We made our way to Fiji landing in Nadi. Right away it was evident we were back in a third world country. Fiji time is different to first world time, crowded local buses with no window glass and no air con, and just dropping passengers in the middle of nowhere. But at least the Fijian people are genuinely nice to you and not only to take your money by sending you somewhere you don't really need to go, plus there is no two tiered pricing. After a long wait at the airport for our bus we headed to Suva for a night and then onwards to the pick-up point for our transport to the outer islands.

We got to the boat landing in the middle of nowhere next to Waidalice river. My first response to the minibus driver was "so they're going to pick us here?" to which I got a nod and smile and a point to a covered building telling us to just wait. So we waited. The small boat did arrive and we made our way to Lost Island.

The name of the island says it all. As soon as we stepped on the island I left travel mode and actually felt like we were on vacation (because yes there is a difference). It is a small island off the East Coast of Fiji's mainland and owned by one family. Besides this family we were the only ones there. When we got there we were told "when your on the island you are family, if you want a coconut you take a coconut". It was one of the most peaceful and beautiful places we've been. We were also given plenty of local food from and around the island. Fish, crab, lots of coconut, taro, bread fruit, fresh juice, mango, banana, homemade bread, and much more.

Well there we were taken snorkelling on the outer reef, where the water was crystal clear and warm. Never actually seen anything like it except in pictures (and you don't think they are real until you see it for yourself). We saw plenty of fish, some babies as big as your finger nail, and a ray. We had a massive bonfire one night and some Kava (a traditional drink) with some people from the next island over. We visited Levuka, the original capital and first landing site for the English. And had a great time net fishing with the local people. They pull out a large net in the water and then make a big circle which slowly gets smaller, splashing the whole time scaring the fish into the net. They caught some really interesting fish including a barracuda (our dinner that night) and a blowfish all puffed up, (Winner of best comedy fish 2010)

Other than that we spent our days reading, laying in the sun, swimming, snorkelling the reef surrounding the island and beach combing. We did encounter two nasty storms at night, but our Bure held up despite some wet spots. Our final morning was also quite wet as was the boat ride to the mainland. After being dropped back we made our way to the Coral Coast on the south part of the main island where we spent three nights.

While here we have been lucky enough to get in two dives. Our first one was to a site called Wonderwall, which it was. We swam along a massive wall teeming with coral and life. Next site was Snap Crackle in search of turtles. Unfortunately we didn't see any but did see plenty of wonderful life in this beautiful spot like the suburbs of finding nemo.

Fiji has been a great place to visit, especially at this point in our trip. The country's landscape is beautiful and the people so welcoming. Highly suggested place to come and relax.

But next stop for us is Nadi for one night and then the longest day of travel yet, all the way to Vancouver...