"Last Stop in Paradise"

Fijian welcome (flower chain)
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The resort of Botaira on Naviti island was our last stop on the island-hopping tour of Fiji. The resort itself was quite a bit more basic and traditional than the other two and was owned by Fijians. The resor6t also had very few Bures and so a big positive for our 3 days there is that we got to know the other guests quite well and had some great evenings chatting away with different people and getting top tips for our future destinations and travels.

Once again, we weren't keen to spend our whole time just chilling out and so squeezed in a couple of activities to our hectic schedule. We managed some hand-line fishing again - this time with Nick being the 'hunter-gatherer' and pulling up a poor Parrot Fish! We also did a village hike over the hill in the centre of the island and got a local Fijian welcome and bought some souvenirs - Nick getting in touch with his feminine side for the first time and adopting the 'traveller stylee' with his first necklace! The highlight was definitely a long swim alongside some big Manta Rays a stones throw from Botaira resort. Apparently it is slightly unseasonal for them to be around the island at the moment but we were lucky to have experienced their gracefullness (is that a word?) in the water with a few others as 4 large mantas glided around us accompanied by their cleaner fish! Some of the big guys were up to 2.5m across and certainly didn't mind you snorkelling alongside of them - that was if you could keep up as they were enjoying swimming against the tide!

Nick getting in touch with his feminine side for the first time and adopting the 'traveller stylee' with his first necklace!

More crazy sunsets
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Thanks also to the Ballies for providing some entertainment whilst we were there - we finally found the time (and patience) to read through the 10 pages of rules for their leaving present to us - Backpacker game. Anyway we are now hooked and have converted a few other followers and the game has provided some entertainment on those starry ights after dinner....before the continued Kava drinking clearly! Cheers guys. Just to confirm aswell - the kava has been safe...no crazy hallucinagenic moments. It is quite disgusting though - looking and tasting like muddy dishwater! You have to participate though to be polite and have a good chat with the locals...all the time accompanied by earth-shattering debates about village politics and with UB40 playing in the background.....life really is that laid back in Fiji.

The 'Kava' ceremony
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Anyway, back to civilization and good company with a week in the city in Sydney. Hopefully we will now be back online more often and have some photos for you shortly.