371. Travel diary. Fiji.

                                     

Fiji

As we landed in fiji and worked our way through customs we were greeted by a little band playing the guitar and singing traditional Fijian songs, already I could tell this was going to be a pretty amazing place. Arriving at 6am in the morning, it was pretty warm and I couldn't wait to get out of my clothes and into a bikini.

Nadi 

We decided to spend one night in Nadi to get our bearings as we hadn't planned any of our time in Fiji. We had choose a hostel called Bamboo beach which was situated about a 20 minute drive from the airport ($18 = £6 journey). We had booked a private room with en suite, after a 12 hour flight we thought we'd treat ourselves to a little luxury. However the room worked out to be about a tenner each for a night so still a bargain! It was very basic accommodation but had everything we needed for a nights stay. The place was sat right on the sea front which was pretty amazing. With a pool too, you could swim whilst gazing at the sea. The beach was gorgeous but not as good as what was to come. You could eat at he hostel for between $15 - $25 for a dinner meal, so pretty cheap. 

If you wanted to go anywhere you'd have to get a taxi, these were pretty cheap. When going to do some food shopping don't expect what you get in the uk. There isn't much choice and not much there
to be honest.

The staff at the hostel were incredibly nice and helpful. We planned our island hopping with them and they made it all very easy. They were all very cheerful like nothing you've seen in England. They all greet you and sit down and chat with you, it was bizarre meeting people who were so kind and happy!

Tavewa 

We were advised to go to tavewa by he locals as apparently this was an extremely pretty island. This is known as part of the yawasa Islands. This is a stretch of lots of little island just north of nadi. We were picked up from our hostel and taken to the port. It was a very easy procedure and everyone helped you load your bags. Taking 5 hours as we decided to start at the top and work our way down, we got comfy and sat outside so we could admire the incredible views. We were even lucky enough to see a school of dolphin swim behind our ferry! 

We eventually got to the island via a small boat picking us up from the ferry. We were dumbfounded to where we had managed to find ourselves. Checking in at coral view resort we were greeted by the staff singing, juice and a flower in our hair. We were seated at given lunch. But this is where we had trouble in paradise. Having booked all our hostels through the hostel world app, things soon went down hill. The room cost $30 a night but we were told upon arrival that there is a compulsory meal
plan everyday which was $80. Making our total a lot bigger than expected. Although when converted
into pounds it's not much money, we are on a. Wry strict budget. The resort wouldn't let us stay unless we paid the whole amount, being very unhelpful, we showed them that our confirmation email did not state anything about the meal plan, he agreed but said it was hostel worlds fault not theirs. Left in despair we had no idea what to do or where to stay as the last ferry had gone for the night. With Nikki left in tears, the locals and workers at the resort tried to all help us sort the mess out as 4/5 places we booked had these meal plans. We met Amos, Nico and Max who sat down and chatted to us, they promised "everything will be fine, we are in Fiji! We won't leave you!"

                                    

 Getting nowhere with the resort they refused to even let us sleep in the hammock for a night, so nice said we could stay at his aunts. It was incredibly kind, everyone looked after us. We had to walk through the woods and along the shoreline, the tide had gone in so wading through we felt like Bear Grylls. We eventually got to their home. A hut located within the trees a few 100 feet away from the beach. This was a special occasion for them to have visitors, so we were invited to sit with the family and all their friends and drink the traditional drink Kava. This is known to relax you and make your
mouth numb, and it very much did. Ma, the aunt cooked us an amazing chicken curry for dinner, we
sat down with her and her 11 year old niece Ateca. 

After dinner we sat back outside with all the friends and family and they chatted to us about the Fijian way and how they were embarrassed by the way the resort treated us. We drank lots more Kava and shared our vodka with them. They were all selfless and shared everything, it felt like one massive family.
                                      

The next day Ateca looked after us and took us around the island, in the morning we went for a walk to where we were going to swim later that day. Walking through the village it was small and beautiful, she took us to her church where everyone all goes. She called the beach her playground as she chatted to us english. It was amazing how well she spoke it. We walked back to the hut and Ma had cooked us traditional fiji pancakes. They were so delicious, shaped in triangle puffs they were kind of a crispy pancake which we filled with sugar and butter. We then popped on our bikinis and went to the beach, it was empty, no one to be seen yet so beautiful. The sea was so clear. Ateca taught us traditional dances and sang all the western songs she knew from Justin Beiber to Nicki Minaj. She 
proceeded to call Nicki Minaj a bitch because she wore too little clothes, we cracked up. It had been such an amazing end to our day. Nico came and picked us up with his boat and took us to the ferry where we left to go to the next island.