Korovou Eco Haven Resort

4.45am wake up call for a sunrise hike - I was buzzing...
Amos the guy that was sat outside at the dinner area asked us if we really wanted to go because there had been rain in the night and it may be a little slippery - well of course we wanted to go we had Wales up for it. It wasn’t raining now so we thought t would be fine. He pulled the guide out of bed and the young guy that was singing last night (Fijian Enrique Iglesias) came half asleep with his machete. Torches on because it was still the black outside and we started to hike. Well rock climb part of it because there big boulders and trees everywhere. We weren’t slipping so much going up and Enrique said that if it started to rain hard we would need to climb back down because it would all get too slippery. After around half an hour, a few pit stops for water and usual screeches from Ellie we were at the top, still super dangerous I think even if it wasn’t raining because the rocks were smooth so in the wet slippery. It was pitch dark, no point in waiting for sunrise because you could see the rain clouds and just about the lights on the mainland faraway. Then it started to rain heavy so it was definitely time to move, I slid on my butt down to the long grass scratched my bum on the rocks as I went, Ellie the same. We went careful but it was still difficult I slipped a few times making Enrique jump and ask if I was okay, I was fine. Ellie’s screeches made it sound as though I’d broken a leg though I think that’s what scared him. Because if we did hurt ourselves then he would have to carry us and that wouldn’t have been ideal for anyone! We got back down just before 6, only then realising we’d just walked into the jungle in the dark with a stranger and his machete... could have gone terribly wrong haha!

Back to bed and we did manage to sleep until around 8am when the coconut drums went off for breakfast time. We had pancakes, fruit and weetabix to choose from this morning - lovely!! And the weather is now not raining! Typical.

But we chilled on the hammocks, enjoying island life and minding our business on the beach before our boat at 10.30am, and before our farewell song from the islanders. It was lovely, they’re all pretty damn good singers and the tune was pleasant with the guitar player there too and them all clapping. I just find it awkward to sit there and watch them for such a long time haha. Maybe it’s just me?

The speedboat was bouncy when it was on its way out to the ferry in the middle of the two islands, we noticed a local on the opposite island stood out on a rock off the shore in his aborigine dresswear - coconut shells, a straw skirt with an axe. He was doing some tribal dance (obviously for the tourists) but you got sort of a sense of how the islanders used to greet people of warn their tribes of intruders coming to their islands many years ago.

Back on the damn ferry trying to rebook our accommodation for the mainland because we had discovered that our boat gets in after the last local bus to coral coast tomorrow and we would have to pay around £100 return to coral coast and back to the airport because of the time of our flight on the way out Saturday. We only had to pay cancellation of one night in the hostel and we got a cheap double room in bamboo backpackers in Nadi for the last two nights. It’s a nice enough area there and we can get free shuttles to and from the hotel so saving us a lot more money to do it that way.

The weather was okay, it had cleared up quite a bit as we made our way north to the islands, we were on the boat an hour and half before our stop, another speedboat to get onto the shore, and another lovely welcome with the locals singing and playing the guitar for us as we walked along concrete path that was submerged by water, every time they finish the Bula song we have to scream “BULA” back to them. That’s all anyone ever says in Fiji I’m sure of it. I know it means hello but I think they seem to say hello a lot more than we do at home.

The island was much bigger and very green! It seemed lovely, the long white sandy beach and we got upgraded to a hit which had a double and a single bed in it. (Ellie can’t wait for me to spread star fish tonight haha!) coconut for a welcome drink - it was huge I had to give half of mine to Ellie. She loves them! The two guys that carried our bags to our room asked where we were from and the one knew he word to microwave in welsh and kept saying it, he was comical.

We were just in time for lunch, we got given a huge portion of spaghetti Bolognese, it was yummy but I could not for the life of me eat all the pasta, not even half.
After way too much for lunch we chilled by the pool for a few hours (the pool, I was not getting in by the way... I could not see the bottom of the ladder let alone the bottomed the pool) then we went snorkelling to the coral garden.

Bloody loads of us in the little well medium speedboat, all flippers and snorkels. It was a decent coral garden but nothing like what I had seen before in Malaysia. The coral I think is pretty disappointing from what I have seen considering it’s Fiji, I don’t know I was expecting beautiful coral gardens everywhere but it’s just all dead. They are trying to save it and replant lots of it in coral nurseries and they’ve stopped boats going in certain places now but it’s too late. It’s not stopping marine life from coming here though, maybe because it’s one of the first islands in betweens hundreds of miles of sea? Some coral was still pretty with the purples and green colours and we seen some royal blue starfish with loads of different types of fish. After and hour or so fighting against the tides and swimming through the coral we all climbed aboard and went back, Ellie looked extremely brown, I’m not sure how because her face has been facing downwards away from the sun. Maybe the circulation? She looked wiped though haha.

The sea is still so blue and crystal clear everywhere! We seen a turtle come to the surface when we were whizzing passed. Could not wait for a shower to get this sat water off of us! Ellie has some cracking tan lines, she’s never moved her straps on her costume so they’re very prominent haha!

Dinner was supposed to be at 7pm but we were on Fiji time now... so we had a drink overlooking the sea hoping to spot something whilst patiently waiting for dinner. Patience ran thin when dinner was finally served at 7.45am and everyone was super hungry. Dinner tasted good, potatoes and rice (of course) beef stew, chicken stew (I just had the sauce, you know what chicken can be like... they chuck it in any shape and size, bones and all) and there was a spinach in some sort of sauce which was quite nice. Ellie finished it off with a crepe that was rolled with sweet butter icing on top of it but I couldn’t fit anything in.

After dinner they put a little show on, two of the comical islanders were scattering around the floor showing us different ways to put a sarong on to music. The two men were pretending to be feminine the way they were dressing themselves with the different sarong styles, it was hilarious!
Next up was the fire dancing but they did it in the sea in front of the big dining hall, it was cool! I’d never seen it done in the sea before, whenever the fire poles dropped petrol into the sea or touched the water it would make a line of fire on the sea. All very good and then a few of the Ozzie guys had a go which was even funnier to watch because they were so petrified of the fire haha.

We resided to bed amongst some of the others, Julian and the German in our room stayed up a while longer.
We were chilling in bed me watching a film and Ellie listening to a pod cast before she holds my arm and quietly says “don’t panic but.... there’s a huge spider crawling up your bag!” Oh crap. It was f***ing huge! Bigger than the palm of our hands with big fat furry legs and a body. Ellie went and got someone to get rid of it whilst I kept an eye on where it was going.

Peter the local boy came in, he was definitely scared inside I’m sure of it haha. He touched it and it ran up the wooden cabinet and sounded like it had nails and a shell it clip clopped, yuk!!! He was adamant that it had gone until I told him it hadn’t and he found it stuffing itself in a hole in the ceiling so Peter stuffed that hole with toilet paper.

Ohhh crap balls that’s not gunna be a nice sight in the morning if it’s found another hole to get into!