"An Around-the-World-Ticket for Two, Please."

Canada Eh!

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Thursday 27 October 2011 09:48

On Sunday 12th June we crossed the border and headed into Canada. We had booked our hotel in Vancouver, and had read a lot of reviews! We knew it wasn't in the best area, but most people had commented that it was fine and they felt safe, so we plumped for it as the price was right! When we got there we decided to go straight out for a walk to explore. It was like nothing I have ever seen! The area we were in is called East Hastings, and is renowned to be a dodgy area, with lots of homeless people, however, this does not paint the right picture. Imagine walking down the street, and finding it hard to make your way through the crowds, nut the crowds are the homeless people. Lying on the street or pushing shopping trolleys up and down, there are literally hundreds of them along this street. I also saw someone using a crack pipe for the first time, and in my naivity had to ask Ben what it was! This became a very common sight while we were there. We also saw women propositioning men frequently, and lots more drug abuse. It was very sad, and such an eye opener, as it is so in your face. Vancouver is one of the mildest places in Canada, and has a lot of social support for the homeless etc, which is why there is such a huge population, and East Hastings seems to be the place they congragate, as when you turn off this street, things return to 'normality'. Vancouver is a very beautiful city and when you get near the water it is even nicer. There was a lovely old part of town, Gastown, which had some old buildings and a steam powered clock! We wondered around and explored, and also booked a Whale watching tour for the next day.

The whale watching tour was a good day out, a 3 hour boat trip to the spot to see them, and we did see them! However, the boats can not get closer than 50m, and they stay even further away than this, so you actually don't get to see the Killer Whales that well, which is a shame. It was a lot of money for what it was, but we had a good day out, and did get some pics, even though the whales are pretty small! The boat trip was lovely and we got to see some beautiful scenery! When we got back, we decided to stay in town, as the Canucks (the ice hockey team!) were playing in a very important game, which was being shown on big screens in the town. So we found a piece of pavement to sit on and got into the game spirit, it was great atmosphere!

On Tuesday we went to Granville Island, a fun market place where we had a nice lunch! In the afternoon we explored Stanley Park, a huge park in the city, with lots of walks and things to see! We saw some awesome totem poles and beautiful scenery! On Wednesday we booked to go on a bus trip to the Capoline Suspension Bridge, which is a very old suspension bridge and a kind of little theme park area. We enjoyed lunch there, and a stroll around, and of course over the bridge! On the other side there were some treetop walks which we did, before heading back on the bus. We got our stuff from the hotel, and headed to the greyhound station for our overnight trip to Salem, Oregon, to see the libby's!!!

Well, it's only been 15 weeks since we got home!

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , 07:02

So, we actually landed in the UK 15 weeks ago today! However, that is skipping a lot of the story! So, I have my 'notes' (little scraps of hotel notepad paper!) to help me record the last few weeks of our most amazing adventure!

Last time I wrote we were in Hawaii, which seems like a lifetime ago! From Hawaii we flew to mainland America, straight to Seattle, we landed on Friday 10th June. We had pre booked our hostel online after a lot of research, so headed from the airport to the downtown area via the monorail. After a short walk (late at night!) through the city we found the hostel and we were really happy. We had booked a private double, with shared bathroom facilities. The owner was really friendly when we arrived, and gave us loads of info. We went out for a drink and some food in the next door pub before bed!

On Saturday we headed to Pike Place Market, which was great fun! It is often shown in the movies with people throwing fish around! It is also the birthplace of Starbucks, with the original store there (the queue was crazy so we thought we'd go back later!). Ben had his first corndog, which he did not enjoy! We also had some lovely fresh fruit from the market. It was a great place to poke around, and we managed to see some of the fish being thrown at the fishmonger stall! Since we only had one day in Seattle we tried to make the most of it, and walked to see the Space Needle! The weather was beautiful and we really enjoyed exploring! It was funny to be back at the Space Needle, as I had been there before with Rachel and Emma and the Libby family when we visited them in December 2007! The whole area around the needle had a great vibe, there was street music and stuff going on, which was great to enjoy.

We walked back towards Pike Place Market and we were going to go to the original starbucks, however, the queue was still RIDICULOUS! We took a picture, but decided to get our coffee from the one around the corner instead! We had a lovely lazy time hanging out on a grassy bank next to the market, where lots of people were enjoying the sunshine! We headed out for some dinner, and then headed back to the hotel, ready to get the Greyhound to Vancouver the next morning.

Shark cage diving in Hawaii

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Saturday 9 July 2011 12:30

Ben had read about another shark cage dive with Galapagos sharks which was about an hours drive north of where were staying. So of course we had to do it! We booked the day before, and got onto the first one of the day (recommended as the best) which was at 6.30am! So, being an hour’s drive away, and not knowing where we were going, we wanted to leave with plenty of time, which meant a very early start!!! We left the house by 5am, it was still dark! Ben did a sterling job driving on the wrong side and in the dark, while I tried to improve my navigational skills! We had good directions and managed to get there ok! The dive boat was much smaller than the one we had been on in Oz, but there were only 11 of us, including some kids! This ‘dive’ was actually only a snorkel, so once we had made our way out to the site (where the cage is permanently situated) we got ready to go in. Ben and I were in the first group, and had a good half an hour in the water. There were 3 sharks around the whole time, and they were pretty big! They came quite close, but nothing as scary as the Great White’s! They looked a lot less aggressive and it was actually quite a tranquil peaceful time watching them glide around! Got some pics, but this cage had a glass front, which made it more difficult to get good photos, and of course the sharks don’t pose for you! We got out and the next group got in. They literally only stayed in for about 10 minutes and wanted to get out, so they said we could go back in, so of course Ben and I did! Had another 15 minutes or so, and then it was time to head back. We got back to the car and started the drive back, but were both really sleepy. I felt myself dropping off several times, and asked Ben how he was doing, he was also feeling his eyes getting heavier. We both knew it was not worth the risk of falling asleep at the wheel, so we pulled into a car park and I wanted us to have a nap. Ben agreed we needed to rest but was adamant he would not sleep. However, we both slept for over an hour! We must have looked so funny to passers by! We obviously needed it, and I am glad we did that! We then drove back to the studio feeling a lot better! When we got back we had another little sleep, I think the Long Friday had caught up on us!! When we finally felt ready to start the day again we had some lunch and then headed for our first visit to Waikiki Beach! We spent the afternoon there, the weather was brilliant and the waves were great! We hadn’t taken our swimmers or body boards with us, but knew we’d be back! We spent the afternoon wondering around taking it all in. The beach is a really fun place, lots of shops and things going on, and very busy! When we headed back to Kailua we stopped at Teddy’s Bigger Burgers for dinner. The burgers were delicious, and I am glad I only ordered a small one, as it was plenty!!!

The next day we had a lovely lie in and caught up on all our sleep! After lunch we drove to Waikiki again, and this time we took boards, cossie’s and everything we’d need to a beach afternoon! However, when we got there the sea was as flat as a pancake! So we strolled around again and did some window shopping! Ben cooked a great Spag Bol for dinner and we watched America’s Got Talent!

