Met Jess at 9am after our free hostel breakfast. She had invited along another couple of folk from her hostel which was ideal as split the price down further. We decided to do a loop round the entire island, following the coast south round to the capital suva and then up round the top of the island before returning to Nadi. It's basically the only main road and the route suggested by the car rental place but it was ALOT of driving. Took in lots of beautiful scenery, alot more lush and green than I expected. Some of the mountainous views reminded me of Scotland, except obviously it was sunny. The road sides were covered in high stretching sugar can and tall, dense palms. There were alot of animals kicking about. Horses, cows and dogs all roam free. Luckily we didn't hit anything, came close a few times. Pretty sure we took out some frogs later on though, boo. Drove through lots of little villages. Everyone always welcomes you with loud, sometimes almost aggressive "BULA" (hello). Lots of little roadside stalls selling fruits. Stopped at a few places but only for short periods as we began to realise how long the drive was going to be. Don't think Jess was too keen on driving the unknown roads in the dark. Arrived in Suva just after mid day and spent about an hour and a half there. Rhona and I were pretty uncomfortable from mean sunburn from the previous day and she actually felt a bit faint when we arrived in Suva. Got some scran in her though and she perked back up. Wandered the main street - definately not so touristy side of the island, we seemed like a real novelty. Walked to the water and admired the boats before checking out a street market. NB. Their lemons are green...Bought some minature banannas, got about 20 for $1!? Super sweet and extra bananna'y. Returned to the car to continue our loop. The road heading north from suva was pretty treacherous. TUNS of huge pot holes on gravel roads and with little clearance under the car we were really struggling at some points. Actually caused some damage to the car so we were subjected to an off putting rattling the rest of the journey. Had to cross a few suspect bridges too. Old and decrepit and frail looking. Our fears were justified in the fact they were in the process of building replacements adjacent to the ones we were tackling. It was a case of cross your fingers and beast over it. Made it home alive after some real shaky moments just before 10pm. Tired, uncomfy, thirsty, hungry and in dire need of a wee. Having said that, it was a great way to drink in the culture and I'm really glad we did it. Had some dinner and then called it a night after enjoying some lonely island numbers with the boys. Captain Jack Sparrow.

Kate x