What the.....?

Sounds like a tasty poo treat!

Long week-end

So after the overcast rainy volivoli week-end I was determined to get my fix of sunshine. The Yasawas island chain is about as far west as you can go and about as far from Suva as is possible. So I was optimistic in the hope that the weather patterns are different out there. How wrong could I have been as it simply just wasn't meant to be. The whole long week-end apart from a few hours on the Saturday was characterised by a now very familiar grey dullness interspersed of course with the frequently occaisional downpour. Now that my two cents of disappointment are out of the way I can shall continue.

So left Suva Thursday afternoon and managed a ride in the back of the 'Save the Children' 4WD over towards Nadi. 180 kms and 4hrs later we arrived at Alex's (AYAD working in Nadi) and continued to plan the rest of the week-end over some beers and dinner at the Nadi Bay Resort. We had to rise and shine early on Friday as the Yawasa Flyer was departing at 9.00 a.m from Denarau which is a few kilometers from Nadi. Our destination for the Friday day/night was none other than 'Beachcomber Island' which is only a short 20min ride from the mainland. Not really sure how to explain Beachcomber, I think the best way is to say that I was bed No. 85 in the dormitory. I think there is well over a hundred in the dorm with the vast majority of them being English backpackers. Walking in there early on Friday morning was something like sex-ed 101. The place was simply teeming with english backpackers looking for a good time. So due to the unbelievably stormy weather, the drinking and card games got underway before lunch and there was little respite till the wee hours of the morning.




So morning came and time for four hour boat cruise to Oarsman's bay. I must say that I was glad to see the back of that island. Saturday was relatively nice weather (as in it didn't rain) and the sun came through to say hello for a few hours which was a welcome change. So lots of snorkelling and paddling etc... Coral and fish magnificient as usual. Sunday was spent with much of the same except with worse weather and hence the photo above is quite representative of the activities. Monday morning was time for a boat trip out to some caves before our trip back to Nadi. The boat ride there was just excessively cold, wet, rough and long. As you can gather from the photo, I was not very impressed. The caves were pretty cool and we had to dive under water through a kind of tunnel to get into what felt like prehistoric bat caves. Part of the film 'The Blue Lagoon' was filmed there.



Trip back to Suva took in total around nine hours and was not really comfortable. Paradise is not really around the corner from Suva. So already planning and looking forward to my next trip away. Got some friends coming over early November so look forward to seeing them out here and showing them around a bit. I find myself living cheaply during the week so as to finance my week-end fixes of beach.

VoliVoli and some random Fiji pix

VoliVoli is located in the same area as Nananu-i-ra except its still on the mainland. Its a pretty cool backpackers and has a a pretty unique sandbank. My camera has stopped working however, so i guess photos are going to be lacking from this weekend, however, I have posted some random Fiji photos of the market and downtown Suva for y'all to look at. So three of us left Suva under torrential conditions on Friday afternoon. Its true that the heavens opened up. I find myself repeating myself regularly "I've never seen so much rain". First time I had seen proper flooding and there were many a squatter settlement under water. As in pure Fiji style though no one really seemed surprised or anxious at the four hour long journey across rickety bridges and dirt roads that lay ahead. (Check out the photo taken from the first trip of the dodgy bridge).



So we were hoping that by travelling north we might get away from the drowing rain in Suva and acheive some sort of blue sky beach weather. We were mistaken. No rain but overcast the whole time and yet I still managed to get burnt. Friday night was eventful, there was around 15 Feejee experience backpackers from around the world but mostly English, it was a pretty fun and rowdy night. I especially liked the crab races and the bonfire on the beach is always a good way to end a night. Saturday morning was spent snorkelling off a reef whilst those with their Padi diving certificates went diving. I still love the snorkelling, the soft coral and the fish are amazing. One of the girls got seasick and it was fairly fun to see the colour drain from her face in the space of five minutes. The rest of the week-end was spent reading books, eating, drinking beer, playin cards etc... It really doesn't have the same atmosphere as when it is sunny though. So long bus ride home last night and back at work today. My boss has been away for a week as her father died last week and I got to experience a Fijian style pre-funeral with the kava presentation and the drinking. It was very culturally different from a Westerners perspective as it wasn't as sombre as I expected.


Its a short week for me this week as for the first time since I have been here, its a long week-end and I am taking Friday and Tuesday off and heading off to the Yasawas. Its very remote and a long way to travel but I have been reliably informed that it is simply stunning. Hope you enjoy some of the random photos of downtown Suva.