I could not wait to get to Fiji. Brisbane was slowly driving me crazy and I needed to get away before I hated it (which I don't want to do, because I really like the city). Fiji was booked for 10 days, 11 nights and with my awesome friend, Holly. My flight got into Nadi, Fiji first so I had to sit for a whole 5 or so hours waiting for Holly's flight to get in. We had booked a package deal together so I couldn't really leave the airport without her. It gave me time though to start reading my book, yes, that's right I have started to read some books. So anyway time passed very slowly and eventually I see her walking through the glass doors. We say our hellos and head to the Awesome Adventures tour desk to get our booking vouchers and our transfer to the hostel.

We get to the hostel and it looks like a hotel from the outside. It's called Smuggler's Cove and the Fijian people welcome you with open arms. They are so friendly and willing to help with everything possible. We checked in and were shown to our room; from this point on we never had to carry our own bags, it was heaven! We were in a 38 bed dorm which seems huge but it was pretty cool. We went to the outside bar/restaurant to get some dinner. This place was more like a hotel than a backpacker's hostel, it was luxury. There were fire lanterns lit and we were right by the sea. During dinner, to our dismay a naked guy jumped in the pool; this reminded us we were still surrounded by drunken idiots but never mind, we were excited to head to the Yasawa islands in the morning.

We got a bus to the Denarau port where the big yellow boat will be our form of transport for the next week and a half. Our first island to stop at was Kuata. The boat stops closish to the islands and then little boats from each resort come out to the big boat, pick you up and take you to the island and vice versa when your moving from one island to another.

Kuata had a gorgeous white sandy beach, plenty of hammocks, several activities to offer, a secret back beach, various huts and the staff were the friendliest people I've ever met. In my opinion this was the best island. When we arrived we were greeted with a Bula song and dance. Bula means hello in Fijian and we got used to that word every day we were there. We were shown to our room, our bags were carried for us, and they were soo strong to carry two backpacks at once! We met the other people who were also at the island. It is not the peak season for visiting Fiji at the moment so there weren't as many people on the islands, but it was really nice to have a more relaxing environment. We were taken to do some weaving with the local Fijian women. We made a weaved bracelet and a shelled anklet each. To this day they have survived the holiday and I am still wearing them! We then had lunch which was really nice and incredibly filling so after this we began to build on the tan and sunbathe. Our first night was a special Fijian night on the island. We were introduced to a Fijian ceremony where we all had to drink a substance called kava. It's made from a plant which is grounded down into a powder and mixed with water. It looked like muddy water to be honest and didn't taste that great either. It made our mouth go numb and we were convinced it was some type of drug, or possibly their version of alcohol.

After we had the Kava ceremony we were told the special Fijian night meant we were supposed to eat with our fingers, no cutlery allowed. As we queued up for our food we found it funny how we were supposed to eat spinach and coleslaw with our hands but we embraced it and enjoyed it. Although there was one part of the meal which nobody enjoyed, something called Terra I think. It's made of some sort of vegetable and it was horrible. After dinner the Fijian staff did a dance for us and then got us to join in and play some games. The great thing about being on the islands is that we had no concept of time, even if we wanted to know, the answer would be, "it's Fiji time!".

The next morning we signed up for snorkelling with reef sharks. I was slightly scared about going to swim with sharks but our new friends said it was a really cool experience and they were all fine so I took their advice and did the trip. In all fairness it was pretty cool to see sharks but I wasn't a fan of how close they came. The Fijians were ripping up pieces of fish in front of the sharks to make them come up close to us so we could touch them. They also grabbed them throwing them out the water etc, I couldn't believe that the sharks weren't getting angry! I never touched them but it was cool to see them up close. The rest of that day we sunbathed and read our books. That evening we had dinner in the cave and a Fijian celebration party as we were leaving the next day. We were spending two nights on each island we went. The party consisted of a lot more kava, singing along with the guitar, dancing and a bonfire; a perfect way to spend the last night on the island. However, low and behold, the morning we were leaving it was pouring it down with rain, a tropical rain storm so torrential in other terms. I was slightly gutted to see rain; I wanted a complete sunny holiday but its ok, I still got a great tan on the days the clouds weren't leaking.

