Fiji
so I supppose i should be telling you of my amazing time and journey in Fiji.... but before i do i should finish off the time i spent in auckland... After the last day in the bay of islands i had some time to kill in Auckland and so Me, Marnie and Mel headed to the Auckland Museum. Now I am going to have to admit that my usual excellent navigatiofailed me we got lost in auckland with these two. Though Marnie seemed to like the look of the French guy who I asked directions from in French. Actually the girls were stunned by the fluent french I was Spouting.But after a two hour walk we got to the Auckland museum and saw some more amazing Moari and colonial exhibitions.
So I, Master chef.. or as one drunken girl (who I didn't cook for kept calling me " it's the fuckin' masterchef", had to cook for a load of people. 10 to be precise and I wanted to keep the budget down after the disaterously expensive Frahijtas the night before. All I am going to say is that you should see how surpised people were at eating food made with the chinese equivalent of super Noodles and canned tomato soup. Then the night descended into the usual end of trip chaos.. I am not sure me relating any of the details of the night would be a good idea... what happens on the final night stay on the final night.
So up nice and early with a slight hang over and to the airport with me... a three hour flight later and the film Madagascar I arrived at Nadi. Where As I was expecting the Usual chaos of an island laid back society and I was not dissapointed, the best bit is that they actually have a name for it Fiji Time.
When I booked the Fee Jee experience I knew that I would have to spend a day in Nadi... I had all these plans for going into town and checking things out.. but what actually happened was that I spent the whole day by the hostel pool in the 30c. So good I tell you. I never thought i could spend a whole day by a pool or beach... but you know what I was wrong! It was genius.
Some of the people I meet up that night were... Rachel from Quebec and Gwen from Nebraska and Mr Jo (you stay one more night mr JO!!)
Gwen seemed very enamoured of the the male dancers they had on that evening, but the less said about that the better... So an early start for us at 7.20 for us all on the Fiji Experience. Oh and I bumped into Lou again from the bay of island trip from NZ, which was sweet!
So what did our trip have in store for us, well first it was a stop in Nadi.. the ciy to which I flown in to and had not seen a thing of the previous day because i couldn't be arsed. We needed to do a money and food stop.It was pretty much at this point that i found out that i would not be able to cook for people. And I was devastated. after wards our first stop off was the beach on the coral coast.
Out came the Boggie boards and we where having fun in the waves for a good hour. There wasn't much surf to baord on... but it was doable. and me who had bearly done it before was showing others how to do it. Nothing like the arrogance. It was also whenlunch was being prepared that i found out that of all the people on the Fee Jee expereince bus (30+) i was the only vegatarian...
The next stop was a genuine fiji village 1 1/2 hours away on the south coast of the island we wondered around this placce and found out more about the nature of the traditional Fijian lifestyle and most of the kids where grabbing the girls hands and escorting them round. check out teh whole variety of amazing shots I took of the town. They are some of the best photos' I feel I have taken while being on holiday. While I was in the village though I didn't have a Sarong. Yes I had to wear a sarong... i know and it just feels wrong on so many levels.
Then it was off to our hostel for the night as the sun came down over the horizon of this tropical idyl. It was a bit of a wierd night first of all there was a dance performance for us here the 'tourists' which made me feel very weird and strange since it seemed to me that they where almost selling their culture to us and it felt cheapened in some way by it... on the other hand it allowed us to experience it. Have a listen for your selves. I did some Audio recordsings of the performances with my MP3 player check them out. Oh and I also did some Sand boarding (But it was better in NZ)
Fijimusic1
Fijimusic2
So I continue with possibly my longest entry any where on my blog, We where heading to the east of the Island and the capital where we would stay for the night. During the day we went ona mild to moderate 3 hour hike throuhg forest hils and 2ft deep river water. Please note the stupid looking fern crowns we all worn... dont ask why.This was followed by a 25 min river tubing, then a river boat with others for 30 mins. I should be saying more about this I am sure but It was cool. The tubing was a dissapointment though after having done far better rapids in the USA and darker (as in no light) in the NZ.
The only problem with writting this all now is that it must come across a little like
" I Did this and this and this and this... Yawn"
My apologies on that I am trying my best but when writting a blog and Travellling the activities can sometimes be the highlight of the whole day.
The evening was a Kava night, for those of you who don't know what Kava is check out the following link. Kava. Any way the stuff tastes bloody awful and it was meant to have a doping effect. and I reckon It did absolutley nothing to me... I had 10 cups of the stuff and felt pretty much a big fat nothing. Even people who kept drinking the stuff till late in the night still felt that the only thing that hit them after 20 cups of the stuf they felt a sudden and desparate urge to pee.DAY 3 2 things this day first off was the trip to a village, but his time we would take part inthe sevu sevu ceremony, where the People gather in a Bure ( the town house/hut) and drink.... guess what...yep Kava I can't get away from the stuff.
Check out the video me knocking back the stuff
Oh and I found it hilarious also that when we all had to introduce ourlselves all the boys deliberatly mentioned that they where single.. but the girls made no comment what so ever. hmmm wonder why that was kids?
What was a highlight for me was the fact that I watched as the villagers made thier jewellery, they where preparing some rings made from dried leaves, so i took out some paper and made one of them a ring made origami stunned some of the kids where amazed and so I made them a gazelle as well. as you can see here. oh and we went Bamboo raft piking
The afternoon saw us head for the an island off the north coast, a veritable island paradise . Stunning beechs and a great bar..what else could you want. The night turned into a bit of a drunken mess but on the positive side I did get to lie in a hammock with 2 girls for 4 hours tring desparatly to get to sleep. Nothing more need be said on the matter.Day 4
With a slight hang over.. I then went snorkelling which i had allways intended to do at some point on Fiji and I tell you now there is no better way to wake up first thing in the morning. I have no idea about the great barrier reef but this was amazing. There were walls 2 metres high of coral. Puffer/lion/parrot/jelly fish. at ;east 8 differnt types of schools of fish with corouls that caught the eyes Electric blue star fish 2 ft across. It was utterly stunning. I don't have the words to describe it properly but it was the best way to wake up. I felt so alive after snorkelling for about 2 hrs. I think that is the best $15 I have ever spent to hire those fins.
So after that the only other thing of note to mention is the goat curry (or veggie in my case)we had in town. 1/2 Fiji's population is from India (indo-fijian). And then the mud pools int he afternoon which were a bit of a dissapointment after that glorious dswimint he morning.. We arrived back at the hsotel had a few drinkand got ready for the flight out to OZ the next day.