On Wednesday we had another early start, leaving the house at 6.30am to go and snorkel at Hanaumau Bay. This is a really beautiful bay that is renowned for it’s snorkelling, but gets really really busy, so they suggest you go early, and they mean 7am! So we got there nice and early, paid to go in, and then had to watch a DVD about snorkelling there and being safe etc. Then we walked the steep hill down to the beach. It was already quite busy, and we could see it was just going to get madder! We had our own snorkel gear, but had to hire fins, and a locker which was rather pricey! The snorkelling was good, but the tide was quite low, so swimming over the reef was a bit daunting and closer than I’d have liked! We saw some pretty big fish, but the tide wasn’t the best for it! I think we have also been spoiled by the snorkelling we have done before, particularly recently in Fiji! After a good hour of snorkelling we lay out in the sunshine and it felt much later than it was! Most people come for the day, especially as you pay to get in, but we decided to go back to Waikiki as the surf report had been good! So, we headed that way with the boards again, and the waves were better than the previous day, but not as big as the first day! We enjoyed breakfast at a lovely place overlooking the beach, and then went and calimed a spot on the sand! It took ages to get out to the best spot for catching the waves, and there were lots of rocks under us which made me nervous as the waves were pretty strong and getting wiped out would have been pretty scary! I managed to catch 2 really really good waves all the way and a few fun ones half way, we had a good time! Spent the rest of the day lazing on the beach and enjoying the sunshine! Ben booked himself on a wreck dive for the next morning, which he’d been wanting to do for ages, and Hawaii has some great wrecks! I did not fancy that, especially as he had to get up at 5.30! Early night for us!

So, when I woke up Ben had long gone for his wreck dives. They were going to do two wreck dives, and be back around 11am. He had obviously taken the car and driven by himself without me saying ‘stay right’ the whole time! I had a nice morning catching up on writing emails I had been meaning to get around to, and was done around 11am ready for Ben to come back. By 12pm he was still not back and I began to worry. I decided that if it got to 1pm I would phone the dive shop and find out if the group were back yet. Sadly it did get to 1pm, so I phone the dive shop using skype, but it was all fine! They had had a flat tyre on their way out in the morning, so it had put them back a while, but she told me they were on their way back! I am glad I rang as it put my mind at rest and Ben turned up at about 2.30pm! It was our last afternoon, so we decided we’d like to spend it at Waikiki, as the weather wasn’t great at Kailua, and we gambled that it might be better over the mountains at Waikiki! We were right! It was glorious sun and we had a lovely afternoon lying in the sunshine and cooling off in the sea. We had a lovely last evening before our next adventure to the mainland!

Hawaii - finally posting this! We were there from 3 - 7th June!

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , 12:15

We made sure we had a lie in on Friday as we were flying to Hawaii at 9pm, an overnight flight, with an hour stop in Samoa, and when we landed it would be 7am on Friday morning again, so we tried to get as much sleep unfront as we could! Had a lazy morning and packed up our bags. I had seen a really good deal at the spa, a 'backpackers overhaul', which included a whole body scrub and moisturise, a mini pedicure, and a back massage, all for around £25, bargain! So I signed up for that and Ben signed up for a back massage afterwards. Ben was up for eating lunch, so ordered an egg and bacon burger, to be a bit disappointed when it was an egg and bacon in a bap, no burger! However, it was good that he was up to eating again! After lunch we went and made sure we were packed, as we had to check out at 4pm. My treatment was 2 hours of bliss, and Ben enjoyed his back massage too. We checked out at 4pm, and decided we might as well head to the airport as we had all our bags and stuff so couldn't really do much, so we were exceptionally early for our 8.50pm flight! Waited around for a while before we would check our bags, and the went for some dinner. The time actually went quite quickly, and we were boarding before we knew it! The plane was only a small one, with a TV every few rows, and they showed Glee which I thought was hilarious! Another unusual thing to show on a flight I thought! We both tried to sleep and had a couple of hours here and there. Luckily we didn't have to get off the plane when we stopped in Samoa! They told us the local time was 11 something on Thursday, and Ben thought we hadn't gone through the international date line, but then I reminded him they had said Thursday, so we had!!! We arrived in Honolulu and had to change our watches by 22 hours! It was 6.45 on Friday again! This felt very strange! We were about to start Friday 3rd June for the second time around! Passport control were as friendly as ever, not! The guy was quite a jerk, but we got through in the end. We got our bags and found the courtesy bus to the car hire place. It was raining! We hadn't booked the car until 9am, but they let us pick it up early which was good. The weather was appaling! Ben drove, which I was really grateful for! So he was on the wrong side of the car, on the wrong side of the road, and the rain was terrible and then the thunder and lightning started!!!!!!! We had directions to get to the place, and it was going so well, however, I made a wrong judgement, and we ended up on the wrong road, and had no idea what to do! So we followed signs back to the airport and started all over again! We got there in the end, weather and all! We couldn't check in until 2pm so we found a shopping centre (great places to hang out in the rain as we found out in Oz!), and also the information centre. At 11am I called the owner and she said we could check in early which was fab! The studio was lovely! We had a nice lazy afternoon and did a bit of shopping for the week, and then arranged to skype with the parents the next day.

I got up nice and early for my skype date with the family, got showered and dressed and sat down at the computer only to find that the raging thunder and lightning storm last night had knocked the internet out! Sent a text and waited for it to come back on! Thankfully it did after about an hour, but then Mum’s computer decided to play up! So I phoned home and we chatted for a while and re-arranged for the next day! We had a lovely lazy morning, did a bit more shopping for the week, and after lunch we took a walk to the beach. The beach is about a 2 minute walk from the studio, and is rated as one of Hawaii’s best beaches. As the weather wasn’t great, it didn’t look as pretty as it would in the sunshine, but it was lovely white sand and turquoise blue sea. I spent a long time up loading all the blogs I had written in Fiji and adding the pictures, and then we enjoyed watching a movie and skyping with Carol and Mike before bed.

The longest Friday ever!

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Thursday 9 June 2011 16:24

We made sure we had a lie in on Friday as we were flying to Hawaii at 9pm, an overnight flight, with an hour stop in Samoa, and when we landed it would be 7am on Friday morning again, so we tried to get as much sleep unfront as we could! Had a lazy morning and packed up our bags. I had seen a really good deal at the spa, a 'backpackers overhaul', which included a whole body scrub and moisturise, a mini pedicure, and a back massage, all for around £25, bargain! So I signed up for that and Ben signed up for a back massage afterwards. Ben was up for eating lunch, so ordered an egg and bacon burger, to be a bit disappointed when it was an egg and bacon in a bap, no burger! However, it was good that he was up to eating again! After lunch we went and made sure we were packed, as we had to check out at 4pm. My treatment was 2 hours of bliss, and Ben enjoyed his back massage too. We checked out at 4pm, and decided we might as well head to the airport as we had all our bags and stuff so couldn't really do much, so we were exceptionally early for our 8.50pm flight! Waited around for a while before we would check our bags, and the went for some dinner. The time actually went quite quickly, and we were boarding before we knew it! The plane was only a small one, with a TV every few rows, and they showed Glee which I thought was hilarious! Another unusual thing to show on a flight I thought! We both tried to sleep and had a couple of hours here and there. Luckily we didn't have to get off the plane when we stopped in Samoa! They told us the local time was 11 something on Thursday, and Ben thought we hadn't gone through the international date line, but then I reminded him they had said Thursday, so we had!!! We arrived in Honolulu and had to change our watches by 22 hours! It was 6.45 on Friday again! This felt very strange! We were about to start Friday 3rd June for the second time around! Passport control were as friendly as ever, not! The guy was quite a jerk, but we got through in the end. We got our bags and found the courtesy bus to the car hire place. It was raining! We hadn't booked the car until 9am, but they let us pick it up early which was good. The weather was appaling! Ben drove, which I was really grateful for! So he was on the wrong side of the car, on the wrong side of the road, and the rain was terrible and then the thunder and lightning started!!!!!!! We had directions to get to the place, and it was going so well, however, I made a wrong judgement, and we ended up on the wrong road, and had no idea what to do! So we followed signs back to the airport and started all over again! We got there in the end, weather and all! We couldn't check in until 2pm so we found a shopping centre (great places to hang out in the rain as we found out in Oz!), and also the information centre where the poeple were really friendly! At 11am I called the owner and she said we could check in early which was fab! The studio was lovely! It is a spacious room with a lovely big bed, a little kitchen area, a computer area, a big TV, a dining table for two and a lovely bathroom. Amanda, who owns it, is so lovely and made us feel at home. (The studio is part of her property, along with two other holiday rentals.) We had a lazy afternoon and got a few bits from the shops, and skyped our parents to arrange skype dates the next day. We both slept really well after our very long Friday!!!!

