Bula!

We are currently sitting here back in Nadi on our last day before we jet off to Singapore, reflecting on the last few days island hopping in the Fijian Yasawa Islands.

After driving over 7000kms and exploring NZ bottom to top we were really looking forward to a week relaxing in the sunshine in the very laid back Fiji! We got on our boat to Waya Lailai our first island and resort.As with all the islands when you get off the boat you jump on to a small motor boat and travel the final 100 metres of so to the beach.Whilst speeding along the locals all stand up and sing a very catchy welcome song with their guitars and ukuleles.This was a lovely place(a good start to our experience) and the only resort in the Yasawa Island that is run by the villagers that live there so all money made goes back into the village mainly for the school, church and upkeep of the resort.On our arrival we checked into our double room with en suite - a nice change after the van and headed straight down for the lunch which when ready is signalled to the guests by the beating of a large drum.

Lunch was fantastic - after Lizzy surviving on Riveta and cheese and I on ham sandwiches for the last 2 or 3 weeks we certainly made the most of the buffet.Two full plates later and I was stuffed and weary after all the food so we found a couple of hammocks to see in the afternoon.

That evening we relaxed and had a couple of cold beers on the veranda by the bar and kitchen chatting to other travellers.We retired to bed at a very respectable 10.30pm and fell asleep pretty quickly - it had been a tiring day after all.About 2 hours later the guys who were in the room next to ours came back slightly worse for wear with their iPod going through their plug in speakers.The song was Red Red Wine by UB40 followed by a rap version of the same song.With paper thin walls and only netting for the window it felt they were in the room with us.They had these two songs on repeat for about an hour and a half.Amusing when I look back on it and thank god I still had some earplugs from Amy and Ben!

Within our package we had one free activity so we hired a couple of kayaks from the other resort Kuata and paddled around and back to our island.On the way back we saw a couple of girls from our resort stranded as they had ventured out for a swim when the tide wasn't right so they were stuck on the coral having cut their legs and feet a bit.Not being the greatest kayakers we attempted to save them with them lying on the back of the kayaks, we got them a little way in and then they got off and tip toed their way back to the beach.We were most conscious that we would miss lunch if we had been too long as the drums were being beaten in the distance!

To our delight over lunch we were told that in the evening there would be a traditional Fijian night with food cooked in the ground which we had to eat with our hands, a bit messy considering I had added some sauce!We were also treated to a formal kava ceremony - a real bonus as we hadn't expected any of this.The ceremony was really interesting with the elders of the village saying a prayer and us all sitting down without shoes and sitting cross-legged on the ground with them.They then, in a pre defined order, handed out bowls of kava.Kava is ground from a root of a tree and then they mix it with liquid and use a muslin rag to squeeze out the chemicals from it.You have to say "bula" clap once, down it in one and then clap a further 3 times.It didn't taste great but it was definitely a good experience.The after taste on the tongue was as if you had had a few antiseptic lozenges!

Then it was off to bed, earplugs firmly in ears.We would have to be up early for check out and reef snorkelling in the morning before heading to our second island, Naviti and the Korovou resort, which we had heard, was one of the more expensive places.I will hand over to Lizzy to write about this one, as I am off to lie in the sun now!

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Before we headed an hour further on the boat to Naviti Island we made it out for some early morning reef snorkelling.We were taken 20 minutes offshore and swam with snorkels along the reef - this alone was an impressive sight with clear blue sea, colourful coral and zebra fish (all similar to what we'd spent a lot of money seeing in the Whitsundays!).The highlight though was the 4 or 5 reef sharks that our guide attracted with dead fish.The local guide seemed to be part-fish himself as he sat on the seabed for minutes getting hold of the sharks and bringing them to the surface for us.They were about 1.5 m long and swam around us for 45 mins or so (it's easy to loose track of time after a couple of days on 'Fiji time') - well worth the £8 we'd paid!

We made it to Naviti Island in time for lunch.As Sam said this was one of the nicer resorts - not in general Fijian standards as you can imagine how plush some hotels are but by 'Flashpacker' standards this was good.With hot showers and electricity generated all day it was already a higher standard than Waya Lailai!The food was, again, delicious and we were very happy in our bungalow room straight onto the beach.Lots of time was spent lounging in hammocks on this island, occasionally getting to feed the fish left over pancakes or Sam to play volley ball, but mainly only getting up when the drums indicated the next meal time.

Although the staff were equally cheerful (it seems much time is spent laughing, singing and playing the ukulele) the evening entertainment didn't quite have the same authentic feel or charm as Waya Lailai.On both evenings we were introduced to the 'Bula Boys' (the same muscley staff who steered the boat and carried our luggage) who were dressed in grass skirts with torsos oiled up ready to show us the Bula dance.None the less this was all very entertaining and definitely had us all laughing hard in true Fijian spirit.The only thing left to do was to have a few drinks with fellow travellers and play 'Ring of Fire' a drinking game that ensures a lot of exactly that (drinking - not fire).Needless to say Sam felt quite delicate on the 3-hour return boat journey to the mainland yesterday.

Fiji has certainly been full of laughter - Fijians are probably some of the happiest people I've ever met!

Sam & Liz