We arrived in to Nadi airport at around 11:30pm and we were a bit knackered after the 5 hour delay. The airplane from Auckland to Nadi was a big 747 and I managed to get us some exit rows on the top floor. I ended up sitting next to a kiwi guy and we started having a chat and it turned out he was a First Officer. After a bit more talking he said he wasn't just any old First Officer he was a FO for BMI Baby out of Birmingham! I couldn't believe what a small world it is and out of all 430 passengers I sat next to a BMI Baby FO! His name is Cameron Smith well I think that was his surname I can't quite remember now but we spent the whole flight talking about who we know etc I think Ady had enough of us by the end of the flight!

When we had collected our bags we walked out to the taxi rank area and told one of the guys there were we wanted to go. He told us to wait where we were so that's what we did. After half an hour of standing there and seeing other taxis drive past we were starting to wonder what was going on until we realized that in Fiji you go by Fiji time! Eventually a mini bus turned up and about 6 of us got in and got dropped off at our hotel the Beach Escape.

The room was ok here but the pool had no water in it but when we woke up the next day it was pouring down with rain anyway! We decided to plan our week ahead and the owner Steve a Kiwi guy was really helpful and pre booked all our accommodation for us for the week. We also got told about a shark encounter dive that's world renowned in Fiji on the main land near Suva. We decided to go and do it the next day and ended up going with another guy called Andy. We had to go on a 3 hour local bus to Pacific Harbour where we were staying at a resort called Uprising which turned out to be a 4 star resort and very nice. We had to stay in a dorm that night but it was a nice dorm in a tree house style hut and there was only 6 people in it so that was good.

The next day we had to be up at 7 to get breakfast then be picked up at 8. We got to the dive centre where we found out there was 10 of us doing the dive. We got kitted up then all got on the boat to head out to the ocean.

There were at least 10 staff going on the dives too which made it feel a lot safer. The first dive was to 30 meters which I was a bit worried about as that it pretty deep and we had only dived to 21 meters but we thought why not when you're in the water you can never really tell the difference anyway.

On the first dive we went straight down to the 30 meters mark except I went down to fast as I had to many weights on and Ady couldn't actually get to the bottom as he didn't have enough weights on! Ady ended up having to use the buoy line to pull himself down and ended up missing the first few minutes of shark feeding.

They had lots of fish heads in a wheelie bin which they lower down then it's basically a feeding frenzy! We were all knelt down behind a wall of coral so we felt safe plus there was lots of staff with big metal poles in case anything did come too close to us. We saw the biggest fish we have ever seen they were big Travelly fish and potato head cod which our massive too and thousands of little fish, After 17 minutes we went up to ten meters behind another wall were the guy carried on feeding fish until lots of sharks came to join in the action. We saw Black tip, white tip and silver reef sharks and I was right next to the guy feeding them so I was right in on the action but they weren't too big so that was ok!

We had a 1 hour interval then went back in the water to do a 2cd dive. This time we dived to 18 meters and it was no more little sharks for us! First of all we saw the same big Travelly fish and other large fish then a massive bull shark came out of nowhere! It was Bruce from Finding Nemo! Next thing we know there are 4 massive bull sharks and the staff were feeding them fish from their hands not even on a pole or anything they are brave men! We were waiting for the big Tiger fish to make an appearance but she didn't turn up apparently she is 4 meters and massive they call her Scarface!

After the dives we had to catch the bus back to Nadi then the next day we set of do check out the islands!

We decided to do a set of islands called the Yasawas as you can get a special package to go to certain accommodation with a boat pass for 7 days and you can pick which islands you want to do.

We got the boat from the harbour and literally only just made it as the cash machine wouldn't let us takeout money from the account. The boat left at exactly 8:30 and there was certainty no Fiji time there a few people ended up missing it! The boat took 5 hours and we started off at the top of the islands at a resort called the Coral View Resort. We decided to opt for a double room which was really nice with flowers on the pillows and in the bathroom. The weather still wasn't very good but we went for a swim and chilled out praying the sun would come out soon. We had a buffet style evening meal then both of us got dragged up to dance a play games and Ady won a beer doing the limbo! That night we had a bad storm and the rain was the loudest we had ever heard! It kept us awake all night and carried on the next day too so we were not happy at all!

The day after the weather seemed to start improving slightly and we hired out a kayak and some snorkels to go to a beach called the blue lagoon. They made us take a guide who had to kayak in front of us but he was a bit miserable and we didn't need him there anyway! The snorkelling was really good and we stayed about an hour before heading back to the resort. That night we had a nice dinner then they put on a crab racing competition!

The next day was lovely but we had to get the boat to the next island after lunch. All the staff came in to the dining room area and sang a farewell song to us all which was nice then we left for Mantaray Island Resort.

Mantaray island resort was a couple of hours away and we got a nice welcome of singing and guitar playing when we got off the boat. We had our own little Bure which is basically like a small bungalow but after the first night we had to move to the dreaded dorm as the double rooms had already been reserved previous to us booking our room. Even though we were on a lovely Fijian island it was back to the reality of cold showers and 50 bed dorms!

The food here was really really nice and Ady was happy about that! After our main meal we played lots of games and competitions including the limbo again which unfortunately Ady didn't win this time and we had a few drinks for the first time in a while although we were still in bed by 11pm!

We did some great snorkelling around the island and got to see an octopus and deadly banded sea snake which was great. After 2 nights here it was time to leave and head to the next island which was called Sunset Waya.

