BULA!!! so we're in Fiji and we're back online after island hopping on some very basic islands, not electric and no hot water!! I'll start from the beginning!!

So we landed in Nadi airport and were ushered straight to the back on the airport where we were piled into a van driven by a lunatic to Smugglers Cove (our home for the next 2 nights!!) We booked a 4 bed dorm which is actually a 40 bed dorm with a partition around 4 of the beds!!! you can still see and hear 40 other people snoring!! There isn't alot around at all so you have to eat in the resteraunt or get the bus into town only 60 cent though. So we had a nice dinner a couple of srinks then had an early night and hoped for a lay in, no such luck the bus for the boat leaves at 7:15 every morning which means most people are up at 6am getting ready for the darn boat!! not impressed and Paul was well pissed off not only was he woken up but he was kept up by someone crunching crisps in bed all night!! After we recoevered from our early wake up we laid on the beach (tres hot) then booked our Bula pass (boat pass) and our accomodation on the Yasawa Islands. We spent our evening chatting to a Scottish couple about Thailand and then we got an early night, it was our turn to wake everyone up at 6am!!

So we got up at 6ish packed our bags ate breakfast and set off on our island hopping adventure. The ferry isn't very large at all, we sat on the top deck in the sun, it was a little overcast but prob a good thing or we'd have been burnt to a crisp!!The first island we saw was South Sea Island it's tiny!! Paul said we could stand at either and and shout at each other aparently you can jog round it in like 2 mins!! the ferry ride was quite smooth only afew rough patches and one girl who'd just got on from one island was sat at the back and a massive wave came up and totally soaked her Paul was pissing himself!! We however were staying at Melbravo right at the top on Nacula Island. You have to change to a little motor boat driven again by a lunatic he drove at another boat of people and apparently he had a sadistic grin on his face when he heard me screaming!! so you make it to dry land and you have to roll your trousers up and wade to the beach with all your belongings (they carry your big bags thank god!!). The resort is like a little village with Bures (little bungalows) with thatched roofs (inside is some blue tarp to make sure it's waterproof!! we booked a dorm but get put ina bure anyway. We had lunch as soon as we got there my fav SOUP!!! ERGH!! I ate a little mixed up with rice think it was yellow pea soup (you have no choice they serve a meal you either eat it or wait till dinner which could also bo something gross!) We've met some great people here a couple from Slovakia, a Germand Girl Mika, a Dutch Lad Leon and A japanese girl Sachi. We had a dip in the sea then headed for a shower eventful to say the least!! While I was rinsing my hair I wiped the soap from my eyes opened them looked up to see what can only be discribed as a slender turantula staring at me!!! I screamed and ran out of the bathroom Paul froze for a second (don't think he realised how scared of them he actually was until that point!!) we were both walking around outside of our shack wearing towels Paul was still covered in soap, they could catch it and it darted back inside the wall, but they said not to worry they are good luck in Fiji and that it wouldn't bite us and it wasn't poisonous anyway!! so we grabbed some clothes and sat outside refusing to go back in!! we had dinner which was curry, rice and a random slice of Pineapple!! after dinner we went to the village to drink Kava with the chief. Kava is the local drink it's made from a root ground into a powder and saoked in water whilst wrapped up in cloth and then squeezed and you drink the water which tastes like mud, it makes your mouth go numb and makes you sleepy like a stoner, then if you drink enough you get so drunk on it you see things and go abit mental apparently. So we got there you had sto crouch down then sit in front of the chief introduce yourself and pay him $5 and then sit back down, some of them talked to us the other spoke in Fijian, I nearly fell asleep in front of the Chief so we left to sleep in our Bure with giant spider!!! we got in tucked in our mosquito net left the light on and waited for them to turn the generator off!!

