Nandi and Octopus Resort, Waya Island, Fiji

Our journey to reach Fiji from Cusco was long, to say the very least.  It took 4 days (as we lost a day when flying over the date line) and we had to take 5 flights all with long waits at the airports in between, ranging from about 5 hours to 20.  From Cusco we flew to Lima, from Lima to Santiago, from Santiago to Auckland, from Auckland to Sydney and then on to Fiji.  After all this travelling, we were looking forward to the prospect of nice warm weather after experiencing the colder climes of Peru and Bolivia.  We were a little disappointed when on arriving in Nadi, it was raining cats and dogs and most of the roads were well on their way to being flooded.  We were even more disillusioned when the next morning it was still going, if a little worse now too.  Still, we got picked up and transferred to the Marina where we met the Octopus Resort boat and were whisked off to Waya Island.  Not many people stay on Fiji mainland long and we had been told by many people that our island and the Octopus Resort was one of the best of all the Fijiian islands.

The boat took a little longer than the one and a half hours expected as it really was rather rough.  We travelled through continually changing weather from treacherous rain to brilliant sunshine.  The weather had cleared up somewhat though by the time we arrived which gave us chance to explore the resort.  It looked amazing, we were staying in a dorm room with about 12 single beds, each with its own mosquito net, bedside table, fan and lamp.  It was nicely done.  There was a lovely swimming pool, a private beach which had a good snorkeling reef, a restaurant and most importantly a nice bar.

We spent the next 4 days sunbathing, swimming, playing volleyball with the locals (at which we were both pretty rubbish) and generally relaxing.   All we had to worry about was listening out for the conch 3 times a day which signified breakfast, lunch or dinner!  The food was very good too, a big buffet for breakfast, a choice of about 10 dishes for lunch and then usually a themed evening meal like curry night or Fijiian feast.  After dinner there was always some entertainment, films with popcorn to be watched, traditional Meke dancing and also the highlight of our time there – the international crab racing.  We went down to the beach and found a crab, a number was then tippexed on its back and then they were all collected in a bucket and let go in the crab racing circuit (a circle drawn in the sand).  We had 3 heats, mine came out first go as it barely moved but typically Stephen’s got into the final a got a whopping 3rd place overall which won him $10 off his bar bill.

Also whilst on the island we visited the local village from where most of the staff are employed.  We went to the kindergarten where we were sang to and then had a tour of the village and played around with the children.  In one breeze block house, sleeps all generations of the family, separated by a curtain into 2 sections, one for the women and one for the men.  Their kitchens were outside the house under corrugated iron roves and it was fascinating walking around and seeing the immense differences from poorer villages in South America.