Well we have finally left NZ, and even after all our confusion and a near missed flight plus lots of nerves with no paperwork to prove flight we make it to Fiji super excited. Leaving behind the cold British style weather and heading to glourious sunshine and sandy sexy beaches. As in previous blogs you will all realise we are beach bums and although we enjoyed the activities in NZ we were craving our bikinis,beach shorts and sunny beaches. 

But oh no when we touch down to my horror I look out of the window to see RAIN!!!!! Stepping off the plane thinking we should of unpacked our coats my dreams were shattered. Are spirits had lowered and we did the normal airport rituals in silence. Found our tour group where they tried to lift us with lovely shell necklaces, we looked through brouchers of what you hope Fiji to be and wondered had we picked the wrong season. Driving to our hostel we asked lots of questions, happier that they still spoke English but had such different lifestyles to explore. Luckily he made us smile saying the rain was just a bleep and should clear by tomorrow...... Yipee!!

We arrived at Mama's tropic of Capricorn and was greated by a very family oriented run hotel it was lovely. We could see the sea and it was next to Smugglers Cove a more expensive but held the best entertainment.  We settled in and although wet you could feel the heat so we were happy back in our shorts, we checked out our area getting a feel for prices and looked at a few tours. I cant describe how happy we were when we realised the one thing we wanted to do in Fiji, Shark Feeding while diving was not only affordable but plorsable. We booked it there and then. 

We grabbed some food at Smugglers with hugh smiles had a few drinks to celebrate and enjoyed the free show. Things were looking up and we were high on life again, it was amazing to see how our moods had automatically changed. The show was great. We watched the guys do some traddional Fijian dancing which looks very similar to Maori dancing you know all slapping legs and arms stamping their feet, just no funny faces but still lots of grunting. The girles looked like Hawiana dancers. They played with fire and swords all very exciting and all free. After the show we went back to our hostel for an early night but nope that didn't happen, no we didnt party more we actually did something very different. Being away from home gives you a lot of time to think and we had all mentioned films we wanted to watch that reminds you of being young and mine was "Mary Poppins" to my delight they were playing this for their children so we sat down and watched too. It was great to remembered so much and enjoyed it simplisity just made us smile so much more. That night we went to bed very happy and content. 

You don't get to lay in much in Fiji the sun does go to bed early but does rise early and because if the heat I suppose work starts early. To be honest we were just happy to see the sun, and enjoyed our breakfast watching the small waves of the ocean. 

Because we had an extra day before our Shark dive we decided to actually hang around Nadi, advice not normally given but I don't know why. We soon realised a small snag in Fiji called "Fiji time!!" so we had to catch a taxi to town. We walked the centre just a long strip, checked out a few markets, some tour companies and then checked out the local buses. After some productive work we went to the supposely hugh temple, this is supposed to be the largest in Fiji but it wasn't the most impressive we have seen. We read the sign and started to walk around taking some pictures, however someone soon grabbed us and asked to pay we refused as we had seen most of it and was done plus we are backpackers and must save pennies. 

With lots of spare time we brought some beers for later on the beach and just waited for the local bus, not phased when it took ages and even after asking lots of locals and bus drivers no one seemed to know what time it would come we just waited. Finally it arrived and we jumped on with the locals happy to be mixing, however there were a few dodgy moments when the bus engine would just stop I don't think it was a happy bus and probably on it's last legs. We didn't really have a clue where it was going or where we were, we just had faith. This was tested thou when I kind of picked up a direction and explained to Hana we were heading straight for the sea and need to go right where there was no roads. Why I was worried thou, it's obviously perfectly normal just to drive along the beach until you find a road leading back!!! It did maybe explain why buses run funny times, maybe to keep inline with tides. 

We made it back to Mama's in one piece and took out beers to the beach to watch the sunset. Some lads wondered down to the beach with some guitars and being drawn to anyone who plays we drifted closer and closer until we were part of the group singing away to good oldies. There is nothing better than a few drinks, the sea waves and a good sing song we were just missing the camp fire. As the sky turned darker and darker and night fully set in we regretably had to call it a night, we had a busy day head. Tomorrow we go back to our travelling roots and travel the trip around Fiji's main island solo using only local transport.