Fiji part 2
I couldn't remember where Lucie had finished so I guessed (wromg), we've kept both renditions of the same place as an interesting experiment in what we both remember ...
so we had arrived at Nabua Lodge. Not sure if Lucie has explained, but we were spending 9 nights in the yasawa island group of fiji, island hopping on a catamaran from one to another. We'd met some people on our first night who had recommended places for us to stay, which is how we ended up at nabua.
It was gorgeous! On our first day we were greeted by our hosts and some old faces from our first night, including a very hungover Wendy (a Canadian travelling with her Dutch boyfriend Florian she'd met in her travels) who had celebrated her birthday the night before. We ate lunch, which was a weird pasta thing for lucie, and stir fry for me (as they were quite perplexed by vegetarians at nabua, seeming only to serve stir fries as the veggie option.)
We lounged around that day, reading in hammocks, swimming, sunbathing and enjoying our GIANT veranda on our deluxe room. I did laundry listening to Drake and hung it on the veranda, it truly was a magical experience to listen to the 6 God in full blast whilst doing chores. For dinner that night I'm assuming I had a stir fry, and we met our new chum Sam, a 28 year old kiwi from Christchurch coming to the end of his travels. There were 27 Australian 18 year olds also at nabua who had been building a well or a library or something for poor brown people, being treated to the yasawas as a thank you. After supper they had a quiz which our table joined in on, a strange mix of general knowledge and weird sex questions, including drawing a human caterpillar and a dance routine round. Our group did the macarena, but that was nothing compared to 18 year olds stripping, grinding, humping and one group doing the filthy jingle bell rock dance from Mean Girls (love you Lindsay!).
The next day we read more and bathed more. The children left and we met Natalie and Matt, a lovely couple from the north/Poland respectively who now lived in London. To celebrate our last night in nabua we decided to treat ourselves to an island cocktail before dinner. In true fiji style the barmaid went to find someone else to make our cocktails and instead of waiting the 15...20...30? Mins it takes to get anything done on 'fiji time', we called her back and just asked for beers. We enjoyed these with supper (my meal took so long and then, when they remembered i was veggie they asked if I wanted egg, which I politely declined, so I accepted the fish everyone else had been enjoying) and then afterwards we played pool with Sam. We renamed the game half way through to 'moving the balls about' as we were all so terrible at putting everything. After 3 million hours we finally finished, watched a few other games and then took a final beer back to our veranda with Drake. Heaven once again.
The next day we were on the move again, this time to Wai Lai Lai resort on the island of wai lailai, one of the closest in the Yasawas to the mainland. It was a long catamaran and, sitting lower deck, Lucie and I both felt very seasick, so we spent most of our time on the top deck. Once we got closer to wai lai lai, the scenery of the islands changed; more rugged and rocky, taller and richer than the northern islands. We'd heard that this resort had amazing food, so we were v excited. We arrived and were greeted by the matriarch who was amazing! So proud of Fijian culture, so kind to everyone and she even upgraded everyone from dorms to lodges if there was space. As we'd arrived in a Wednesday she told us that there was a special cultural thing that evening where we'd learn about Fiji and have a feast. After afternoon tea, some exploring our room/newest veranda, we went to learn about Fijian stuff. We learnt about Kava circles (what you make on the floor when you drink kava, a ground up root mixed with water, served in coconut shells from a big bowl), village life and how to sit properly. We then had the feast which had a MILLION delicious veggie options and met a new pal, manchunian Amy, who had lived in Australia and our beloved Queenstown for the last three years. A few people stayed up to drink, but Lucie and I had signed up to climb to the top of the island the next morning at 5am so we decided to have a rest.
4:45am arrived and Lucie and I woke up. We put on our proper shoes (I had been shoe-less since day two on the islands) and headed out into the darkness to find our guide. We then started ascending the island, clambering up rocks with torches in our hands, mud everywhere, slipping, sweating, panting (more me than Lucie, half marathon runner). It was quite scary but quite fun, I loved the idea of a 5am adventure. During one water break Lucie asked our guide if she could stop earlier as the path ahead would become very steep and rocky, so we walked to a place where she could roost. I bravely said I'd go all the way, invigorated by the blood pumping, the ridiculous heat and the 5am adventure. I managed to slip and fall as graze my leg badly on a flat part of the walk 5 mins after we left Lucie, but I persevered and scaled the steep rugged rocks near the summit and got to enjoy a little bit of the sunrise from the top. I think Lucie got the best view of it from her perch.
When we got back It was almost breakfast time (another feast) then we lolled about in the sun and sea before lunch (huge), made some bracelets with local ladies (quite a bonkers experience) and rested before afternoon tea and snacks (yum), watched the locals vs visitors play volleyball (which Germans are excellent at) before another delicious dinner (why is Fijian pineapple so sweet?) and then, after supper, were taught the Bula dance (incredible) and Fijian macarena (about 5x faster than our one) by a young handsome Fijian (are all Fijian men handsome? Yes.) with our new pal Amy.
