Finally, the Fiji we had expected! We had transferred by boat to Octopus Resort which we loved instantly. The staff sung us onto the island and chilled tunes were being played from the (fully stocked!) bar as we were handed a welcoming cocktail. we were shown to our newly built bungalow complete with veranda and flowers scattered on the bed. We wandered around the resort with Carrie (who made the trip down with us from Oarsmans), mouths gaping open at silly things such as having a lunch menu rather than being told what to eat, that they had games and volley ball, that there was a lovely pool to swim in, that there were more than one sunlounger on the beach and even hammocks! The resort had a lovely feel to it and the staff were super friendly. Little touches like a sand filled dining area, huge built in cushioned area round the pool and even its own dive shop gave the place a unique feel.

The three of us sat dumbfounded at how right this place had got it (and wrong Orasmans had it) sipping a Fiji Gold or two when come the stroke of six Joe the barman announced it was happy hour. Time for a cocktail then. Before dinner we were invited to the matt for our welcoming Kava ceremony. Ground up Kava root steeped in water and drunk from a coconut shell. Muddy water that turns your tongue numb, good fun though, clap three times, BULA!

What a marvelous place to relax, but they made sure you could never get bored either as daily activities were on offer such as village visits, sunset cruises, basket and jewellery making, mountain hikes, film nights (poolside under the stars), quiz nights, beach parties, crab racing not to mention the wonderful snorkeling right off the beach and diving!

The next day Paul and Laura arrived and they too were totally gobsmacked over the contrast from one resort to another, as we had been the previous day.

After a couple of days of complete R&R Jona started his Padi Open Water course. Emma went to visit the local village over the hill, led by Kylie (half of the Ozzie husband and wife management team). The village is home to all of the staff at Octopus and it was a geat way to get an insight into traditional Fijian way of life. Our group, as a visiting tribe, took Kava root as a gift to the village chief and while looking around the village, the men ground the root in preparation for the Kava ceremony. After drinking the Kava we were treated to a fantastic Meke show - traditional Fijian dancing and singing for which all the village turned up to take part in.

Each day, the only difficult task was deciding what to have for lunch from the mouthwatering menu, and to make things even harder a different special would also be available each day! The evening meals were also excellent with a delicious set menu each night such as BBQ night, fish night, curry night, Italian night and Sunday roast. After dinner on Tuesday night was the main event of the week, International Hermit Crab Racing! $3 a crab for entry, 3 knockout rounds, 1st prize $30 bar tab! All other proceeds to the village fund of course. Emma had been most excited about the event all week. She even went to the extent of pre selecting a crab, and we had a test run of small medium or large crab (medium sized one). However Emma didn't want to keep her crab in a bucket all day so he was set free and we selected our crabs from the pile like everyone else. Registration of the crabs proved to be quite a giggle with crabs being dropped by owners left right and centre as they nipped at fingers (keep tapping the shell is the secret!) and watching Kylie and Semi trying to tipex numbers on their shells. The crowds gathered and the racing commenced. First 15 across the line into the next round, Emma's romped in 1st, Jona's was still in the running. Round 2, again Emma's sailed home, Jona's found a hole in the sand and decided to call that home! The final. It was a foregone conclusion as Emma's crab led from start to finish. $30 bar tab for us!

A couple more days of sunbathing, snorkelling and diving and we'd arrived at our first quiz night. Kym, an Ozzie backpacker, took up the offer of free booze and dressed up in drag to be the beautiful assistant scorer, with Chris (the other half of the management team) as the very witty MC and quizmaster. Our team My Face (come on!) included Emma (our new found friend from London), Laura and Paul (the Scots trivia masters), a Canadian couple and a mute Japanese girl - who we secretly blamed for our mediocre 5th place - but more realistically it was the amount of champagne we consumed during the quiz, it was gret fun nonetheless.

