FORGET FRYING IN FIJI !!!!

AGAIN WE APOLOGISE FOR THE FORMAT BUT IT LOOKS LIKE BLOGSPOT IS NOT GOING TO ALLOW US TO DRAG OUR PHOTOS AROUND ANYMORE. SO I'M AFRAID ITS LOOKS LIKE A STRIP OF PICS AND THEN THE WRITTEN WORD. NOT WHAT WE WANT BUT UNLESS THE NEW ZEALAND TECHNICAL DEPT CAN SORT IT, THIS IS WHAT YOU GET, THE FIJIAN TECH CREW WERE JUST TOO LAID BACK !!!!!!!!!!

OUR BEACH

A FINE VIEW

JAN PLAYING WITH THE LOCAL CHILDREN

JAN'S ALWAYS BUILT BOATS FOR THE CHILDREN

ITS RAINING AGAIN

THE LOCAL TIPPLE (KAVA)

THE CHILDREN OF VUNIVESI VILLAGE

THIS LOOKS LIKE A "ROB" TYPE OF HANDRAIL!!!

A RIGHT COUPLE OF BUMS!!!

YET MORE RAIN CLOUDS

WILD WOMEN ON THE BEACH & THE THING FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

JAN'S NEW FRIEND VATU

We leave a sunny Sydney, the sunniest and warmest it’s been for two weeks, oh well at least we are going to Fiji the land of sun and laid back lifestyle!! Arriving in Nadi after a very relaxed flight even for Jan, the sultry heat hits you as we exit the plane; it’s nice to be back in the tropics. Our first night is spent in the Hexagon International Hotel only ten minutes from the airport. Although the name conjures up a rather grand image, once you’re through the large front entrance gates, a tired but clean establishment greets us, we wonder if the gates are there to keep the locals out, or the residents in! The next morning it’s off early to get our inter island flight to Vanua Levu. We’ve already booked a taxi for nine o’clock with reception and checking again with them in the morning we settle down and patiently wait, after another ten minutes I again check with the receptionist, who without even looking at me walks from behind the desk and hails a car that has been parked in the car park for as long as we have been sat there, this laid back Fijian lifestyle could take some getting used to!!!! Arriving at the airport with minutes to spare for our ten o’clock flight check in, we are informed that there are no boarding passes, we will be called to the gate ten minutes before we fly. Seating ourselves comfortably down by the door labelled gates 1-10 we await our calling, at ten past ten our first half an hour delay is announced, followed half an hour later with a further half an hour delay, and yes you’ve guessed it after another half an hour they then announce a further one hour delay, welcome to Fijian time! We eventually fly at 1245 only a two and three quarter hour delay not bad for Fijian time apparently; sometimes the delay slips right into the next day. Spending so much time in the airport we discover that there is only one gate for all departures in the domestic terminal, gates 1-10 seems to be a slight over exaggeration on there behalf. Boarding our plane a 16 seater twin prop otter, I settle back for a very scenic one hour flight to the island while Jan adopts the crash position for the entire flight and wonders why she has a headache when we land! Vanua Levu is the second biggest island in the Fijian group renowned for it’s seclusion and unspoilt beauty, peaceful countryside and traditional villages, it sits just north of the main island of Vitu Levu. Our cottage sits up on a hill overlooking Savusavu Bay, which happens to be the second biggest bay in the Pacific, and only a few miles from the international date line, so we are definitely the first people in the world to witness the start of each new day, or we would be if only we were ever up in time to see it!! A taxi has been arranged to meet us and takes us into Savuasavu for supplies before driving us out to the cottage. Plenty of shops with very reasonable food prices complete with a large fresh vegetable market, the wines a bit pricey but as it all has to be shipped in, it’s understandable. On the drive from town back to the cottage the first drops of rain start to fall, we are not impressed. Fiji is certainly relaxed, the people friendly, but you also need the weather and that for us unfortunately just hasn’t happened. Cloudy overcast skies for almost our two weeks here with a few days of rain thrown in for good measure, no need for slip slap slop(suntan lotion) just splish splash(puddle jumping). Our cottage is very nice and the time spent here has certainly been relaxing, but with not being able to get on the beach because of the strong winds gusting against the shore, very disappointing. We have managed to visit the local village and chat with the locals on our walks along the beach, even getting up into the interior and visiting Waisale nature reserve high up in the tropical rainforest. After many phone calls (yes it’s the Fijian way), I finally get to dive Namena Marine reserve with Jean Michel Cousteau’s dive crew, this only happens on our last day due to the bad weather, but wow what a day. The weather has finally turned and the choppy rough seas and grey skies are replaced with calm seas and blue skies (this could now be Fiji instead of Felixstowe) even Jan comes along for the ride. We power out on the most powerful dive boat that I have been on to date, skimming across the water for forty minutes before arriving at Namena Marine Reserve which reputedly has the best dive spots in Fiji. Our first dive is on the Chimneys, two stacks covered in soft corals, amazing colours to rival my dive in Malaysia. Our second dive, called central station, is purely for fish spotting, a passage through the reef where we see schools of Tuna and a great many reef sharks just casually swimming around us, another tick off the to do list. Our time in Fiji hasn’t been quite what we expected, due to the weather, not the country. We had hoped to do a lot more water based activities, but due to the grey skies to rival England’s, it just hasn’t happened. We’ve definitely enjoyed the relaxed and friendly atmosphere on the island, and our cottage hosts Roy & Lisa have made for a wonderful relaxing time here. We actually did manage to sort out some of the itunes on the computer, due to the bad weather keeping us in doors for a couple of days, so hopefully Jan will have something to take her mind off the crash position on the flight back to Vitu Levu. The affordable property prices and opportunities that are available here, certainly would make Fiji a very serious contender in our quest to find somewhere else to live, and perhaps a second visit later next year, might well be on the cards. Next stop New Zealand and back to camper van life for another seven weeks, with perhaps just perhaps some blue skies (fingers crossed) even if the temperatures are a bit cooler.