We are oficially in paradise! After arriving in Nadi, Fiji's mainland we scouted out a free shuttle to the hostel, Nomads, which was fairly basic but had everything we needed. The mainland is very poverty stricken and not at all like the tropical image that you get in your head when you think of Fiji. All the same, it's still very beautiful.

Our pick up was at 7.30 the next morning, at the marina we had about 30 seconds to decide which of the 20 islands we wished to visit first. We chose the second island, Bounty Island, as it was only 35 mins on the boat and we were eager to get on the beach. It turned out to be a good choice.

The island itself takes a mere 30 mintues to walk around, although we dragged it out to 1.5 hours by picking up shells and coral, looking in rock pools and swimming in the sea. We didn't see a single person on this walk.......brilliant!

It was Fiji's independance day so the staff performed a ceremony for everyone. This included singing, dancing, raising the flag, the national anthem and also a Kava ceremony. This is a drink made from mixing water with the Kava root, a traditional Fijian celebratory drink. Adds took part in this, it sent his mouth numb so not sure about that one. Another girl also said it had given her a ropey stomach when she had too much once.

After the ceremony we had a great buffet lunch, then sunbathed/read for an hour and decided which islands we wanted to stop off at over the next 13 days. Then we went on the walk mentioned above. On our return we decided to rent snorkels and fins as it was free and we swam out to the coral (it begins only 2 metres into the sea). This was incredible and we saw so many tropical fish in neon colours and the most amazing coral, one called the 'cabbage'......because it looks like a massive cabbage, obviously!

After a delicious dinner of grilled fish, veg and potatoes followed by baked banana and ice cream we decided to get an early night as we had to get up at 7.00am.

So that is our first day......amazing. PS it's bloody hot!!

Love you all xxxxx