We made it through the night but it was raining heavily, you could hear geccos all day they sound like a birds very strange there is also one in our shower/toilet with the spider. We had lunch said goodbye to some people who were leaving that day and greeted 2 new arrivals (it's soooo like shipwrecked!!) then we went back to the shack to read. whilst reading I saw something from the corner of my eye, the spider had ventured to the roof above our bed!!! ARGH!!! I was outta there, they gave us fly spray to kill it the spider is gargantuan I tells ya!! so it was going mental running aroudn the roof well the roof and walls dont meet so eventually it feel out of the building I ran round to check it was out and it was sitting in a plant outside and we tried to smach it with a rock it lived!!! one to the village women came over and said use the spray we said it didn't work she grabbed the can and smashed it 6 times before it died!!!! YEAH NO MORE SPIDER!!! other than the spider we drank frech coconut, we had Lovo for dinner which is meat wrapped in banana leaves and cooked underground, we saw and mouse and a lizard having a fight. the women here are scared of the geccos so funny it was our turn to laugh at them being scared of something after they spen last night laughing at us about the spider. We spooked the 2 new girls out about the spiders and stuff that we could hear them screaming all the way to their Bure tres funny!!

The next day the weather again was not the best so we just slouched around when Ro came and told us she had crabs (animal scrabs not the VD!!) she showed us how to tell the difference between a male and female and how to kill them, you take a small stick and slide it along there arm and into their heart!! ERGH!! So then we went for lunch me and Paul had to wear a lei each as we were leaving (the flower necklace) which made it really hot then we set off for the boat to the Gold Coast (Nanuya Lailai).

we got the small boat to the big boat then got straight back onto a small boat. When we landed in Gold Coast they asked if we were in a dorm or private, pointed us in the right direction and that was it, we had to ask around to find out what time dinner was about the lights (no lights in the room this time!!). This was a lazy stay for us. We did try and walk over the mountain to the blue lagoon but we gave up and walked back and chilled on the beach, only us and a crazy American lady!! oh and the cutest Ginger cat that looked like a kitten but was fully grown!!

Then next day a German girl Anya checked in but she was on a diving course so we didn't see her much, they cooked alot of fish here so I didn't eat alot although I did eat Tuna. We did make it to the Blue Lagoon this day though it was really nice loads of fish and the water is just so warm it's like being in the bath but without the bubbles!!

We set sail again for our next resort White Sandy Beach (Naviti). (Poor Anya was left on her own on the resort!!!) White Sandy Beach is lush, we met Leon, Sachi and Mika again on this island and we met a really nice German couple Lisa and Daniel, we spent the sfternoon sunbathing. That night we learnt the Bula dance we have it recorded and yes I expect you all to learn it and dance it with us on our return!! we also had to play musical statues and musical numbers I felt like i was 5 years old all over again!!! we sat up for ages with the German couple Daniel is a doctor and Lisa is in her final year. We all decided it would be great to get up at 5am trek up a mountain and watch the sunrise in the morning.

5am - we're all very tired!!! we made it up the mountain only to find out it was the wrong mountain and there was another mountain in the way of the sunset!!! so we all went back to bed!! up for breakfast at 8am they play a bongo type thing when any meal is ready which is mental. We went snorkling later on and saw a clam, laods of fish Paul saw a blue star fish which we later saw everywhere around the islands!! They have 3 baby turtles in a bucket here which they are waiting until they are bigger to let them go so they will survive, aparently they washed up at low tide one day. We chilled out in the afternoon, Paul played volley ball and then we just chilled out well tried everyone was forced to do the Bula dance again but me and Paul hid in the dorm tee hee!!!

Oh I totally forgot to tell you about the picnic we did on the day inbetween!! they took us to a remote beach you can only get to by boat, where we all chilled out, snorkled mucked around and generally had a laugh, the Fijian boys went fishing they use a long stick and an elestic band, they caught loads of those really pretty blue and yellow fish and cooked them!!! I had sausage instead poor fishy!!

The next day was really boring we were just hanging around waiting for the boat, reading books in the hammocks (oh I finished Angels and Demons which Paul then read in 2 and a half days!!! he barely spoke to me for days we're going to get him some more books at the airport!!) Once again we hit the waters to our next destination Sunset (Waya).

