Round the World Travel

BULA! (Hello in Fiji),

We arrived Fiji after a night flight and headed to the hostel we booked for the first night. Nadi Bay Resort. A nice enough hostel with a pool where we tried to sort out our plans for the time in Fiji. Don't let anyone tell you it is cheap in Fiji. The ferries between the islands really rack up the price, something we were a bit naive about. After a few hassles, and messing around we finally got our diving booked with Aqua Blue.

We moved to cheaper accommodation, which was OK, but the New Town area is not the nicest and really off the beaten track. You get what you pay for though.

Kuki, our dive instructor at Aqua Blue, was a really cool and patient guy and looked after me (Diane) when I got an attack of the nerves taking masks off under the water in the confined pool dives. We got the theory day out of the way first and the second two days were out into open water. Unfortunately I got sea sick, which was not good. I found out on the second day diving that it is possible to be sick under water into the regulator, feeding the fish. Poor Mark didn't know what to do! Somehow I was able to get through this and did all the skills including taking off the mask and replacing it 15 metres under water, a weird experience.
However, despite this we both managed to pass the course and are now PADI open water certified. Yippee! I hope we get to use it in calm waters from now onwards!
It was a great experience minus the vomiting. We saw fantastic coral, reef shark and a Manta ray 5 metres across.

After the diving, we took Kuki's advice and booked a few days on Mana Island, in the Mamanuca group.
We stayed at really basic accommodation called the Mana Lagoon. However the view from the front was priceless.

When we didn't get rain and wind (there were a couple of storms) it was just like you see in the photos. Clear water, sandy beaches. Not a lot to do! We met some nice people who made it a great experience (thanks Gemma and Will) and we stayed 5 days in the end. The sunsets were magical and different every day. This quickly became our favourite time of the day. As you'll see when the photos are sorted.

We visited the island used in the Tom Hanks film, Castaway. It was strange seeing all the areas in the film and being the only two people on the island. It really is uninhabited, but there are islands quite close unlike the film.

Whilst on Mana we did a bit of snorkelling, visited the local school and had a concert by the children there. It was the closest we got to real Fiji life. The Fijian people live a very simple life and are extremely happy in doing so. They are really friendly people and welcome all guests.

The final few days of our visit have been at Nomad Skylodge, which feels like 5 star luxury. Well, there is hot water and electricity all day (not just when it was dark, like on Mana Island). On our last night we went out with a bang and tried the Fiji drink Kava. The best way to describe the taste is imagine dirty dishwater!! Maybe you can get the gist from the pictures demonstrated by Diane!!:-)

We leave for Auckland tomorrow, and although it has been great weather, we are ready to move on.