Bula bula!

Fiji, one of my favourite places in the world.

Arriving at the airport you are greeted by a group of men with guitars and a ukulele dressed in Bula shirts. Its 6am in the morning, and they are singing (what I later learned was the Bula song). The welcome song which I would hear several times throughout my stay. Its one of my favourites, I even got one of the locals to teach me it.

I had organised to be picked up by the hostel, Bluewater Lodge, Fiona was waiting patiently for me, and even gave me a quick tour of the town (one street) before driving back to the hostel for breakfast. I love island life. Fresh papaya for breakfast. The only bad thing was, mosquitoes were also feeding on me!! Use repellent in abundance at Bluewater.

After a much needed snooze, I headed into town on the local bus. Big purple bus, with no windows and you pull a string which is attached to what looks like a bicycle bell to tell the drive you want to stop!

ring ring!

Head to Jacks in town for all your souvenir needs; Mama's pizza for the best pizza ever- order one size smaller than you normally would unless you want to eat left over pizza for the rest of your life! Check out the supermarket too. I love looking around foreign groceries stores.

Most people only use Nadi as a stay over before and after Island visits. The Yasawas are on the West of the mainland and the closest one, South Sea Island is only 1 hr away.

South Sea Island- tiny!

Pete and myself headed to Long Beach which is 4hrs from the mainland. We had no idea it was so far away when we booked but its right up at the North of the Yasawas. It was a small family run resort. Basic in that there was nothing to do but lie on a hammock reading a book, or walk along the beach... Perfect. Even all the postcards have Perfect written on them. The food was also basic, and a lot of people complained about this but we were on an island! What did they expect??

Lunch... innovative, right?

I love learning how the locals live. There were only 3 other foreigners at Long Beach while we were there, and whilst all the tourist would bathe in the sun all day, the locals would sit in the shade and play Flicky Flicky- which is square wooden board with wooden discs which you flick into the pockets. Its a 2-4 player game. Its like pool and you choose your colour (black, or white) the red one is always the 2nd last one to go in. The white one is like the cue ball.

Local Fijian game, Flicky flicky

The next day I was shown how to weave a basket from the leaves of a coconut tree before we went rummaging through the forrest for bananas. The bananas were not quite ripe yet, and the pineapple season had just finished so we settled for young coconut. I first came across young coconut in Thailand. They are green, and smooth, and not at all like the brown, furry coconuts we get at home.

Rubin climbing up to get some coconuts for us

Then we sat and Rubin used his machete to open up the coconuts for us and we drank young coconut juice straight from the tree. Very refreshing!

We stayed at Long Beach for two nights then went to Octopus resort for two nights. They had doubled booked the dorms so we were put in a en-suite bungalow which was just tragic ;-) This place was pric-ier but definitely worth the extra money. 3 course meals, entertainment every night, there's a reef like 10m off the beach so there is great snorkelling- I saw a squid eating a fish!!

Preparing Kava

Kava is one of the local drinks used in special ceremonies, and at Octopus, in the welcome ceremony. Its made from the root of a pepper plant and its supposed to make you feel relaxed, and sleepy. I never had too much of it because it made my throat go a little bit numb! If you get the chance to visit Fiji, you'll have plenty of opportunities to try Kava. Enjoy!