Bula everybody!

Well we made it to paradise, and it was beautiful, a much needed break after LA....

....we spent our last day in LA on a city tour, to see the infamous sights; we stopped by posh and becks place then nipped down to Rodeo Drive for a spot of afternoon shopping baby! For some reason they wouldnt let us in the Royal Beverly Wiltshire, now we know how pretty woman felt! After a day on a small mini bus with an extremely irritating tour guide, we just had to get to the airport, which we thought we had sorted... some boys at the hostel had offered us a lift, but then their car broke down when we were already half an hour late! we managed to find a lovely cab driver who whisked us away to the train station, where we got on a bus, only for the road to the airport to be closed, at this point we were nearly in tears, but thankfully we made it to the airport with enough time for a glass of wine before boarding!

We arrived in Fiji and were greeted in fijian style with shell necklaces (which would later get us out of a sticky situation with New Zealand customs!) We thought our holiday had begun till jess found out she couldnt get ANY money out. there were nearly tears again, but we made it to the boat, and then the fun began...

...we rode on the front of a small motor boat, all the way to Mana Island. Mana is a small island in the Mamanuca Group, 30KM from the mainland, and the name itself means 'magic.' Life is simple on the island, there are four beautiful white coral beaches; North, South, Sunset & Dream. There is no hot water, and only electricity at night, if it stays on! so if you miss the electricity, you have to shower in cold water in the dark! As the boat approaches the island, the staff come out to greet the new arrivals with a welcome song and flowers for your hair. Please find the welcome song attached at the end, we do expect you all to learn it for our return next year....you have 9 1/2 months.

We were right to tell you that it would be beach by day and beer by night, we didn't let you down, but we did do a few other things too: we are now professional coconut jewellery makers, basket weavers, beach volleyball players and crab & shell hunters (re: customs.) We also spent time sunbathing, reading, napping, walking (not that far) and kayaking ( karen isnt getting in a boat with jess again after her tantrum....jess the starfish will not come over the side of the boat and eat you!) We spent a day fishing, but didnt manage to catch a single thing. Although Jess did get hit in the face (accidently) with some fish, which on reflection is hillarious, but wasnt so at the time. We helped to prepare a traditional fijian meal, which is cooked in a Lovo, or to us a hole in the ground filled with hot stones and covered with earth. The food was delicious. We also went island hopping to Mololo Island, Walu Beach, Musket Cove and Plantation Beach. Then we stopped off at a sandbank on the way home for a spot of snorkelling. Jess got as far as wearing the mask, but just couldnt bring herself to get in the sea, those damn starfish, so just stood there. Karen saw a spotted ray and loads of fish. Karen also went scuba diving, and completed her advanced course which included a night dive and a wreck dive.

Life wasnt all bliss on the island for jess... a remote island is not the place to get food poisoning! Especially when there are no doctors and the nurses have very basic medicines. Luckily they came up with a couple of anti sickness tablets, but then fijian tradition took over... 3 teaspoons of guava leaf juice before each meal, problem solved! So much for modern medicine. That filled 2 days of Jess' time and earnt her the name of 'the sick lady'.

Most people only stay on the island for a couple of days, so after 2 weeks we were part of the furniture, although the chef still couldnt get our names the right way round! All the staff were absolutely lovely, as were the resident beach dogs, Crazy & Daisy. After a few days some girls moved into our room who we got on really well with, Jess, Hannah & Nina. Hannah all we can say is Francis?!?!?!?! hope you guys are still enjoying Fiji, you lucky b****es! Heather and Charlotte (the scouse girls from San Fran and LA) came to join us for our last few days, and then it turned out that we were all on the same flight to New Zealand, this further confirms our suspicions regarding STA Travel! WE miss you girls and hope you found a camper van.

There was always some sort of entertainment on at night whether it was crab racing, fijian dancing, fire throwing, quiz night or that well known fijian game - Limbo!! and then of course there was the weekly traditional wedding ceremony....yes one of us got married last week, sorry you couldnt all be there, but we'll send you the photos! it was a beautiful evening, and Karen looked the perfect bride in her dress made of leaves. Apparently its traditional for the chief and his mistress to be covered in coconut oil before being dressed, we think they were having a laugh, but did it anyway.

So to some it up, Mana island was spectacular and we were really sad to be leaving. Some of our favourite memories include;

the sunsets and the stars at night

flowers

cheep beer in big bottles

new friends and old

complete relaxation and fiji time

Leaving wasnt quite so relaxing, the weather was bad, yes it does rain in paradise, and so the boat crossing was really bad!! but we made it in one peice and had the most amazing dinner on our final night on the mainland. After 2 weeks of omelette, rice or toasted cheese sandwiches, we were in food heaven!

We landed in Auckland this afternoon and we pick up our camper van tomorrow, we are going to spend the next 3 weeks driving through the north and south islands before looking for work. But first that customs story we were talking about... when we were on Mana island we spent quite a lot of time shell hunting and decided we should make the shells into jewellery only being a tiny island there wasn't any thread etc so we just decided to take the shells to new zealand and do it there. On the plane we had to fill in biosecurity documents declaring anything we may be carrying including shells. We 'accidently' forgot to declare our shells but then got stopped at customs and questionned and being terrible liars we owned up to almost everything we had and made it through to the other side safely..if we cant get jobs we are contemplating careers as shell smugglers but doubt we would be very sucessful!

We arent sure how much internet access we will have but we will be in touch and hopefully we can put up photos tomorrow.

Karens new NZ mobile number is (+64)210730140.

Jess will have hers soon due to technical hitches, damn you o2.

Vinaka and goodnight

xx

Here is the welcome song for you all to learn...

Bula maleya kei viti talega

Cauravou era yalo qaqa

Vosana wai e vakalasalasa

Ni bula ni bula kece sara

Chorus:

Meda sa mei veikune tale

Me yaco tu na lagilagi

Meda sa cibicibi taka yani

Yacai viti vua a ranadi

Good luck!!!