So we arrived in Fiji on 14th March but we were not really sure what to expect – but we definitely didn’t expect to be greeted by three Hawaiian style looking men stood in the terminal playing tiny guitars singing Fijian welcome songs! Also as we landed the landscape looked very green but the surrounding waters looked extremely murky, not what you’d think of a tropical island, however we later found out they’d received a hell of a lot of rain which caused major flooding on the mainland in the 2 weeks previous. The transition out of the airport to Nadi Bay was surprisingly easy and we checked into Horizon, our first hostel here, relatively hassle free.

We head into Nadi town the following day after missing the bus and jumping into a taxi. As we reach the town the taxi driver decides he wants to drop us off outside the supermarket, it looks central enough so we just jump out. Just as the taxi driver pulls away we hear ‘Bula’ as one of the locals comes over and chats with us as we walk together down the street. He introduces himself as Jo Jo, after a while we’re not really sure how to shake off our newly acquired guide/friend! So we stop at an ATM and say our goodbyes but as we’re about to get some money out we decide against it from all the activity around us. We guessed right cause Jo Jo was waiting for us and carries on telling us about Fijian people and how friendly they all are. We try to lag behind once again and move towards the tourist info place but we can’t seem to cut across his path or interrupt his heavy flow of conversation to say that we’re leaving. Low and behold we end up walking straight into one of his mate’s shops! What a couple of Fareham mugs?!

In the back of the shop we were instructed to take off our shoes and sit with them on a wicker mat while Jo and the owner explain to us about Fiji’s customary drink, kava. It’s a mild narcotic used for welcome ceremonies and shown as a sign of respect amongst southern pacific islanders. The drink basically doesn’t taste good at all, but a chief is appointed, this was Chris, and Gem was Mrs Chris! The chief drinks first, clapping once before receiving the bowl and three times after having consumed the muddy tasting water! The coconut bowl is then refilled and passed around the circle to the others congregated around the big kava bowl. It makes your tongue go numb! It ended up being a really good experience even if we were slightly anxious to begin with. The locals told us about themselves, their families and we even saw the scar of a guy who had donated his kidney to his friends wife over in India! We did end up buying souvenirs from them, including a carved statue to remember the spontaneous experience that you just can’t get from a travel agent!

Our first trip out to a Fiji Island was Robinson Crusoe Island where we spent three nights on a package deal over St Patrick’s Day weekend. It was a one hour drive to the jetty which we shared with two Dutch and two Norwegians amongst random locals that the driver decided to give a lift to on the way. The journey by boat took 25 mins through a very muddy river still feeling the effects of the flooding, and then once outside the mouth of the river it was only a short distance out to sea. We were greeted once again by staff playing music and singing from the beach as we approach. The staff here were amazingly friendly, if not some what hyperactive! We found on the islands there are quite a few camp Fijians and this island had by far the most! They were terribly funny and added greatly to the character of the island. One night one of the camp guys Ronneel was sat by a group of us by the bar and was b****ing at one of the other queer one’s Ronnie calling him a fat ugly girl. This carried on for quite a while until we told him to say, “Who ate all the pies?”so he then keeps screeching at the top of his voice, “Hey Ronnie, who ate all the pies?”!! We had him singing the whole song after a while and then he starts asking us what it actually means, when he realized what he was saying he’s falling about laughing and singing it still at the top of his voice – who’d a thought we’d ever see a camp Fijian singing ‘you fat b******… you fat b******... who ate all the pies!!!’

The 4 days here felt a little like play scheme for adults where we took part in weaving activities (i.e. making hats from trees) making coconut jewellery, learning Fijian dance, snorkeling, and Chris also did some kayaking through the mangroves, which apparently was a lot easier without the paddle! The kayaking ended up in a huge mud fight where Chris got pelted right in the eye with stinking mud by a Canadian girl! During the evenings we were involved in a few games, where we both did quite well winning free drinks!! We played the silly game where u spin round a stick 10 times before trying to run in a straight line to tag your next relay team partner, our team won… damn right!

This was one of our favourite places in Fiji, it was fairly quiet and there were few people but we all got on like a house on fire and had a really good time! We met Yanks, Canadians, Dutch, Norwegians, and English… because everywhere you go there’s always English people!!!

On our final day some day-trippers from other resorts visited Robinson Crusoe, and we were introduced to Lovo; their traditional method of cooking underground. We were also involved in crab racing, which Gem won with her lucky 21 coming in streaks ahead of the rest. It was this night we all had a few drinks and there were only four of us in our particular dorm leaving us many more beds to use for bed-races!!!! After repeated warnings from the security guard we were banished to the beach after lights out for making too much noise. However down on the beach shining our torch we realised why we had been banished there! Swarms of mosquito’s... it was an evil ploy to promise to go back and be quiet. We didn’t think we had been that loud, but the next morning 2 people from the dorm below said it sounded like we were chucking furniture!!!!

All in all it was an eventful couple of days, and then we had to make our way back to the mainland. We had to spend another night here in Nadi Bay before we were due to sail out to the Yasawa Islands at 7.15 the following morning for our 2 weeks island hopping adventure…..