Hey everyone, just spent a lovely week in Fiji J
After a 6 hour turbulent flight and probably the 2 worst films I've ever watched in my life onboard the plane we started the approach to Nadi, Fiji. It was great looking down from the plane and seeing all the tiny islands dotting the clear blue Pacific Ocean. The sands were white on the perfectly formed islands covered in palm trees… we couldn't wait to travel to our island getaway!
As soon as we touched down on Monday morning, it began to rain!? We were like 'hold on, what's this?!'. It seems the rainy season had already begun! Nevertheless, when the plane doors opened and we stepped out onto ramp, the humidity and heat hit us. It was sooo hot and sticky, unlike the heat in Hawaii!
We got through customs and received our visitor visa with no problems! The customs man was very nice and chatty and asked us all about our trip and said we were very lucky to be travelling to all our destinations..
We got to our shuttle bus and met Neil our driver to our hotel for the next two nights on Nadi Bay. We got to our room and dumped our stuff, headed straight to the bar for much needed cocktail! The rain was lashing outside but it was still hot so we sat in bar which was open air so we could still see outside to beach and sea J We had planned to move onto our island resort on Waya Island, part of the Yasawa island chain the next day but they did not have room for us so we stayed in Nadi for the two nights which was enough really as Nadi beach is not the cleanest or prettiest. We couldn't wait for the island paradise that awaited us!
On Wednesday morning we were picked up bright and early to get the ferry to our island resort at 7.15am, we set sail at 8.30am and saw South sea island, Bounty Island and Beachcomber Island enroute to Waya Island. We got to our island at 11.30am and had to transfer from ferry to a tiny sail boat belonging to our resort as the big ferry could not go into shore due to all the Coral Reefs. Managed to get onto small boat without a) Dropping my luggage and b) Falling in and drowning..haha!
As we approached the shore, all the Fijian people who work at the resort are on the shoreline, playing music, clapping and singing to welcome us as their guests, it was so nice and great to be serenaded!
So we were escorted to the bar then for a welcome talk and cocktail. Yum-Yum! We were shown to our room and then wandered down to the resort beach which has crystal clear water and the lightest powdery sand I've seen! They call it '8 month sand' as it is so fine it takes that long to get it out of your hair! As we strolled along the beach we saw loads of Hermit crabs along the shore line! They were so cute and came in all shapes and sizes.. Was funny watching them hobble along carrying their shells! Then the shell-horn was blown for lunch. OMG what a fab feed that was- we had heard from other holiday makers that our resort had the best food of all the traveller resort, and they were right! Lunch was a choice of 9/10 main courses, dinner was a three course feast and breakfast was an all you could eat buffet..It was tasty! One thing we loved was the fact that the restaurant floor was sand! It felt great beneath your feet! We were very well fed over the next three days for sure! Unfortunately it did rain on and off over the next three days but we didn't leave that dampened the mood. Adam still snorkled the Coral reef to his hearts content and had a guided kayak tour around the island that he loved! We also had a scrabble championship which I (Edel) won! Hooray! We drank cocktails and Adam sampled the Fijian beer, which he gave a thumbs up to! A visit to the Islands Fijian village, 20mins walk from the resort, was next on the itinerary, including a visit to the schools kindergarden class. The kids sang nursery rhymes such as Twinkle twinkle little star and two little girls from the class took a shine to Adam and laughed at his poncho-this was later given to them as a gift to which they howled laughing.
We met a lovely Irish couple from Cavan and two Swiss brothers who were at our dinner table the last night and so were part of our Quiz night team 'Kava Kings'.. we stormed the island and came a very close second, enjoying a jug of cocktail, bottle of bubbles and 100dollar bar tab for the rounds we won! Thank God there were two music rounds as I (Edel) am a music genius! Hahaha!
Then our time on the island came to an end on Saturday. We absolutely loved the resort and the Fijian people are so nice and friendly, teaching us Fijian which was not very successful as we kept forgetting the phrases! I would definitely recommend the Island and Octopus Resort, it was gorgeous!
It was a pity it was rainy season but we would go back for sure!
Spent Saturday night back in Nadi Bay as our flight to Auckland, New Zealand was very early Sunday morning. We are very exciting to be off to New Zealand and can't wait to see the sights! We have decided to rent a car to see the North and South Island with a guy we met in Hawaii and Fiji so watch this space..!!