Bula! from us here in beautiful Fiji! Thought we'd give you all a bit of a catch up on what we've been up to since we last updated you all from New Zealand, so here goes:

Wednesday 11th July

The rain was so bad last night that we weren't able to head North as planned due to the roads being closed off with power lines down and some bad flooding in places. Instead we found a cheap internet cafe and spent some time e-mailing friends. We also managed to change our flight plans for Fiji to the 16th July so that we can go and ctach up on some sun a little earlier!

Thursday 12th July

This morning we dropped off the 6 berth campervan or mansion on wheels as Kerry had come to call it. We ended up having to pay a $100 fine due to some damage on the rear bumper that we hadn't even noticed. Still it could have been worse and much more money so paid up. We then picked up our smaller van at Ezy rentals, the company that we used in the first 2 weeks of NZ. We headed South straight away and decided to take a detour through the Weather Hills of Port Waikato, which was some of the most spectacular scenery we had ever seen. We made it really far in the afternoon and stopped just shy of Tongariro National Park.

Friday 13th July

Got up early and drove the last few kilometres into Tongariro National Park. The weather was beautiful and sunny with clear blue skys. Tongariro National Park encloses three huge volcano's which seem to spring up from nowhere and are all covered in snow. In the early afternoon we drove up to Whakapapa Ski Field, the location which was used for Mordor in Lord of The Rings and once we got there it was easy to see why with it's volcanic black rock everywhere. Enviously we watched some skiers on the learners slope and wished that we had the time to join them. After taking some great photos of the area we headed back towards Lake Taupo and spent the afternoon mooching around the shops and found a great campsite to wash some of our dirty clothes in.

Saturday 14th July

We took our time getting organised today and eventually set off back to Rotorua, our 3rd time there! Once we got there we met up with Kerry's good friend Jesyka from L.A. and headed into a great pub to enjoy some good food and good conversation. IN the evening we all chilled out in the van and got drunk on our remaining Bundy Rum! Jesyka decided to stay for the night squished up with us in our van.

Sunday 15th July

We dropped Jesyka off this morning to her hostel as she was taking an early tour to Hobbiton and then we parked up by Lake Rotorua to catch up on some much needed sleep. In the afternoon we met back up with Jesyka and decided to check out the mud spa, which turned out to not be worththe money! The leaflets described the mud as feeling like silk but it turned out there were so many twigs in the mud from the surrounding fence that it felt more like wet cement and smelly to boot! In the evening Kerry cooked upa great meal in the campervan which we all enjoyed and then said a sad goodbye to Jesyka with promises that we will definitely meet up again in L.A. in a few years. We then made an extremely late drive to Auckland, where we arrived at 2:30 a.m. and slept by the airport.

Monday 16th July

Happy birthday Jodie! Miss you sis! Woke up really early this morning as we had to squash everything that we have into 2 bags each, which we somehow miraculously did (don't ask how!). We dropped off the campervan and got a free shuttle to the airport in the pouring down rain. As the weather was so rubbish it felt like the right time to be leaving New Zealand for warmer climes. We looked around duty free for a bit purchasing a few tacky fridge magnets and then boarded the plane. The flight to Fiji took around 3 hours, and we had a really sweet elderly gent sitting with us called Howard who had recently lost his wife and was travelling alone for the first time and he was quite upset. It was lovely to talk to him about his life and experiences. Once we touched down in Nadi we phoned a hostel by the beach and picked our courtesy ride there. The hostel wasn't exactly paradise but it was fine for one night with a pool, good food and helpful staff. It felt great to be wearing shorts and t-shirts again and we sat outside in the warm night air booking our next accommodation on Mana Island, which lies within the Mamanuca set of islands east of the mainland.

Tuesday 17th July

We woke up early and ate our free breakfast by the pool before being picked up and dropped off at the boat pick-up to Mana Island, which basically consisted of a small boat backing up onto the beach and us wading on to it! The journey across to Mana took about 45 mins and along the way we passed some beautiful looking little islands. We soon reached the coral waters of Mana island and as we got off the boat we were greated by some Fijian singers playing guitar and welcoming us to the island. We spent a fantastic day lounging on the stunning white sandy beach. The sea water is incredibly clear and warm and it felt good to be swimming again. For $75 a night we have a pretty horrid double room in quite a shabby looking hostel called Mereanis but with a bed and 3 meals a day it was all we needed. In the evening we watched some traditional Fijian dancing and fire juggling and met some nice people including Sarah and Chris from Germany, although Sarah sounded Irish and Chris sounded Scottish as they had both spent time respectively in those places. We also made friends with the other people staying at the same hostel including Dean, Richard, Alice, Chloe, Lammie and Lewis from England and Lewis' girlfriend Freddy from Sweden.

