It truly is a paradise here

26th September 2010

MP3 track of the day: cigarettes and alcohol - Oasis

Weather: It's hot, but you don't notice it as much due to the breeze of the coast (which makes it a little dangerous for getting burnt).

Waking up a decent time I headed for breakfast. I had now tested all three meal times the resort offered in a day and, I have to say, I was not very impressed by the standard compared to the food on the mainland (and the prices). For breakfast I had toast, that was probably toasted two days ago, which was cold and tasted of cardboard. The fruit (watermelon) was warm and mushy and the orange juice was orange squash. Taking everything into account, (the $61 price tag for all food per day, the fact that most food has to be shipped here adding additional cost and that Fiji is a pretty poor country) and balancing the pro's and con's in my head, I felt that the resort was purposely not doing enough so that you bought additional food from there highly inflated snack bar. All-in-all I wish I had brought some additional snacks with me.

However the food wasn't the most important part of the resort, its location was. Due to the wonderfully cool breeze I decided to take a stroll along the beach and see how far I could go (maybe all the way around the island) before lunch.

I have arrived in paradise. This island is amazingly beautiful with everything your imagination expects from the islands of Fiji. I took my camera and tri-pod and, for the first time this trip, got down to some serious photographing (it's been too hot to carry the equipment on the mainland) so check out my flickr account.

There were so many views to photograph and it was only when I had reached the top of the island that my path was blocked by the sea to my left, and a rocky outcrop hugging the coastline to my right. Also it was nearly time for the snack that they call lunch and so I headed back to the resort.

Again I met the Aussies for lunch which consisted of a huge pile of wet rice in which you could make out a few pieces of vegetables. Along side was half a wet banana and some more vegetables in coleslaw (no drink included). I have to be honest and say it was more filling than yesterday, but more boring.

After this I was pretty tired and so I headed for my dorm to chill before 4pm for the biggest meal of the day … afternoon tea (CAKE ... which was amazing!). Once this was done I tried to walk around the other half of the island (In the morning I turned right out of the resort, and so this afternoon I turned left) but I didn't get very far due to the loss of beach to a rocky outcrop. I therefore went back to the resort, found palm tree and read my book … but not or very long as the winds were really quite fierce and I was feeling quite cold (which was a pleasant change).

I headed into the resort to watch tv and wait for tea. Tea was actually really good with loads of cooked meats on offer, I therefore went up for seconds and then I went for my daily bowl of ice cream. Again the staff played instruments and sang there traditional welcome song for the new people who had arrived today.

After this there was a crab race in which you could purchase a crab and, if it won, you took all the money. All the crabs were given a nationality and so I purchased it … yes I did, I had purchased the Welsh crab (I missed out on the English crab by a couple of dollars .. anyway George from my Alaskan trip would be proud) for $2 (66p … thinking about it, I could have bought Wales for that amount). All the crabs were put under a bowl in the center of the table and then, after a 5 second count down, the lid was removed and they were off!

Wales, sticking to it's true sporting tradition, didn't come anywhere close to winning. But we were all glad USA didn't win (some American arse had purchased that crab … you're supposed to start bidding at $2 but he went straight for $6 so that the USA crab would be the most expensive … I was quite tempted to buy the Chinese crab just so I can inform him that I had purchased the futures superpower as the USA are stuffed … but I didn't).

The crab race was too much excitement for me for one day and so I retired to my dorm; I need to be up early tomorrow to check out on time.

Toodle Pip!

A good end to a bad start

25th September 2010

MP3 track of the day – Daniel Powter – Bad Day

Weather: Hoooot!

I didn't sleep brilliantly last night, due to being worried that I'll sleep through my 5:45am alarm call to get the coach for the start of my island hopping trip. At 5:40am I got up and went to the bathroom to get ready.

When I returned a woman was sleeping in my bed. Now I'm not the most observant person in the world but I think I would have known, considering the size of the bed, if this lady had been sleeping here all night. I found it quite funny (even the guy in the bunk opposite me said he was quite confused to see me asleep when he came to bed, then to wake to see a woman in my place) until I started to get my stuff together.

