Fiji

Bula!


I'm in Fiji now, I didn't think I'd have internet access but the hostel/resort next to the one I'm staying at has access, so here I am. I'm staying at a place called David's Place on Tavewa island in the Yasawas. It's quite windy here and very overcast, not exactly what I was expecting. I will be moving on to another resort tomorrow that is more south in the islands and maybe the weather is a little bit better there. I'm catching a ride with a local's brother over to the famous Blue Lagoon soon. It's on the leeward side of a neighboring island so it should be ok. I think I see him now.

:Later

Alright, it's later now. I have an hour to burn on internet usage so I guess I'll fill you'll in on the last couple of days. Arrived Nadi around 3:15 am and was immediately corralled by a local for 'help' with my booking. At that point I was ok with help, even if I knew I was going to pay a few extra dollars for it. I had decided I would spend my entire time here in the Yasawas and instead of trying to nickel and dime it I figured it would be easiest to get everything set up right off the bat. So I took the Yasawa Flier II, a quick boat, to one of the last islands in the Yasawas, Tavewa, where David's Place is. The ride was fairly uneventful, but I did talk to a couple of very fine Dutch girls, unfortunately they were headed to an island towards the beginning of the Yasawas. After a couple of hours in the sun and a couple of beers, my continuous traveling for 20 or so hours had caught up to me and I took a nap inside. Before this, the weather had been nice and sunny, but when I woke up it was quite overcast and windy and that's pretty much been the case thus far. I arrived at David's to a friendly welcome, but I was the only one coming in yesterday and it was obvious there weren't many others. They fed me lunch (3 meals included) right away, but it was some type of noodle with a sort of mystery meat in grey sauce. Sort of ok, but I was very glad when one of the guests, Rod, came by and started talking to me and I was able to sort of push off the rest of the meal. Rod's here with his girlfriend Marie and have been traveling for about 5 months and plan on another 10 or 11 months. When I asked if they were working they said they were lucky that they didn't have to, so I assume that means they came into a bit of cash recently. But, you know what they say about assuming....

Dinner last night was good and breakfast this morning was interesting. A bowl of Corn Flakes followed by toast with canned spaghetti. I'm not a big fan of canned spaghetti but apparently it's something that is in favor from those of the British descent. The Aussies and the Brits that are here all thought it was lovely. Maybe the key was that I had to eat it like they did, put the spaghetti onto the toast. But I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have made it much better. If it gets offered again tomorrow or this evening I'll try the combo thing.

The Blue Lagoon was so-so, I snorkeled around for about 1.5 hours and, since I really don't have a reference, it seemed pretty nice. After I got back to David's however, the other guests said that most of it was dead, which would sort of explain it's dull nature. I was expecting some sort of show... A couple of new guys that showed up said there are better areas than the one I went to but since it cost me about $20 US to get a water taxi over there and rent the snorkeling equipment I'll probably skip any additional trips. I do hope to do some diving while I'm here and refresh myself. It's been over ten years since my last dive so I'm probably rusty (but I haven't been in the water, so it would actually be difficult to be literally rusty.)

I bought a bottle of Rum at the duty free because drinks in the islands are pretty expensive ($4.50 for a beer). I would advise against the Bounty OP (for over proof) run, especially straight. It's a little more palatable with Coke but not much. I guess the fact that it's 116 proof doesn't help much.

Tomorrow I head to a different island, called Niviti, where I will stay at the Coconut Bay Resort. I hope it's a little more lively than David's. I really hope there are more persons of the female variety as well... After two days there I move on again to one of the first islands of the yasawas and I'll stay at a place called Wailailai, or something like that. On the way up on the boat this area looked very nice (it's was sunny and not windy).

I tried to upload images on this computer but there doesn't seem to be any way of doing it with the operating system they are using. I'm guessing it will be New Zealand before I can post any pictures.

Ok, then. Till next time.