Viti Levu (Nadi...again!)

On our last day in Fiji we decided it was time to do the cultural thing and book onto a village tour! The guy that sold it to us told us he'd throw in a few extra stops but little prepared us for the day ahead!

The day started with a trip to the house of one of the people that worked in the hostel! Not sure what the point of it was, but within a short while of leaving Nadi we found ourselves in a traditional fijian bure, sitting eating fresh oranges and drinking lemon juice with one of the local policemen!

Shortly after, we visited the local mudpools which, like New Zealand, are completely natural. Only thing is that in New Zealand it costs a small fortune to go in them...here it costs just under 2 pounds! Needless to say we made the most of it!

After the mudpools we visited the local village. This happened to be the village where (apparently) the first Fijians set foot on the island. The village is also home to the President of the Fijian Government and, although he was home at the time, he didn't come out to say hello (miserable bugger!). Instead we got to visit a local church and a locals house where they make necklaces and bracelets etc.

After having some lunch and visiting the local beach, we were told it was time to head back. Our driver asked if we minded if he popped into his cousins house for a bite to eat. Little did we know that we would end up sat amongst about 10 fijian-indians being fed curry, roti and rice! It wasn't a match on our local Indian takeaway, but it wasn't bad considering their kitchen comprised a stove and huge cooking pot in their garage!!!

After an eventful day, we decided to check out the local night-life. After a few drinks in the hostel we found ourselves in a nightclub where we were the only white people! It was certainly an eye-opener especially after one person invited us over to join his table. Everyone was really friendly and nice but it was just hilarious to see the number of drunk people stumbling everywhere! This could have something to do with the fact that they drink jugs of alcohol which is made up of slightly watered down 100% alcohol!

Ovalau (Levuka) - South Pacific Island 10

After an extended stay in Suva we finally started our 4 and a half hour bus/boat journey to a town called Levuka, on the island of Ovalau. The bus was jam packed with locals and extremely hot but we finally made it there and checked into our hotel, which happened to be the oldest hotel in Fiji and apparently the oldest hotel in the whole of the South Pacific!! We can't confirm that fact but the interior design certainly suggests that it might be true!!

History lesson start: Levuka is Fiji's old Capital city (before Suva) and home to where England handed independence back to Fiji in 18-something! In 1970 (we think) Prince Charles paid a visit to mark the 100th anniversary and stayed in the Bure pictured below (bottom right)! History lesson over!

Levuka is renowned for its wild-west appearance and also the smell of tuna!!! Sure enough it certainly looked like the wild-west and it most certainly smelt of tuna (due to a tuna factory being situated there!).

We were due to go on a tour into a local village but unfortunately due to a church meeting the village was closed to tourists and you could only walk on the outskirts, which didn't really warrant the 3-hour hike that was required to get there! Instead we took a splash in the hotel swimming pool... much more relaxing!!

On our last night we were challenged to a game of scrabble, believe it or not, by a ghecko of all things! He wasn't quite big enough to take his own letters but he did manage to spell one word before running off to catch some flies!!

On the way back from Levuka we got talking to some guy on the bus. He was telling us about the town and how he, although retired, was off to some government meeting in Suva. Within a few minutes we had discovered that he was in fact an ex-Mayor of Levuka and in fact still a government advisor today, who, in his earlier days, was the person who set up Fijis immigration department! Turns out he'd been all over the world on official government business! He also left us with a souvenir to take back, which was a Levuka publication, of which he was editor.

The wild-west town of Levuka









Another photo of Levuka town (left) and the bure where Prince Charles stayed (right)









A baby ghecko checking his scrabble letters (left) before deciding they weren't very good and that it was time to do a runner and hunt some flies (right)

Viti Levu (Suva)

After a hot and unpleasant 4 hour, 3 pound bus ride from Nadi, we arrived in Suva, the Capital city of Fiji. Suva is much more built up than Nadi and of course the islands we had previously stayed on, which was well appreciated, at least for the first few minutes!!

In the first couple of days we did the sights (although there aren't actually that many) and of course frequented the longly awaited Maccy D (aka MacDonalds)!! Within a short period of time we were longing the islands again! I think perhaps we had become far too accustomed to island life! Suva itself is quite a dirty city, much more like being back in Delhi!

We had planned to only spend three days here, however due to my illness (Louise) we were delayed by a couple of days on the advice of the doctor! After several days of being ill I visited the local doctor who was extremely concerned with my symptoms and tested me for both dengue fever and typhoid fever due to several recent cases in Suva within the last week!!! Luckily my results came back clear and I've since recovered!

Robinson Crusoe - South Pacific Island 9

After a day back in Nadi, after nearly three weeks visiting the Mamanuca and Yasawas Islands, we headed off for Robinson Crusoe Island, just off the mainland.

