Bula,

We are now back from the islands. Unfortunately we have only had 1 and a 1/2 days of sunshine while we have been here and the rest has been cloudy and a lot of rain too! We have still had a good time and met some really lovely people.

We are now accustomed to using hoses as showers, sharing room with 138 other people and a toilet which is the equivelent of a hole in the ground - but we are still smiling. Our first Island was lovely but had no beach ( In fiji no beach!!) But the staff made up for this as they were so lovely and it was the nicest dorm we have stayed in. There we did a "sunset" boat trip although it was too cloudy to see. We went passed turtle island, the most expensive hotel in Fiji at $2000US a night! Wow!! It is also the setting of the movie Blue Lagoon (Brooke Shields)

At our next island, it was lovely, the sun shone and there was a pool and loungers! we were very happy people, although we did encounter more bed bugs! The staff at this resort did an evening dance which resembled a chippendale tribute act, including lots of baby oil!!

Our next island had the nicest beach and here we did a kayaking excursion on our own which was nice and the water is so clear you can see metres and metres down! I also learned how to weave the fijian way and made a gorgeous bracelet! The lady was quite taken with my name and finished every sentence with Katie!!

G was happy at this resort as they had kava every night. I personally think it is the foulest drink ever invented but participated so as not to be rude. It resembled dirty dish water!! We spent both nights here sat on the wooden platform near the sea talking to lots of diffferent people from all walks of life and all nationalities. We were unfortunate enough to be joined the second night by a group of english brats who looked ridiculous in full faces of make up etc! And they just got hammered and made the brits look like idiots! It is a shame to go to the other side of the world and treat other nationalities like lepers, very narrow minded people!

Anyway, we were sad to leave our group for the last night as we were booked to go to Beachcomber island which has a bad reputation and is a huge party island. We were pleasantly suprised as it was really nice. The dorm was 140 beds but still spacious, the bathrooms were nice and the food excellent. We had a few cocktails for our last night but were in bed by 12 as we had a sailing trip today. We were the oldies for being in bed early and everyone wanted to wake us up so G slept really badly! I think they took note of my evil eye at them!!

So anyway tday we took a sailing trip which turned out to be our favourite day. We went to the island where castaway was filmed with tom hanks. It was amazing and G did some snorkelling. We then had a great bbq onboard for lunch before going to a small village to do a traditional kava ceremony and meet some locals. G was chosen to be our groups spokesperson to receive the kava! The people here are so friendly its unbelievable! The crew onboard were plying us with the all inclusive drinks and cakes and food and fruit they were lovely. But now we are back on the mainland. Tomorrow we are going to church before deciding what to do next week!!

Bula

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