WAYA LAI LAI ISLAND – SOUTH SEA ISLAND
Wednesday
Today we were on our way to the smallest island of the Yawsawa’s!! To avoid the more expensive touristy boat, we went with the auld reliable local fishing boat!! I (Rob) headed into the village to get our captain for the day. There were people coming at me from every angle to help me find the right person, the money will go to the whole village, not just the boat owner! When finding the right man, we haggled for the right price, and then met him in front of our resort that afternoon. When meeting the boat driver at sea, it looked like he brought his whole family and 3 barrels of fish guts that he was going to try and sell on main land. He was thinking; why not make a day out of it, if a tourist is going to pay for it!!! The smell was outrageous, bit like tripe!! The weather wasn’t the greatest either, very windy which meant high swells. The first 30 minutes were fine, but once we got pashed the wind blocker, it was awful!! Full throttle, hitting the waves at speed. We were at the top of the boat so every wave we hit we got the impact right on our backsides!! The last 10minutes were painfully funny, the boat being air born and landing straight back down on our asses!!! We were in stitches, I didn’t know if I was crying from the pain or from laughing so hard!! But I think both. What made it even funnier was that the boat driver’s wife was sitting beside me and she was asleep!!!!
No joke, eyes closed with her head bobbing up and down!! While we were holding on for dear life, classic moment!!! Finally arriving, considering never going on local boats again!! But the experience was amazing and one of our funniest moments! 
The island was tiny, luckily enough we were only staying here for one night because it took us 5 minutes to walk around it, so you could get bored quite easily!! You won’t believe it until you see the picture! There were only dorms on the island, so it’s a first for us. Staying in a room with 20 beds!! When walking around the island it looked like there were hundreds of people there and there was, a lot of people do day trips to the island and don’t stay!! Which I think is cheating!! But when they left, it was down to 12 of us on this tiny island, it was so weird not being able to get away from anyone! We met a lovely couple from England Joe and Charlotte, who we bump into again on our trip!! If you stood in the middle of the island and turned 360 degrees, you could always see the ocean!!! But one thing was good; there were no insects, mosquitos, mice, cockroaches or grasshoppers!!Day 106- 19/11/09
SOUTH SEA ISLAND - NADI
Thursday
Today was super hot, so hot that we just couldn’t take it, so we sat in the shade for the day and caught an early boat off the island. It actually worked out quite well because the early boat brought us around the Mamanuca Islands. 
We got to see Bounty Island, Beachcomber, Travellers, Mana and Castaway Island! They were amazing! These islands seemed a little more upmarket! 
They had big jetties and loads of sun loungers and pretty beach front bures. We sat on the top deck of the boat and enjoyed the sun and the breeze. Though Rob got quite burnt and I think a little sick from the sun and the wind! But we kept our promise (not that it was a hard one to keep) and we treated ourselves to a magnum!! Yum!! But unfortunately they didn’t have the choc and caramel one, so I settled for white choc instead!!When we got back to mainland, it was a nice relief to sit on a bus and drive away from the water! Less claustrophobic!! We stayed in Drift In; a couple recommended it to us. It’s a pretty sweet deal, just over €10 a night including breakfast and dinner AND free internet!! Too good to be true… hope not!!
We had a Kava night, hadn’t drank that in a while, but it still tastes the same, muddy water with an after taste of ‘Halls’ throat sweets, it numbs your lips and tongue!!
Only 3 bowls for me, just as a sign of respect but really I don’t like it!
Day 107- 20/11/09
NADI, DRIFT IN (TOILET DAY)
Friday
Today I (Rob) felt like crap, obviously I had too much sun, on our cruise yesterday!
Everything I ate went straight through me, but I won’t go into detail!! So today I had to stay close to indoors until I felt better, so the day wasn’t very active! Mostly spent on the toilet or typing the blog!!!!Day 108- 21/11/09
NADI, DRIFT IN (THE BIG M)
Saturday
Today we headed into Nadi Town. We found a cheap and fast internet shop so we spent a fair bit of time there catching up on our mail for the last few weeks and updating the blog! We had a bit of a wander through the town, it a busy city especially on a Saturday and with the humidity made it a touch claustrophobic for me (Danielle). But I was happy to be out and about, after all that’s what we had missed while on the islands!
Rob meeting his Twin!After picking up a few pressies we walked out of town, thinking that it wasn’t that far… we were wrong!! It was bloody ages out, but we were trying to save dosh by walking! Then as we turned the corner we saw the big golden M!! (Aaaahhhh… God like sound!) The heat and the tiredness were catching up on us so we popped in to cool down and step away from it all (you always feel in a no-mans land in Mac D’s… it could be anywhere! And that was a refreshing place to be for that nice cool hour!) We finally packed it in a paid the $2 taxi back to the hostel. The evening went quickly while we played cards and drank rum with Charlotte and Joe (the couple form England who we had met on South Sea Island! Really lovely couple!)