Last few days at Safe Landing

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Tuesday 7 June 2011 22:08

We had a very lazy day doing a whole lot of nothing the next day, just lying around reading and enjoying the sun when it came out! They did 'Polynesian Night' again so we enjoyed Dofu's dancing again.

On Wednesday we had a very exciting trip planned! We had heard about a shark feeding scuba dive that a few people had talked about up in the northern islands, so we had been hoping we could do it when we were at Safe Landing, and luckily we could. We got up for an early breakfast and were picked up by a boat at 8.30am. We picked up a few others and then got to the dive shop. It had been 6 months since I had dived, which worried me slightly! I was a bit nervous about the actual dive, remembering everything and not freaking out, and hadn't even really thought about all the sharks we would see! We got all our kit together and then headed out to the dive spot called 'The Chapel'. The sea was quite rough, so as soon as the boat stopped it was rolling around and we were told to get in the water and under asap, so we were all ready and then one of the guides told me my air was leaking out of my regulator, so he had to change my regulator over, so eventually we jumped backwards off the boat and went down. I had a bit of trouble getting down, even though they had given us more weights than usual, so one of the dive masters came and wrote on his board 'exhale' which I did more, and he also dragged me down with him a bit, so got there in the end! All of us had to line up along a rope and stay behind it, standing up and watching the shark action in front of us. It was pretty amazing! There were black tip, white tip and grey reef sharks, Lemon sharks and Tawny Nurse sharks. They were pretty big and came pretty close! Surprisingly I felt really safe, even though we were only behind a rope, and they could swim wherever they liked, but we were all lined up and there were lots of dive masters around, so it felt fine! They bring down a big wheelie bin full of dead fish and open it up to attract the sharks! We were down there about 40 minutes, and got some cool photos. I was really glad we had done it, as I was nervous at having not dived in 6 months, but it came right back to me which is good to know! Getting back onto the boat I slipped off the ladder as the boat rocked and hurt my leg really badly. Ben also pointed out that I had a bloody elbow! Later that day my leg had a whopper of a bruise, which is still really bad looking! I have got some interesting looks from people when they see it!

The weather wasn't great in the afternoon, so we hung out in a hammock for a while and then went for our last afternoon tea! The lovely lady was serving banana cake which was delicious! The heavens opened while we were there, luckily she had an indoor area, so we all piled in there, and hung out while it passed. Met some nice people and enjoyed the yummy cake! Met the new arrivals to the island, including a couple called Morton and Becky, who we thought were English, but it turned out Morton was Danish! He sounded so English it was uncanny! The evening entertainment was games night again, which was funny, as we had obviously been there for the last one, but no one else had, so we knew what was coming! The weather got really bad and stormy, and was pretty bad all night, we were hoping it would all clear for our last morning, but sadly it did not.

We got up and packed our bags after breakfast, and all hung around in the bar area reading and chilling out. The staff sang us the farewell song and then we were on the big yellow boat back to the mainland. Since we had a 5 hour trip we decided to pay a bit extra to go in the Captain's Lounge, which is a nice quiet place with free food and drinks! We relaxed and enjoyed the trip back. Got back to the mainland about 6pm and got the bus back to Smugglers Cove. I was really looking forward to dinner, so after we had showered we went down to the restaurant. Ben's tummy was still a bit funny, so after fantasising about food for two weeks, he only managed to eat a few of the chips from the calamari and chips! Slept really well and had a lie in as we had a long Friday ahead of us!!!

Safe Landing

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Saturday 4 June 2011 21:06

We arrived at Safe Landing and were greeted by a few of the staff. Nai took us up to the bar area and told us all the info about meal times and trips etc and then showed us to our room. It is lovely, nice and big and airy and the shower has hot water!!!! Lunch was really soon after, so we heard the shell horn and went back to the bar/dining area. Lunch was a rice and curried vegetable thing and was delicious and piping hot which was a nice change! I still had a funny tummy and wasn’t too hungry, but it was very nice. We had a look around and then sunbathed and swam in the sea for the afternoon. The beach is very nice and when the tide is in the sea is great for swimming / cooling off in as it is all sandy and nice with no sea weed or rocks! This resort ticks all the boxes which is great as it is our last one! The only thing about it is the noise of the generator, it sounds like a pneumatic drill! It’s on from 11 – 3, and 5 – 10pm and it kind of ruins the whole ‘paradise’ thing as you can’t hear the waves, or enjoy the peace and quiet when it’s on! It seemed so odd for them to have such a noisy one, as all the other resorts had generators, but very quiet ones that we never noticed, however, we found out that it is a temporary one which makes sense now! At about 4pm we took a walk along to a little green hut half way along to the next resort for ‘afternoon tea’. Afternoon tea seems to be very common here, and they told us that a lady serves tea and cakes from 3.30 – 5.30pm every day, so we obviously had to try it! We had not had anything sweet except for fruit for nearly two weeks now, so the thought of cake was too good to turn down. It really is just a little green shack with some tables and benches outside overlooking the sea. However, the cake was great! It was a chocolate cake with chocolate sauce. Not sure how she makes it, as there is obviously no oven, but think it might be in a frying pan, or some sort of steam pudding? It is not the best cake in the world, however, to someone who has not had anything remotely cakey or chocolaty for so long, it was amazing! Really enjoyed my afternoon tea! Came back and had a hot shower which was such a treat after nearly two weeks of cold ones! We headed to the bar for happy hour and Ben had a nice cold beer so he was a happy bunny too! We got talking to the other guests, Becky who is travelling on her own, from the UK, meeting up with friends on her way every so often. She had done a month as a volunteer nurse in Cambodia and so we talked about that for a while, it was very interesting. We also met Sue and Murray, who are from NZ so we talked all about what we had been up to there! Dinner was very tasty and hot again, so much better than at Long Beach! After dinner ‘Dofu’ (pronounced liked Tofu) put on a ‘Polynesian Night’ for us, doing dances from all the islands. He was very good, and then did some fire dancing for us too which was excellent! Afterwards Sue and Murray went back to their room so Las and Dofu and Becky and us played ‘spoons’ which was good fun. Not a late night, I think we had all headed back to our rooms by 10pm.

