BULA! [the most over-used word i've ever known; means: Hi, Bye, How Are You, Whats for dinner? Why you sad? Fancy some alone time? Genitals]. Having arrived at 5:10 in the morning…first stop was Denarau port via a sketchy cab ride to get the boat out to the Yasawa Islands…we’d had our eye on a pass for about 6 nights and then try add on some nights so added 2 on at the beginning to wait for Mel & Sarah to arrive in Fiji. We booked 4 nights in at Coral view which was one of the furthest islands away from the mainland and settled on the top deck for some sunshine! Not long in the rain set in and that kinda set the tone for most of Fiji…scattered sooon-sheeyiiiine followed by rain, rain, rain.
We arrived at Coral View resort…an island paradise and first thing we found was that we met a girl called Jenna of Royce/Loughborough/UK fame. Pretty weird, and chatted to some guys from Coventry who turned out to be the legendary Pedro, Webby and Pipey. Good nicknames allround. First evening ended up with a hat party where a guy from Cheshire who turned out to be the even more legendary Cash Man dropped Jemma on the floor. Pretty amusing all round. Evening was a pretty quiet one and an early night in our private Bure; bumped up by chance! Next day we headed to Brekkie and downgraded to a 6-bed dorm; not too bad though. The weather was the major blow- absolutely pissing it down. They know how to rain in Fiji!! The day was spent playing a few games of cards; 7s being the game of choice. The evening ended up with an aggressive game of Uno and some drinking games. The next day was pretty much the same; ridiculous time for breakfast, cards, lunch of fish and rice, cards, cookies, coke, then dinner in the evening of chicken, fish and rice. More cards and more aggressive drinking games were the entertainment that evening, along with Cash Man failing at almost every card game. Most the other guys headed off after 3 nights but we stayed on for a fourth, with Mel & Sarah eventually arriving on the 16th. I played a bit of rugby whilst the girls caught up and having stepped one Fijian Unit, hit the sandy deck like a sack of shite. Dusting it down as a knock, I failed to clean/attend to it which would become annoying!
We left the next day and headed to Korovou Resort/Island? and met up with the Coventry boys again poolside for some fire shows, drinking games and a game of palmy. We tried to get on a boat to do some handline fishing but instead managed to weave a basket out of palms. Delighted. We headed South with them to Kuata resort for 2 nights where the accomodation was pretty basic but hospitality was amazing! We ended up watching some of the islanders train rugby and shared Cava with them that night. For those out of the know; Cava is a plant-based drink which looks and tastes like muddy water. Nutritious AND Delicious. After a few tasty drinks, we headed to bed with a big day ahead: Fishing, Snorkelling with Sharks and watching the BIG Rugby Shield Challenge match.
So we wake up early and head down to the dining hall/restaurant and grab some breakfast ready to head out on the boat only to be told by Pedro that there has been an earthquake off Tonga and a tsunami is on the way. Not only that, but the earthquake was strong (7.9), shallow, and close to Fiji. How to deal with it? Panic? Head for the hills? Or do the English thing and sit around joking about how we’re done for! Eventually we are shown on a blackboard that the reef off the mainland would absorb any tsunami and that we are safe. Comforting words you would think…but not exactly the voice of authority you look for it to come from. So with that out the way, we headed to the waters to go shark swimming…only for the rain to set in and for us to turn right round as we couldn’t find the reef! IDEAL. Still…we headed to the opposite island for the Big Rugby Challenge Shield Match Final. Only for the other team not to turn up…so the shield wouldn’t be played for. Why didn’t they turn up? “Maybe they were busy”. Riiiight. Still…it was a great experience to see them playing rugby and the whole island/village come out to support them, and ridicule the fat player. That evening was spent drinking more Cava with Webby and Tom and Jem…staying up til 2 drinking a good 15 cups of the stuff. Enough to get anyone to start singing Oasis/Don McLean to off their head Fijians! The next morning we eventually got to complete the shark dive- an amazing experience…hard to feel scared when they are only 2 metres long or so but still a bit unnerving. We played a little rugby with the locals Mike Jim and Levis; 10 year olds from the island who are the future of Fijian Rugby.
Having left another island Jem, Tom and I headed to South Sea island…a tiny island close to the mainland with a reputation for bedbugs…in one bed…Bed 16! We checked in avoiding the rainstorm and were allocated beds. Sure enough Tom got given bed 16 and quickly swapped to bed 20. Without sheets he asked for a fresh sheet from the cupboard, unfolding it to find a whole collection of bedbugs!! After the strangest conversation ever had, we decided to sleep outside as that would be safer for us all. The conversation roughly followed the lines of:
“Why did you swap beds”
‘Does that matter…there are loads of bedbugs in this sheet’
“Why didn’t you come tell me”
‘That is what I am doing…I have just told you!’
“But why didn’t you call me, anyway we are moving a girl into that bed…you should never have been in that bed!”
A relatively good sleep on a park bench under cover was fine before we could escape to the relative haven of Beachcomber Island! We arrived early at about 9:30am and ran into Cash Man and Chris from Cheshire. We managed to find some football highlights which felt like paradise and slowly the other boys filtered down from the epic 100-bed dorm to fill us in on the nights events! Very funny! The day was pretty quiet…building for an epic night of drinking and staying up to watch Super Sunday. We started drinking at 6 happy hour and it was all pretty aggressive with some great drinking games, crab racing, dancing and abuse. Having managed to make it upto 4am, I completely passed out on another park bench. Gutted.
Our last day in Fiji was spent by the beach nursing hangovers and catching some final rays. That and watching Cash Man eat a Red Hot Chilli Pepper…
We caught a late boat back to Nadi and said our farewells to most the guys. We stopped off at a nicer hotel/hostel in Nadi and headed for a curry…what a treat after 10 days of fish/rice/salad. Our time in Fiji was amazing…back to some sort of civilisation…next stop Auckland!!
