Fiji .....Island Hopping....Bula!
At the school, how cute are these kids, they just loved having their photo taken!
My first couple of nights stay in Fiji, look at the colour of the water! Bliss!
Smallest Island I saw, South Sea Island!
Bounty Island : This is where Celebrity Love Island was filmed and Im actually stood on the jetty where Patrick & Kelly sat!!
Bounty Island! Paradise!
Bounty Island again! This was my last 2 nights in Fiji, the best island I stayed at!
Celebrity Love Island House, do you recognise it? The pool was just outside on the veranda overlooking the ocean, I remembered it soooo well!
Its such a relief to get back in the sun again after being freezing in New Zealand! Seems really weird being in a bikini again and not wearing a coat, scarf, gloves and boots! What a contrast!
I stepped off the plane and the heat hit me and I realised that I much prefer sun to snow!
I landed in Nadi and spent the night there and then I booked a weeks trip around the islands as the mainland isnt anything special, it felt quite dirty, polluted and very poor.
I went into the local shopping mall, which in fact was smaller than a corner shop at home and the woman was standing behing bars and mesh and I actually couldnt see what stock she had! Scary!
So I booked a trip called "Lazy Threesome" which suited me fine, it was 3 islands over 6 days, not too much planned, so it was more of a chill and relax session. Whilst queuing for the ferry on the first day, I bumped into the Irish girls who I met in NZ and managed to have a good catch up until they had to jump off to their island. Such a small world indeed!
First stop was an island called Nanuya Lailai at the top of the Yassawa Islands, about 4 hours from the mainland. The ferry anchored and then little speedboats/banana boats came from all the various resorts to pick us up and take you to shore. Very well organised.
Stayed at a place called Sunrise which was the most basic accomodation I stayed in whilst being in Fiji. They had outdoor cold showers, electricity was turned off at midnight until the morning and the food was rice, rice and more rice! The best thing about the place was the location, right on the beach, hammocks to chill so that made up for it
The owner was a gay as you like, even called himself Queen and carried a handbag around! Funny! He always ended up singing in the evening and generally entertaining us.
I met a great crowd here and most of us managed to stay together throughout the week, it all depended on the package you had selected as to which island you went next.
So I met 3 Bristol Girls who were great fun, Sylvie, Ashlynn & Jenny, also Kat from London and we played lots of card games, drinking games & Spoons which we will play on my return!
The first evening we all had to take turns in standing up in front of everyone..about 50 people and introduce yourself, say what your best /worst experience has been whilst travelling. I hate doing these sort of things, but so did most people so grinned and beared it!
Then we were given the traditional drink Cava which basically tasted like Muddy Water! it was so disgusting!
Next day I visited a school on a nearby island, it is one of the most enjoyable memories I have in Fiji.
The kids were so friendly and very well behaved. On arrival we met the teacher who sent the children out of the room to collect coconuts so he could have a chat with us.
He explained its a boarding school as many islands don't have schools, so generally the children arrive on boats on Monday and go back home to see their parents at the weekends.
The school had children from the age of 5 to 11, imagine being away from your parents as such a young age.
They had no electricity in the school, water was tight too, school is the first place to close when there is a drought in the area.
I asked the teacher about the childrens behaviour, he asked them to do something once and they did it! What a difference to our kids today, he shrugged his shoulders and said its just their culture! What we could learn from this eh!
The four of us then sat in the classroom and the children sang to us, "You are my Sunshine!" & a fijian song, they loved it, afterwards we were free to walk around the different classrooms, all the kids were the same, they all wanted to talk to you and have a photo taken.
Later we were invited into the headmasters home, we sat on the floor with a tablecloth to eat from, served us tea and peanut butter crackers!
It was a truly amazing day and one I will always remember
Next day I walked over to the other side of the island and did some snorkelling, the beaches over this side were even nicer. Had a lazy day with my friends and then in the afternoon we were back on the ferry to our next destination...Naviti Island
On arrival Naviti was a lot nicer accomodation from the last two nights, there was 4 of us stopping here for 2 nights, so as we got off the boat we were greeted by all the staff, playing guitar and singing to us. Then they shouted Bula to us....soon learnt this word! Means "Hello or Welcome"
Again it was right on the beach and they also had a really nice swimming pool too! So again we were lazy and started sunbathing again!
In the evening, they showed us the Bula dance, they were all dressed up in grass skirts and we all had to get up and dance...bit like the Macrena Dance and then we did a Conga all around the restaurant! Later we sat on the beach with a bonfire whilst the staff played the guitar and sang! Great night!
Next day we visited "Honeymoon Beach", it was a private beach and had to pay a dollar to visit it, nice beach but nothing too special! Did some crab racing there and some more relaxing!
After Naviti was Bounty Island, this is where Celebrity Love Island was filmed! It was a gorgeous place, just one resort on there and I walked around the whole island in 20 minutes!
Again a swimming pool overlooking the ocean and a lovely beach right outside our door!
Celebrity Love Island house was still there and the jetty where Patrick Kielty & Kelly Brook stood!