On Sunday morning I attended the local church service after breakfast. Las took me along, about a 5 minute walk from the resort. The church was not in a building like the church we saw on the last island, it was some tree trunks holding up a tin roof, with tarps on the floor to sit on. The weather was really hot, so I was glad it was under cover! I had to cover my shoulders and wear my sarong again. When we arrived there were only about 20 people there, singing to a keyboard, with the Pastor at the front. There were about 6 visitos in all, and a few more locals turned up throughout the service, so there were abut 30 locals in total. Afterwards I asked Las if there was another church as the village has a population of 600, and the Fijians are religious people, so I was surprised at the little numbers. However, he told me there was a big Catholic church in the village, and this was a small new church (not Catholic at all). It was a very informal service, with people contributing in prayer and singing, the people were very welcoming to us visitors and I enjoyed being a part of it, even though I could not follow the sermon as it was all conducted in Fijian. The Pastor welcomed us in English and said he hoped we would gain something from being there even though the service would be conducted in Fijian. I was there for about 2 hours, and then Las took me back as it was finishing up. I asked him what the service had been about and we talked a bit which was good. Sadly the hot weather did not last all day! After lunch it went all cloudy, so we ended up reading in hammocks around the resort. We both went for a swim to cool off as it was hot and muggy. We showered and went for dinner which was really nice again! There wasn’t any ‘entertainment’ on, so we all sat around talking and getting to know each other. I think we were in bed by 10pm again, but enjoyed watching some TV shows we had got on our laptop from Jo and Stephan at Barefoot!

On Monday we had signed up for the Cave Trip, so we were being picked up at 9am after breakfast. I was not too keen on this cave trip, as you have to go under water under rock to get into one of the caves, and this was not appealing to me at all! Ben didn’t really get it, as he has seen me face my fears a lot on this trip, but I tried to explain that this was not something I was comfortable doing, even if I had done it 10 times! So, feeling nervous, we were waiting on the beach for the boat to pick us up. We saw a boat go by far out with lots of people on, and wondered if they’d forgotten us, and when it came to 9.45am we decided they had! We went up to the bar area, and Nai tried to phone, but could not get through, so we knocked the idea on the head, deciding not to go the next day either. I was actually quite relieved, and we also saved ourselves $100 too! So we had an unexpected morning on the beach, and the sun was shining, so we both lay on the beach and read our books all morning. Just before lunch Becky left on the boat, and lots more people arrived on the boat! We had lunch, and the table had definitely grown a lot! We had a lazy afternoon and went for afternoon tea again, hoping to try a different cake, but it was chocolate again, but I can’t complain as it was very nice!!! We went back to our room for a shower and to get ready for dinner. After dinner it was a little different than the last couple of nights. Ron welcomed the new arrivals and asked us all to stand up and introduce ourselves, and then all the staff sang the ‘Bula song’ (welcome song) to us, and then Las got us all up to learn the Bula dance! We were all in a line, and it was some moves in a pattern a bit like doing the Macarena, so we all joined in and had a laugh! Then Las got out some party games which we all joined in, including musical potatoes (like musical chairs but you grab a potato when the music stops!), a rather funny game involving a tennis ball clenched between your bottom and dropped in a box, run as a relay race, and then my personal favourite, coconuts! Coconuts consists of a long football sock with a coconut in the bottom of it, tied to some string, and worn around your waist! You have to swing it between your legs and bash an empty can along the floor to the end of the room and back again, and do it as a relay with your team, it’s a lot harder than it looks!!! It was a fun night!

Long Beach Resort

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , 20:41

After breakfast on Wednesday Ben and I went to our room to pack while the others watched the ‘coconut demonstration’. I saw another of the massive spiders that Ben had found, but this one had all it’s legs! Ben had to evacuate it with the bin and a magazine! We finished packing, and joined them for the end of the demo. Jay then took us all on a walk through the bushes and showed us the plants they use as medicines on the islands. He made up a white liquid in a leaf using sap from a leaf from a ‘dillo’ tree, which you use as any treatment for the eyes. Jay made the leaf into a perfect eye bath shape and poured it in his eyes to show us. He also showed us a treatment for itchiness, and a plant that makes up a liquid called nino? That they use for stomach problems and he even said cancer. He said it was taking off in the west now too, and the Australian couple confirmed this! He also showed us that the sap from a papaya plant is poisonous to cattle etc and can blind you if it gets in your eyes. He showed us how they cut down a stalk of it and scrape off the outside, mush it up and use it to stop bleeding if you cut yourself, to give you time to get to the hospital. The last thing he showed us was a treatment for pregnant ladies, to have a smooth and painless delivery. Mashing up hibiscus leaves which makes a sort of goo that looks like saliva. They mix it with water and drink it one a week from the 8 month of pregnancy. He said the slime helps to have a smooth delivery! Not sure I’ll be trying that one if and when the time comes! We all thanked Jay and headed back to the main bure for a cup of tea before we had to go. Ben redressed Jay’s finger for the last time, and it definitely seemed a lot better.

The weather started to turn a bit sour, and by the time we had to get on the boat it was raining, so Appy put bin bags around out bags which was very sweet! The girls waved us off and off we were again on the next part of our adventure. We were both really sad to leave Barefoot as we suspected that we would not find another place like it! We got out to the flyer and said goodbye to Jay, who thanked us, and especially Ben for doing his finger, and we thanked him for such a wonderful time. We really were sad to be leaving!

When we arrived at Long Beach the weather had improved thank goodness! There was just us and another couple arriving, and after we were welcomed we were taken to our room. Unfortunately we were not told any of the important info about meal times, drinking water, etc, so had to ask the other couple who had been given a run down! Our three nights at Long Beach were ok, but nothing compared to Barefoot! Even though the bure was bigger and had ensuite, the bathroom was filthy and the ‘mattress’ was a piece of foam which was very depressed where many people had lay on it and you could feel the slats of the bed through it! We were also both ill with bad tummies so that did not help! We had laughed at the food at Barefoot at times, but it actually got worse at Long Beach, we were served raw chicken one night, and the food was always cold. Although we didn’t have a horrible time, it was not much to write home about. The beach was supposed to be one of the best, but we preferred Barefoot’s as it was sheltered and you could swim. The highlight of our time at Long Beach was the trip to the village, which took two days of attempting to go before we actually did, but it was worth it! On Wednesday we had put our names down to go on the Thursday morning, so after breakfast we asked what time, and the guy, Ruben, told us it would have to be after lunch, each time I asked if the school would still be open as that was the main part I wanted to see and he said yes. After lunch we asked, and he said it would have to be 3pm as he was very busy, so I asked about the school, and he said it would be closed! So we rearranged for the next day! Ben was not impressed to see him lying in a hammock all afternoon with a German girl he’d obviously taken a liking to, so busy!!! Anyway, we did get to go on Friday morning, so I had to cover my shoulders and knees and I was not allowed to wear trousers, so I had to put on my sarong that is usually used for lying on the beach, lucky I had it! We did not realise it was a 40 minute trek through jungle type landscape to get there, and as it had been raining, it was pretty muddy and slippery, I ended up taking off my flip-flops in the end and just squelching around! It was also a really hot and sunny day and we’d not bought any bug spray which would have been a good idea! But we made it, and came to the village. The village was a mix of very rustic old Fijian houses, thatched bures and tin shacks, and then some concrete plastered nice looking buildings, all spread out, with dogs and goats running around. The locals were friendly and all said ‘Bula’ which means hello.

