Moving on

27th September 2010

MP3 track of the day: Free to love again - Katie Perry

Weather: Hot but with a very cool breeze

Getting up early I checked out, packed my stuff, had breakfast, and then contemplated what I should do for the next four hours before the catamaran came to pick me up. The 'reading a book under a palm tree' was favorite but just as I was about to settle down a nice Kiwi lady asked if I wanted to go to the caves (an activity that was on today). She was holidaying in Fiji with her two sons and had already got tickets as part of her holiday package (which she won in a Marathon … nice that) but one of her sons didn't want to go (instead he wanted to walk around the island) and so, instead of wasting the ticket, she asked if I wanted to go.

Yes was my answer, but I only had 5 minutes to get ready for it … no problem. I dumped my book back into my bag and picked up my suncream, sorted …

… Well not quite. The first problem was that we had a 45 minute ride in a small, engine powered, boat to the caves. I got completely soaked and I had my wallet, my phone, MP3 player and passport with me (as I thought, at the beginning of the day, I was getting ready for my trip to the next island). When we reached the caves I took my shirt off, rung it out and then put it back on. I then checked all my stuff and, to my amazement, it was all fine. The second problem was that the caves were flooded and I had no swimming stuff, I therefore took a couple of photos from the edge and then headed back outside to the beach where others, from my boat, were hanging out.

It wasn't long before the rest of my group came out of the caves and we got back on the boat. Speaking to some of the others on my boat they said the caves were okay, but its normally $50.00 and if it hadn't been included within their package, they would have been a bit gutted to spend that amount of money on the experience they got.

We arrived back at the resort a little late (but a lot dryer) and so I had to rush. Again I met my Australian friends and we had lunch before leaving Coral View for the catamaran. Overall I had a very good time at Coral View but I was ready to move on.

Once on the boat I stocked up on biscuits for my next destination, Manta-ray resort (wasn't going to get caught out on the food thing again). After 2 hours my Aussie mates next island was called and so I said goodbye; my resort was only fifteen minutes after theirs.

Once off the catamaran (again being transferred between boats and having to walk a little way through the water … it was okay though, this time I was prepared by wearing sandals and shorts ) I tagged along with some other people who had just left Coral View.

Manta-ray resort greeted us with a cool welcome drink as a lady talked to us about the resort. Two things stuck in my brain; that at meal times there was a choice (At the last resort you had whatever was being cooked) and that there was a village tour tomorrow. Both things sounded great and so I went to the dorm, unpacked my stuff, then hit the shower (with me getting soaked earlier, I had a lot of salt all over me) before getting changed into some new clothes.

6pm came around all to quickly and so I headed to the sunset beach to, funnily enough, watch the sunset. Just like every other time I've seen the sun set over here it was beautiful and it still surprises me how quickly, after sunset, Fiji gets dark.

After this I headed towards the restaurant to meet my friends for tea and to have a look at the restaurant menu. Food wise Manta-ray is the complete opposite to Coral View, the food was simply stunning. For the first starter I had Pumpkin soup, followed by my second starter of onion bargies (or something similar) finishing of with the beef (with mash potato, carrots and green beans drizzled in a lovely sauce); all were simply stunning and mouth watering … I was certainly looking forward to meal times here.

After this we all had a quiet drink, whilst a group of rowdy American teenagers played games in the other half of the restaurant, before heading to bed at the very civilized time of 9:30pm. At 1:00am the following morning most of the dorm were awoken by the said group of Americans as they turned the lights on and decided to chat or 45 minutes before eventually going to sleep. Beautiful location, great food and noisy neighbors … I guess you can't have it all!

Toodle Pip!