Wednesday 18th July

After our breakfast of weetbix and warm bread and jam we headed to the beach with Sarah as her partner Chris was diving with the reef sharks. We also booked 7 nights at the Safari Lodge on Nananu-I-Ra Island in 5 days time after we leave Mana island. The facilities there are also suppoed to be a bit nicer. We spent all day lounging on the beach reading our books and talking with Sarah and Chris whose next destination was New Zealand so we gave them lots of tips. In the evening we took part in the hermit crab racers at the bar, which Kerry's crab 'Manowar' won top prize, a free day trip of her choice, which turned out to be a nightmare organising so we gave up and settled for some rum and coke instead, easily pleased us!

Thursday 19th July

We spent the morning walking around the island, which ended up taking nearly 3 hours due to some sections being quite rocky and requiring us to be daring and swim around some sections in beautiful blue water. We saw loads of hermit crabs along the way and even passed the set for Survivor reality tv show. In the afternoon we joinde in with all the others and played some Volleyball in the beach which was awesome fun and ended up with me diving about the place and getting covered in sand! Spent the evening playing drinking games with the other guys and girls and finished the night considerably drunk and somehow getting back to bed completely unfazed by the flith and inseects crawling arounnd our accommodation. The shower at the hostel basically consists of tepid water coming through a pipe in the wall! There is a window where people can see you naked in the shower and the toilets hardly ever flush and the doors don't lock, the sacrifices we make for paradise ay?!

Friday 20th July

Went on a 5 island hop tour today with Sarah, Chris and some other guys from the hostel adjacent to ours. It was really good value for money at $55 (15 Uk pounds)including lunch and we stopped at Castaway Island, Mololo Island, Musket Cove, Plantation Island and Honeymoon Isle. Some of the resorts were simply breath taking although clearly only for the rich but it was nice to walk around and use some of their facilities. At Musket Cove we had a BBQ lunch on a little bar overlooking the crystal clear waters where we saw a couple getting married. Afterwards we got back in our little boat and headed over to a sand bar in the middle of the sea, which looked like something out of Pirates Of the Carribean and did some snorkelling. In the evening we had a few more drinks at the bar and chatted with people.

Saturday 21st July

Said a sad farwell to Sarah and Chris in the morning and then spent the morning snorkelling on the reefs surrounding the island, seeing some incredibly colourful fish and coral. Played some more volleyball again with the other guys before heading over to Sunset Beach to watch an incredible sunset, which turned the sky into incredible colours of orange, red and pink against the vivid blue water. Spent the evening talking with Freddy (the swedish girl) and her English boyfriend Lewis who are both really nice and easy to talk to. We also watched some Polynesian dancing, which involved some more fire twirling on the beach, which looked pretty incredible in the dark. Spent the night in Sarah and Chris' old room which was far better and got a decent night's sleep!

Sunday 22nd July

Got up early again this morning and packed our bags and said a sad farewell to all the people on the island that we had made friends with. It felt like we had been on Mana Island for a fortnight and we truly enjoyed our time there. The boat ride back to the mainland was smoky with fumes from the engines and Kerry turned green a few times! We are spending tonight on the mainland in Nadi in a nice hostel by the beach, where we have our own toilet, yipee! Tomorrow we are taking a bus to Lautoka, where we have to catch another bus to Raki Raki. We then have to do some shopping there for some food supplies and then catch a ferry to Nananu-I-Ra Island, where we will spend another week chilling out in a hammock reading books and snorkelling in the sea. Alice and Lammie from Mana Island are already there so we're hoping to catch up with them and spend a night making dinner with them in our beach cottage. We are also hoping to do a dive with sharks before we leave as there is a dive centre here that allows you to watch Bull sharks and huge Tiger sharks being hand fed up close and personal without a cage to protect you! Sorry to gloat so much about the weather here as we have heard that you guys back in Britain have had a monsoon so if it makes you feel any better it did rain a little bit here today! Hope you are all well and we look forward to udating you all in a week or so's time.

Vineka! (Thankyou)