18- Sunday 15th June 2014 - Uprising beach, Fiji.

So I have been here 2 weeks and my time on the beach islands is over. I am currently on the fiji experience which is a tour which takes you all around the mainland island and you get to see the more cultural things in Fiji such as school, villages and Suva the capital. So what has happened in the last week:

The swimming with the manta rays was amazing it was tough going because the current was strong and you have to try and keep up with the rays while swimming against the current, but to see them in the wild literally gliding through the water was incredible. I was lucky enough to see two manta rays both of which were black and about 3 meters long so they were pretty big! Such graceful animals. The next day it was off to the next island Wialli, I had heard this island was the nicest accommodation wise and I wasn't disappointed. The island itself was not bad the beach was nice but it was really windy, although that was sometimes a relief in the heat because it kept you nice and cool. On the second day on the island I decided to go on a scuba dive, my first dive since getting my licence in the U.K. This was awesome, I set off with the dive master on the boat on a fairly choppy day at sea to the best dive point. We saw a range off different fish including: lion fish, rock fish, grouper, tuna and of course I found Nemo. The best part of the dive though was swimming with the reef shark, they were about 5 meters in length and really power animals of the ocean, it was great to see. The dive master told me before the trip that he expected to see the reef shark and not to worry as they never attack humans and are fairly safe. He also mentioned that there are some bull shark in same area which are dangerous, but he has never had any problems with them. It was so awesome because we had a bull shark swim past us. It was much fatter looking than the reef shark so I knew it was something different but it wasn't until I reached the surface that the guide told me it was a bull shark. Once the dive was over I got back onto the boat and couldn't stop vomiting, I think the sea sickness got the better of me and I felt rough for the whole day after that, luckily nothing effected the dive so I was delighted. After the seasickness I didn't feel great until I returned to the main land, so spent a few quite days reading and relaxing.

Once back in Nandi it was time to head off on my Fiji experience around the mainland, after just over a week of beach and sunbathing I was ready to hit the activities hard....which unfortunately is exactly what I did. The first day was sand boarding down the massive sand dunes, which I had been looking forward to for so long and partly why I booked this trip. We headed up the sand hill which was really hard work because it was so steep and also because sands hard to walk on, body boards in hand. Then we slides down the sand to the bottom of them hill. Sadly my experience was not one of my finest moments as I got to the bottom the bored went from under me and I ended up face first gliding along the sand. My nose was bleeding and my face badly cut....almost as wounded as my pride. My chin, nose and forehead had been badly cut and are now looking all scabby and painful...what a big div!

The next day my scabby face and the group set off on a rainforest walk though the jungle land of Fiji, I was feeling a little delicate today and decided I would take it easy, after yesterday's accident. Although the walk was nothing to be laughed at, it was so muddy and steep it was a real adventure and once we reached the waterfall at the end it was delightful to wash the mud off and swim in the fresh water. It was really good fun hiking though the jungle but quite tiring, so once back at the resort we had hot showers and spent the rest of the day chilling. Tomorrow is the village tour and school visit which I am excited about.

The world cups getting exciting... Although I was gutted I missed our Italy game, having seen the result perhaps it's a relief though. COME ON ENGLAND!!

Laura
Xxx