We kind of knew by the look of the boat that picked us up that this island was not going to be as nice as the previous two! There were only 6 of us on the boat and when we arrived at the resort it turned out we were the only ones staying there which also told us something! We had paid for a double room and got another Bure but this one was definitely not like the one at Mantaray! The room was really dark and dingy and the toilet was in the corner of the room with a shower curtain around it! The dining room was outside under some tarpaulin with some wooden benches I mean there's basic and there's basic and we had booked here for two nights! We decided not to judge it too soon though as the people were really nice who worked here and we thought we would wait until the morning before we asked if we could stay for only the one night unless we ended up liking it! That night after tea all the staff apart from one left to go back to their village a good 30 minute walk away and Nessy the remaining member of staff entertained us with some card tricks until he said he would have to walk to the village as well! This meant we were being left at the resort without any staff being there all night and he said he would be turning the power generator off too! We got back to the Bure and I was sat on the toilet when all of a sudden the power went off and we were left in pure darkness, we couldn't even see the bed and Nessy had borrowed our torch to get back to the village! We finally got to bed but all night we could here noises in the room and when we got up in the morning my makeup bag was open and all my eye pencils chewed to bits so there must have been a rat in there with us through the night!!!

The other couple who were in the room next to us had the biggest spider I've ever seen in their room and Ady came to the rescue with that one and managed to get it out for them!

That definitely made up our minds about whether or not to stay for 2 nights and that morning we checked out but the staff wanted to take us to their church in the village before we left which we really wanted to do so we all set off to the village at 9am. When we got there Nessy took us through the village to meet some of the locals and cute kids and even took us all to his house which was basically just a small bamboo hut. When we walked around the village we felt a bit guilty about moaning about the resort especially as the villagers run the resort and the rooms are probably a lot better than what they have themselves. We went to the church service which ended up lasting nearly 2 hours and it was all in Fijian so we were all a little hot and bothered by the end of it!

That day we left the island and headed to South Sea Island to hopefully get a better night sleep than we had the previous night but it was not to be!

South Sea Island is the cutest island it's really small and has lovely white sand. The island is mainly used for day trippers from the big hotels on the main land but has a 30 bed dorm for backpackers who want to stay for a few nights. We had a lovely evening and got to try some Kava which is the Fijian traditional drink that's made of a plant root and tastes a bit like muddy water! We were all sat outside drinking the Kava when one of the girls came outside and whispered in my ear that there were bed bugs in all the beds! I went upstairs then next thing everyone was upstairs checking their beds for bed bugs and we saw with our own eyes bed bugs under the sheets! The managers were informed and they had a meeting with us about it but they basically said there was nothing they could do at 11 at night and we would have to just check our mattress and put it on the floor! They said they had a problem about a week ago but the place had been fumigated since then but even they admitted the beds did have bugs! It was awful knowing that we may have just slept in the beds and probably would have been bitten to death! A lot of the other backpackers said they had been bitten up to a hundred times in one night in other hostels while travelling and they said they were the itchiest bites and stay there for months so they were refusing to sleep on the beds! Half the people ended up sleeping outside and the rest of us checked our mattresses then went to bed fully clothed on the floor it was the worse night sleep ever and I'm sure there was a rat in the room too!

The next day we sunbathed and got some sleep before the boat to take us to the next Island came but we ended up missing the boat and was told we would have to stay another night on the island we couldn't believe it! We kicked up a bit of fuss about it as it was kind of their fault we missed it and thankfully they managed to get us on another boat later that day!

After two restless nights we were hoping for a better night sleep until we got to Beachcomber Island and saw that we were in an 85 bed dorm! Beachcomber is known as the party Island in Fiji but we were a bit knackered after the previous night's sleep. We managed to stay up until 12 then we donned our eye masks and earplugs to try and get a half decent night's sleep!

We surprisingly managed to sleep a good 7 hours and didn't get woken by the noise and the next day we left to go to Robinson Crusoe Island which was near the mainland.

The most interesting thing about Robinson Crusoe Island was the showers.

The shower is a bucket with a tap on the side which you have to fill up with another bucket from an outside tap! It wasn't too bad for me being short but Ady ended up having to sit crossed legged on the floor as it was so low!

We instantly liked the Island though a lot better than some of the others that we went to as the staff here were so friendly and got you involved with lots of activities like coconut picking and coconut jewellery making and they also held a Kava welcome ceremony for us when we arrived which was really good. The second day 6 of us went around the island to learn how to do some traditional fishing with one of the staff that works on the island. I was on the beach holding one end of the net then another girl was holding the other end quite far out in the sea and the rest of the guys had to make a semi circle in the water then splash while walking towards the net to trap the fish. We had 3 attempts at it and only caught 3 fish it just wasn't our day! We decided to go to the far end of the island and try our luck there. As we waded through the water one of the girls suddenly screamed out in pain and said something's just bitten me. She ran out the water to the beach and her ankle was pouring with blood we couldn't believe it! Ady carried her back to the Island resort were luckily a doctor had turned up to spend the day on the island. It turned out she had been stabbed in the ankle by a stingray. She must of stood on it as they sometimes lie under the sand were you can't see them. She was in a lot of pain then the pain started to go up her leg to her thigh so the doctor had to get some advice and go to the mainland to get some injections for her. Luckily stingray stings don't poison you but they just hurt a lot for a few days so she did feel better after a couple of days but it did scare us all!

After spending 2 great days on the last Island we headed back to the main land were we had a great last night in Fiji with lots of other backpackers we had met on various Islands. The next day we left Fiji and started our new adventure in Sydney Australia!