Fiji Part I
After being constantly on the road with strict schedules, where two nights in one place in a small dormitory was the ultimate luxury, Fiji has been somewhat of a culture shock.
The first thing we noticed when we landed was the humidity. Such insane humidity!
Nadi
We headed straight to our hostel, ON THE BEACH, where we had a PRIVATE ROOM. Words cannot express how gleeful we were. We enjoyed a chilled night, danced in the sea, had dinner overlooking the beach and watched a disco, where a mad girl in a white vest was going 100% Andrea. I also fell out of a hammock.
White Sandy
The next morning, we made our way to the catamaran to kick start our island hopping adventure. After a scenic cruise around the islands, we disembarked at White Sandy, the first of our Yasawas island stops.
We were greeted with a Bula dance and a tropical drink and were shown our lodge for the evening. After lunch, we went to Honeymoon Beach with our new pal Nic, who tried and failed to steal a coconut. We chilled and I managed to successfully clamour into a hammock, which I chalk up as a win.
After dinner, we were treated to a fire dancing show! This was terrifying. There had been rain in the afternoon, so the guys doused their sticks in petrol, this meant that the fire kept going up the entire breadth of the stick and they kept dropping them as they spat flames. Considering we were a metre in a front, it was pretty hairy. Al and Nic got splattered with petrol too. However, it did end on an amazing note where one guy spun the sticks so perfectly that it looked like a firework.
After this, we hung with the guys who sang us lovely Fijian music as well as, strangely, Coast to Coast by Westlife.
Gold Coast
Back on the catamaran, we headed to the Gold Coast, our home for the next two nights.
Gold Coast was tiny, and there was one other guest, a shy swiss man whose name I do not recall. Having been the only tourist on a remote island for twenty four hours, I'm sure he was desperate for company, so Al and I immediately took him under our collective wing. (Lol, no we didn't. I went to explore and annoy the locals, while Al had a dip).
The food was insane - freshly caught fish, pumpkin, bread fruit, pineapple, yumbumbola. Al was the bravest of babies and ate her fish on the first night, but sadly was sober the next, so wasn't able to then. After a small tantrum (hers, not mine), I took her plate and had my second dinner of the evening.
On the first night, Al, tortured by mosquitoes, left the beach. It was beautiful, but in hindsight may not have been worth the 50 or so bites I woke up with the next morning. Once again, my body deformities became a talking point for every person I met.
There was no electricty in our lodge, nevermind WiFi, and the irrigation system was rather flawed. We did have a mosiquto net though, which Al beavered under for hours at a time. On the second day, she had two naps after a ten hour sleep. We read a lot, and I finally got down to The Book of Dust, which was amazing. I can't wait to discuss it with someone who enjoys children's fantasy literature as much as I do. Sadly Al is not that person.
On our way to the next island, one of the guys pulled a shark out of the ocean for us to see, it was terrifying and brilliant.
Nabua
We were on the move again! This time to Nabua Lodge. Although we enjoyed our time at Gold Coast, it is the most relaxing place on earth, we were ready to move on - Al was highly anxious re bites and I needed to go for a run before I threw myself into the ocean.
We stopped (via water taxi) at the local shop ready to fill up on a multitude of supplies. We left with some fake coke and bug repellent. We just can't seem to get a handle on the fact that Fiji doesn't actually have a Tesco Metro.
We arrived at Nabua and met up with pals, and were shown to our lodge. It's like a fucking palace! Inside bathroom, fluffy towels (towels!), electricity in the room, a fan! We lazed about and something clicked for us both, we were now on Fiji Time.
There is a group of twenty Aussie teenagers who are also staying at Nabua. They were treated to a trivia quiz after dinner, so naturally we joined. One question was actually a dance round. Our group did the Macarena with the Fijians as a Kiwi guy did the running man around us, it was great, but the girls' entrants were a little more... Saucy. One group danced to Sexy Bitch and a girl stripped to her bra(!?). I commented to Al that it was like the Jingle Bell Rock scene in Mean Girls, then lo' and behold, the next group jumped up and Jingle Bell Rock started to play.
We are now on day two here and life is fab. We had banana cake for breakfast, Al finished her book, we're going to play pool with the Kiwi guy tonight and treat ourselves to a ridiculous cocktail before dinner.
