Bula! Our week in Fiji has sadly come to an end. We arrived at Smugglers Cove in Nadi, which is on the mainland, in the evening and went straight to sleep after a day of flights. The next mornng we were up at 6 to get the Yasawa flyer, a huge catamaran that transports everyone to and from the islands. We were on the boat for about 5 hours that first day on what seemed to be never ending rolling seas, which did not make anyone feel too happy. Nabua Lodge on Nacula island was our destination where we met the family who run the resort headed by big Ron. All the Fijians we have met have made Fiji one of the friendliest nations so far.

We were on the island for five nights staying in a traditional bure (essentially a wooden shack) and travellers kept coming and going each day. There really was not much to do on the island, but we had prepared by bringing a small bookshop with us. There were plenty of activities to occupy the time and I went to an underwater cave which was especially interesting and eerie at the same time. Most importantly though, there were more hammocks than people and the sea was the temperature of a warm bath, crystal clear and no deeper than a metre for about fifty metres out. The family provided us with an excellent three meals a day and some great entertainment by making us all do the Bula dance after the evening meal!

All the islands are extremely untouched and the Fijians live with the animals in harmony. Giant land crabs, wasps, spiders, red ants and our very own mouse in the bure were just a few of the treats we were subject to. The worst creatures though were probably the mosquitos which came out en force, well all day really.

The weather was obviously one of the attractions of Fiji and it was atrociously hot for the first couple of days, the humidity making us feel like we were never properly dry. This brought on the occaisional heavy rain squall but they didn't really make a dent on the overall temperature. By the fourth day the rain started in ernest and by the fifth we got word that we were being battered by the fringes of a nearby cyclone and that the ferry would not be running the next day when we were scheduled to leave so we had to cut our stay short by a night and jump on the ferry for that day. Once again, we have another ocean going adventure to add to the collection, 7 and a half hours at sea in really high winds was not very nice, but there was about 25 minutes of open sea chucked in for good measure with a five to six metre swell making the trip into the longest roller coaster. Needless to say sick bags were given out as standard.

Hopefully our flights will to Indonesia tomorrow will be unaffected as the cyclone has moved off the group of islands. We are flying to Jakarta and treating ourselves to some five star accomodation before going on to Yogyjakrta in the middle of Java.

We hope you are all well and enjoy looking at the photos from Fiji.

Love Alex and Tom