Thursday 30 September 2010

Lazy Manta-ray

29th September 2010

MP3 track of the day: Song 2 - Blur

Weather: cool as there was a good breeze and a lot of clouds in the sky








After getting dressed, and having breakfast, I returned to my bed to find that some Fijian employees had removed the sheets and the mattress and were dismantling my bed with a hammer (what is it with me and problems with beds?). I therefore took my bags and checked out. By this point I was tired of beaches but most of all the sun itself. I therefore decided to have a lazy day and just read my New Zealand guide book to see what was in store for me there.

This was pretty boring and so, after an hour or so, I talked to some of the Fijian workers here including Emily, a lady from the village. After this I headed down to the beach bar to get a drink, once there I met two of the New Zealanders that I traveled to the village with yesterday. Bob and Alison were lovely and I chatted with Bob right through lunch and even when we boarded the boat.

Bob and I chatted about all sorts (his son is taking some exams to try to become a pilot in the New Zealand air force so good luck to him) and the boat ride just flew by. At the end Bob and Alison asked for my contact details so that they could send me their mobile numbers; this was so that if anything happened around Auckland I could call them, and they would come and pick me up and make sure I was alright. I was stunned at the kind generosity from Bob and Alison and meeting people like this is one of the best things about traveling.

I left the boat at South Sea Island for my final night; Bob and Alison were staying on the boat for another 30 minutes departing at the mainland to catch their flight home. I thanked them once more and then I departed the catamaran, again onto a small boat, and was taken to South Sea Island. I was the only one to arrived at South Sea Island where as hundreds (well it looked like hundreds, there were two boats full) of people were departing South Sea Island for the mainland. You see, South Sea Island is the closest island to the mainland and so a lot of people come here just for a day trip.

South Sea Island is tiny and I managed to walk around it within five minutes (the plot of land my parents house is on is bigger). The good thing about the island is that, due to it's size, very few people can stay a night meaning that, at tea, we all sat around the same table and it felt like a small family, everyone getting to know everyone.

For tea I had a huge bit of fish and the food was okay, but not as good as Manta-ray. It was at this moment that the bad news appeared; apparently our accommodation is full of bed bugs. The owners put the mattress in the baking hot today but apparently it's still a problem. I do remember back in Smuggles Cove meeting a guy who had bed bug bites all over his back and I now remember that it was this island that he stayed on … damn. The other tenants were telling me horror stories of how they have pulled bed bugs of them and how one couple got up at 5:00am because of them (still ... they got to see the sun rise).

Now mice, cockroaches and unconscious women who pour liquid everywhere I can kind of handle … things that bite, no way. The only positive was that no one wanted to go to sleep so we all stayed up rather late and chatted about our traveling experiences.

At 11:30pm we all decided that we had to brave it and so a period of torch shining and DEET spraying occurred. I didn't see any bed bugs on my first bed, but there were holes in the bed sheet so I moved to another bed and still no bugs … all was looking good.

I didn't sleep at all well, every time I itched, my torch came on to see what it was … still no sign of bed bugs.

Can't wait for tomorrow!

Toodle Pip!

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