BULA ( hello in Fijian!)

So after a flight from Christchurch to Auckland , Auckland to Nadi we touch down in Fiji! It was about 7 at night and dead in the airport but in true Fijian style, as you get through passport control you still got the special treatment .. men in the flower shirts and little guitar's singing you the welcome to Fiji song! You then have to shake every staff member's hand! Love it!! After we collected out bags we headed out of the airport to catch our shuttle bus, this was our first experience with 'Fiji time'. Fiji time is their time, they do everything slower and when they want to! 25 Minutes later he finally starts up the bus and were off to the hostel. Nadi its self is quite a poor country with lots of shanty towns and small huts as houses. The only thing i can compare it to look like is the back streets of Egypt or Dominican republic. We arrived at our hostel which was really nice.. oh a pool we were very excited, simple things and all that! We had intended to get up at 6 the next day and get straight on to the islands , but as we had spare time and was wooed by the swimming pool we decided to stay there and extra night. The next day at the hostel as you can imagine we sunbathed all day round the pool!!! Now we had been on google and stressing that the weather was going to be raining, but as we got up the The following day it was Boiling!! We were up early and on the bus heading down to the port to get the Boat! At the port again there was more men with little guitars singing! I can see this being a recurrence! We then boarded a big catamaran and headed of to our first island...Long beach. The call for the long beach people was announced we were getting off... "But wait i can see the island but we are nowhere near it??" Then we noticed our bags being thrown into this tiny fishing boat! And we had to get in there as well! Off sails the big boat and the 8 people and our bags struggling over to long beach on a winy boat! A slightly nerving experience but worth it to get to where we were going. At the shore of long beach we are greeted with more singing people but wow this place was beautiful. After being checked in we had lunch .. Umm interesting Fijian food!! We looked around the island this is what paradise is, and it's incredible! We spent the day chilled out in hammock reading, Soaking up the sun and being amazed by the scenery. Now this is the Life!! As there was only 8 people on the island and the electricity goes off at midnight it was an early night for all on long beach! So my first day in paradise turnt into my first night of hell at night! There are bugs everywhere!! Ants, spiders, cockroaches, flying things everything! We had been shown pictures at dinner of the things this other couple had woke up with in there bed! Scary stuff! I wouldn't say I love big insects but small insects really freak me out, the ones that can get in holes like your mouth and ears! Actually.. laying in a hut with nothing other than a net as protection, i was petrified of all insects! So I spent the night wake, checking with my torch every 10 minutes that there wasn't a cockroach or massive spider climbing up my bed! It was an Awake nightmare I convinced i keep seeing something on my net! We were up early the next day, 7:45 to be exact luckily breakfast is served early as it's just to hot once the sun comes up to sleep! After another chilled out morning we were back on the little boat -then big boat- then little boat again to get to Wala-lei-lei. Again it was a beautiful island. It was more trible looking as you were right next door to the people that live there villages! This is REAL Fiji!! Feeling a little adventurous we went on a fishing trip! Another tiny fishing boat, some coils of fishing line , a hook and a small fish as bait! No rods involved here this was Fiji style fishing! I did have something really tugging on my line , but it swam under the corals , so the line got stuck and the men had to cut it free, i never found out what i caught! It was really good fun but we only managed to catch one fish between us, then we decided it looked to small, we felt sorry for it so we made them throw it back! The Fijian fisherman didn't look impressed! After dinner We did what we do best played hours of s***head! Another early night! This was our first experience with a big dorm, 30 strangers, Insects and asleep on the floor... 3 stray dogs ( well they belonged to somone on the island) Yet another wonderful nights sleep! After breakfast we were back on the boats....By lunch time we were on Mantray island! This island again was beautiful they all were but this one was a little specail because of it Food! It's the best fiji island for food, you get 3 course meals and a menu too chose from. The best thing is you are not possibley eating goat(which i think we did at long beach , goat curry ummm) We had been so lucky with the weather so far, again it was boiling hot so spent the day sunbathing! Each of the islands have something to do ,like snorkelling,caving etc. which we always had intention to do but when we got the we were sidetracked with the white sand and hot sun! So made the most of it! Another first for me on mantray a 60 man dorm, ice cold sea water showers and long drop toilets! But it's all worth it! After some lovely dinner we played some cards with some guys we knew from new Zealand. After a hour or so we decided to open our duty free...Vodka!! We headed down to the beach were the was a bonfire- we played drinking games and re living our youth!! 3am bed time! I woke up the next day feeling surprising refreshed, it's amazing how a litre and half of vodka helps you sleep i didn't worry about the bugs once!! Another day on the beach then to our next island Beachcomber for 2 nights. Beachcomber was the island we had heard most about 1.As its the party island and 2. It has a 100 man dorm! As usual we spent the day on the beach, had a cold shower then dinner. We sat in the bar and got chatting to some people , i wouldn't exactly say it was a party but it had people, booze and a dj playing music so good enough! We Learnt the famous 'Bula dance' which is a little like the Macarana, so funny. The next day was a normal day for us! Then that evening we decided to finish of the vodka, We danced the Bula and danced some more! You got to love a party on the beach! Oh and the 100 bed dorm thing was fine, except for the psycho the bed across that slept butt naked and liked to watch you sleep. Sarah actually went to bed with her rape alarm! The next day we finally got our 1st day of bad weather ..Rain. Now without sunbathing there is not much do do in fjii, so we had yet another s***head marathon! Back on the boat to our last island...Bounty. Bounty island was were celebrity love island was filmed, Although the actual set was destroyed, the island was hit by a cyclone. Although the pool is still there! We got to bounty late in the evening so it was dinner and an early night. The next day it was till raining so we really had nothing to do, We walked round the island and to the Love island set. As it was still raining we decided to move our boat from 5pm to 12, it was shame we didn't really get to see bounty but oh well. We headed back to the main land! We had 2 more nights back on Nadi. The first thing we did was empty the ton of sand out of our backpacks and do washing. We washed everything item of clothing we had. For some reason all clothes and things start to smell in Fiji as it is so humid nothing ever dries there, Yum...10 day old damp smell ...nice! The last night we had a big emotional goodbye with Andy, Our friend for New Zealand that had been with us the whole of Fiji. A 6 week friendship is like a 6 year one in travelling terms.These goodbyes don't get easier!

Next stop Australia.........