BULA!

Denise was returned to her rightful owners, we paid a huge bill to send more things home, we said a sad goodbye to Danielle and we boarded the plane to Fiji! While on the plane Stephanie and I had made a plan it was as follows: eat lots of fruit, go on daily walks, strictly no alcohol and get a good tan. It was while discussing this plan the air steward said them two beautiful words, "Complementary wine?" After gulping down our wine and not feeling too guilty as we were technically not in Fiji yet, we tucked into our sandwiches and chocolate! As we touched down in Fiji we were welcomed by three Fijian guys in colorful shirts and Bula beads playing the guitar and singing welcome songs. We seemed to be the only ones amused by this! After a little jig and a round of applause we proceeded to pick up our luggage and check into our hostel. When we got to the hostel we booked our Island hopping straight away. We would be leaving the hostel the next day at 7am on the Bula combo pass. This pass entitled us to stay on any islands for 7 days and 6 nights it included our transport on the boats, our accommodation and three meals a day. Our first night in Fiji we stayed in a 30 bed dorm which was surprisingly quite nice. We made some friends in the restaurant and had dinner with them and of course a cocktail - it was our first night in Fiji we couldn’t not! The no alcohol part of our plan was not really working out, however it did have a couple of slices of fruit on the glass, so on the plus side we have started to eat lots of fruit!

The following morning we were up early ready to hop the Islands we only took one bag between us and left the rest in storage. Our first destination was Nabu Lodge which took five hours on the boat. Once there we had to take a smaller boat to reach the resort. We were welcomed to Nabu Lodge by some of the staff on the beach singing along to the guitar the Bula welcome song, it was really lovely. That afternoon it started to rain so we got taught how to weave using flax which we then made into a basket. Our baskets then became the topic of conversation on every Island we went to, everyone was in ore!! We had a great dinner that night and learnt the Bula dance routine. It was then a dance competition was put forward as our next game, I don’t have to tell you what happened next, out of 30 people and some tough competition I won! I had my No. 1 fan there cheering me on every step of the way; it wasn’t the same not having Dr Karl Kennedy cheering me on though! It doesn’t even bother me that the dance competition was musical statues I still regard it as one of my greatest dance victories especially as the prize was a Rum and Coke! We met some really great people on the Island and it was going to be a shame all of us were heading to different Islands the following day. However we then learnt that the next day was BBQ Wednesday so everyone ended up staying another night! We really enjoyed our stay at Nabu Lodge as the staff were really friendly and great fun.

Our next island was Korovou resort, Stephanie and I had paid a little bit extra on our pass so we could stay in bures which are private hut type things with a ensuite instead of sharing a dorm. When we arrived in Korovou a man carried our bags to our bure while we followed. At first we wandered where he was going as he was walking away from the bures, it was then that he stopped outside an amazing bure right on the beach front with our own table and chairs on the porch! Stephanie and I both screamed in delight we couldn’t believe our luck we had been upgraded to one of the deluxe burse, it was amazing! Our night then got even better when we were treated to a few dances performed by some very good looking, muscley Bula boys oiled up wearing grass skirts. One of them even grabbed Stephanie from the audience to dance with him, the rest of the table which were a group of girls were very jealous!! The following morning I went on a boat trip to hopefully snorkel with some manta rays while Stephanie topped up her tan on the beach. Unfortunately we didn’t see any manta rays but the coral was amazing and I saw so many different coloured fish I had never seen before!

In the afternoon we got the big yellow boat again to our next island called Kuta, when we got there we knew our luck had run out, this bure although still looking out onto the sea had a leaky tap, no mosquito net and holes in the walls and in the thatched roof! That night we had a great curry dinner, learnt a different version of the Bula dance and then played some games. Another dance game was introduced it was called dancing numbers. When the music stopped you had to get into groups of either 2, 3, 4 or 5 depending on what number the guy shouted out. The game did get quite cruel; Stephanie and I were splitting partners up when we had to get into a group of three and then dumping that person when it was a group of two. This tactic worked very well through out the game and we won, we collected our prizes in the form of two beers but we did very kindly gave one to two friends who we cruelly tore apart! The following morning I went on another boat trip to swim with reef sharks (Thank you Sally!). I saw 5 of them swimming together, it was a little bit scary when they came up close but they were only 4 ft long so not that big. I even got to watch the sharks being fed as the tour guides had speared some fish in front of us to give to the sharks. Its was really amazing to watch them and again the coral and other fish were so beautiful.

Later on that day we headed to our final Island Wayalailai where we stayed two nights. All of the bures were being renovated and looked really nice, however these were all taken and the only one left was the one that hadn’t been renovated, it had loads of holes every where but it did have a mosquito net which came in handy. That night we came in after a few drinks and Stephanie spotted the biggest spider we have ever seen, it was bigger then the palm of our hands put together – you could have put a saddle on it! It was horrible and I was really scared. Stephanie took control of the situation and went for help she got our two friends, a woman that worked there and the security guard. After telling us they had never seen such a big spider but assuring us it wasn’t poisonous we managed to lose it in our room! It was at this point I started to cry! There was no where else for us to sleep that night so we had to barricade ourselves in the bed with the net tucked in all around us, a bottle of water and a torch. We hardly slept and at 5am we got up, grabbed our bags and ran out of the room. We then got moved to another room for the next night which was lovely; it even had tiles on the floor! Our last full day on the Island was a Sunday so we went to the local church; it was a really nice service with loads of hymns. The following day late in the afternoon we boarded the big yellow boat and went back to the port on the main Island. We went to a much cheaper hostel this time and we were greeted by a really lovely lady who runs it. After chatting to her for a while we apologised that we didn’t even know her name she then replied her name is "Mama, call me mama". From then on every chance we got we threw in "Mama"!

