Fiji

Nadi

We flew into Nadi and stayed at Bamboo Hostel for 2 nights. We were undecided which islands to go and visit because there is so many of them! We spoke to a guy called Rico who told us about an island called Qamea, which is on the other side of the island near Taveuni. By what he was telling us it sounded like paradise, clear blue water and white sand. When we asked him how long it would take and he said 24 hours it put me right off going. By this point we didn't know what to do, we spoke to a French girl who told us that she had just come back from Maqai (Qamea island) and said that it is definitely worth the ferry journey because it is the most beautiful island she has ever visited! So that made the decision for us, we were going! We went back to our room and Michael from Australia had just checked in. He was saying that he was a keen surfer and that he didn't know which islands he was going to visit either so we told him that Maqai was meant to be good for surfing and we convinced him to come with us!


The next morning we got up early so I could skype Lindsay and meet baby Faith! She was adorable but it wasn't the same as seeing her in real life! After we had finished our skype session we had to get ready to leave for the epic journey. We met Eric, Masume and Sam who were also travelling to Maqai with us. We then met with Henry who's father owns the resort and he wrote down the instructions on how to get there. First we had to get dropped off at the bus station in Nadi, then from there we had to get a bus to Suva which took 4 hours. Then we had to go to the ferry ticket office and buy a ticket and then we had to wait to board the ferry for about and hour. We were a bit skeptical about the boat because it only cost us £16 for a 20 hour journey!! We boarded the ferry and the first thing that came into my head was if I'm ever going to die on a ferry it would be this one! The ferry was very rusty and the amount of trucks and Lorry's they were fitting on there made me think we weren't going to make it! We headed to the top of the ferry where there was wooden benches outside. To pass some time we played a lot of games of Chase The Ace, a local Fijian kid joined in with us too because he couldn't sleep. When we did finally go to sleep it was so uncomfy but we did manage to sleep for a few hours which passed away a few hours. When we finally got to Taveuni we were so tired and hungry but the journey wasn't over yet. We then met a guy called John who was to drive us to the other side of the island. we made a supermarket stop so that we could buy some snacks and alcohol as there is no shop on the island. It was about a 50 minute drive to the other side of the island, when we finally got there we had to get on a small boat that would take us to Qamea. When we finally got to Qamea the boat couldn't pull up outside the resort because the tide was too low so they had to pull the boat up round the corner from the resort! This meant that we had to do a jungle trek to get to the side of the island we needed to be on and after that we then had to walk through the shallow part of the sea to reach the resort. We were so exhausted when we finally got there, so after we checked in I went and got a shower straight away after not washing for a day and a half! We had some dinner then got an early night, I couldn't wait to sleep in a proper bed!


The next day we got up and got some breakfast which consisted of home made donuts, papaya and a banana, best breakfast in a while! For the rest of the day we just chilled out and sunbathed because we were still tired from the journey the day before.

Maqai Beach

Traditional Fijian Meal Cooked Under Ground

Rope Swing

Our Fijian Family

Nanuku


The following day 9 of us from the resort decided to take an over night trip to Nanuku, which was meant to be even nicer then the island we were staying on and it was! The Chief's son from the island took us along with Doh, Benny and the resorts chef, Anna. They took us there in 2 small boats and the journey took about 2 hours. On the way there we drove past the 7 star resort owned by the guy who owns red bull and we were chased away by there private boat because they don't like boats driving near the resort! When we got to Nanuku we couldn't believe how aqua blue the water was, was like a beach you see on a postcard. It was by far the nicest beach I have ever been too! Anna made us some lunch just after we got there then we went snorkeling. As soon as I jumped off the boat the first thing I saw was a reef shark which scared me a little bit but they aren't dangerous but I still kept close to Morgan the rest of the time. Doh, one of the Fijian guys swam down to the bottom of the sea bed and picked up a huge clam which he then put in the boat for their dinner later on, we couldn't believe the size of it! They took us to another snorkeling spot where we saw more reef sharks and lots of fish, Morgan saw a turtle swimming around but I missed it! After about 3 hours snorkeling we went back to the island. Anna the chef cooked us an amazing Fijian style curry then after that we had some cava with the Fijian guys(traditional Fijian drink a.k.a mud water!). We were just about to go to bed when Masumi got a text off her mum saying that an earthquake had hit Japan and that a tsunami was on its way through the pacific and that we should be careful! So everyone started to worry that it was going to hit Fiji. The guys who worked on the resort phoned the main resort and asked if it was true, they said it was and that it was expected to hit at 4am! Everyone went into panic mode! The Fijian guys reassured us that if it did hit the coral would break the wave up but we weren't convinced, the fact that you could walk around the whole island in 15 minutes made us panic even more. So we stayed up pretty much all night because we were too scared to sleep! When 4am did arrive there was a big thunderstorm but no tsunami just a higher tide! We were so relieved! After that we managed to sleep for about 3 hours. The next day we couldn't leave the island till 3pm because the tsunami warning lasts 12 hours. We were so relieved to get back to Maqai beach, the others who had stayed there said they slept in the jungle because that was the highest point of the island if the tsunami had hit they would have been safe!


The next few days we just sunbathed on the beach. On our last day we went scuba diving around the back of the island we were staying at. The coral round there was amazing, there was walls of soft and hard coral and lots of small fish! In the evening a few guys from the local villages came with their guitars and ukulele's and played local music for a few hours which was really good! It was a nice way to remember our last night at the island!

Nanuku

The next day we had to do the day and a half journey back to the main land on the horrible ferry! The journey felt so much longer on the way back and I couldn't wait to get back onto the main land.