Fiji

Well it had to happen eventually- Our first travelling nightmare!!!!...
After 3 flights totalling 16hrs, we got to fiji and got straight on a boat for our island hopping pass. We decided to start at the very top of the islands to work our way down and end up at the party island, Beachcomber for xmas. So having picked an island that sounded nice and was 5hrs north on the boat, we found out after 4 and half hours that the island we had chose was not included on our pass!! So as we had started chatting to an english couple (Paula and Mike- Hi Guys!) we decided we would go to the island they were heading for called Sunrise Resort (even though one girl had told us it wasn't suppose to be that great!)
Well that was an understatement of the year!!! Turns out it was a traditional Fijian Island and oh my god it was like Jaywick but worse if possible!!
Straight away the main man of the Island (well woman- his name was Queen :-) took us into our so-called dinner hall and put a massive bowl of brown rice with some brown vegetables in front of us all and that was our lunch!! first thoughts were 'oh my god how are we going to eat this!' Craig took one mouthful and then put his fork down... and me thinking we'd look too rude, try to eat some but I must admit after two mouthfuls i then had to put my fork down as well!! next was to show us to our room- me and craig, and paula and mike had our own rooms that are called Bure's and the first thing they said to us was 'make sure you shut your windows as theres a storm coming and it could be dangerous!! Well they weren't kidding, our Bure was on the edge of a small cliff and electric and water gets turned off at mid-night!! looking around the island didn't get much better- it started to rain and there were dogs everywhere!! including one dog that had no layer of fur on his back and was all scaly and boiled!! turns out that this dog had apparently tried biting a pig and so the fijian's had poured boiling hot water over it to teach it a lesson!! this particular dog then decided to go into the dorm and jumped on some of the girls beds! nice!!
Then for dinner, where literally 2 seconds before they served it they asked who didn't eat fish, luckily for us we didn't put our hands up, so out came what we think was tuna and more gooey brown vegetables and the poor girls who didn't eat fish just got a massive plate of the brown vegetables!!
We decided the only way forward was to have a few (well many) drinks, but after drinking two drinks each (limitation of fijian beer and cans of vodka lemon) they informed us that they'd run out of alcohol! just when we thought it couldn't get any worse, Queen did offer us a bit of good news, we could try a hut further down that might have some drink for us, so there we met a man called Deborah! and luckily for us he had some alcohol to sell- so we cleared him out and brought the lot!
Queen then informed us that the entertainment for the night was drinking Carver, which is a traditional fijian drink thats made from a root plant and looks like muddy water. It's suppose to make your mouth go numb and chill you out. Craig and Mike decided to be brave and try some and you can see their thoughts on it from the pictures!!!
It was then time to try and find our hut along a cliff edge in the dark with no lights, finally made it and was welcomed to our room with a big lizard crawling under our bed! In the grand scheme of things that didn't seem like much of a big deal and so we just left one. 11.30pm the electric was then turned off and so the light in our hut went out. By this point waves were actually hitting our window and i think that night we both slept with one eye open!! So morning came and that welcomed craig with a big cockroach crawling up his arm!!! he did scream like a girl bless him (although it was massive) but i came to the rescue and killed it for him :-)
We decided that would be our only night in Sunrise Resort and booked to get straight back on the boat, poor old paula and mike had to stay there for a second night, dont know how they done it!! There was one up side, while waiting for the boat we walked to the other side of the island which is about a 25min walk up some hills in the swelting heat, but this takes you to the 'Blue Lagon' Beach which once you get there it is definitly worth the walk.
However after walking the 25min walk back again, we found out that the waves were too big for our boat and we had to walk back over to the blue lagon side but this time with our bags and catch the boat from there!!
Next Island was called Mantra Ray and oh my god it seemed like paradise, it was clean, they had a proper bar, 24hr electric and this time we could look out onto the beach from our room, without thinking we was going to fall into the sea!!
Craig was also very grateful that this island served buffet food and actually had things like beans on toast for breakfast!! If we're being honest we were too scared to leave Mantra Ray as it was so nice and we didn't want to risk any other islands being like the first one and so we stayed here for three nights. The staff were all really friendly and we also met some really nice people and found out that some were heading to Beachcomber island for christmas as well.
Our next stop was Bounty Island where 'Celebrity Love Island' was filmed, this was also really nice, it had a swimming pool and even had a shower and toilet inside our Bure.
We met Paula and Mike again on this island and as the next day was they're last day in Fiji we decided to book up for the 'Seaspray Cruise' that they were going on. The cruise supplied alchol all day and the first stop was to a fijian villiage, where we met the cheif of the island and attended a fijian ceromey for visitors. I also tried my first taste of Carver!! wasnt too bad really. Our tour guide informed us that when Tom Hanks came to Fiji to film the film 'Cast Away' he even had to meet the Chief of the island to get permission before thye could start filiming. After the ceromey they had a little market on, selling lots of pretty jewerelly and sounds really corney but you just cant believe how people live like this and how previlaged how lives back home are! (this one of my best experiences in Fiji) After a BBQ on the boat, the next stop on our cruise was to Cast Away Island, where the film was filmed, to be honest it just looked like many of the other islands but still cool to see and we done a bit of snorkerling.
That night was our first experience of a dorm as the bures were then all full, wasn't too bad though, as it was split into fourteen beds and there were only 6 of us in there so that was alright.
Our final Island was Beachcomber Island (the Party Island) and it definitly was!! Did have a bit of a surprise though, we knew were booked up to be in a dorm for xmas eve, xmas day and boxing day but we arrived to find out that it was a 100 bed dorm and split into boys and girls!! then came the sign that said 'strictly one to a bed or get thrown off of the island!' The island was great though, had a lovely beach, bar and loads of water soprts, and to make it even better it was the best weather we'd had the whole time we'd been in fiji.
We also met back up with Kendra, Susie and Michael- (Susie and Kendra were from England and Michael was from Ireland but they now all live together in Sydney) and some of the other girls we had previously met were also there so that was really nice. That night (xmas eve) we played drinking games, drunk cocktails and had a band singing xmas songs. They also have they're very own dance- the Bula dance (Bula means hello and welcome) and its basically the macarenna but everyone loves it and its really funny.
Was definitly a different kind of christmas, especially trying to shout over 100 beds merry christmas to craig :-) we soon found out tho that no-one really stuck to the rule anyway so that was ok.
Christmas day was scorching hot but it did have some similarities to home- evryone was getting steaming drunk :-) Christmas dinner wasn't really the same without turkey and 'pigs in blankets' ( craigs favourite!) but the staff really made the day and so did our company.
Boxing day we decided to get our bums off of the beach and went para-sailing which was really cool..... although we did go back to sunbathing and getting drunk again after!
The next day we were due to leave the islands and head for our last night in a hostel on the main land- Nadi. Was nice to have a hot shower again (the islands only had cold ones) and then spent the afternoon looking around their town.
Looking back on our time in Fiji we can now actually laugh about our first Island (we definitly wasn't at the time) and are even glad we got to experience the traditional side of fijians lives- although I dont think we'd want to again :-) the best bits about Fiji were meeting loads of cool people, the friendly staff and the excellant beachs and views.

Well we're in Auckland New Zealand now and off to the bay of islands for new year tomorrow. Hope everyone back home had a lovely Christmas and Happy New Year xx