The house had been spoilt, lots of graffiti on the walls from Brits mainly and all quite recent, the earliest I spotted was Feb 07.
Spent 2 days on the island and then back to the mainland for my flight to the Cook Islands.
Remember Fiji Time! Thats all they say when things are running late, time doesnt matter to them!
Will add some photos when I can, the technology is not the best here!
I stepped off the plane and the heat hit me and I realised that I much prefer sun to snow!
I landed in Nadi and spent the night there and then I booked a weeks trip around the islands as the mainland isnt anything special, it felt quite dirty, polluted and very poor.
I went into the local shopping mall, which in fact was smaller than a corner shop at home and the woman was standing behing bars and mesh and I actually couldnt see what stock she had! Scary!
So I booked a trip called "Lazy Threesome" which suited me fine, it was 3 islands over 6 days, not too much planned, so it was more of a chill and relax session. Whilst queuing for the ferry on the first day, I bumped into the Irish girls who I met in NZ and managed to have a good catch up until they had to jump off to their island. Such a small world indeed!
First stop was an island called Nanuya Lailai at the top of the Yassawa Islands, about 4 hours from the mainland. The ferry anchored and then little speedboats/banana boats came from all the various resorts to pick us up and take you to shore. Very well organised.
Stayed at a place called Sunrise which was the most basic accomodation I stayed in whilst being in Fiji. They had outdoor cold showers, electricity was turned off at midnight until the morning and the food was rice, rice and more rice! The best thing about the place was the location, right on the beach, hammocks to chill so that made up for it
The owner was a gay as you like, even called himself Queen and carried a handbag around! Funny! He always ended up singing in the evening and generally entertaining us.
I met a great crowd here and most of us managed to stay together throughout the week, it all depended on the package you had selected as to which island you went next.
So I met 3 Bristol Girls who were great fun, Sylvie, Ashlynn & Jenny, also Kat from London and we played lots of card games, drinking games & Spoons which we will play on my return!
The first evening we all had to take turns in standing up in front of everyone..about 50 people and introduce yourself, say what your best /worst experience has been whilst travelling. I hate doing these sort of things, but so did most people so grinned and beared it!
Then we were given the traditional drink Cava which basically tasted like Muddy Water! it was so disgusting!
Next day I visited a school on a nearby island, it is one of the most enjoyable memories I have in Fiji.
The kids were so friendly and very well behaved. On arrival we met the teacher who sent the children out of the room to collect coconuts so he could have a chat with us.
He explained its a boarding school as many islands don't have schools, so generally the children arrive on boats on Monday and go back home to see their parents at the weekends.
The school had children from the age of 5 to 11, imagine being away from your parents as such a young age.
They had no electricity in the school, water was tight too, school is the first place to close when there is a drought in the area.
I asked the teacher about the childrens behaviour, he asked them to do something once and they did it! What a difference to our kids today, he shrugged his shoulders and said its just their culture! What we could learn from this eh!
The four of us then sat in the classroom and the children sang to us, "You are my Sunshine!" & a fijian song, they loved it, afterwards we were free to walk around the different classrooms, all the kids were the same, they all wanted to talk to you and have a photo taken.
Later we were invited into the headmasters home, we sat on the floor with a tablecloth to eat from, served us tea and peanut butter crackers!
It was a truly amazing day and one I will always remember
Next day I walked over to the other side of the island and did some snorkelling, the beaches over this side were even nicer. Had a lazy day with my friends and then in the afternoon we were back on the ferry to our next destination...Naviti Island
On arrival Naviti was a lot nicer accomodation from the last two nights, there was 4 of us stopping here for 2 nights, so as we got off the boat we were greeted by all the staff, playing guitar and singing to us. Then they shouted Bula to us....soon learnt this word! Means "Hello or Welcome"
Again it was right on the beach and they also had a really nice swimming pool too! So again we were lazy and started sunbathing again!
In the evening, they showed us the Bula dance, they were all dressed up in grass skirts and we all had to get up and dance...bit like the Macrena Dance and then we did a Conga all around the restaurant! Later we sat on the beach with a bonfire whilst the staff played the guitar and sang! Great night!
Next day we visited "Honeymoon Beach", it was a private beach and had to pay a dollar to visit it, nice beach but nothing too special! Did some crab racing there and some more relaxing!
After Naviti was Bounty Island, this is where Celebrity Love Island was filmed! It was a gorgeous place, just one resort on there and I walked around the whole island in 20 minutes!
Again a swimming pool overlooking the ocean and a lovely beach right outside our door!
Celebrity Love Island house was still there and the jetty where Patrick Kielty & Kelly Brook stood!
The house had been spoilt, lots of graffiti on the walls from Brits mainly and all quite recent, the earliest I spotted was Feb 07.
Spent 2 days on the island and then back to the mainland for my flight to the Cook Islands.
Remember Fiji Time! Thats all they say when things are running late, time doesnt matter to them!
Will add some photos when I can, the technology is not the best here!
posted by SuenGav @ 7/12/2007 08:57:00 am
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