Fiji - Feejee Experience and Beachcomber

Saturday morning and the start of the Feejee Experience with a hangover! Quick set of introductions, so don't remember anyone's name! For the record they were: Kerry and Katie, Claire, Mike, Mikey, Sam, Baker (Kieran), Crispy (Kieran), Sarah, Victoria, Jane and Kelly (who actually didn't meet up with us until we got down to the Coral Coast). First main stop (not counting the supermarket stop in Nadi) was Natadola Beach for a bit of swimming and lunch before stopping in a local village for a half hour. Then it was off to Sigatoka and the sand dunes for some sand boarding. It was a bit tame for the first run down so Kaka (the driver) gave me a different board to try out. I'm sure if must have had turbos on it and so I managed a spectacular wipeout at the end - sand in every possible entry point! For the accomodation we were the first guests at Mango Bay Resort on the Coral Coast. It was still under construction but with probably be a very nice place when it's finished. However, they will then to work out their stocks a bit better - we drank the bar dry of everything other than a few spirits! As we were at the beach we watched the sunset (very nice) and then had a campfire after the meal (with music provided by the resorts own guitarist).

Sunday started with a 3-hour hike through the rainforest to the river - perfect hangover cure, if a little hot! It's not a standard hiker track as it has been made specially for Fiji Experience and hence is a bit more rugged which also makes it more fun - lots of walking through streams which was really refreshing after the heat of the first part of the hike. At the river we did some tube-ing in the rain (probably more fun than it would have been in the dry) and ended up by jumping off the waterfall (another test for the vertigo!). After an hour or so boating bakc up the river to the bus we drove into Suva for a night of pole dancing and more alcohol!

The next day started with a visit to a local village school where we were guided around by the pupils. They don't just guide the visitors either, there's a vegetable garden where they grow the ingredients for the meals they prepare. Whilst we were there a group of the older pupils were doing some practical wood and metal working - replacing the roof on one of the buildings - I can't see that happening in the UK somehow! We then headed for an inland village for a kava ceremony with the chief followed by Bilibili rafting (and racing) and volleyball (of a kind) with the both the chief and some of the guys from the village. However, heading from the village north to the coast was probably the most surreal part of my time in Fiji - we got caught in the middle of a hailstorm!! The hailstones were not like the small drops we get back in the UK, these things were more like ice cubes, able to crack the windscreen. A few of the guys also had to get out a couple of times to clear fallen trees from the road! Te (the guide) said that she had never seen anything like it before in her life. However, once we got to the coast you would think nothing had happened as it was bright sunshine there. At the coast we boarded a boat for our next destination - Nananu-I-Ra island. After going to the top of the hill to watch another sunset it was back for more drinking games, campfires and skinny dipping (thank good the sea around Fiji is warm!).

A few of us spent the next few days chilling out in Nananu-I-Ra before catching the boat back to the mainland on the Thursday. The highlights of the journey back to Nadi where the goat curry in Ba (populated primarily by ethnic Indians that had come over to Fiji in the mid-1800's to work on the sugar plantations), the hot springs and mud pools. The evening was spent back in the Horizon hostel in Nadi, drinking kava and listening to Tai and the Kavaholics. I have a signed CD so I can subject you to them when I get back!

On the Friday those of us still around headed off to Beachcomber Island for a Feejee Experience reunion. Needless to say it was another late one. Saturday involved lots of sleeping and lots of rain - when it rains here it really rains! It was a slow start to evening (which the band did not help) but we still managed to hang a few (understatement!) on. Sunday was also very chilled and we headed back to Nadi for a very wet evening of goodbyes. New Zeland tomorrow!