We've been told that less than 100 years ago most of the Fijian islands still practised cannibalism. And when we started to drive in cars and hop on planes they were still hiding in the bushes. Back then it was hardly the holiday paradise that it is today. 40 times bigger than curaçao with 333 islands and 27 dialects it was bigger than we expected. The islands offer something for everyone from 5 star resorts to Fijian owned Bures where they catch and grow their own food everyday.

We stayed 5 days on the mainland and 10 on the yasawa islands. A couple of visits to the city got us flashbacks from southeast Asia, again we were walking wallets for the locals. Everyone wanted to know where we were from and tell us about all the places to book tours and buy souvenirs. Funny thing was that the locals that weren't interested in our custom stopped to say Hallo (Bula! In fijian). They shouted Bula from the bus and when we were walking in the streets. They even went as far to pull over the car to say Bula and introduce themselves to us. The first day of walking into town must have gained us around 50 new friends that shook our hands and told a little bit about themselves and asked who we are. A whole Fijian rugbyteam stopped their jog just to say Bula and welcome us to their island. Sincerely the friendliest people on earth. Nadi itself had a beach that was a dirty ditch were you wouldn't let your dog swim compared to the crystal clear waters of the yasawa's so we only swam in the pool of our guesthouse and once had a day trip to the coral coast of viti levu the main island. Everything here is on Fijian time which is to say that it takes forever to do even the simplest tasks. It was normal to wait for 40 minutes on your sandwich cause that is simply how they roll. Anyway that was the main island for us. The real Fiji started once we stepped aboard the awesome adventures Fiji boat that took us to our first stop: Nacula island.

The route up in the yasawa's was a tour on itself. Since we stayed at the last island we got to see all the other stops as well. All of them were beautiful with water so clear that you could see the ocean floor and fish swimming. We had booked our accommodation in advance and stopped on 4 islands most of the resorts/lodges were fijian owned which gave some funny situations.

Our first stop was Oarsman bay lodge a fijian owned tropical paradise. With a veranda overlooking the turquoise waters of the lagoon. Just a few seconds into the sea and you swam among hundreds of fish and beautifully coloured coral. Little nemo's were hidden in the swaying anemones and lionfish sheltered under rocks. The beach was white as in the bounty commercials set against tiny fijian bungalows called Bures( say beurrees). Initially we booked a tent but because there was too much wind we got upgraded to a family bure. Simply awesome. It was Friday the day we arrived which meant on nacula that it was fijian night. And hour long singing of fijian songs and dancing with the whole village. They gave us necklaces of flowers and cooked a traditional lovo (underground cooking of fish, meat and sweet potatoes) very oaky and smokey taste. Meat was dry as the sand on the beach because it had cooked all day underground still it tasted very good with a beer. Surprising that none of the Fijians drank alcohol they had their own drink called: kava.

Kava is as fijian as Fiji itself and they told us that if we didn't drink it we hadn't been in Fiji. It was served in a big wooden bowl and the drink was poured in a coconut cup. It looked like murky ditch water and tasted quite the same. It is made of roots pounded up into powder and put in a cloth. They put the cloth with rainwater in the bowl and pound it again. Depending on who serves the bowl they give you high tide or low tide. Low tide is an almost empty cup and high tide of course is full to the rim. Well as we drank a few high tides our tongue began numb and we grew sleepy. We thought it was the long day we had that made us long for bed. But as we looked around the men of the village that were singing songs and playing guitar looked as doped up and stoned as tourists in Amsterdam. They drank kava like there was no tomorrow, Higher tides in bigger coconut cups. See the locals don't go to a pub on Friday nights or watch sports or go out. They just sit around in a circle singing songs and get high on kava. We found out that it is a mild narcotic by a Canadian guy who had been drinking kava all night with the chief of the island. He told us that after while he couldn't stand up.

Sadly after 2 nights we had to leave, they sung as a farewell song as we boarded the boat to bay of plenty on matacawalewu island. At forehand they warned us that there wasn't really a beach but there would be free transfers to other beaches. Once arrived it was as we made a jump back into time. The boat they had sank so no transfers anywhere. No electricity and no hot water. We had been the first guests in a month and we were the only 2 white people on the island. But what they lacked for amenities they made up for in hospitality. There were free activities so we visited a farm weaved a basket cut a coconut and got introduced to the primary school by headteacher Mr taka. He was a one of a kind man and it looked like he had some kava before meeting us. It was windy during the night so they offered roomservice for our dinner. Our bure was on a steep hill 5 minutes walk to the main bure. But they came with 6 people. 2 carrying chairs, 2 carrying cutlery and 2 carrying our food. We felt really bad and brought the dirty plates back ourselves.

One of the reasons I wanted to go to the yasawa's so badly was because of the mantarays. There is a channel between drawaqa and naviti island where they swim in a channel daily to feed on plankton. We stayed on barefoot island lodge Australian owned resort and you could tell by almost everything. We liked the Fijian owned better since it wasn't as organised as the Australian . But on the other hand they were close to the mantaray channel. I snorkeled and touched these giant creatures as they were gliding through the water, it was beautiful and I've got some awesome movies and pictures to show for. The snorkeling itself on the island was pristine as well. I saw a white tip shark, nemo's, lionfish and 100 of otherfish in don't know the name of. Even lizet who doesn't like snorkeling couldn't resist to join me in the underwater world of drawaqa island. Every night there were activities, one really cool one was hermitcrab racing. Beforehand we caught 60 hermitcrabs and let them rave between each other, only the toughest, leanest and meanest could participate in our selection . In the end we had 3 left that we trained for that nights race. But when push came to shove they walked to the finish line and dug themselves in because they were tired. We lost to Canada.

Waya lailai island was our last stop naqalia lodge our home. Our slice of paradise with only 5 Bures and 4 Germans to share this resort with it was the perfect end to a wonderful trip. We had again a fijian night with lovo and kava and songs. Next day I went on a hike with the German guys to the summit of the island to see the sunset. The staff told us that is was oké if you wore flip flops. We all learned it the hard way and we had to walk the hike barefoot. With the sun it was oké because you could see where you had to walk but when the sun had set and was down under we couldn't see anything and slipped and slide our way down. Massive hermitcrabs snapping at our toes and huge spiders trying to crawl on our necks with the chance to break a leg in the dark. It all added up in an awesome hike which took us 3 times as long as regular people did. Next day we joined in a fijian picknick, they caught the fish fresh and cooked them upon the steel remains of the roof of a bure. It was our last activity because after the picknick we went back to the main island. On last glimpse of the islands we grew fond of and came to love on the way back. A tropical awegasming expierence.

And now we are waiting on the plane to Hawaii on the 23rd of june my lucky number. And if we arrive in Hawaii it will be the 23rd one more time. I hope you enjoyed the extreme long blog as i liked writing it. And a big Bula to everyone at home!