We then went to see the church which was a Catholic Church which surprised me. It was quite big and the front had lots of symbolic pictures and pictures of Mary etc. The congregation sit on the floor on mats, except the old people who have chairs at the back. It was lovely and cool sat in their, waiting for break time at the school. Just before 10.30 we wandered over and Ruben showed us the teacher’s quarters, provided by the school. They had nice big modern-ish houses. Then the bell rang and the kids came out shouting ‘recess’! Another group of tourists had come from a different, closer resort, and their guide took all of us in to meet the head teacher, who also teachers class 3. He was very friendly and took us into his classroom where some children were finishing off their work. They were doing rounding to the nearest 10 and nearest 100, which is something I do with my class! They were working from sums written on the blackboard. The classrooms were quite bright and colourful with the children’s work hanging up, but obviously don’t have many of the things we have now. I think it’s alike to going into a classroom 40 years ago. The children were so friendly and polite. Class 6 sang us lots of lovely songs, including ‘you are my sunshine’ in English and Fijian! There were only about 20 of them, but they were louder than the whole school back at home! They sang with great passion and were genuinely happy to be entertaining us! I got chatting to the head, and told him I would love to make a link with our school, where the children could write to each other, and we could show them our work and our school etc, so he took my details and will have to speak to the school board. I also got his details and the school’s address as I would love to send them some resources. After taking us to all the classrooms, class 1 being the 5 year olds, and class 8 having 12 and 13 year olds (and some 15 year olds repeating years), he sat us down to talk about the school. He is pretty new there, having only been there 9 months, and he talked about one of his first assemblies with the kids, asking them what their job aspirations were. He said they all said either teacher, boat man, work in a resort, or farmer. He said what about nurses, doctors, lawyers etc, he really wants to encourage these children to reach their full potential. Many of them have never left the island, and have only seen the village. He asked the staff when the last field was, it was 7 years ago. He wants to take the whole school on a 3 day field trip to the mainland at the end of the year in November, so the children can experience things like going on a big boat, going up an escalator, seeing a large shopping complex, understanding more of the world etc. He has asked each child to contribute $50 Fijian dollars which is about £17, which is a lot of those families, but any donations we gave would go towards it. I am hoping to raise some money for them when I get back so this visionary head can take every child and make such a difference to their lives! The head also talked about how the government had done away with formal testing at the end of each year and were now doing ‘child based assessments’ which he said was a good thing, but lots of paperwork and getting to grips with something new, how familiar does that sound!!! He said they are trying to move towards teaching children a more holistic education, combining social and life skills as well as maths and English. I thought it was so interesting to hear him talking, and the similarities in our experiences as teachers! I had a great chat with him at the end, and am really hoping to keep in touch.

Our time at Long Beach came to an end and off we headed to Safe Landing, our last resort where we had booked a Deluxe Beachfront Bure with hot water, what a treat!!!!

More Manta fun!

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , 20:20

Ben woke me up to show me a gigantic spider that was on the inside of our mossie net, which I did not appreciate! Luckily I was too sleepy to care and it was on his side anyway, and only had 3 legs left! At breakfast we all decided to ask Appy to take us on a snorkelling trip, which he of course did! We swam out from the beach, but after a little while Jo’s feet were hurting her from blisters from the flippers from the day before, so Jo and Stefan went back and took the kayak out to save their feet! So the four of us and Appy carried on. The snorkelling is very good here, not necessarily for the fish you see, but the corals are really pretty and what you see is much more like what I have seen when diving, not snorkelling! We were snorkelling for a good hour and were on our way back when Jay came and found us in the boat to say they’d seen mantarays, so we all piled on the boat and off we went. I was about done snorkelling, but was totally up for seeing the mantarays again, and this time there were apparently four! Casey and Michele were quite excited as this was their first time seeing them! This time was very different, as they were in the channel between the two islands and there was a very strong current, and the mantas swim against the current! So they took us up ahead of the mantas, and dropped us in, and we had to wait for the mantas to come to us. Jay went back to find Jo and Stephan who joined us later. The mantas were huge ones this time, between 3-4 metres across! Once they get towards you and begin to pass we tried to keep up swimming with them, but the current was really strong, and swimming against it was tough! Ben managed to keep up a bit longer than I did, but eventually we were all left behind! The boat came and picked us up and took us back up in front of the mantas, and off we went again! Up until this point it had been just us, but we could see the other resort boat on it’s way, but as there were 4 mantas and it was so difficult to keep up with them it was nothing like the day before! They dropped us in another time and we saw three mantas all at once, it was amazing, they were somersaulting over each other and rolling around, they look so graceful and amazing! We kept on chasing them, falling behind, getting picked up by the boat and doing it all again several times, and then we got towards the end of the channel where the current is much weaker, and that’s where we had been the day before. It’s easy to keep up with the mantarays and watch them, which we did for a while, and a few more people were around from the other resort too. Suddenly one manta which was quite deep started to zoom really fast towards the surface, but I think it soon realised that there were a few people in it’s way! So it dived back down, moved over and then zoomed super fast towards the surface and jumped out of the water, it was amazing!!!! We all watched it underwater, and then breach the surface which no one was expecting at all! Everyone was so excited and impressed! Eventually we all got back on the boat and headed back to Barefoot having had an awesome morning!!!!

Lunch was an eclectic mix to say the least! We had fish in some sort of batter, on top of eggy bread, with some watermelon on the side. Although the meals have been ok, they have been pretty basic and a bit odd, so our theory is that they used all their food rations for the Australian couple who come back every year and we’re left with whatever’s left! It seems especially odd that the woman told us she was a chef and loved the food, as what we’ve had I certainly wouldn’t describe that way! The first lunch when the Aussies were still here was lovely, and since they left it’s all gone a bit strange! We all sat around talking, and then Jo and Stephan had to go and pack as they were leaving at 2pm. We all exchanged email addresses, and we put the underwater manta photos on their laptop for them, and they copied over some TV shows to our laptop for us to watch which was great! We went down to the beach to say goodbye to them, and for the first time in ages on this trip I was really sad to see people we’d met go as we’d got on so well! After we waved them off at the beach we sat and sunbathed and read, and Ben broke open another coconut for us to eat, and showed Casey and Michele how he’d learnt to do it from Appy! Casey and I had burnt our bums and the backs of our legs with all the snorkelling that morning, as we had ended up being out for 3 and a half hours!!! So I sunbathed on my back and kept it out of the sun! Ben spent most of the afternoon in the sea as it was such a hot day!!! Ben redressed Jay’s finger, and Jay told him when he’d done it, it was so painful he’d been kept awake all night and it was terrible. Ben said it did look better, and Jay told him lots of puss came out, but Ben was still pretty concerned about it. He re did it all and told Jay to finish the antibiotics. Jay and Olla called him Dr Ben after that!