Again we were greeted with a welcoming band, who gave a rather loud "Bula" cry upon our arrival! This island was great with some absolutely crazy staff constantly entertaining the guests.

Each night they do a welcoming Kava cermony and beach bonfire at sunset and tell everyone about the island. They also tell you how the staff there have more fun than the guests!!!

The snorkelling off the island wasn't great at all and the sea wasn't very inviting either! Fortunately they had a nice ice-cold swimming pool in which to relax by. Showers here were funny in that it was just a bucket with a shower-head attached to it, which you had to fill up each time and hope it doesn't run out before you're finished!!!

We went on a rather unusual fishing trip, named "Fish Drive." We were told it was fishing with a net and expecting it to be tied to the back of the boat as we went along, we were surprised when we found out that it was in fact done by holding the net straight and everyone banging sticks to scare the fish towards the net! This rather unusual method only netted us about 6 fish in total! The one I'm standing with in the photos certainly wasn't one of them, but in fact one that I caught earlier!!! Actually I'm just kidding, but the local guy who did catch it was a pretty short guy and the fish was almost the same size as him!!

One night at sunset we saw some guy named "Crab-man". His hobby was putting his hands down crab holes and digging out crabs! He did get some huge ones out, but the smaller ones he liked to hold in his mouth and let people photograph! We think perhaps the Kava had affected his mind somewhat!

Waya Island - South Pacific Island 8

Waya Island, also in the Yasawas was home to Octopus Resort. We hadn't originally planned on staying here but after speaking to a few people, who said it was amazing, decided to check it out for ourselves.

Upon arriving, the welcoming band and white-sand beach were certainly a nice sight. Taking a look around and seeing how amazing the place looked was also nice after staying in some dingy places! Also, the food was fantastic and overall the place was like staying in a 5* hotel! Unfortunately we only booked in for a couple of nights, but given it wasn't particularly cheap, it was probably for the best!

Nanuya Lailai - South Pacific Island 7

Our next stop in the Yasawas was Nanuya Lailai, towards the north of the group. The resort was run by a Fijian family and located where the 1980's remake of the film Blue Lagoon, was made.

On our first day we decided to take a trek across the island. However, it had been raining loads and the path turned out to be a muddy ordeal! What should have taken just 30mins took us pretty much double that. We're not sure though whether that's just because we've adapted nicely to island life and have turned ultra slow like everyone else in Fiji!!

Where we ate dinner was pretty much like a school canteen and, indeed, at meal times the bell would ring! If you're not there on time, you miss your meals! Also, the food wasn't the best yet they still requested us to clap the chef after dinner every night!!!

Manta Ray Island - South Pacific Island 6

Manta Ray island, another island in the Yasawas, was chosen after reading their amazing leaflet on the resort. With promises of nightly entertainment and traditional Fijian theme nights we just couldn't resist.

However, upon arriving the beach was not so good and the resort even worse, with absolutely nothing happening at nights! We did spend a bit of time chasing gheckos and even managed to catch a couple!

Waya Lailai Island - South Pacific Island 5

Waya Lailai was our first island in the Yasawa group, to the North of Fiji. Expecting perfect white-sand beaches we were greeted with yellow sand and lots and lots of small black pumice-looking rocks. The rocks we were told were from a recent volcanic eruption somewhere around Fiji!

The resort was run solely by the villagers on the island. Each night they would put on some form of entertainment, from a traditional fijian night, where we had to sit on the ground and eat with our hands, to spending a whole evening with the locals drinking Kava! That night especially was funny when the electricity turned out at 10pm and we had to find our way back to our bure down a steep hill with no lights!

We went on a fishing trip here and caught a good few fish! Even Louise netted a few corkers! Actually they were quite small but it was impressive nonetheless!

Snorkelling here was ok but that was probably partly due to how cloudy it was. We did, however, manage to see a couple of octopi!

Beachcomber Island - South Pacific Island 4

Beachcomber Island, another one in the Mamanucas was fantastic. A tiny coral island surrounded by an almost pure white-sand beach with pretty fantastic snorkelling just a short boat ride off shore where we snorkelled and saw sting-rays!

Here is known as the party island within Fiji and with the exception of the first night, which was pretty quiet, lived up to it's expectation the second night, which led to us dancing in the sand nightclub!

Our accommodation was in the dorm, which housed some 130 people!! Once you get drunk enough not to hear other people's snoring you're fine! Entertainment here was also pretty good with fire dancers and traditional Fijian dancing!

The only draw-back with this island was the fact that it was home to some fifty billion trillion mosquitos! One evening alone, Louise managed to be bitten almost a hundred times on her back! To walk from one side of the island to the other (about 5mins) we would be covered in mossies in just a few seconds!

Also here they raised turtles, but this time we were lucky enough to be able to hold them! My one tried to escape and almost fell to the ground, but fortunately I was quick enough to grab it. Not quite sure I could live with the death of a baby turtle on my conscience!