The first thing we noticed when we landed was the humidity. Such insane humidity!
Nadi
We headed straight to our hostel, ON THE BEACH, where we had a PRIVATE ROOM. Words cannot express how gleeful we were. We enjoyed a chilled night, danced in the sea, had dinner overlooking the beach and watched a disco, where a mad girl in a white vest was going 100% Andrea. I also fell out of a hammock.
White Sandy
The next morning, we made our way to the catamaran to kick start our island hopping adventure. After a scenic cruise around the islands, we disembarked at White Sandy, the first of our Yasawas island stops.
We were greeted with a Bula dance and a tropical drink and were shown our lodge for the evening. After lunch, we went to Honeymoon Beach with our new pal Nic, who tried and failed to steal a coconut. We chilled and I managed to successfully clamour into a hammock, which I chalk up as a win.
After dinner, we were treated to a fire dancing show! This was terrifying. There had been rain in the afternoon, so the guys doused their sticks in petrol, this meant that the fire kept going up the entire breadth of the stick and they kept dropping them as they spat flames. Considering we were a metre in a front, it was pretty hairy. Al and Nic got splattered with petrol too. However, it did end on an amazing note where one guy spun the sticks so perfectly that it looked like a firework.
After this, we hung with the guys who sang us lovely Fijian music as well as, strangely, Coast to Coast by Westlife.
Gold Coast
Back on the catamaran, we headed to the Gold Coast, our home for the next two nights.
Gold Coast was tiny, and there was one other guest, a shy swiss man whose name I do not recall. Having been the only tourist on a remote island for twenty four hours, I'm sure he was desperate for company, so Al and I immediately took him under our collective wing. (Lol, no we didn't. I went to explore and annoy the locals, while Al had a dip).
The food was insane - freshly caught fish, pumpkin, bread fruit, pineapple, yumbumbola. Al was the bravest of babies and ate her fish on the first night, but sadly was sober the next, so wasn't able to then. After a small tantrum (hers, not mine), I took her plate and had my second dinner of the evening.
On the first night, Al, tortured by mosquitoes, left the beach. It was beautiful, but in hindsight may not have been worth the 50 or so bites I woke up with the next morning. Once again, my body deformities became a talking point for every person I met.
There was no electricty in our lodge, nevermind WiFi, and the irrigation system was rather flawed. We did have a mosiquto net though, which Al beavered under for hours at a time. On the second day, she had two naps after a ten hour sleep. We read a lot, and I finally got down to The Book of Dust, which was amazing. I can't wait to discuss it with someone who enjoys children's fantasy literature as much as I do. Sadly Al is not that person.
On our way to the next island, one of the guys pulled a shark out of the ocean for us to see, it was terrifying and brilliant.
Nabua
We were on the move again! This time to Nabua Lodge. Although we enjoyed our time at Gold Coast, it is the most relaxing place on earth, we were ready to move on - Al was highly anxious re bites and I needed to go for a run before I threw myself into the ocean.
We stopped (via water taxi) at the local shop ready to fill up on a multitude of supplies. We left with some fake coke and bug repellent. We just can't seem to get a handle on the fact that Fiji doesn't actually have a Tesco Metro.
We arrived at Nabua and met up with pals, and were shown to our lodge. It's like a fucking palace! Inside bathroom, fluffy towels (towels!), electricity in the room, a fan! We lazed about and something clicked for us both, we were now on Fiji Time.
There is a group of twenty Aussie teenagers who are also staying at Nabua. They were treated to a trivia quiz after dinner, so naturally we joined. One question was actually a dance round. Our group did the Macarena with the Fijians as a Kiwi guy did the running man around us, it was great, but the girls' entrants were a little more... Saucy. One group danced to Sexy Bitch and a girl stripped to her bra(!?). I commented to Al that it was like the Jingle Bell Rock scene in Mean Girls, then lo' and behold, the next group jumped up and Jingle Bell Rock started to play.
We are now on day two here and life is fab. We had banana cake for breakfast, Al finished her book, we're going to play pool with the Kiwi guy tonight and treat ourselves to a ridiculous cocktail before dinner.
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