FIJI

Our plan was to go to Fiji to chill out and slow down our pace for a couple of weeks, this was our "Holiday away from Holiday!". Luckily we made it to the airport in good timing as we nearly missed the plane, it was changed to leave an hour earlier than we had though - apparently due to daylight saving hours... more like daylight robbery if we had missed it!

Fiji itself is made up of 322 islands, the three main islands being Viti Levu, Vanua Leva & Taveuni. Originally these three islands were know as "The Cannibal Isles" and although Fiji has preserved a lot of it's traditional customs, fortunately, cannibalism is not continued here!

FEEJEE EXPERIENCE

For the first part of our 'holiday' Caitlin and i got on the Feejee Experience hop-on hop-off bus bus to take us around Viti Levu. The first stop of the day was at Malomalo Village where we observed the traditional buildings and layouts and told about 'Fiji Time' and the fact that EVERYBODY in Fiji is ALWAYS late! So for example, if village meetings/ ceremonies were meant to start at 10am the drums to call villagers would start at 8am to make sure the people arrived on time! We were also taught more about cancannibalismm and tribe wars and that when a tribe lost a war, for example over land, the members of the losing tribe with a low status would either be cooked and eaten or buried ALIVE in hope that they would help hold up the houses built above them... I don't know whats worse!?

After the village visit and the cannibalism talk everyone was surprisingly hungry! So we went down to the beach for a big BBQ, before heading south on the island to the Coral Coast for our over night stop we diverted inland to go sand boarding on the Sigatowa sand dunes. Getting to the top of the dunes they were much higher and much steeper than they appeared at the bottom!

The following day was probably my favourite day on the mainland. We got up, out and into the rural. All the group got squashed into the back of a truck and left the glamorous coastline behind us and entered the local part of the island to go trekking. We crossed grasslands and ventured into the rain forest, passing wild banana and pineapple trees and crossed bogs and rivers as we went. However not having the correct footwear, only flip flops, we ended up doing the trek bare foot and got absolutely filthy!! After 2 hours we finally reached the Qaranigio Waterfall and were aloud to cool down and clean up in the pools :)

The next morning we were granted a lie in to let our limbs recover. When we set off again we were on our way to the small village of Wainibuk where the group of us on the bus got taken to meet the chief of the village and welcomed into his home to join him in a Kava Ceremony. The Kava drink is made from dried Kava root mixed with water, when it is ready it looks like muddy puddle water - and tastes like it too! It is traditional to drink the Kava from a coconut shell (ask for 'low tide' for half a cup and 'high tide' for a full cup) and you have to finish the drink all in one go.

From the chiefs house and the Kava Ceremony we went to visit the village primary school. The school enrolls 120 pupils aged 5 to 13. The group of us were given a warm and extremely loud welcome by all the children and I was show around the school and classrooms by a little girl called Mary, who was actually quite bossy! Before we left we were invited to watch a performance of singing and dancing from all the kids. They were all so energetic and enthusiastic, such a memorable experience.

On our way out we found ourselves driving through the sugar cane and cattle country to lunch where we had the chance to participate in the Indo-Fijian culture. We were taught how to make our own Roti, Indian flat bread, to go with the curry lunch - yum yum! Our last stop on the Feejee Experience bus was a visit to Sabeto mud & hot pools - located at the base of The Sleeping Giant Mountains in the Sebato Valley. These were no luxury spa, the pools are left in their natural state, so we got down and dirty covering ourselves from head to toe! It's silly how the rich and famous will pay hundreds of pounds for this kind of treatment!

Being on the Feejee Experience bus was such a brilliant experience, I think in the short amount of time we really got a taste of the Fijian culture & people.

YASAWA ISLAND HOPPING

For the second half of our 'holiday' we got a ferry pass to go beyond the main island and go to some of the smaller islands off the North West coast in the Yasawa Island group. We spent a week hopping between some of the island visiting Waya Lai Lai, White Sand and Bay of Plenty (plenty of what we did not find out!)

I am sorry to say that there is not much to write for this part of the blog, we spent all our days sunbathing on the sands or swimming in the sea... LIFE'S A BEACH!