We arrived in Fiji on the 7th Dec and so far it's been pretty idyllic, we spent the first 4 nights staying at a hotel in Nadi, which is on the west coast of the island, far away from any soldiers thankfully!! We didn't do much except laze around and sunbathe, a typical holiday for us. It was nice to be in a hotel again after all the hostels we've seen and we made the most of the spa facilities!!

From Nadi we ventured out onto one of the islands in the middle of the sea, it's called Beachcomber and is a reknowned backpacker haven. It was our first experience of dorm sleeping which was certainly interesting. To give you an idea of the size of the dorm, Rich and I were beds 112/3!! I've never slept with so many people. Thankfully we were not in the main part of the dorm but on a raised platform on one side. The only drawback to that is that the guy in the next bed liked to sleep naked, not a sight you want to see at 4am!! The island itself was tiny, we walked around it in less than 10 minutes, and there is only the backpacker place there, the sea was a perfect turquoise blue and the sand fine and white, totally idyllic setting. Shame the same couldn't be said for the DJ's taste in music, hard house mixed with trance isn't quite our cup of tea so we decided to only stay 2 nights instead of the planned four as there was no escaping from it!!

We made our way back to the mainland yesterday and have been in a backpackers since. It's on the beach which is really nice and means we can sit, have a beer and watch the sunset. Rich has also played golf while we've been here. He went to the local course where Vijay Singh first started to play ( means a lot apparently), and managed to get onto a local match competition. Rich didn't win it but as the prize was a frozen chicken we're not too concerned!!

We leave here tomorrow and head for Hawaii where we meet up with Eva, we're both really looking forward to seeing her, it's been a long time!!