The next day, after several helpings of delicious fried breakfast bread, we had to pack to make our way to Long Beach, our last stop in the yasawas. We were treated to a farewell ceremony and song by our hosts, hugs from the lovely lady, an emotional speech by a man on our little boat to the catamaran, and we left with heavy hearts to be leaving. A few hours later after the catamaran we arrived at long beach. As the tide was out our little boat had to crawl along through very shallow sea with coral, blue fish and amazing rocks visible from the boat. Once we'd arrived we realised we may have island apathy, desperately seeking some hustle and bustle. We went for nice walk along the long beach, both read a bit in hammocks/the lodge (Lucie napped) and then, whilst being bitten by ants outside our front door, we decided to leave a day early and enjoy Nadi for the day before we left Fiji. We also saw our mates Nat and Matt from earlier which was really lovely. I'm especially fond of Natalie because every time she saw me she complimented me on my tan. At one point she asked how it was possible for me to be more tanned! You can stay, Natalie. We had a bonkers buffet for dinner and then we're treated to Kava afterwards by the INCREDIBLY HANDSOME JACOB who I will never get over. It made my mouth feel a bit numb. Some annoying Clapham esque girls were being quite rude about it, obviously they hadn't been taught manners or kava circle ettique like Lucie and I had.
The next day it rained a bit so Lucie and I played cards with Natalie, then were taught an excellent game by a Fijian which we then played a few times before we made our way back to Nadi on the boat. Once we arrived we checked into our DELUXE room with balcony, a warm shower, air conditioning, a TV, free coffee and all the delicious things we'd longer for. Also, we'd run out of money so it also meant BEER after a few days off. We had delicious huge bottles of Fiji gold and tasty food at our favourite beach bar.
We woke up slightly hungover but were in the deluxe room, best place for it. We checked out and then took a trip to Nadi town centre (via taxi. The taxi lady dropped us at a shop and wrote her number on a piece of paper, for us to get the shop to call when we wanted to come back). We wondered around, men spoke to us in the street, got ice creams, went to a supermarket which was excellent, some mad department stores where we were chatted to a lot more than we wanted to be, and then finally called for the lady to come back. Once back on the beach stop we drank beers in the sun and had a late lunch and then I lied down in our new room and slept for the whole evening and night as I was feeling poorly. Lucie went off to the pub and had a lovely time, thankfully, while I shivered in bed and tried not to be sick.
The following day was today, the day we fly to sydney!
so we had arrived at Nabua Lodge. Not sure if Lucie has explained, but we were spending 9 nights in the yasawa island group of fiji, island hopping on a catamaran from one to another. We'd met some people on our first night who had recommended places for us to stay, which is how we ended up at nabua.
It was gorgeous! On our first day we were greeted by our hosts and some old faces from our first night, including a very hungover Wendy (a Canadian travelling with her Dutch boyfriend Florian she'd met in her travels) who had celebrated her birthday the night before. We ate lunch, which was a weird pasta thing for lucie, and stir fry for me (as they were quite perplexed by vegetarians at nabua, seeming only to serve stir fries as the veggie option.)
We lounged around that day, reading in hammocks, swimming, sunbathing and enjoying our GIANT veranda on our deluxe room. I did laundry listening to Drake and hung it on the veranda, it truly was a magical experience to listen to the 6 God in full blast whilst doing chores. For dinner that night I'm assuming I had a stir fry, and we met our new chum Sam, a 28 year old kiwi from Christchurch coming to the end of his travels. There were 27 Australian 18 year olds also at nabua who had been building a well or a library or something for poor brown people, being treated to the yasawas as a thank you. After supper they had a quiz which our table joined in on, a strange mix of general knowledge and weird sex questions, including drawing a human caterpillar and a dance routine round. Our group did the macarena, but that was nothing compared to 18 year olds stripping, grinding, humping and one group doing the filthy jingle bell rock dance from Mean Girls (love you Lindsay!).
The next day we read more and bathed more. The children left and we met Natalie and Matt, a lovely couple from the north/Poland respectively who now lived in London. To celebrate our last night in nabua we decided to treat ourselves to an island cocktail before dinner. In true fiji style the barmaid went to find someone else to make our cocktails and instead of waiting the 15...20...30? Mins it takes to get anything done on 'fiji time', we called her back and just asked for beers. We enjoyed these with supper (my meal took so long and then, when they remembered i was veggie they asked if I wanted egg, which I politely declined, so I accepted the fish everyone else had been enjoying) and then afterwards we played pool with Sam. We renamed the game half way through to 'moving the balls about' as we were all so terrible at putting everything. After 3 million hours we finally finished, watched a few other games and then took a final beer back to our veranda with Drake. Heaven once again.