Our next destination was Coral Coast on the main island so we could meet up with our mum’s friend Teresa, her son Charlie and his girlfriend Amy. They were staying in a lovely hotel resort while we stayed in a hostel a few kms up the road. We knew by email that Teresa and the gang were on a trip that day and that we might be able to sneak in Teresa’s room to stay, so we were to keep a low profile. To get to any place in Fiji its normal and safe to flag down a family minibus give them a few dollars and they will take you if it’s on the way. That and taxis is how we went back and forth from the hostel to the hotel. The first mini bus we flagged down had a lovely couple in who were trying to teach us the Fijian language they gave up after 5 minutes and then told us about their children! Once we got to the very nice hotel we realised that it was featured in the Lonely Planets ‘Top End’ places to stay - we normally stay in the ‘Budget’ end!! We started our mission of keep a low profile. As you can imagine this didn’t really go to plan, as we walked through the gates we got chatting to a security guard called Joe, we then made friends with a porter named Pat and as we ordered our wine to wait for Teresa the lovely barman called Tui was ready to take our order. Mission 'Keep a low profile' was no where near completed especially when we jumped out behind a bush in the reception area and shouted surprise to Teresa and co who were back from their trip! We spent a few days with Teresa, Charlie and Amy where we were treated to dinner, many cocktails and a day trip. On the trip we went to a local village, had Kava, watched a spear dance, had traditional food and got a tour round the local village to meet some school children. The trip was amazing and really informative. We also got to go on a long boat and a bamboo raft! Each evening we spent at the hotel and then had to get a ride back to the hostel, apart from the last night were we snuck in and stayed - the beds were amazing! On one of our journeys back to the hostel at around 1am we got a lift in a taxi, he had already tried to over charge us and then he was driving like a maniac. When we got to the hostel in record time we realised the big iron gate was locked, we tried knocking but there was no answer. Our taxi driver then said we had to climb over, we kept saying no your joking but he kept repeating "climb over, climb over". We told him there was no way we could especially since we had our party dresses on and inappropriate underwear. At this point it started to pour down and we were soaked we also realised he wasn’t joking and this was our only option. So the taxi man got back in and drove right up close to the gate told us to hop on his bonnet and jump over. I told Stephanie to give it a go first as I was worried about denting his car! Stephanie was up and peering over the gate assessing the situation while the taxi driver is licking his lips with a great big smiling on this face, Stephanie’s dress had risen and she was giving him a good show! After he got a good telling off and told to turn round Stephanie said she could get over but wouldn’t be able to lower herself down the other side especially since it was pitch black. It was still pouring and at this point I didn’t care what happened to his car so I jumped on and came to the same conclusion as Stephanie, far too dark and tall to lower myself and I was wearing a pretty dress I didn’t want to ruin! Our next plan was for all three of us to push the gate and then for Stephanie to squeeze through. Stephanie wriggled through and we all cheered - including the taxi man, he then said your turn looking at me. After assessing the gap there was no way I was getting through, however there was still no one around to open the gate so I had to try. After getting half way and feeling pretty chuffed that I had nearly made it I got stuck, it was then that the taxi man took it upon himself to grab hold of one of my bum cheeks give it a firm squeeze and then push me through! I was far too happy to be the other side of the gate and couldn’t be bothered to give him a good telling off - he was only trying to help. He gave us a big smile, said bye and off he went - I think we made his night! On our last journey to the hotel a taxi stopped to take us, we had all our luggage as we were going to stay in Teresa’s room that night. We walked up to the taxi who had stopped a little down the road to see it was nearly full already with some very nice looking Fijian guys, especially the one in the back. We didn’t think we would fit with our bags as well however they said hop in so we obliged. The taxi driver opened the door for us and Stephanie practically knocked me on the floor so she could sit in the middle. We had been chatting for a while when we found out they were fire fighters, they were looking more attractive by the minute! Every time the taxi driver took a sharp corner Stephanie took it as her chance to "accidentally" snuggle up to one of the fire fighters! To be honest he didn’t seem to mind so much! We had a lovely last day with Teresa, Charlie and Amy, it was so good to see them and we had so much fun. It was really sad to say goodbye.

We then got the local bus back to Nadi where we have been staying in Mamas place. We have just been relaxing on the beach, visiting the local town and partying at the local nightclub called Ice bar. It’s not actually made of ice we found that out when we both asked the same guy at separate times where is the ice part of the bar! Embarrassing! It is now our last day and we are heading to LA where we have a couple of days and then start our tour. We have loved Fiji and are now very excited for America.

Hope you are all well loads of love xxxxxxxxxxx