FIJI 5

Day 90- 3/11/09

NADI

Tuesday

We booked our boat to the Yasawa Islands! We have 3 weeks left in Fiji, so we may as well enjoy ourselves on the beautiful islands of Fiji! No outside contact for 3 weeks.. I think we can manage that quite nicely!!

Day 91- 4/11/09

NADI – YASAWA ISLANDS –NANUYA LAI LAI

(HI HO, HI HO, IT’S OF TO WORK WE GO!!)

Wednesday

Haven’t been up this early in a while, stepping onto the bus at 7am, we were on our way to the Yasawa Islands. There are around 17 islands in total and they are the only ones that have accommodation on them. Most of them are deserted. They call it the Movies Islands because “Cast Away”, “Celebrity Island” and “Blue Lagoon” were all recorded here! Plus some islands cost €1000 a night; we will be staying well clear of those!! We decided to go to the furthest Island away – Nanuya Lai Lai, then make our way back. The transport was brilliant, 20 meter catamaran that glided through the water. Our Island was 5 hours away, but when we came to the first Island, we couldn’t believe the size of it!!!! South Sea Island was only 20 acres in size; it looked like one of those carton drawings with just a palm tree on an Island!! As each Island we stopped at, the more and more tropical they got, we couldn’t believe the different colours in the water and the white sand. We thought we saw Fiji on the main land but “THIS WAS FIJI”!! It was the perfect picture.

When arriving at our Island, Nanuya Lai Lai Island, we were again greeted with a big Fijian smile. Family run Lodge, the owner Filo, (missing her front tooth) showed us to our room, the most basic room yet on our travels!! No electricity, no hot water and no toilet door!!!! But we were happy!! This is what we wanted, the real Fiji experience. When it got dark we heard a knock on our door, when opened, a lantern was sitting outside! There was no electricity but the lantern was perfect at lighting up the whole room. We thought if there is no electricity, the food can’t be great! On our way to the family’s house for dinner, we couldn’t have been more wrong. The food was amazing, stir fried rice with chicken then pineapple to follow!! Yum yum!! (God I miss home cooked meals!!) We seem to be picking resorts with no one in them, because there

was only another two staying here!! But we were happy with our choice. So we headed off to our Lodge with our lantern singing, “hi ho, hi ho, it’s of to work we go, work all day, and get no pay, hi ho, hi ho, hi ho, hi ho”!!!!!

Day 92- 5/11/09

NANUYA LAI LAI ISLAND, GOLD COAST

Thursday – POOR PIGGY!

Our 'bure' in Gold Coast

After a peaceful sleep listening to the waves crash all night (such a relaxing sound) we joined the other couple, Keri and John, for breakfast. Loads of fruit and these bread like things – they looked like square doughnuts but with no filling! I stuck to the fruit though; no need for deep fried food that early. After breakie the four of us headed over the hill to the other side of the island. It was a nice simple track and this time we didn’t get lost! We made it to the beach on the other side which was so calm and clear unlike our windy side! We walked up along the beach until we came to the Blue Lagoon Resort; this is a fancy resort that ships in rich folk on a massive cruise ship. We were stopped from walking any further (our rough backpacker image tarnished their paradise!) so we headed back this time as it was low tide we walked around the island over the rocks back to our lodge. On our way there we came across a pig pen with three pigs in it, two in one pen and then another all on its own away from the others. This little piggy went to the market....

We felt sorry for that one so went over to her, that’s when we saw two wee piglets shivering in the corner, they were so little!!! She started to get agitate so we took our photos and left her alone!! But that wasn’t the end of our piggy experiences, when we turned the corner to our strip of beach we saw two guys unloading their boat. They were carrying a pig, tied at the trotters to a plank of wood like it was for a spit roast or something! I said to the others that it was still alive (I’m pretty sure I saw it twitch) then Rob turned around to me and said “Don’t be daft Danielle!!” with that the pig fully lifted his head and wriggled around…. We were all taken aback....especially Rob who had to eat his words!! Ha ha! We were all so curious so we headed over to check the pig out. The poor pig his face said it all, he knew his fate and he was just waiting for time to pass!! Rob and John had to pick it up for a photo op… the poor thing thought his time was up! Aww!

John and Keri left before lunch and no other guests arrived so we had a huge lunch to ourselves that day, yum!

Day 93- 6/11/09

NANUYA LAI LAI ISLAND, GOLD COAST

Friday

After breakfast, Filo (the lady with the missing tooth) kindly dropped us over to the other side of the island, where the blue lagoon was. Danielle said to me, “Did you see her legs?” “No, why?” they were meant to be hairier then mine!! So thank god I didn’t see them! When arriving at the Blue Lagoon, where the movie was recorded, starring Brooke Shields (never heard of it) we were in awe of the beach again. The place was untouched, just the odd person walking down but after that, it was just us!! The water was like a sheet of glass with every colour blue you could think of. Finding a nice spot, I (Rob) decided to turn into Tom Hanks from Cast Away again, going fishing!! The water being too shallow spoiled my act, so Tom will have to what till next time!! Walking home was a bit of a mission in itself. Coming to a dead end on the beach, we had to walk in shallow water around rocks. With the stingray incident still lingering in my head, it’s all I could think of when walking through the water and suddenly Danielle was miles behind!!! I just wanted to reach sand! Luckily enough we made it with no stings, but never again!!! Arriving back just in time for another amazing lunch. We mostly just lazed around on the beach in the afternoon, watching the family eat mango after mango after mango……they loved the things and that’s all we ever saw them eat!! After dinner, arriving into our lodge our place seemed to be infested with cockroaches. Again not my specialty, I hate the things. So I took Danielle’s flip flop again and off I went!! I could have slept better!

Braving the cold drip of a shower!!

Day 94- 7/11/09

NANUYA LAI LAI ISLAND, GOLD COAST

Saturday

We took the day to sunbath, seeing as no one was there and we had already circled the island twice! The only shop on the island!!

At around lunch time a boat of 4 people arrived… it felt strange having people on our island!! They were really nice though, a chirpy hippy couple from Perth (don’t think she could have been bubblier and he was a rock star in the making!) and a couple from Czech Rep. The day was nice and slow, lots of sun bathing and reading…. Enjoying the island life!

Day 95- 8/11/09

NANUYA LAI LAI ISLAND – MATACAWALEVU

Sunday

Last night was our last night in the Gold Coast Resort; we were on our way to Bay Of Plenty, which was the next island down - Matacawalevu. After the 10 minute boat journey to Bay of Plenty, we were welcomed with Fijian singing, they make such a big deal about you coming to stay, shaking your hand and hugging you as if we were family! Again there were only another couple staying in the resort! Our room was amazing compared to The Gold Coast, tiled bathroom and all!! The tide was so low that we could walk out around 2 km into the sea, that’s when our new buddy stuck to our side for the next 2 days! A man's best friend!

His name was Dayto, and he was a dog!! Everywhere we went, he went! He even sat out side our room until we came out, and sat under the table when we had dinner, plus guide us up a mountain to view the islands, he was a clever Skuty boy!!