The next day we were on the move again, this time to Wai Lai Lai resort on the island of wai lailai, one of the closest in the Yasawas to the mainland. It was a long catamaran and, sitting lower deck, Lucie and I both felt very seasick, so we spent most of our time on the top deck. Once we got closer to wai lai lai, the scenery of the islands changed; more rugged and rocky, taller and richer than the northern islands. We'd heard that this resort had amazing food, so we were v excited. We arrived and were greeted by the matriarch who was amazing! So proud of Fijian culture, so kind to everyone and she even upgraded everyone from dorms to lodges if there was space. As we'd arrived in a Wednesday she told us that there was a special cultural thing that evening where we'd learn about Fiji and have a feast. After afternoon tea, some exploring our room/newest veranda, we went to learn about Fijian stuff. We learnt about Kava circles (what you make on the floor when you drink kava, a ground up root mixed with water, served in coconut shells from a big bowl), village life and how to sit properly. We then had the feast which had a MILLION delicious veggie options and met a new pal, manchunian Amy, who had lived in Australia and our beloved Queenstown for the last three years. A few people stayed up to drink, but Lucie and I had signed up to climb to the top of the island the next morning at 5am so we decided to have a rest.
4:45am arrived and Lucie and I woke up. We put on our proper shoes (I had been shoe-less since day two on the islands) and headed out into the darkness to find our guide. We then started ascending the island, clambering up rocks with torches in our hands, mud everywhere, slipping, sweating, panting (more me than Lucie, half marathon runner). It was quite scary but quite fun, I loved the idea of a 5am adventure. During one water break Lucie asked our guide if she could stop earlier as the path ahead would become very steep and rocky, so we walked to a place where she could roost. I bravely said I'd go all the way, invigorated by the blood pumping, the ridiculous heat and the 5am adventure. I managed to slip and fall as graze my leg badly on a flat part of the walk 5 mins after we left Lucie, but I persevered and scaled the steep rugged rocks near the summit and got to enjoy a little bit of the sunrise from the top. I think Lucie got the best view of it from her perch.
When we got back It was almost breakfast time (another feast) then we lolled about in the sun and sea before lunch (huge), made some bracelets with local ladies (quite a bonkers experience) and rested before afternoon tea and snacks (yum), watched the locals vs visitors play volleyball (which Germans are excellent at) before another delicious dinner (why is Fijian pineapple so sweet?) and then, after supper, were taught the Bula dance (incredible) and Fijian macarena (about 5x faster than our one) by a young handsome Fijian (are all Fijian men handsome? Yes.) with our new pal Amy.
The next day, after several helpings of delicious fried breakfast bread, we had to pack to make our way to Long Beach, our last stop in the yasawas. We were treated to a farewell ceremony and song by our hosts, hugs from the lovely lady, an emotional speech by a man on our little boat to the catamaran, and we left with heavy hearts to be leaving. A few hours later after the catamaran we arrived at long beach. As the tide was out our little boat had to crawl along through very shallow sea with coral, blue fish and amazing rocks visible from the boat. Once we'd arrived we realised we may have island apathy, desperately seeking some hustle and bustle. We went for nice walk along the long beach, both read a bit in hammocks/the lodge (Lucie napped) and then, whilst being bitten by ants outside our front door, we decided to leave a day early and enjoy Nadi for the day before we left Fiji. We also saw our mates Nat and Matt from earlier which was really lovely. I'm especially fond of Natalie because every time she saw me she complimented me on my tan. At one point she asked how it was possible for me to be more tanned! You can stay, Natalie. We had a bonkers buffet for dinner and then we're treated to Kava afterwards by the INCREDIBLY HANDSOME JACOB who I will never get over. It made my mouth feel a bit numb. Some annoying Clapham esque girls were being quite rude about it, obviously they hadn't been taught manners or kava circle ettique like Lucie and I had.
The next day it rained a bit so Lucie and I played cards with Natalie, then were taught an excellent game by a Fijian which we then played a few times before we made our way back to Nadi on the boat. Once we arrived we checked into our DELUXE room with balcony, a warm shower, air conditioning, a TV, free coffee and all the delicious things we'd longer for. Also, we'd run out of money so it also meant BEER after a few days off. We had delicious huge bottles of Fiji gold and tasty food at our favourite beach bar.
We woke up slightly hungover but were in the deluxe room, best place for it. We checked out and then took a trip to Nadi town centre (via taxi. The taxi lady dropped us at a shop and wrote her number on a piece of paper, for us to get the shop to call when we wanted to come back). We wondered around, men spoke to us in the street, got ice creams, went to a supermarket which was excellent, some mad department stores where we were chatted to a lot more than we wanted to be, and then finally called for the lady to come back. Once back on the beach stop we drank beers in the sun and had a late lunch and then I lied down in our new room and slept for the whole evening and night as I was feeling poorly. Lucie went off to the pub and had a lovely time, thankfully, while I shivered in bed and tried not to be sick.
The following day was today, the day we fly to sydney!
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