Bula Fiji

We left you last time wondering how our time in Fiji turned out, well...

It started off good with a sunny landing and being greeted by a 4 piece Fiji band, best arrival at an airport so far! Then the rest of the day went downhill. The sun lasted till we checked in at the hotel before thunderstorms came and didn´t go away. We were stuck in our room for the rest of the day and only ventured out in the rain to the restaurant to get some below average food from the ´budget menu´, note to self and anyone reading : never chose food from a budget menu, EVER. Leanne had a stir fry with spaghetti instead of noodles and I had something that very loosely resembled a burger.

The next day we checked out and made our way to Denauru Port where we boarded the yellow Yasawa flyer to be transported to the first of our 3 islands: Nabula Lodge. The journey started under the clouds and we weren´t optimistic however as we got further out in the island group the sun started to shine. Our island was the last stop and it took around 4 hours to reach but we were both pretty happy when we realised we would be staying here...

Ah paradise

We were greeted ashore by more music and a very Fiji welcome, BULA! The package we had booked included all our accommodation, food and boat transfers for our week in Fiji. Our first taste of the food was possibly even worse than the budget menu, a meagre serving of spaghetti bolognese which had pineapple in it. We quickly put that to the back of our minds as we checked into our beachfront bure (Fijian name for a beachside cabin) and then soaked up the sun, swam and lazed in hammocks for the rest of the afternoon before watching the sunset.

Leanne and our Bure

Emjoying the last of the days sun

Our resort and beach

When the traditional Fijian drum was beaten to signify that dinner was ready we were apprehensive to say the least. Thankfully we needn´t have been. We had a huge BBQ with plenty of meat, salad and carbs. After dinner which we ate together with everyone else staying there the staff performed a welcome dance. You will realise throughout this blog that the Fijians love to sing and dance. We then got on the dance floor to try and learn a simplified version before playing a few games with Sara a member of staff who had clearly had to much Kava (a favourite Fijian drink).

The next day we took a trip to the Blue Lagoon, an area of water almost surrounded by islands. It was beautiful, the water was perfectly clear and we enjoyed a spot of snorkelling, seeing Nemo and friends. 

Trying and failing to climb the palm tree

We returned to our island for more beach time. After seeing the sunset behind a nearby hill the previous night we decided to climb it tonight to see what the view was like from the other side.

I think you would agree it was worth the climb and if you have been following our blog you will know we have had more than our fair share of amazing sunsets but this ranks up there with the best.

After the sunset we had another good dinner with everyone and more games. We also met Charlie, Louis a couple from the UK and Birget and Jule two German girls, who were staying in the resort with us and had similar route thoughtout the islands. We spent the night playing cards and having some Fiji beer. Unfortunately I (Rob) ended up being the Arsehole (in the card game).

The next morning we were a little sad to be checking out and going to White Sandy Beach, another resort on another island. When we originally booked our trip this wasn´t on the itinerary and so we were a bit annoyed we were going there but luckily it turned out to be the best island.

Another Bule welcome song

A refreshing coconut

We were again greeted by a welcome song but this time also by coconuts. This was my first try of fresh coconut, it was ok but I don´t think I would have it again, there was just so much juice, you wouldn´t believe! After finally finishing the juice Josh, a member of staff chopped it up in his hand with a huge machette so we could have the flesh. Needless to say if I had to chop it up I wouldn´t be typing this right now.

After a hour or so doing nothing on the beach they invited us on a sunset boat trip so along with a few other we boarded the boat. Aswell as the captain, Thom, a memeber of staff came along and brought his guitar so we cruised around a while watching the sunset and having a sing along.

 

After another good but small dinner we again gatherered round as a group for more dancing and games. As we had already had two nights of this we were a bit tired of it and not looking forward to it. However it was awesome, the staff were really enthusiastic and their dancing was so much better than the last resort. We were a bit nervous about having to try and copy their moves but after a slow demonstration and slightly simplified moves we rocked it!

After a few more games we headed along the beach with Birget and Jule to another resort, where Charlie and Louis were staying, for more drinks and card games. We met a few more people there too and had a really good night. Their resort was a little more expensive than ours and had 24 hours electricity while ours stopped at 11pm. So at 1am when we finally headed back to our resort it was pitch black and we only had a pathetic flashlight so we couldn´t see a thing walking along the beach. We had almost reached our bures when we heard some rustling in the area of trees and shrubs that separated our bures from the sea. We shone the flashlight to where the noise was coming from and got a fright to see a man standing there. Leanne, Birgit and Jule screamed and jumped on each other. It was only Thom who had fell asleep in one of the hammocks. Panic averted!

The next day it was a little overcast so we had a lazy day not doing much. We walked along the beach and explored another beach on the island with Birgit and Jule where we had crab races.

That night we had one of the best nights we have had in ages. Obviously there was more singing and dancing but then after that we had a bonfire on the beach with everyone from our resort and a few from the neighbouring one. Thom and his friend from the other resort played the guitar and sang numerous songs, some Fijian and some English.

In the end after most people had went to bed the 4 of us, Me, Leanne, Birgit and Jule were left with Thom, his friend and Josh. We were really impressed as they could all sing and play the guitar really well. We had a really interesting chat about how their way of life is so different to ours and thier outlook on life. They then taught us one of thier traditional goodbye songs they sing when people leave. It was late, we were a little drunk so it was difficult learning a new song in Fijian, I don´t think we impressed them with our singing or our Fijian!!

The next day we had to change islands again and we were again very sad to leave. Before we left the resort we had some lunch and then we were treated to a few song by Thom and Josh, it was a great way to end our stay on the island.

Thom and Josh

We were whisked away on the boat whilst the staff sang thier farewell song to us, it was the same one we had learnt the previous evening so we were able to sing along in parts, much to the amusement of the Fijian driving the boat.

Our next and last island was called Bounty Island, the island where ITV's 'Celebrity Love Island' was filmed. We were only there for one night and the weather wasn't great which meant it was probably our least favourite stop, it was still really nice though.

Bounty Island

As you can see it was quite a small island so on our last morning I did something I had always wanted to do and walked all the way around an tropical island, it only took around 30 minutes.

The boat didn't pick us up till 5pm so we spent our last day relaxing around the island and cloud bathing. The island also had a small pool where they kept a few turtles until they were big enough to be released into the wild.

Part of my walk around the Island

We didn't do anything other than go out for food when we returned to the mainland for our final evening in Fiji. We left early next morning for the airport and our flight to Auckland, New Zealand.

So we ended up loving our week in Fiji the weather was good to us, the island's were beautiful and the people were some of the nicest we have met so far. Vinaka Fiji!!