Fiji

Monday 5th November - Sunday 11th November

Next we flew to Nadi, Fiji! I didn't really know much about it before going there. We spent all our time in a really lovely resort called The Beach House on the south coast of the island, Vitu Levu.

It was all very beautiful and exotic, as you would expect. We had such a relaxing, fun time and met loads of really cool people from all around the world. The resort was big but cut off from anywhere else on the island. So everyone tended to stay within the vicinity and it was like living in a small, isolated community for a week, with the dynamics altering each day as people came and went.

On the first day we tried to sunbathe on the beach but that didn't really work because it was so windy that we spent most of our time wiping sand off of ourselves. But the water was beautiful - very warm and quite clear. The area is famous for diving and snorkeling but it was all too expensive, so I just went kayaking, which was free. It's not really comparable to going under the water but it was still possible to see some sea life and coral.

One of the highlights of the weak was a trek through an area of jungle near to our accommodation. It was just Briony and I, a dog and the guide, Jiunta. He has lived in the village next to The Beach House all his life and so knew everything there was to know about the jungle - his city, as he described it. On the way, a family called Jiunta over and asked him to get some medicine from the jungle. Jiunta said that everything needed to live could be found in the jungle. He told us about a proud moment from his childhood when he and his father lived inside the jungle for a week, gathering lots of materials.

On the way to our destination, a waterfall, he picked us a ripe pineapple, a coconut and a tapioca. We were also lucky enough to meet two hunters returning to the village with their kills (two wild boars). With a straight face Jiunta joked that the boars were sleeping. I naively wondered for a split second how they could possibly be napping so peacefully, until I saw the bloody gashes on their necks.

Jiunta told us about some of the functions and uses for bamboo. It's really clever stuff! We saw three functions in action (or rather post-action) by the fire that the hunters had used. One piece was used both as a spit and a pot to cook some boar meat, and another as a water bottle. We walked through lots of mud and rivers before arriving at the waterfall. He told us to stop worrying about stepping in mud and water and just get stuck in. He walked bare foot all the way. We swam through a pool to get to the fall. Jiunta kept insisting we climb to certain parts of the waterfall so he could take photos, including one of us standing directly under the falling water, where it was not easy (actually quite painful!) to stay still long enough for the picture.
I took off my shoes to climb up the rocks, so I could get a better grip, but very quickly got bad cramp all the way up my dodgy leg, and so didn't get very far and just had to sit to sit down stranded for a while.

On the way back we waited for about twenty minutes altogether while Jiunta disappeared to find the medicine - the bark of one particular tree which helps with upset stomachs and stiff joints. Then we said goodbye to the very sweet and excitable dog who'd followed us all the way to and from the waterfall, and thanked Jiunta for our experience.

I played volleyball everyday. Or rather, I made lots of noise and flayled my arms about for a couple of hours everyday. It was really fun! We had a really good time in the evening as well; playing games and sharing stories. One night, a big group of us played drinking games, which ended in both tears and loads of laughter, as well as indecent exposures, sickness, fighting, people being thrown into the swimming pool (just before the fighting), singing, a cracked open head (just after the singing) and other generally raucous behaviour.