So we got to Sunset and we were with Daniel and Lisa we also met some new people there so we had a laugh. The resort was a little run down and we heard there were alot of mice here. Daniel and Lisa got upgraded to a private Bure but they went to check there room about 10pm and found a giant spider so they moved all the stuff into the dorm with us tee hee!! You could hear all the mice scurring around on the floor squeeking and stuff. A girl woke up at 3am or something like that screaming her head off ARGH ARGH ARGH IS ANYONE AWAKE ARGH SOMEONE HELP ME!!!! she woke her friend up and got her to check her bed for her!!! nightmare!!! Anyway Daniel got woken up by someone seying the Manager wanted to talk to him at 5:45!!! when he go to the manager they had woken the wrong person up so they got him to go and wake this guy up unbelievable!!! when we all finally got up for breakfast Daniel and Lisa checked their stuff and the mice had chewed through their bag , through a plastic bag and chompped on their Papaya!!!! hungry mice!!! we only had one day here so again we sat on the beach all day, did abit of snorkling. Again we got on the boat and headed for Kuata this thim it was the full crew turning up so we knew it was going to be a good night.

So Kuata and island of it's own a reasonable size you could walk round it is you didn't mind sea cliff traversing around one side!! it was quite late by the time we got there so we all went to the far point of the island and chilled on the beach and watched the sun set it was sooooo amazing!!! we got showered had some dinner and we had to do the Bula dance again and this time we had to play musical statues (I had a coughing fit in the first round o me and Paul were out!!), then we had to play musical chairs once again making us all feel about 5 but if you won instead of the party bag you got a drink!!! we all sat up chatting for ages, it's so embarassing everyones English is amazing, I think I really need to make an effort to learn a new language, def if we got to Germany to Daniel and Lisa they've been trying to teach Paul he can say Hammock, and chicken and bless you in German (bless you he already knew but he didn't realise it was German!!) The next day Daniel and Lisa were leaving us for the mainland, we went for a walk to the other side of the island and the boys all started rock climbing which wasn't to safe so we headed back, we found some pigs, a banana tree and that was about it, we lost Sachi cause aparently all Fijians can speak Japanese randomly!! So we had an early night as we booked up to do Shark feeding the next day!!!

Up early shark feeding leaves at 8:30. we went on a boat rise for about 20 mins into the middle of no where!!! we had to roll backwards out of the bost Paul nearly took his head off on some coral as they guys didn't realise the boat had moved so I had to wait, poor Paul didn't kow what was going on he came up after rolling in thinking that corals close then thought he was going to be run over by the boat!!! so I got in adn we snorkled aound it was beautiful. then we got to abit which was open and you could see the Fijians diving down catching fish cutting them opne then the sharks appeared, they are only about 3-4ft White Tip Coral Sharks. They grabbed them by the fin and aimed them at us so we could touch them, I held one in my hands and let it seim off so cool, they are quite rough to the touch but quite soft but so strong. they kept swimming in between peoples legs, there were to many people really as people kept getting kicked and stuff. Anyhoo we got back on the small boat 2 girls were sick they swallowed to much water and Sachi was sea sick bless her. After that Paul went on a hike to the top of the mountain on the island he saw loads of spiders he said it was amazing, he saw mountain goats too.

So back ont eh boat for our last journey back to the mainland. The sea was sooooo rough, my stomach went and all you could smell was vomit!!! ERGH!!! We made it back and got our coach back to smugglers cove, where we got put into the smallest beds I've ever seen I am currently disputing this with the management!!! it's a full 20cm thinner than all the other beds so I refuse to pay the same amount as everyone else!!! Poor Paul couldn't roll over he filled it completly!! Anyway, we've done rock all since we got back trying to catch up with e-mails and get everything book for NZ. we may go into town later but at the min I've walked over to another hostel to write this and I'm still wearing my PJ's!!! ha ha yes I've changed I know!!!!

So love to all, take care and keep the messages coming we love hearing from you all, is it true it's snowing at home???

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