Bula! The flight over to Fiji was great because the air "hosts" were over zealous with the free beverages... A few each got us through the 3 hours! Its immediately clear that Fiji is a relaxed nation as the customs staff just casually wave you through as if you couldn't possibly be carrying anything offensive. Our transport is a little late picking us up but we get to the hotel with no problems, even stopping to give a police officer a lift! Got to the hostel just before midnight but didn't get to bed until 01:30 as we had catching up to do with our travel buddies - Becks n Jase!

It's hot in Fiji and very humid with it. Here begins our tropical holiday!

After just a few hours sleep we rise bright and early to catch the bus to the ferry port just outside of Nadi (pronounced nandi). For the next 6 days and nights we shall be island hopping the Yasawa Islands, north-east of the mainland. Our first island is called Naviti and the resort is in a pretty bay. 5 of us (inc. Jen from Scotland who Jase n Becks met before we arrived) shared a "bure" - a Fijian thatched hut - and spent two nights enjoying our first taste of fantastic Fiji and its hospitality. At dinner, the locals would pull out a ukulele and guitar and sing wonderful traditional songs. After dinner the Fijian men would perform traditional dances before dragging us up and teaching us how its done! Also at this resort we spent a lot of time lounging in hammocks and also made bracelets out of coconut shells.

I think the spiders are worth a mention about now. We saw our first at the first 'resort'. They are HUGE with a capital HUGE! The legs are about half as thick as my fingers and just as long! Enough said, although we only saw about 4 in our entire stay.

All food is included in our island hopping trip and varies somewhat. I'm obviously easily pleased but others aren't, so it's a bit hit or miss. The Fijian scones for brekkie are to die for though - a cross between cake and bread.

On our last morning on our first island we went on a boat trip to a village around the other side of the island where the chief welcomed us with the traditional drink - kava - which is essentially ground tree root brewed in cold water. It tastes like muddy water and tingles the tongue. We had a walk through the village which culminated in a performance by the school children where we sat in front of the children on chairs and they sat on the floor. This felt like we were belittling them and it seemed too put-on. The kids are the ones supposed to be elevated and we are meant to be looking up to them. To be fair to the kids, they gave it their all and certainly made us feel inferior, if only vocally!

The second island visited is called Nanuya Lailai and we stayed at Kim's Place. Luckily he was on our boat transfer because otherwise we would've been stranded as they didn't have a clue we were coming! The company that organises these trips is hardly worthy of the description 'organiser' as they really aren't very good - they also lost our bag on the boat. Hardly seems possible if you see the boat. We found it through persistence though!

Kim's Place had a better beach front and immediate snorkelling than Naviti but was even more basic. There are now 6 of us travelling as another of Becks n Jase's acquaintances has joined us - J.T. So the 6 of us get to choose from 3 bures 2 of which have not just double beds, but hanging double beds! Makes you feel like you're on a cruise ship! What seemed unique about Kim's was that you stay amongst the family and staff (although they're all related!). This made it a bit more special and intimate as we felt more like guests of the family! We all sat around with the locals at night and joined in their regular kava ceremony (a nightly thing by the sounds of it!) while they sang Fijian songs and kept us chatting.

We took a walk around the island, escorted by the stray dogs, to the beautiful blue lagoon for some exceptional snorkelling (and the chance to use some decent toilets at the resort nearby because those throughout our island hopping trip are nothing to shout about!) then got back to Kim's Place just as the rain poured. The sunset on that night was absolutely stunning - like a fire in the sky!

Our final island was called Waya and it's probably the biggest of them all. When the tide is low you can walk across a thin strip of sand to the next island and view some more great sunsets. The day we got to this island we didn't have lunch because we'd already had our 3 meals per day at the last place and we didn't get to Waya until 4pm so we weren't best pleased about that. Also, dinner was a lamb curry with potatoes so some people were even less happy with that especially as the lamb was on the bone and the meat was sparse. This particular place is a bit bigger than the others and the locals put on a display of various dances and fire dances which were really good.

Also at this place we made bracelets from dried grass and they showed us how to get the best out of coconuts - including how to open them. J.T., Jase and I ended up in a game of volleyball against three of the locals (2 of them couldn't be more than 13!). We lost but the judge was also Fijian!! This meant we had to buy the kava for tonights ceremony at $1 per bag and about 9 bags. A fair deal considering we drank most of it!

We went to a church in a nearby village one morning which was pretty good. The whole service was in Fijian but the singing was amazing and we got to meet lots of the locals.

The whole adventure was fantastic but we paid for it. We spent our last 5 nights in Fiji back at the same hotel we were at before. Sam was ill for 2 days, I was ill for 2 days and Becks was also ill shortly after getting back from the islands! At least we had a nice place to recover. The hotel was really nice and they had sofa's in front of a big t.v. There's also a pool and the staff are so so nice that it was actually sad when we left them!

We did venture into Nadi once but it was really disappointing, very run down and people just want the money from your pockets. The real fun in Fiji was the islands & their inhabitants. Now for the Cook Islands.....