We were dropped off to the big yellow boat in the rain; by the time we boarded the boat we were pretty much drenched so luckily it wasn't cold. Our next stop was Naviti island to the White Sandy Beach Resort. We got there and again they were singing us a welcome song in the rain, bless them. We were supposed to be greeted with coconut drinks but it was raining so we were given them in the afternoon once the rain had eased off a bit. For most of the time on this island we sat and read our books. It was the worse island we went to; there were so many flies and I got bitten like crazy; every single bite I had blew up like a balloon. We were reunited with friends we'd met on the previous island, they were a day ahead of us so we met up with them in a lot of places which was nice. The food we had the first night was pretty good, especially the cucumber soup; it was amazing! I'd love to know how they made it. The second night's food was again Fijian specialities which weren't really to many peoples tastings, apart from the papaya soup and the fruit salad. The entertainment in the evening of the first night was really good. We were taught the 'bula' dance and the staff put on a mini dance and singing show for us. We then paired up with a Fijian each and played games such as musical statues, kung-fu and sand, water and land game. The second day we went snorkelling in the sea for a little bit before it started raining again and we read more of our books. And finally the day we were leaving not so White Sandy Beach the sun came out!

Our next island was called Nacula. We stayed in a place called Nabua Lodge. As soon as we got onto the little transfer boat we could see how clear and blue the water was, it was beautiful, like pure paradise. This was one of the furthest north islands we could go to, so it appeared the paradise was the furthest point away from the mainland of Fiji. It was a gorgeous day so we took full advantage and soaked up the sun. The food at Nabua Lodge was disappointing; the milk at breakfast tasted like sick, everything seemed to be banana flavoured (unlucky me as this is one thing I hate) so I stocked up on cookies instead, healthy I know! The first night's entertainment was a welcome song and then we played some games, such as numbers, statues and some other things. As I cannot keep a straight face I was out of statues extremely quickly, so the Fijian kids decided to play with me instead. They are actually extremely cute.

The second day at Nacula we took a day trip to the Blue Lagoon. It was spectacular, the sea was a stunning crystal blue, we went snorkelling to see the tropical fish and coral and the water was lovely and warm. We had an excellent tanning day as well. Once we were back after the day trip we were recommended by some friends to visit the tea shop on the island and try the cake. They made it sound extremely delicious so we couldn't resist; we all went for cake. To my dismay, the cake was chocolate and banana flavoured again!!! So I wasn't that thrilled by the cake. We then went back to the room to get ready for dinner. Holly, in a massive day dream was waiting for me to moisturise her back after we went slightly red with the lack of shade on the blue lagoon island; she was completely oblivious to the fact she was pouring moisturiser down her top that I yelled at her and she jumped out her skin as she thought she had a spider on her. It was incredibly funny, but definitely a be there moment. That evening we played more games. I won a round of heads, tails and head tails so I got a free drink and my choice was a pineapple Fanta. Amazing! Holly also got lucky and won a round too.

The next morning I sat on the hammock to read the end of my book and a coconut fell out of the tree and nearly hit me on the head. It was slightly traumatic but luckily it missed me. There is something so relaxing about sitting in the sun swinging on a hammock in the middle of a Fijian island with a slight breeze, it really does feel like paradise. This moment was soon ruined as Holly decides to join me on the hammock which I don't mind at all, until we lost the balance and eventually tumbled off backwards and landed intertwined between each other on the muddy ground! It took us a few minutes to stop laughing and gather ourselves before we could work out who needs to move first for us both to be able to get up.

