 |
| |
| The Fiji Islands |
||
| Links Return to the home page via this link: David Frick Return to the home page via this link: Meghan Van Vleet Travel Log October |
We honeymooned here in 1997, and after two visits, all we can say is, "Bula! We love Fiji." Our second adventure here began with a midnight flight into Nadi. From there we made our way to our first overseas hostel. Beaches, diving, rainforests, and the Fijian and Indian populations who call Fiji home, all made this an incredible start to our journey around the world. See a few pictures below - we hope you enjoy the news. At first, we hurried to book a chunk of time at a resort on the Southern Island of Kadavu. Later we learned that not having reservations only increased our powers of negotiation, and gave us the flexibility to say "Yes" to other offers and experiences. We spent just over a week on Kadavu Island. No roads and just one small airstrip rising out of the ocean characterize the motorized transportation opportunities of Kadavu (other than boats of course). So we took a boat for just under two hours to our bure on Waisilima Beach. Unfortunately, the historical and famous (he was one of the first) Fijian resort owner next door - Albert of Albert's Place - died the day before we arrived. So our first Fijian funeral followed our first full day. We thought that other than the carcass of the cow in the middle of the proceedings (covered by a few palms), that the ceremony spoke volumes of the people. Literally hundreds of Fijians had traveled (by foot mostly - covering up to 20 miles), to mourn the famous Albert's passing, with song, feast and Kava. Sidenote on Kava - we drank a lot of Kava. This Fijian root is gound and mixed with water and drank from a communal bowl (it tastes like dirty water). After several bowls, your mouth turns numb and you begin to feel pretty mellow - O.K., so after a lot, you feel comatose. A few days into Waisilima Beach, we were into the full-fledged Fiji beach life (think diving, snorkling, rainforrest hikes, hammock time and reading when not spending time drinking Kava with the Fijians who live there). We were lucky to stay at such an isolated place. It gave us access to the Islanders, who were always up for conversations, Kava, music, or something new to teach us (like the proper way to crack a coconut - P.S. Tom Hanks is an idiot). After Kadavu, we flew back to the main island of Viti Levu and took a two hour boat ride (think a 10-foot speed boat with a cabin full of petrol vapors and a 16 year-old boy changing the gas tanks while smoking a cigarette - as the captain says, "You are lucky to be on the fast boat!") up to Waya Island in the Yasawa Island Group (where they shot the "Blue Lagoon"). We stayed at Octopus Resort - a travellers beach paradise (soft white sand, rolling surf to play in, and a reef 20 meters further out to snorkel in - totally amazing) . At Octopus, we met and made tons of friends... Martin & Julia from Germany, Claire & Ronin from Ireland, Millie & Suzy from the U.K., and Zoran & Jasmine from Switzerland, all travellers (got advice for the next stops on our trip and made some plans to rendezvous later in other countries). The rest of Fiji involved risking life and limb on the bus system (buses go about 10 mph uphill, so to compensate the drivers gun it going down - regardless of one-lane oncoming traffic, narrow bridges and small children crossing the road - another fellow traveller was bitten on one of these buses by some sort of spider and had an acrotic wound the size of a grapefruit on his leg) while circling the entire island of Viti Levu. We made stops in Nadi, Latouka, Suva, and another island - Nana-I-Ra. O.K., so here is some travel news. Meghan and I cancelled our trip to Europe in the Spring, and instead we will extend our stay in Asia. Stay tuned, until the next posting..... |
|
 Beach Life on Waya Island |
 Peaceful Meghan |
 Suset in the Yasawas, Fiji Return to the home page via this link: David Frick Return to the home page via this link: Meghan Van Vleet |