Bula Summary Basically Fiji was a beautiful island paradise where we just chilled out for ten days Highlights Finding paradise The Aussie and the Norweigian The Irish Drinking Games with the Mancs Drinking Cava Sad Goodbyes After a tearful goodbye to all the family, which was actually quite gut wrenching Tim and I boarded the Oceanic Flight bound for Los Angeles, Only to crash on a deserted island in the South Pacific, I woke up with the gorgeous Jack looking down on me, checking my temperature and trying to give me mouth to mouth!!!! Actually that's not strictly true, we didn't crash, we landed safely in Los Angeles, eleven and a half hours later. We had a one hour stop over in LAX and believe me there is nothing to do in LA airport. We then boarded our second flight to Fiji. Luckily for us the plane was almost desrted so we had three seats t o each person so we both got a good ten hours sleep before arriving at our desitination. A couple of points to note about booking a ticket with STA. They do not give crap if you are a Vegetarian, Vegan, Ovo Lacto Vegetarian, allergic to any food or if your religion prevents you from eating certain types of meat. And no matter how much you beg the airline, if you don't order a special meal about four months in advance you have absolutely no hope of eating anything that is even mildly suitable. Needless to say I have not converted, I did not eat the four helpings of New Zealand lamb based dishes that Mr Makaruk managed to guzzle down his throat and I was sick of fruit by the end of 22 hours of plane travelling time that's for sure! When we arrived in Fiji it was about 2:00am and nothing was open. However, we were greeted by a band of about five Fijian men, all in flower print shirts and sarongs with about three dodgy guitars and a drum between them, singing Fijian classics to us as we walked through the international arrivals desk! It was an absolute classic at that time in the morning but God love them they put the effort in. We were also bomarded by tour operators who wanted to take us to their relatives resorts on various different islands but, on a recommendation from Chris and Vicky, we went straight to 'Seaspray' on one of the Yasawa Islands. What we didn't realise was that our Island Nanuya Lailai was the penultimate Island on the stop, which was still another FOUR HOURS travelling time from the main Island! We boarded the Catarmaran, which was a bright Yellow 'Awesome Adventures' vessel that crusied through all the different islands and we watched as travellers boarded and disembarked really eager to get to our Island and just chill out. The best thing about Fiji is that it is still pretty much unspoilt. There are no large high rise hotels or resorts. everyone stays in little thatched huts on the beach known as Bura's. they basically consist of a bed and a mosquito net and a little table. They are just prefect and pretty basic but once you look out the window and see the sea and the ocean out ahead of you it wouldn't really matter if you were just sleeping on the beach. They don't have Ghettis in Fiji so the Yasawa flyer stops in the middle of the sea and (hopefully) the resort or the family you are staying with will just send out a speed boat to get you. You jump off the Catarmaran, get into the little speed boat and then spend another fifteen minutes getting to your Island. The speed boat then just mounts the beach and you wade out...simple. Finding Paradise The Island we were staying on was just a classic prefect Ialnd paradise...white sand beaches, Buras and a beautiful clear blue Ocean. we were also staying over the mountains (more like a hill really) from the Blue Lagoon. Those of you that haven't seen the Brooke SDheilds classic..just imagine a perect little lagoon, completely shielded from the wind and as still as a mill pond. On the first day that we walked over Tim just looked at me, held my hand and exclaimed that 'I think we have found paradise'! The family we were staying with were just lovely. The father Dan owned 'Seapsray' and his son Bill did all the cooking. there were some other helpers including La, who had the most Girgeous little girl, and Sinbad, dan's other son who kept Tim entertained for mpost of the holiday but thrashing him and free diving, rugby, swimming, breaking Coconuts etc etc. The family cooked three meals a day for you which varied from stir frys, fried rice and vegetables, freshly caught fish in a coconut curry sauce to breakfasts consisting of pancakes, muffins, and freshly picked fruit. It was all included in the price of the accomodation. Tim and I spent most of our days lazing on the beach, reading Dan Brown classics, the Time Travellers Wife (thanks for that one Beans), sunbathing and walking round the Island. Tim reall endeared himself to the Fijians by telling them that he was from Wales......'you know, we always beat you at rugby.......' Classic!!! Tim also helped Dan out making chairs out of coconut tree trunks, sweeping the beach, strimming, digging washed up boats out of the sand...you name it. I have learnt that even in paradise Tim can not sit still for more than about an hour so he was either diving games out of sticks and cocunut tree seeds, trying to take on all the locals with his rugby skills (of which he does not have many and for any of you that have ever watched the rugby sevens....all fijians look like that....believe me!!) or pretending he was in the forces and wading waist ddep in the sea pretending he was on some sort of stealth mission! Perfect Travellers Some of the highlights of our trip apart from the beautiful scenery and just chilling in paradise were the people we met. Some of which we are hoping to meet up with on this trip and when we get back. Greg and Vibeke Fiona and Niall Rafail (AKA Auusie Fiji) The Three Mancs The Cava Drinking Ceremony Another highlight included the Cava ceremony which I have to etail below becuase it is the most rancid stuff I have ever tasted but the ceremony is so beautiful you just feel the need to carry on drinking! Let me tell you, no matter what anyone says, Cava is nasty, it DOES NOT taste nice. However, traditionally only the high cheif and the elders of the village were allowed to drink Cava, women definately were not and the only time it was drunk was when there was a special occassion like a funeral or a wedding or if there were village matters that needed to be discussed by the elders. Today, because of tourism, Cava seems to be drunk by anyone, anywhere.....including women! The Ceremony consisted of us all siting in a circle with Dan and Bill at the top and the appointed High Cheif sitting opposite them. Dan and Bill drank last. Bill was the self proclaimed ' best Cava mixer in Fiji' so he mixed the Cava up by placing the Cava in a muslin style sack and pouring water over it into a huge Cava bowl and then rubbing the sack over and over to mix it all together. In our Cava ceremony Collin (one of the Manchester lads) was appointed the high cheif, and Tim was appointed the spokesman. This menat that on the High Chiefs signal Tim woud have to shout 'Tacki' which meant that it was time for the next round! Each round started by the high chief being offered a large coconut shell full of Cava, he woould cup his hanhds and clap once saying Bula and then drink the Cava down in one go as everyone else would clap with their hands cupped three times. This conyinued until everyone in the circle had had a drink. The women are usually given a smaller coconut shell and can opt for a Low Tide rather than a High Tide which is basically a half cup. I didn't want to let the side down so it was High Tides all the way for me! Now for the taste. Cava is basically tree root and it looks as if it has literally been scraped of the bark of a tree. When it is mixed with water is looks like a muddy puddle and it pretty much tastes like that too. The after taste though leaves your mouth all tingliy. Similar to when you spray anesthic throar spray on the back of your mouth when you have a sore throat. The more you drink the worse the sensation gets. We only had about seven cups in total and Dan sais that to truly feel the effects you have to have about thirty cups.....I don't know how anyone could bear it. You don't feel drunk you go into a kind of trance like state and you sleep for hours and hours........... Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow On out last day Dan sang us a famous Fijian War song on his now three stringed guitar. the song is a war song that was sang to the Fijian men when they left to go to war on the solomoan Islands. The word to the song are beautiful and the chorus tells the men not to forget their home and wishes them well but reminds them to return safely. The only word we could recoginise in the song was 'My Seaspray'...telling the men to come back to Seaspray.......it was really touching and Dan had a tear in his eye as he finished singing to us...it was the prefect end to a perfet stay.