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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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“'I'll show you where to buy handicrafts from a fijian, don't buy from the Indians'!!!!” |
Skipping Nadi we listened to big brother's advice and headed straight for the beachouse on the coral coast, treated to a DVD of Arnie S's Predator enroute (don't bother with this one girls!). Being valentines day (we lost a day enroute to Fiji) a tired Lizzi from a delayed flight was treated to a full body Bula massage! Not your traditional affair the 2 ladies chatted and laughed in Fijian the whole way through and my knickers were on full view to the whole world.
There was plenty to occupy us at the beachouse we made full use of coconut jewellry making, volleyball, drinking coconut milk, kayaking, coconut husking, swimming (/attempting to without scratching your tummy in the shallow lagoon), chatting over coconuts, lounging in hammocks, eating coconuts!
We trekked from the hostel into the nearby jungle to swim in the waterfall, it was fantastic we got really muddy and wet, and our guide invited Nick and I back to his house in the nextdoor village the next night, for traditional Fijian food from his plantation in the jungle. We were treated as honoured guests, given cushions to sit on the pandanas mats, the best crockery and fed first and given meat the rest of the family would only have the meat that we didn't eat. At 7pm they had family prayer time, where they prayed for us read from the bible and sang, it was all in Fijian so we didn't understand it but it was pretty special. The kids were really sweet especcially the youngest that kept throwing his teddy at us during the prayers and then crashed out asleep in the middle of the floor having exhausted himself out!
We weren't too keen on Suva (the capital) although its museum does have a Kiribati suit of armour. The Sigatoka sanddunes were also hot on the feet and probably not worth a long bus journey only go there if you've got a car or are going to Sigatoka anyway.
Our last day we planned to have some adventure and wanting some white water action booked ourselves on a trip inland. We hiked through the jungle with this guide who was really proud to tell us all about his great great great granfather who was the first white man to meet the cannibals inland. It was pretty hard going coz it was very hot, steep, slippery and thick overgrowth. Once we got to the river we had to raft down it in a rubber dingy, the rapids were quite gentle not really white water but it was soooooo much harder than it looked we squabbled about who was doing it right and kept turning in circles. We rafted down to the magic waterfalls, where we still had to work, to get to the waterfall we had to walk and swim through the river which was pretty strong and climb up a smaller waterfall to get to it, there wasn't much energy left to swim when we got there! Nick chose the easy way back and jumped his way back down! Luckily the end of the trip was a longboat ride and we could sleep well that night!
Doing a granny we noticed a couple of ladies were from Kiribati from the hairslides they were wearing, so we chatted to them, secretly hoping they knew Taoata or were one of her sisters! No such luck but they did come from Tarawa and knew all about St Joseph's school!
Onward to New Zealand..............
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