We had fish and potatoes for dinner, which was nice, but the fish had a ton of bones in! That meant I chewed every mouthful very carefully which makes you feel fuller anyway so that was a good thing! We sat around chatting to Casey and Michele, and it turned out that Michele is a bar tender at the hotel we’re staying at in San Francisco!! What a small world! We could not believe that out of all the hotels we picked, and there were many, and all the islands to be on at the same time, we were both there then, especially when there were only 6 guests on the whole island! We are definitely going to have to meet up with them when we are in San Francisco!

Mantaray day!

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , 19:10

We were not woken by Appy for mantas, so all made it to breakfast at 8am having decided not to get up for the walk. Appy was apparently still out looking for mantas for us! We had a good breakfast and sat around chatting with Elise, Jo and Stefan drinking tea for ages, it was lovely. Appy came back and said the water was a bit rough for mantas, but he would listen out for any radio calls from the other resort. Then at 9.30am Jay got us together for the coconut demonstration. We sat around while Jay showed us a big map of Fiji and pointed out which of the 300 odd islands he came from. He talked about island life, and how people who still live on the islands far from the mainland are money poor but friend rich. He said people on these islands are really happy and content and only work to provide food etc, no money is needed. It started off as a very positive picture, but he said when the children of a family needed to go to secondary school, the family would have to move to the mainland, which was very hard, and changed their life. They own no land like they do on the island, they had nowhere to grow their own food, and needed money to buy everything, but finding work was hard. It made me think how well the Waylailai island had it set up, that the resort was owned by the village and paid for boarding school for all the children. Jay also told us that anyone who owned a boat on the islands was like a millionaire, as it is the only way to get to the mainland if you need a hospital etc. After telling us a bit more about island life they began the ‘coconut demonstration’ where they ripped open a coconut using a sharpened stick to lever the outer shell off, and then Jay put a small ring made from a palm leaf down on a rock and balanced the coconut on it. We all counted down 3,2,1 and then Appy broke it in two with his bare hands, slicing down on it! We were very impressed! Ben and Stephan both had a go, but they only managed to bruise their hands not break the coconut!! They also showed us how to make a men’s basket for carrying things, (the women’s basket takes over 2 hours to make so they didn’t do that), and a plate for if there is a wedding etc and they need more plates. They also made a hat which they gave to Ben to wear!

Once the demo was over we were just thinking about going to the beach. There are 3 beaches in the resort, one for sunrise, one for sunset, and one in between them, so you can take your pick, and when it’s windy on one side, the other is lovely and sheltered! However, we did not have time, as they called that mantarays had been spotted, so we dashed off to get our snorkel gear and met by the boat. Appy and Jay took us, and Elise came to do the mantarays but also bought her bag as she was getting on the flyer soon, so they would take her out straight from there which was good. We were dropped off in the water, along with about 20 people from the Mantaray resort (who had all paid for the experience!). We could see the mantaray almost immediately, and luckily there was not a lot of current, and the manta was slow moving and easy to keep up with. It was not a hug one, probably about 1.5 metres across, but it was really cool and did lots of somersaults and gliding along very gracefully! It was a shame that all the people from the other resort were there too as it was pretty crowded and there were lots of flippers in faces etc! However, we had an amazing time following it around and watching it. Elise had to go, so we all waved goodbye from the sea, and she was taken off towards the flyer. We had a long time in the water with the ray, and then we were ready to head back for lunch. We were just waiting for Jay to come back and pick us up, snorkelling and looking around, and a tiny tiny little yellow fish began to use Ben as a lift! He stayed right in front of his mask, right in front of his eyes, as he was swimming, using Ben to push him along I guess! He came with him quite some way, all the way to the boat! Ben named him Yogi the yellow fish! Jay turned up and took us back for some lunch, as we arrived on the beach, so did a boat from the flyer bringing more people to stay. Jo and I decided we should welcome them, so Jay sang a song and we all clapped and shouted ‘Bula’ (hello) at the end! It was two young American girls, and an older couple from Australia. They had doubled the amount of guests, so now there were 8! We all went and sat down for lunch, a big plate of fried rice which was nice.

After lunch Ben and I went to get our first aid kit, as we had noticed that Jay had a cut finger and the plaster he had on it had been falling off all morning, so we were going to give him a better one, and some plaster tape to keep it on. I let Ben get on with it, and I am glad I did as I would have been a bit squeamish! It turned out to be a very bad cut that he actually did two weeks before. His finger was twice the size it should be and very infected. Ben said it was really bad, but he had cleaned it out and put some antiseptic spray and cream on, and bandaged it up. Jay had told him that a doctor (a guest) had visited the island last week and had given him some antibiotics as it was so bad. He was so grateful to Ben and really took a shine to him after that!

Ben and I and Jo and Stefan had all decided we’d like to go fishing that afternoon, so we asked Jay and Appy and they said they’d take us at about 2pm. Appy was going to take the American girls on a snorkelling trip, so we all went on the boat, dropped them off for snorkelling, and then the four of us and Jay went fishing. We had fishing line wrapped around a big plastic ring with a hook and some bait. It wasn’t long before Jay caught something, a big long sucker fish that we’d seen suckered on the mantaray earlier. I loved the idea of fishing, but not so much the reality when it came up flapping all over the place, and continued to flap long after that! The rest of us did not have much luck, but it was great just chilling out on the boat. We went to a different location and tried our luck there, Ben and Stefan decided to snorkel while Jo and I continued to fish. I finally caught something and was so excited, it was really hard to wind in and felt really heavy and big, I was a little worried! I joked to Jo that it would just be an old boot or something! As I was bringing it up I was yelling to Ben to come and take a picture as he had the underwater camera, he swam over towards the boat and started laughing, that it wasn’t a fish I had caught! Well, I continued to pull it up while Ben is laughing at me, and up I pulled a huge piece of coral! No wonder it was so heavy! I was so disappointed! So I actually caught nothing! Jo had a tug on hers later, and it felt really heavy and wiggly, so we were both winding it in, but it managed to get free before we could get it up, which was a shame as it would have been a big one! Jo did manage to catch a little parrot fish in the end, but that was all the group caught! We did have a fun afternoon though! Back for afternoon tea and then early showers before sunset! We got chatting to the two American girls, Casey and Michele, both from San Francisco. They had been to a friend’s wedding on the mainland for a couple of days, and had four days on Barefoot relaxing. It was nice to get to know them and they told us all the good places to visit when we go to San Francisco and LA etc. Dinner was quite different, nice sliced up potatoes, but then a very watery sauce with hacked up chicken bits and a few bits of courgette. I fished out some chicken, however, when I came to eat it I had two bites of chicken and the rest was bones. All sorts of odd bones, they literally just hack up a chicken and put it all in! There was also an interesting coleslaw type thing, that we all agreed was either cheesy, or curdled milk, not sure which! The kava did not come out that night, but we didn’t mind! Jo, Stefan, Casey and Michele and us all sat around talking, before Casey and Michele went to bed early as they were both super tired from the wedding. We weren’t too much later after them!

