WAYA ISLAND (Octopus Resort)

So back on the ferry I got with a girl Anne from Beach Comber and a guy called Zeke we met on the boat. Zeke and I decided to set the tone and got a beer even though it was about 9:30am. A friendship was born! We were both heading to the Octopus resort on Waya Island and Anne was winging it to see where she could end up, sadly it wasn't the same as us. Zeke and I got off and Octopus and immediately felt like they had dropped us off at the wrong resort… this looked like a 5 star place, not somewhere for backpackers! We met a girl called Fidi, and Zeke's friend Dan who was in the US peace core and stationed in Fiji also joined us from a different boat. The wolf pack was formed.

We started off with a game of volleyball, I think Zeke regretted having my short ass on his team, but all became better when a Fijian girl aged about 10 joined us and was our star player. Soon it was time for lunch and we couldn't believe the high standard, it was like eating in a gourmet restaurant! We kept thinking they would come and kick us out at some point as we really didn't think we should be there.

We decided a snorkel trip was necessary and so headed out on to the reef, we saw lots of great fish, and Zeke and I saw a sea snake, which he later informed me was highly poisonous. I did wander what he was trying to signal to me under the water… I'm so glad I learnt to swim before I came out; I can't imagine not getting to experience these things!

Saturday night was party night at Octopus (even though someone had accidentally set fire to the roof of the bar the week earlier) and they put up a big projection screen and played music videos. Decided local rum was the way forward; trust me it has a bit of a kick to it! We ended up being force-fed tequila (yuk) and were dancing the night away. We knew it wouldn't be too long before Zeke jumped in the pool fully clothed (yes there was a pool there!!!!! Spoilt!) And low and behold about midnight we were right. Fidi and I decided it would be rude to not get involved, but were slightly more civilised and got our swim stuff on first. It was pretty awesome having a swim under the stars. After hanging out with some of the resort staff and Dan practicing his Fijian, we decided we all needed to see a shooting star before we went to bed, so the 4 of us all got in a hammock together (pretty cosy I must say) and lay there till 3am by which time we'd all seen several shooting stars each. I've never seen a sky like it, who knew there were that many stars up there!!

The next morning we had to say goodbye to Fidi, and our wolf pack was down to 3. Dan and I spent the morning in a beach/pool rotation (it's really a hard life I know) having in depth discussions on the difference of english and american words. We know how to party. The boys decided to take some kayaks out and try fishing in the afternoon, so I thought I'd let them have some boy time and spent my time on the beach and doing a bit of snorkelling. When they got back we all got a beer and watched the sunset together, was truly breath-taking. (Don't worry, many photos to come!)

The evening's entertainment was a movie under the stars, where they had put the big screen up around the pool and set up and the bean bags and sunbed mattress'. We watched the big amazing marigold hotel (prob got the title wrong) which was very British and they handed out popcorn for us all too. Zeke lasted about half the movie and Dan and I drifted off several times throughout, but it was a nice chilled evening. The whole dorm was in bed by 10:30pm!

The next morning I had to say farewell to the boys as I was getting the north bound ferry and them the south. We spent so long with goodbyes I realised the boat to the ferry was leaving the beach!!! This meant an epic sprint down the beach, luckily he came back for me and another guy who was going on Fiji time too. The boys waved me off from the beach and then it was on to my next Island adventure, being a lot more tanned and having a lot more mosquito bites....