Tropical Island Paradise. Malolo!

We were coming to Fiji to spend some time trying to rest and recuperate before our journey in Central America began. After shopping around We found a resort that was doing cheap deals on it's rooms on the Island of Malolo. This was good for us!

We flew into Nadi airport at about 2:30pm local time From the airport we organised our own transfer to the Island of Malolo. We were picked up and taken to the coast by minibus. From there we boarded the Malolo Cat and made the 45 minute hop across the channel that separates Malolo from the mainland. We were met from the ferry by one of the porters who then took us to the 5 minute journey to the hotel. The hotel is truely fantastic. It's like the front of one of these glossy holiday brochures. The deal we'd gone for meant that we had full use of all the equipment included and breakfast as well.

The clocks for sale have no numbers. On the face of the clocks it just says 'who cares?' and underneath 'Fiji Time!'

Everyday we were here we kayaked and snorkeled and to hire a kayak it was $F10 for an hour for a kayak (each) and $F5 for the snorkel gear (each) Cycle hire was $F10 and hour. All the activities we did were free as well such as visiting traditional villages on nearby islands, fishing basket weaving and guided tours of the island.

There were lots of places to eat on the resort island of Malolo but some are better than others Jo fell ill with all the symptons of food poisoning halfway through our stay here and we felt that it could've been due to some dodgy pumpkin risotto she had. On a Thursday night the do a traditional Hangi feast which is well worth the effort.

On the Thursday night we went along to a Hangi night (traditional Fiji food and entertaiment) at Dick's place in Musket Cove and had the buffet and were entertained/participated in the events of the evening. Jo and I had just the biggests smiles on our faces. The dancing and singing was brilliant.

On our last night we were invited to a kava ceremony by one of the local lads who works at the hotel. We'd had a few beers first with a couple we met from NZ then went along to one of the staff houses. There was about 20 pf the locals all sat round drinking this stuff which is made from the root of a plant that grows on the mainland. The ceremony basically involves sharing a few bowls of this stuff and just having a chat and a laugh with the guys. You have to shout 'Bula'  and clap a few times before and after drinking the stuff and after a few bowls we started to feel a bit giggly and sleepy, it numbs your tongue a bit. I think that it's some sort of mild relaxant. It's all perfectly legal and we saw lots of the local guys sat around drinking at night time in bars. I think that some of the heath food shops back home sell it in tablet form and under the name of kava kava.