Barefoot Island Lodge

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , 15:37

After breakfast on Sunday we packed up our things and checked out and settled the bar bill etc. Most people were going on the church visit that morning which I would have loved to have done, but we had to stay and wait for the boat to our next island. We lazed around in a hammock and waited for the little boat to take us out to the Flyer when it came. We were wondering what the next resort would be like, as we knew it was the most basic we had picked, had no electricity and shared bathrooms. The flyer was busy, but we got a seat and it was only about an hours trip. We were the only two getting off for Barefoot Island Lodge! Mantaray Resort is on the island opposite and we almost booked that, as the name suggests there are mantarays around there! But luckily Barefoot cropped up in some of the reviews on tripadvisor which was so lucky so we booked that instead. The boat for mantaray was full, and we learnt quite quickly that Mantaray is a bit of a party resort, which we didn’t fancy. So, just the two of us turn up, and we’re met on the beach by a couple of the guys who work there. Jay, the main man, showed us around and told us about meal times etc. He kept reiterating the point that the resort was not luxury, and it was basic and not a party island, but we kept telling him that was why we had booked it! He took us to our bure, and we were surprised to see an light on the ceiling, as we’d thought there was no electricity. But it turned out there was, and it was on all the time, but there was only a light, no sockets, but we could charge things in the main bure. The bure was very basic, and we had a huge mossie net hanging from the ceiling as the windows we just holes in the walls with no netting on, and a sort of shutter held up with a plank of wood! It was right on the beach, so while I made myself at home Ben found a coconut and decided to try and get into it! He eventually succeeded and we drank the juice and ate some coconut!!! Appy (one of the guys who works there) introduced us to two girls and a couple, and that was all the other guests, and it turned out that the couple and one of the girls were leaving later that day anyway! We sat down for lunch, and the Aussie couple told us how much they loved staying here, and had been coming back for years. The lady said she was a chef, and the food was amazing. We had fish for dinner that the man had caught that morning on a fishing trip, and it was beautifully presented, in a coconut broth with a swirly of lemon on the side and a potato cake type thing. The couple and the girl left after lunch, so it was just us and Elise who was from France but had been working in NZ for a year and a half. We spent the afternoon lazing on the beach and talking with Elise. Another couple turned up off the flyer as it was coming back south from up north, called Jo and Stefan from England. Elise went on a trek with one of the locals as a guide, and so we got chatting to Jo and Stefan, they were really lovely. I couldn’t believe it when Stefan said he was 32, he looks about 20! We headed back for a shower before it got too dark, as the toilets and showers did not have lights in! The toilet and shower blocks were basic but clean, and the sink was outside, so Ben enjoyed some alfresco shaving! We got dressed and headed to the main bure for dinner. We got chatting to Jo and Stefan some more, who were really nice and similar to us in so many ways. They left the UK at the end of August, and are travelling for a year. They had heard about Barefoot as the place to come and swim with the manatrays like us, and not pay $30 like the people at the Mantaray resort, as our place didn’t charge for any activities! Dinner was nice, a lot of rice and a big chicken leg with some sauce. The staff are all really friendly, and we all sat around on the mats after dinner chatting. There was Jay and Appy, then Kenny the dive instructor, Olla the lovely lady who served meals and drinks and Bill the chef. Jay talk about the ‘program’ for tomorrow, the plan was to get up at 6 and check for mantarays, and if they were there to go snorkelling with them, if not to walk to the top of the island at 7am, and get back for breakfast at 8am. We were not so keen on the early start, but then he clarified and said Appy gets up early to look for mantarays and wakes us up if they’re there which we felt was much better! They would put on a coconut demonstration after breakfast if no mantarays turned up. Then he said we could decide what we wanted to do in the afternoon tomorrow, perhaps some fishing or a snorkelling trip. He also said that obviously none of the activities were compulsory, but that was what was on offer. The great thing about the resort is that all the activities are free! This is amazing, since all the others charge $5 even for snorkel hire, and way more for a snorkel trip on a boat. The other resort charge $30 to go out and snorkel with the mantas, and we had to pay nothing. After the ‘program’ for tomorrow, they got out the Kava! So we all had a try, and it was pretty rank! It made my mouth feel numb after a while which was funny! They make it up in a big wooden bowl that everyone sits around, and then pass it around in cups made of half coconut shells. It looks like dirty brown pond water, and tastes like I imagine that would too!They did another round so we all partook, but that was the last round for Jo and I but the boys carried on! The local’s cups were filled a lot higher than the boys thankfully! By the end of the evening Jay and Appy looked rather glazed over! It still wasn’t a particularly late night and we were in bed about 11pm. One effect of the Kava was that we all needed to pee a lot in the night, which was a pain as the toilets were a bit of a walk from the bure through the bushes, and obviously they had no lights!!!!

First sun rise in the world!

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , 14:38

The alarm went off at 4.25am and it was still pitch black outside and there was no electricity on, so torches it was. With trainers on we headed to the main bure and I must admit I was half expecting no one to be there! However, we met Berry, our guide, and after waiting until about 5am for another couple to turn up who didn’t, we left. It was a climb up to the top, and it was quite tricky in the dark with just a torch for lighting the way! Berry had an old fashioned lamp, and led the way, but he was quite nippy and got quite ahead sometimes! It was slippery and muddy at parts, so some bits were a bit difficult, but we managed to get to the top with just a couple of rest stops at about 6am. We sat on a big rock face waiting for the sun to come up. It was truly beautiful, and was the first sunrise to be seen that day by anyone, as we are so far east. We talked to Berry about life on the island which was really interesting. He said before the resort people had to work from early morning, till late every day except Sunday to get food and plant crops etc, and they still had no money, now, he said, we sit on the beach and wait for you to turn up and say Bula, and we have money! He seemed to think it was much better this way! This island has the only resorts owned by a local village. There are three resorts all owned by the village, and it works really well for them. They put 25% of money from the resort back into the resorts to maintain them etc, and the other 75% goes directly to the village. They have a primary school, and then all the children are sent for boarding school on the mainland paid for by the village, and then university if they like, which they are very proud of. I think all the resorts should be owned and run by the village as it helps them to support the whole village. After enjoying the view for a while and waiting for the sun to come up a bit higher we made our way back down. We had forgotten to put any mossie spray on so were a bit worried as it was all through bush etc, but luckily it wasn’t too bad at all. Here's the view of the resort from the top, our bure was the 2nd one in from the right on the front row.

Fiji Time!

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , 14:24

We woke up and the room was flooded with light, and the curtains were billowing out into the room, so we could see the sea behind them, it was a bit like being in a movie! Ben had set his alarm for 6.30am, so we could be at breakfast for 7am, and then he was diving at 8am. I was thinking we were being a bit overzealous, and was proved right, we are in Fiji after all! Everyone here works on Fiji time, which means no hurry! There was no one around for breakfast, however, we could help ourselves to cereal for the time being, but had to wait for the hot water urn for tea, and the hatch to open for toast etc. We then went to the dive bure at 8am, and it was all shut up! Again, Fiji time!!!! The sea was really choppy so we wondered whether they would even run diving, but there was no one around to ask! We went and played a game of Rummikiub on the balcony and kept an eye out for the dive shop to open. When it did they said they weren’t running any trips that morning as the sea was too rough. So we had a morning of sunbathing instead. The weather had changed dramatically overnight, and it was very windy, and a bit overcast. We saw the boat arrive with people and they had a good job getting out of the boat without getting soaked! We were still hoping to go on the village tour, but then one of the locals who works here said they were taking a boat to the other side of the island to watch some rugby and invited us. I mentioned the village trip, and he said we could incorporate that too, so we signed up! We had a lazy morning until lunch, and then it was up to the hut for sausages and pasta, with some coleslaw, and a bit of fruit. Luckily we could go up for seconds as the portions started off small, but seemed to get bigger. We resolved not to be so early for lunch again! We went down to the activity bure there were lots of people waiting for the rugby trip. They told us to wait there, so we found a spot in the shade sat on the wall and waited. We were sat there for about 45 minutes in total, when one girl who was now sunbathing asked us if we were waiting for the rugby trip, and told us it had been cancelled! No one had told us, even though we were sat in full view of the hut, they were all just merrily chatting along! So after planning an activity filled day we had another lazy afternoon doing not a lot!!! Had dinner which was another chicken casserole type thing which was very tasty. One of the locals was mixing up something in a big pot and invited us over to show us. It was Kava, which is a traditional Fijian drink, made from the roots of a plant. It smelled pretty bad! Luckily we went back over to our table before he offered it around, as we watched on girl try it and she did not like it at all! As we were leaving she was heading back in and I wouldn’t be surprised if she had just been sick in the bushes!!! We had an early night as we had signed up for the sunrise walk to the summit the next morning at 4.30am!!!!