After lunch we left the island and headed to our final island, Beachcomber. This was a 5 hour boat journey back down south. Beachcomber is known as the party island and we'd heard some things about it; mainly that it had hot showers and internet; both of which we'd failed to find on the last three islands. We finally arrived at the island and it felt like we were not in Fiji. There was a takeaway bar, a massage parlour, a massive bar area and a massive dining area with a flat screen TV! As you can imagine it's rather strange seeing these things on a mound of sand surround by the sea. This was one of the smallest islands we'd been on. You could walk around the whole island in 5 minutes. We headed to our dorm which was split girls one side, boys on the other. It was massive, like a 100 bed dorm split between male and female. The first thing we did was walk into the bathroom, and we were in awe of seeing a real bathroom with real showers, real toilets and real sinks and not to mention enough mirrors for everybody to use all at once! It was surreal. And the showers had hot water, it was too good to be true. We also explored the island and found the turtle conservatory and the mini golf course. We were kind of bored that day so we bought a pack of cards and played a couple of games. The food was incredible at this place; a massive buffet with so many choices. For whatever food I didn't like on the previous islands, this island definitely made up for it. After lunch we attempted to sunbathe but the wind was sooo strong we only lasted about an hour or so as the sand was constantly being blown at us and everything was flying everywhere. It was just too much to handle. We went to watch TV for a bit, well news of the world as that's one of the only channels in English they had. Our friends were joining us on this island for our last night so we had an awesome time, dinner, drinks and dancing. The night before when it was just me and Holly, we took part in a competition that involved us being piggy-backed, picked up and sitting on our partner's knee. It was slightly weird as we'd never met these people before but it gave us something to do. We found the staff not as friendly here, it was more like a business than a friendly family run resort. At the end of the second night we ended up dancing in the sea, its so tempting when its right there and the water was so warm, although the waves were pretty rough from the wind. I was buzzing all night, not from alcohol but mainly from the sugar in our fruit juice.

The next day we woke up to hear the sound of rain again. The visibility was awful and we were worried we wouldn't be able to leave the island. We played cards all day and waited for our 5pm boat ride. We played a game called Irish snap which was the funniest and longest game we've ever played; it lasted about an hour on just one card game! I was picked loser for most of the game but I snapped back towards the end and someone else lost, I was determined it wasn't going to be me.

The sea was looking extremely rough and the weather was awful. I took my sea sick tablets in preparation. Myself and my friend, Lucy were scared of the journey for different reasons. She was scared of the sea and I get bad sea sickness, as well as being scared of falling out of boats and massive waves (the memory of New Zealand haunts me). We got onto the little transfer boat and the screams began. Everytime we felt like it was about to tip over we screamed and when I was getting onto the big boat I swear I nearly fell out as the waves were ridiculous bouncing up and down so quickly. We all made it on the boat and it was jam packed. We went to find some seats in the dry downstairs area; however, I soon realised that was a bad idea. Lucy and I were trying to make conversation to stop thinking about the rocking but soon it got too bad to even talk. After that I decided we should go sit in the cold, wet, rainy air to try and feel better. We stood at the edge with Matt as well to focus on something else. Instead we were laughing at the fact we were getting soaked which really helped and stopped me feeling so sick. We finally got back to Denarau and as we walked off the boat and into the terminal our shadows looked like drowned defeated rats. We got our bags and a bus back to the hostel. We all had dinner and said our farewells to the first two people who were leaving very early in the morning. Then we continued our goodbyes in the morning as me and Holly left at 11.30am to head to the airport for our flights.

Holly left for Auckland and I went back to Brisbane. I had an extremely odd couple sat next to me on the flight; a Fijian guy who looked like he had been sold to a fat bossy rude Australian girl. She looked like she was the master and he looked like he didn't want to be there but his family had pawned him off for a load of money. Poor guy; whether that's true or not I don't know, but it was definitely a good interpretation of their behaviour.

As I arrive back in Brisbane it was strange to feel the cold and even stranger to be wearing shoes again. I got back to discover I had still not been paid my wages from my previous job. This was a slight worry as I had no money for accommodation or food. Fortunately I had my daddy to rescue me once again whilst we deal with the people who call themselves Australians. Luckily I have managed to get a job which starts on Wednesday and therefore I will not be homeless, foodless or showerless.