The following day was Emmas birthday and Jona successfully completed his diving course. It was farewell to Laura and Paul, but there were plenty of people to party with as we had met Kelly and Wayne, so happy hour started early for us. After watching a gorgeous sunset, cocktails in hand, on the beach we watched the staff perform their wonderful Meke show. We enjoyed several bottles of bubbly over dinner, and Emma was surprised when the lights were dimmed and a huge chocolate cake was bought out with the guys on guitars singing Happy Birthday. It really was a birthday to remember.

The following day was more snorkeling and diving and the weekend beach party in the evening. By this point we had extended our stay, it really was hard to leave the island. The beach party opened up with an excellent display of fire dancing (Chris and Jodie, the dive instructor, taking centre stage) followed by all sorts of games for liquid prizes. Our team even won one of them, Poop the Potato... don't ask!

A chilled out Sunday to recover from hangovers and after an excellent roast the two Emmas and Kelly settled down on cushions by the pool to watch Atonement on the big screen under the stars, whilst Jona propped up the bar with Andrew and Sabrina (new dive buddies), Wayne and Chris.

We said our fond farewell to Emma the next day and concentrated on diving for the next couple of days which included our first night dive. Emma and Sabrina were fairly nervous on the boat as the sun set, with Jona and Andrew winding them up about the massive sharks. What a crazy expreience a night dive is, not as many fish as expected, but seeing torch beams saber through fan corals and looking out into the deepest black abyss more than made up for it. We made our safety stop at 5 metres and all turned our torches off, blackness like you've never known. We all started frothing the water in front of our faces and green pin p**** of light burst in the water. Phospherous, crazy.

By now oursevles, Kelly and Wayne were considered residents rather than guests. Kylie's parents had arrived on the island in preparation to look after Charlie and Paddy, their kids, as Chris and Kylie were soon off for a weeks skiing in France - such a jet set life! So the lot of us and a couple of other guests boarded the Octopus boat for the sunset cruise. We were accompanied by Joe the barman (and his fully stocked eskie) and the Octopus band. Wayne, Kelly and ourselves took up a seat on the roof of the boat along with the band and little Paddy who sung and strummed along as best he could with the Fijian band, so cute! Joe kept the beers flowing and of course boys had to be boys. Jona and Chris embarked on a game of 'who can do the best back flip off the roof of the boat'. Silly behaviour.

Cruising back towards the island the most ridiculous sunset took place. The sky bled orange, red and purple as the band sung us home. It was stunning. Just look at the pictures! We all dined together and after Grandpa Lee and Chris took on Jona and Wayne in an almighty northern v. southern hemesphere pool event. We lost!

Valentines day, and what a setting. A wonderful dive, a brilliant snorkel (we saw octopus and stingrays) and a relax on the beach in the scorching sunshine. Joe excellend with the special cocktails that night and even cut the pineapple decoration into heart shapes - ahhh bless. At dinner Emma beat Chris to the dining room floor to announce the next days activities. Doing her best to mimick Chris, she launched into "Have you ever breathed under water? Whether you love it or hate it, for 25 bucks you've answered your question!" Discover scuba, Chris' nightly plug, a long standing joke amongst us residents.

Don't think the boys appreciated it was valentines day as they renewed their north v. south hempesphere match on the pool table (north won this time!) while the girls consoled themselves with a bottle or two of wine. All was good in the end, Chris and Kylie were on good form before leaving on their hols the next day. The glow poi came out and Emma and Kylie put on a brilliant display. Needless to say the drinks flowed and it was an excellent last night.

All through our stay we enjoyed wicked snorkelling and awesome diving at such sites as Three Sisters, Autobahn, Drop Zone, Centre Stage and Black Rock. The amount and variety of tropical fish, corals and moluscus were brilliant but the highlights were seeing shark, rays and even chasing turtles through the reef, not to mention the huge, huge groper. Andrews underwater signals were excellent "Big f***ing fish!".

We had an utterly fantastic two weeks and met some really good people who became firm friends. We love Octopus!