Moving on to Fiji!

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , 14:03

On Wednesday we got up early to be completely ready and not rushed. We left the campsite at 9am and dropped of the Jucy van first. It was kind of sad to say goodbye to our home for the last 5 weeks, we have really enjoyed it! Jucy had a shuttle bus to take us to the terminal, and we checked in our bags straight away and were ready for the off! Had the usual airport moseying around time etc, and tried to get up to date with the blog, but did not quite finish it, hence this one being posted so late! (I am writing it while sat on the balcony of my beach front bure in Fiji!) The flight was a little bumpy, but we had been pre warned, and it was nothing serious. The film they put on was called Rabbit Hole, and was the strangest choice of films for a plane I think. It was a really serious story about a couple coming to terms with the sudden loss of their son, and it was really sad. I thought it was a very good film (if a little odd for a plane), but Ben was not at all impressed! Admittedly it was very slow and not a lot happened so I can see why he did not enjoy it! We got off the plane to immediate warmth which was funny after all this time! It is also different to the warmth you feel on a hot day normally, the humidity makes the air seems much thicker! Our bags must have been first off, as we grabbed them as soon as we got to the carousel which was a novelty! Then we saw a lady holding a sign saying ‘Beautiful Pacific, Ben O’Neill’ which was quite funny! You always imagine being important arriving at the airport with someone holding a sign with your name, and here it was. A lovely lady greeted us and gave us each a beautiful shell necklace with fresh flowers on it and placed it around our necks! We had booked all the island hopping for Fiji through a company as they were cheaper than when we priced up booking it all ourselves, and we thought it seemed more straight forward. However, Ben had begun to worry that something was going to go wrong, so he was very relieved to be greeted at the airport, an we checked through all the tickets for the various parts of our trip and they were all present and correct! We had a bit of a wait for our transfer to the first hostel, which the lady was very apologetic for, but then we were on our way. It felt very strange after being in Western countries for so long, to be in such a different place again! But I love it! It’s hot, and the streets are dirty, and there’s buses full of locals rammed on, people walking around and loads of noise, it’s so completely different! We got to the hostel, and were shown to our room, we had a double room, and it was just like being in a hotel not a hostel. We went straight down to have a look around. We were right on the beach, so we had a nice drink looking at the ocean. We decided to go upstairs and pack our bags as we had to be on the bus at 7.15am the next day. Ben had the good idea of packing one big rucksack of stuff to take to Fiji, and one to leave behind in storage with everything we wouldn’t take. This was a bit of a mission, but we managed in the end, and then went downstairs for fish and chips for dinner! Ben was really excited that the price of beer was so cheap after Australia and NZ! We watched some ‘fire dancing’ on the beach perfored by some locals, and then headed up to bed.

We got up nice and early to allow ourselves enough time not to be rushed, and it was a good job we did. We had heard some very heavy rain in the night, but what we didn’t realise was that it had been raining in our room, over Ben’s bag to be precise! Luckily it as only his small rucksack, not his big one, but it did have his camera in, his clothes for the morning and other stuff! His clothes had taken the brunt of it, which was lucky really as it keep all the water from the important things, but his t shirt had to be rung out it was so sodden! We emptied the bag and dried everything, and luckily his camera was ok in the camera bag. I set the hairdryer up over the bag to try and dry it a bit as we had to take it with us. I rang the reception but they didn’t seem to care and there wasn’t anything they could do anyway. We took the big bag down to leave in the store room and I took Ben’s clothes down and asked for complimentary tokens for the dryer, which I got, so set Ben’s clothes going and then we went for breakfast. We checked out after breakfast and grabbed Ben’s clothes from the dryer and jumped on the bus to the port. Another leg of the journey was successfully completed and all tickets present and correct etc! We got in the queue to load our bags on the boat, and then had a bit of a wait before boarding. The Yasawa Flyer is a bright yellow high speed catamaran which travels north to all the islands in the morning, and then south back again in the afternoon, so island hopping is relatively easy! The journey was lovely, we were on the top deck enjoying the sunshine all the way. The view was spectacular, gorgeous little islands like the ones in your imagination speckled in the sea. At each stop the catamaran would stop and a small boat from the island would bring any passengers leaving, and then take the ones getting off back to the island. Our island was about the fifth stop, so we climbed in the long boat and were taken ashore to a group of singing Fijians on the shoreline. We were greeted and our bags bought up to the reception hut. A lovely lady told us what time meals were and where we could sign up for any activities, and then we were shown to our room. We had booked a beachside Bure, a Bure is a wooden hut. It was lovely and spacious with a double bed, a single, a huge wardrobe space, and a lounge area, it also had a balcony and was right on the beach. We literally have to walk down the steps of our balcony, and then down some steps onto the beach, I have never slept this close to the ocean before! It wasa lot nicer than our beach hut in Thailand, which is what I was expcecting, so it was a pleasant surprise! However, back to having cold showers which I did know about! We also only get electricity from a generator about 6pm to 11pm which is funny! We’ve got the torch for any middle of the night pee’s etc! All the islands we chose have a compulsory meal plan, as there is no restaurant etc, so you have your three meals a day at the big hut over looking the sea. We only arrived about 10.30am, so after lazing on the beach for an hour and a half we heard the drums which call you to lunch!

Lunch was rice and a beef stir fry with some bread and then a bit of fruit for dessert. We spent the afternoon being very lazy, relaxing on the beach, and then checking out the activity bure. They run trips daily, snorkelling with reef sharks, diving, and a village visit were on our list of things to do, so Ben signed up for a dive the next morning, and we planned to visit the village including the school in the afternoon. Dinner came around quickly at 6pm and we had a yummy chicken curry with rice. When you have a chicken dish in these countries they just chuck hacked bits of chicken in, so you end up with a lot of bones with not a lot of meat on sometimes, but it’s all part of the experience, and there’s always seconds if necessary! With three meals a day and no snacking we’re hoping to lose a bit of the weight we have both gained! The cold shower took some getting used to again, but thankfully we have a flushing toilet! This is not a party island, one of the reason we chose it, so it was a pretty laid back evening, playing travel Rummikub which we bought at the airport and reading before bed. We fell asleep listening to the ocean right outside our window!