Day 109- 22/11/09
NADI, DRIFT IN (BALLYERS IN FIJI!!)
Sunday
Ireland were playing Fiji at 5.30am Fiji time, and Johno Sexton an old rugby team mate of mine from St Mary’s was to get his first cap. So we had to get up and have a look and him in action. It was very strange heading outside to watch the match on this tiny TV, with the sun rising in the back round in Fiji, having Ryle Nugent voice commentating!!! It was if we were home for the 80mins!! Great win for the Irish and Johno getting 7/7 kicks and man of the match, defiantly stitched his name into the number 10 shirt for the future of Irish rugby. The security man in our hostel wouldn’t stop talking at the end of the match and I (Rob) wanted to hear every word, so I had to turn to him politely and tell him to “shut the hell up”. No doubt we went back to bed for a few hours once the game was finished. Once up, I was feeling a bit better, so we headed down to the beach. Coming from the Yasawa Islands, we expected all beaches to be amazing but on the main land the beaches are like Dolymount!!! Well I don’t thing as bad, but you know what I mean. Stopping for a drink I couldn’t help to see another game of rugby on in the background, Scottish taking on the Wallabies. It was great to see a good game after being stuck on an island for 3 weeks! When walking back into our hostel, it felt like we walked into Ballyfermot!!! Or “Ballyer” as the polite lady said it was know as locally!!! I have no issues with “Ballyers” but when they talk to other nationalities about Ireland saying that, and quote “ Da cocaine is shi in Iurland, once eh leavez da flatz, itz 95% wazhin up powdor and 5% cocaine”!! And quote “10 yer ould kidz, run around robbin caarzs and grannyz for therez moneyz!!” the look on everyone’s face was hilarious!!! They thought Ireland was a shit hole after there conversation!! It was great entertainment for the next few days!
Day 110- 23/11/09
NADI, DRIFT IN
We were up early to head into town to dwindle away our last day on the internet. We spent the day chatting to family on skype and looking up accommodation in Sydney.
A wee bit bored!!
Day 109- 22/11/09
NADI, DRIFT IN (BALLYERS IN FIJI!!)
Sunday
Ireland were playing Fiji at 5.30am Fiji time, and Johno Sexton an old rugby team mate of mine from St Mary’s was to get his first cap. So we had to get up and have a look and him in action. It was very strange heading outside to watch the match on this tiny TV, with the sun rising in the back round in Fiji, having Ryle Nugent voice commentating!!! It was if we were home for the 80mins!! Great win for the Irish and Johno getting 7/7 kicks and man of the match, defiantly stitched his name into the number 10 shirt for the future of Irish rugby. The security man in our hostel wouldn’t stop talking at the end of the match and I (Rob) wanted to hear every word, so I had to turn to him politely and tell him to “shut the hell up”. No doubt we went back to bed for a few hours once the game was finished. Once up, I was feeling a bit better, so we headed down to the beach. Coming from the Yasawa Islands, we expected all beaches to be amazing but on the main land the beaches are like Dolymount!!! Well I don’t thing as bad, but you know what I mean. Stopping for a drink I couldn’t help to see another game of rugby on in the background, Scottish taking on the Wallabies. It was great to see a good game after being stuck on an island for 3 weeks! When walking back into our hostel, it felt like we walked into Ballyfermot!!! Or “Ballyer” as the polite lady said it was know as locally!!! I have no issues with “Ballyers” but when they talk to other nationalities about Ireland saying that, and quote “ Da cocaine is shi in Iurland, once eh leavez da flatz, itz 95% wazhin up powdor and 5% cocaine”!! And quote “10 yer ould kidz, run around robbin caarzs and grannyz for therez moneyz!!” the look on everyone’s face was hilarious!!! They thought Ireland was a shit hole after there conversation!! It was great entertainment for the next few days!
Day 110- 23/11/09
NADI, DRIFT IN
We were up early to head into town to dwindle away our last day on the internet. We spent the day chatting to family on skype and looking up accommodation in Sydney.
A wee bit bored!! It’s a terrible waste of a day but we were so beached out that we couldn’t head to the beach for today…plus we have months of it to come in Australia! We spent the afternoon packing our bags, making sure that we were wearing all our heavy clothes like our runners and jeans and of course ‘Red’ (my best friend of a jumper)!
