Fabulous Fiji
<William> Bula!
We're now in Fiji and we're enjoying it so much we decided to stay for Xmas! The islands round the periphery we saw from the plane look like they're straight out of a brochure - small forested islands surrounded by white sands dotted in turquoise water. Besides these paradise islands the main island of Viti Levu had much more to offer than we expected.
The highlands are rugged rolling hills covered in dense rainforest in the east (where it rains all the time) and vividly green grass in the west (where it rains less) with rocky outcrops exposed here and there. We took a long hike through the western highlands and climbed the 1200m Mt Batilevu. The view from the top was worth the climb (on a hot sunny day!) and there's a raincloud permanently over the peak and the drizzle cools you off.
Tuesday, December 17, 2002
The Fijian people are really a laugh-a-minute and have been really welcoming. Even the frog we found staying in our room seemed pretty friendly! We visited a church service and met all the people of the nearby village (who don't get many western visitors) and we heard the choir sing Fijian hymns in their celestial tones. For Xmas they sing carols all through the night until the sun rises on Xmas morning.
We rented a 4x4 (essential for the rough tracks) and took a couple of days to explore the main island. We drove to Natandola Beach (the nicest one in Fiji) for sunset and we were the only people on the entire 3 miles stretch. It was amazing to see such a stunning beach so completely undeveloped, though it won't last for long as 5 large hotels and a tarmac road are planned for the next few years. We certainly feel lucky to have seen it before that happens.
We're now staying on Beachcomber island - the 'party island'(might have a website if you want to do a search for it and look it up). It's a very slickly-run backpacker island resort with a massive bure dormitory with 84 beds in it! It takes only 10 minutes to walk round the entire island so now we know how a goldfish feels stuck in a bowl. The nightly staff rugby match has been keeping us entertained as allt hey guys are wearing skirts!
There's a lot of americans staying here, some of them we've met are really nice, but a lot of them just talk incessant rubbish at volumes so loud the entire island can hear! The nightly entertainment is a bit geared towards them, like when they get everyone to learn the 'bula dance' which is like a fijian version of the macarena. Very cheesy.
We decided to stay on the Yusawa islands for xmas so we can experience the church service and generally have a totally different tropical beach xmas. The resort is very basic, it advertises 'electricity supply between 6am and 10pm' and 'radio telephone for emergencies'. We didn't bother asking if they had internet. Still, we'll be spending xmas in a beachfront Bure (traditional wooden hut) before heading on to Auckland for new years </William> <!--8:50 PM-->