When I picked up my hat off my bag it was covered in a liquid of some sort, so were part of my boots, my bag, my clothes for today (which I had hanging up nicely before she knocked them onto the floor) and my socks. The bed was also wet too which horrified me as to what the liquid could be; I gathered up my things and left the dorm.

Once outside in the light I noticed that this liquid had penetrated into my bad and had got on some additional socks that I had just paid to be washed. As you can imagine I wasn't the most happiest bloke in the world at this point and so I decided to wake her to find out what the liquid was … however she was pretty much unconscious due to the amount she must have drunk last night and trying to wake her up was impossible. I was not best pleased, however the liquid did not have a pungent smell of any kind, which made me think it might have been water and not spirits, or what I thought it might have been.

Anyway time was running out and so because of this mess I only had time or a little breakfast before getting the bus. Once at the dock things were pretty organized and I joined one queue to mark my luggage for my destination before entering another queue to get my vouchers for the trip (all resorts don't accept cash; instead you have to purchase all your accommodation on the mainland and in-return they will give you a ticket to hand to your resort of your choice) before boarding the boat.

I got on the boat (which is actually a catamaran) just before it took off. I realized that, due to problems this morning, I hadn't taken my seasick tables at breakfast. I took them straight away but I hoped that, at least for the first two hours, the water would be calm (like the inlet waters of Alaska) and okay … it wasn't.

I felt really, really ill and so I had to stay outside (a little concerned of the sun as my hat was still drying and I had no suncream on) for most of the trip. Now when I boarded the boat I went along a harbor front and got on the boat … as you do. However the resort had no harbor; instead small boats came to the catamaran, you hopped on and then they would take you near to the coast, where your resort was, before you had to walk through the water and onto the beach, finally heading for the resort. This would have been fine, if someone had told me. As I was traveling I was wearing my boots as they wouldn't it into my bag, plus I had trousers on. I quickly took off my boots and socks and headed inland (luckily the water was warm).

Once in the resort it was time for lunch, which was great as I was starving as I didn't have that much breakfast this morning. We were getting spaghetti with mince … lovely. When it arrived I couldn't believe how small the portions were; the meal was nice but I ate it all up and was still hungry … no pudding? Okay looks like I'll have to spend my own money on food then.

Finally I got shown to my dorm where I went through my bag to see what damage this mornings liquid had done. Overall it was okay, one jotter pad and my deck of cards hit the bin with my Japanese guidebook taking minor damage … I was still very annoyed.

Feeling a little sorry or myself (as the day has been rubbish so far) I decided to pig out on ice cream with a caramel sauce topping, yum, before having cake and tea (all for $6.00) which, surprisingly, the cake was huge.

Only now did my day take a turn for the better; at lunch I had met a really nice Australian couple (and just like normal I can't remember there names) and in the afternoon I met them at their apartment where we chatted for a little while. I found out that this is the Aussie girls second time in Fiji and, just like her previous time here, she had spent around £40 on a suitcase full of toys to give away to any children she might see out here (I saw them playing with a couple of children earlier). I thought that this was a fantastic gesture and, if I had enough room, in my bag I would have done the same. After we chatted they asked me if I would like to join them on a trip up the hill to watch the sunset … and so off we went.

The sunsets at around 6pm (very quickly) and so we had to set off around 5pm to make it up the hill for the show. Once up there we found out that practically all of the residents, from the resort, were there for the same reason, and it was a spectacular show. After this I was asked to join the Australian couple of lunch which was a buffet. Again the food was okay and, luckily, you could go up for seconds. During lunch a band played as we ate and it was all rather nice; after lunch the female workers at the resort all came together and sang us there welcome song with the band accompanying them. It was all lovely and then one of ladies shouted 'lets get this party starrrrted' …

… oh dear. At this point she wanted to do a couple of games for people to win drinks … which was my signal to be somewhere else. She was quite a small Fijian woman but she didn't half scare the hell out of me! Luckily this didn't last long and piece was soon restored. It was only around 9pm but both me and the Aussies were shattered, therefore we went our separate ways and went to sleep.

Toodle Pip!