands cost. (Kate, I'm glad there were no pineapple sandwiches). The beach was just lovely, pretty much empty, and the sea felt like a warm bath. And the hammocks, OH MY GOSH THE HAMMOCKS, they were a dream. The best naps I've ever had, and every so often a nice Fijian came along and started me rocking again.

We did do some stuff in the day other than sleep and sunbathe. We went reef snorkelling - amazing - there was proper coral and everything, huge schools of fish everywhere, and we stroked reef sharks. I was most impressed with our guide though; he could dive down so far - I totally forgot that he wasn't breathing - and dissappeared through coral tunnels. Plus, he speared loads and loads of fish to feed to the sharks. I was in awe while I just spluttered around near the surface. He also had the best laugh I have ever heard (and he could laugh underwater).

Another great character was Nepote, who took us up to the island summit at 5.30am in the morning. It was quite a scramble, no proper path, I was SWEATING (that's for you Andy) alot, but was well worth the view of the sunrise at the top. He also made us climb up the "wobbling rock", which he then wobbled, while we screamed lol.

We also learnt to weave on the beach with ladies and kids from the island village. Our whole experience was really nice because Wayalailai is the only island 100% owned by the islanders themselves, and all the profits made by the resort go back into the village itslef. The epitome of Fiji friendliness though, was the island cook Mere (Mary). I'm not sure why but she LOVED us. Seriously, she came looking for us all the time, she invited us into bures to have naps, she reserved us a table at every meal, and always invited us up first, and the one morning we got up later than breakfast she saved us a whole box of cereal, a plate of pancakes, and a plate of cake (incredible, and everyone else who'd missed breakfast was kind of annoyed lol). I think she liked that we were sisters (she thought we were triplets lol). At the end of the week we gave her our matching turtle towels because she loved them so much.

In the evenings we got to watch traditional Fijian dancing and singing, eat traditional food cooked underground, and take part in kava ceremonies. Kava is some sort of drug that tastes like muddy water that you drink out of a coconut shell; I didn't drink enough to feel anything, but Abi said her mouth went numb.

After spending 3 weeks rushing around sightseeing it was very nice to live on "Fiji time" for a few days.

Sydney is really cool, and we're having a great time. Photos/blog coming soon.

All My Love
xxxx