The Feejee Experience bus arrived nice and early and I was excited to see who my fellow passengers would be for the next four days. There was Emily from England, Nicole from Germany, Julie from Oz and Danielle and Li from Jockland and Oz respectively. First impressions were that they seemed really nice, a small but select group. I jumped on the bus wearing my ridiculous but stylish Aussie Crocodile Dundee hat and was my usual chipper self with a "hi folks!", Danielle later telling me that her first impression of me following this was 'oh god an Aussie tosser.' Little did she know. Cam was to be our guide and Aravind our driver.

First stop was in central Nadi to buy lunch and get a sarong for our village visit later in the day. The fruit market was amazing, managed to pick up a juicy fresh pineapple cut in a fancy way in front of me for next to nothing. From there we set off down the coast of Viti Levu and we went to eat lunch at Natandola beach, apparently the 7th best beach in the world. Well it certainly was probably the clearest blue water I've ever seen, I had to have a swim.

The next stop off was where the culture began with a trip to Malomalo village which meant getting our sarongs on, I must admit I did look very fetching haha. Cam's talk on village life, customs and history as we walked around and sat in a traditional house was fascinating, particularly regarding Fiji's cannibalism past. The importance of community and trust amongst villagers and tribes was truly remarkable and made me wish there was still much of the same feeling back home. The social order/hierarchy within a village goes; Chief, Spokesman, Warrior, Fisherman, Carpenter…typical that my South Sea Island namesakes are at the bottom of the pile!

The final activity of the day was a complete contrast and blow-out by sandboarding down the Sigatoka sand dunes. The actual boarding was awesome but the walk up to the top of the dunes definitely took its toll on the legs. We arrived at Mango Bay resort and before dinner we partook in a traditional Kava drinking ceremony, which is the national drink made from the root of a pepper plant. Well I knew it looked like and apparently tasted like muddy water and sent you wappy and mouth numb. Danielle, who had been in Fiji a while, told us to expect the worst but as ever with a new drink to try I was looking forward to it. I was chosen as acting Chief for the ceremony and so I got the first coconut shell full, and it actually wasn't that bad at all, I would definitely try it again (and indeed in large quantities in the coming days).

Post-dinner it was time for the evening's entertainment, the International Crab Race! Each crab represented a different nation and there was an auction for each one. I wasn't a successful bidder but others on the bus had and so we gathered around the floor in anticipation. Well I expected big red crabs to be racing but they were only little ones that looked like snails, very disappointing. Anyway Danielle's won and she got nearly £50 and so drinks were on her! She chose Bounty rum & coke (68% proof!!!), that decision this night meant that the rest of this leg of the world tour would never be the same. Well round after round were consumed along with several banterous (is this a real word, spell checker seems to think not) games of pool , and by midnight we were all smashed.