We caught the bus to Ba (via the post office where we sent Sarah a parcel of shells by sea mail, god knows when it will arrive). We arrived in Ba, phoned Boulou to ask them to meet us in Navala, grabbed some food at the hot bread kitchen and some Pakora (some had raw chillies inside....eeek) and some indian sweets from a stall, then got on the bus. The ride was very long, dusty and bumpy and the radio on the bus was playing a recipe programme in Hindi. The ...

We went to the airport to pay for our flight change, and to drop off some luggage (the joy of no terrorist scares so lockers available) .We then caught the bus to Lautoka, a great journey through villages and sugar cane plantations. The journey was colourful as always, real characters getting on and off. The kids sit up, turn around to look at us and smile. This part of the island is heavily indo-fijian as they work and run the plantations. We arrived in Lauto...

Diving in the Mamanucas We booked ourselves into the West Motor Inn for a few nights and booked a 10 tank dive with Reef Safari for the next two days. The hotel was nice, bit shabby but the first night in a bed for ages, we were in luxury. We were picked up by James in his Jeep at 7:45am. James is the general manager, he’s originally from Southampton UK but lived in Oz for 7yrs. The outfit is brand-new so all the equipment is brand-new, we ...

Mana After a night at the Planet Travel lodge (this time with clean towels and sheets and a proper meal not pizza). We set off to Travellers beach to catch the boat to Mana, it was a long bumpy ride on a small wooden boat, with the Indian carpenters, a group of Irish girls and a couple (blokes) from England. When we got there we were greeted by Rachel( a big stern Fijian woman), and introduced to Papa Joe and Baby Joe. We were told to pitch anywhere s...

Kuata We arrived at Kuata to another Bula Welcome, on a long stretch of beach. Our little camp garden was lovely; we pitched under a palm tree to keep us dry and went off to have a nice cuppa on the decking area overlooking the sea. This place was busier and not as friendly as coral view but still nice and less rural. Meal times were a buffet but loads of food (much to Ian’s joy) but a big competition (herding instinct!) we were always at th...