I did it! I got back to Australia and I couldn't be happier. Only this time when I landed in Sydney International, something was different. I knew how to get around, I didn't like that, I already knew what this city was all about, so I couldn't wait for the 2 days to be over to catch my flight to Nadi, Fiji.
You should know that when I planned my trip to Fiji to stay at a resort, I didn't plan on going alone, I planned to go with Zoe, whom I met in Melbourne on "Australia - Round 1".
I landed in Nadi at 3:30pm on the 6th and very kindly, Zoe was waiting for me in arrivals. It was nice to know that this time when someone was going to meet me at arrivals, there was good news when I arrived. We had to leave the airport ASAP because we had to catch a sea plane from Nadi to the Blue Lagoon Resort on the Yasawa Islands within the hour or we would have to stay on the main land and we were already booked in at the Blue Lagoon, so we said our quick hello and jumped into a cab and made our way to the Sea Plane. We got on the plane with limited problems and by 5 o'clock our plane was touching down on the very calm ocean and we got on our boat to get to the resort.
We got to the Blue Lagoon just before 6 and as we were unpacking and getting ready to go for a swim the sun was just starting to set. We got into the warm water and for an hour swam around catching up all while watching the most amazing sunset we saw all week with all different reds, pinks and oranges. It is definitely one of the nicest ways to get reacquainted with someone.
Over the next few days, Zoe and I were having a blast, meeting new guests at the BL and spending time with the staff, both while they were on and off duty. We would spend our days on the beach and in the water, snorkelling and kayaking. The BL also had some organized volleyball for the guests so I part-took in that. It was a great resort, it accomidates 70 people, but when you are on the beach you feel like it's all there to yourself. It was nice to have communial dining, well I guess I should say it was more amuzing than anything else, because every night we sat with new people and everyone always had the same question, "So how do you two know eachother?" or "So when did you and your counterpart meet?". The first two nights, Zoe through me under the bus and didn't even answer the question, she immidiately took a sip of her drink waiting to hear what I had to say. Dinner conversations went from, "Oh, well... to be honest with you, we met in Melbourne at the Australian Open, really hit it off and decided to go to Fiji together.", to "Well, I actually run an Escort Service out of Canada and the lovely Zoe here, chose to acquire my services for her trip to Fiji.". You can imagine that after I dropped that story, Zoe immediately took charge of the question and answer period about how we met. Needless to say, dinners were always a lot of fun and we met some really great people. We also met some real bogan people.
We were regularly at the beach bar, chatting with the staff and friends and more times than not, shutting the bar down with our most amazing bar-tender Moses and Luke the bar manager. Because we were so close with the staff, Moses chose to befriend us and told us that he would take us to his village in the following days. We were so excited that we were going to see his village, because near the BL are 2 villages where the locals live. The larger village has approximately 65 houses and 400 people and that is were the tourists are taken when they visit the village from the BL. Moses' village "Malakati", is about 30 minutes further than the main village and has about 30 house with 290 people. It was amazing to see how people with so little have so much. The electricity was powered by small gas powered generators, and the closest thing to a store is going to someone you know who has something you want and you buy it from him. Such a different world. It was amazing. Moses made us lunch and took care of us and we played with the local kids in the rain before we returned to the BL.
So much more happened when in the Yasawas, but I figure I can keep on going for pages. One of the more exciting things that happened was actually on the day we left. After we got hit with our bar bill, and waiting till 4pm to catch our boat back to the sea plane, both Zoe and I went back to the main office and noticed that they had accidentally at noon, taken our luggage and put it on the boat with the other guests on their way back to the ain island. I was left with nothing on the resort! Everything was gone, my passport, my wallet, my clothes... all I had was board shorts, sandals and a towel. Luckily, Zoe had her wallet, so we did what any self-respecting person would do when put in a state of such vulnerability, we went back to the bar to wait till the boat left. The picture of Zoe here is a reaction shot after she took a look at our bar bill! lol
When we arrived to the plane pick-up point, Zoe and I had nothing but 2 towels and a purse to get on the plane, and luckily we were the only two on the evening flight back to Nadi. The captain of the plane asked which one of us would like to sit in the co-pilots seat, and without hesitation, Zoe volunteered me to sit up front, but asked that I try not to fly it! As we were flighing over the ocean on our 30 minute trip back to the main island, the pilot was showing us some of the islands and reefs on the way back to the main land. When we were about 15 minutes away from land, he turned to me and pointed to the steering column and let me fly the plane. It was so cool to be able to have that opportunity, because I know how rare it is for someone with my `Top Gun`qualifications to be able to even fly any plane. After the pilot let me have my fun, he took over and landed us back in Nadi safely and we off like a hurd of turtles to get our bags from the marina.
When we got to the marina, remember that I still only have board shorts on because I have to clothes, we quickly realized that we were in the richer area of Nadi. Golf courses surrounded by million dollar homes, fancy restaurants, shops everywhere and me, walking around with my new Fijian tan, some white shorts and a pair of sandals. I didn`t care! I needed to get to the boat where y bags were so I could be in posession of my passport and wallet again. When we finally got our bags, that were locked in the Captains quarters, the biggest weight came off my shoulders, and I was ready to celebrate our final night in Fiji.
After checking into our hostel, Zoe and I decided to head back to the marina for dinner. We were showered and clean, I had clothes again and we were ready to hit the town. We had dinner at this nice restaurant on the water, where we talked over a couple glasses of wine till once again, we shut the restaurant down. We had such a good night, and we knew it was our last in fiji, we just didn`t want the night to end, but as all things do, we headed back to the hostel, put on our night masks and called it a night.
It really sucked having to be the first one to leave on the afternoon of the 18th. My flight was heading back to Sydney at 4pm and Zoe`s flight was to Brisbane at 9pm. We both knew we wanted nothing more than an extra day together, but sometimes, even when life throws a curve ball at you, you have to do what you have already chosen and we had to go our separate ways.
Gutted, I headed to the airport to board stupid Jetstar`s flight back to Sydney with no real idea of when I am going to see Zoe again.
Thank you for one of the best trips ever. Great nights at the beach bar, hilarious snorkelling adventures and fears, no stop laughing, the only other girl that wanted to drink the carva with me, and really making me feel awesome about me. For those of you that don`t know what Carva is; Carva is a root that is crushed into powder that the Fijians drink. It looks like mud water and at first tastes just as bad, but not only is Carva good for you and your insides, it also numbs your body. After the first cup, your tongue goes numb, then after the second your lips, until you have as many cups as you please, you just get to the mellowest place and sing songs with the locals. Carva is drunk out of the Carva bowl and served in coconut cups. 3 sizes of cups; low tide, high tide and tsunami bowls.
Hope you enjoyed the read!
Peter
