Fiji -4th November - 6th November
Greg Says....We left LA on 4th November, the flight was 10 hours long, but we didn't get to Fiji till 6th Nov.......work that one out! It's really quite spooky! For Lucy's Brother Michael it means his birthday didn't exist, so we didn't have to buy him a present! We also didn't have a bonfire night. Then if you flew the other way from Fiji to LA, you would arrive before you left! It's all because you cross the dateline.
We arrived in Nadi at 5.45am, and waited till 9.30am for the bus t pick us up....it was supposed to be there at 8am, but we soon got used to Fiji Time!
We then embaked on a boat trip, which was memeorable ......the sea is a fantastic blue/turquoise colour, and so clear. We saw the islands in the distance, and that was our destination.........the Yasawa Islands. Arriving at the Octopus Resort, we transfered to a smaller boat, and you could see the crystal clear waters, with the coral reef coming out from the beach. You really could see the bottom from about 10 meters up! Paradise Found!
Welcomed by a Fiji troup of singers, we walked up the beach across white/gold sand. You could see the Palm and Coconut trees on the edge of the beach, and it was simply idylic, like those old Bounty Adverts.
The porters took our bags to our bure, which was a bamboo hut with a thatched roof, which had a shower with no roof! Sounds basic, but was absolutely lovely. All you could hear was the crashing of the waves. There are no cars on the island, and you can only get there by boat, or seaplane. Population about 50-60, mostly local islanders. We spent the next three days snorkling and unwinding. The children played with the local children, and met a friend called Odette from Wellington. They loved it, as they were allowed to roam free, as it was such a safe and friendly enviroment. Hopefully we will meet up with her and Gill her Mum in Jan or Feb, as I have to be in Wellington for a Rugby 7's championship tournament......tough life over here you know!
We left Octopus reluctantly, picked up a car and headed down to Pacific Harbour. This was more like the normal resorts that we are used to, and had a tropical feel to it with views out to the South Pacific, but was not as nice as Octopus. It was more Luxorious and chic, but we preferred the remoteness of Octopus.
Fijians are very friendly, and we found many friends. We did a boat trip up the Navua river, and went to a typical village, where we were shown the Cava ceremony, and introduced to the whole village. Cava is a drink which is made from roots, and mixed with water. If you drink enough then you get a feeling of being a bit 'high baby', but I don't think I had enough for that.
Another day we went into Suva the capital, and you can go round the city in a morning, not like Bournemouth which I woudl have said is about 10 times as big!
We finished our stay in Fiji on Monday 13th November, when we flew to Auckand.
From Lucy....Bounty adverts is right, it was so lovely, we wandered around all day in swimmers & sarongs and bare feet. The floor of the resturant was sand, the food lovely, help yourself breakfasts, 10-12 choices for lunch thai style watermelon curry and huge helpings for dinner. Loads of fresh fruit.This was all included in the price so we told the children to eat as much as they could so we didn't need to feed them for the next week!
I had a massage on the beach for 10 pounds for 1 hour, totally relaxing !!
Rowena and I went on a night snorkel, considering that Rowena had only done any sea snorkelling that day she did very well, it took about 5mins to settle down but then she was away, although she wouldn't let go of my hand (which I was glad about as I needed her to hold it for me!!)
Alistair & Greg went out hand line fishing with some lads from the resort and some guests, unfortunately neither caught anything but Alistair then adopted the Fijian boys and became inseparable, he spent ages the next day playing volley ball with them.
Our river trip of discovery was interesting, there hadn't been much rain recently and so the water level was fairly low, getting up river was a struggle at times,had to give the children instructions on" what to do in the event of capsize"! After a refreshing swim in a waterfall in the rainforest we floated back on a bamboo raft.
School work is starting slowly, are doing something every day and doing tables while waiting for buses or planes. 100 maths lessons books that we took are going to take some time for us to work out what to do, we should learn something ourselves!
We arrived in Nadi at 5.45am, and waited till 9.30am for the bus t pick us up....it was supposed to be there at 8am, but we soon got used to Fiji Time!
We then embaked on a boat trip, which was memeorable ......the sea is a fantastic blue/turquoise colour, and so clear. We saw the islands in the distance, and that was our destination.........the Yasawa Islands. Arriving at the Octopus Resort, we transfered to a smaller boat, and you could see the crystal clear waters, with the coral reef coming out from the beach. You really could see the bottom from about 10 meters up! Paradise Found!
Welcomed by a Fiji troup of singers, we walked up the beach across white/gold sand. You could see the Palm and Coconut trees on the edge of the beach, and it was simply idylic, like those old Bounty Adverts.
The porters took our bags to our bure, which was a bamboo hut with a thatched roof, which had a shower with no roof! Sounds basic, but was absolutely lovely. All you could hear was the crashing of the waves. There are no cars on the island, and you can only get there by boat, or seaplane. Population about 50-60, mostly local islanders. We spent the next three days snorkling and unwinding. The children played with the local children, and met a friend called Odette from Wellington. They loved it, as they were allowed to roam free, as it was such a safe and friendly enviroment. Hopefully we will meet up with her and Gill her Mum in Jan or Feb, as I have to be in Wellington for a Rugby 7's championship tournament......tough life over here you know!
We left Octopus reluctantly, picked up a car and headed down to Pacific Harbour. This was more like the normal resorts that we are used to, and had a tropical feel to it with views out to the South Pacific, but was not as nice as Octopus. It was more Luxorious and chic, but we preferred the remoteness of Octopus.
Fijians are very friendly, and we found many friends. We did a boat trip up the Navua river, and went to a typical village, where we were shown the Cava ceremony, and introduced to the whole village. Cava is a drink which is made from roots, and mixed with water. If you drink enough then you get a feeling of being a bit 'high baby', but I don't think I had enough for that.
Another day we went into Suva the capital, and you can go round the city in a morning, not like Bournemouth which I woudl have said is about 10 times as big!
We finished our stay in Fiji on Monday 13th November, when we flew to Auckand.
From Lucy....Bounty adverts is right, it was so lovely, we wandered around all day in swimmers & sarongs and bare feet. The floor of the resturant was sand, the food lovely, help yourself breakfasts, 10-12 choices for lunch thai style watermelon curry and huge helpings for dinner. Loads of fresh fruit.This was all included in the price so we told the children to eat as much as they could so we didn't need to feed them for the next week!
I had a massage on the beach for 10 pounds for 1 hour, totally relaxing !!
Rowena and I went on a night snorkel, considering that Rowena had only done any sea snorkelling that day she did very well, it took about 5mins to settle down but then she was away, although she wouldn't let go of my hand (which I was glad about as I needed her to hold it for me!!)
Alistair & Greg went out hand line fishing with some lads from the resort and some guests, unfortunately neither caught anything but Alistair then adopted the Fijian boys and became inseparable, he spent ages the next day playing volley ball with them.
Our river trip of discovery was interesting, there hadn't been much rain recently and so the water level was fairly low, getting up river was a struggle at times,had to give the children instructions on" what to do in the event of capsize"! After a refreshing swim in a waterfall in the rainforest we floated back on a bamboo raft.
School work is starting slowly, are doing something every day and doing tables while waiting for buses or planes. 100 maths lessons books that we took are going to take some time for us to work out what to do, we should learn something ourselves!
posted by greg and lucy | 12:44 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home