Bula!
That means hello by the way. This weekend 11 of us booked a couple of days at an island off the south coast of the main island of fiji, viti levu. so bright and early on sunday morning we piled into a couple of minivans and roared off down there.
the police presence on the roads is totally nonexistant apart from roadblocks outside the police stations, so the accepted method of driving is fast and dangerous and no seatbelts. when we get near a police station we stop trying to overtake four cars in a row, slow down and put our belts on. we then drive past, speed up and take our belts off again. simple.
anyway, we got a ferry down a broad river through some mangrove swamp and out into the sea, where it was a short trip out to the island. we were greeted on the beach by some guitar playing singing fijians and a few islanders who had already arrived. it was awesome and we checked out our 'buhrs', which are small traditional thatched huts, and then headed off to do some activities. we got some coconuts down from a tree and cracked them open for a quick drink, and then played volleyball and tug of war on the beach. in the evening we watched some local dancing and fire juggling, and had a meal from a 'lovo', which is an underground oven. basically a pit is dug in the ground, and a layer of hot stones is put on the bottom. next all the food is added, wrapped in palm leaves. the position of the food in the pit depends on how much cooking it needs, so meat goes near the bottom with the rocks and veg higher up. the pit is then covered with palm leaves to seal it and left for 5 hours. delicious!
then we lay on the beach around the bonfire, looking up at the sky. the stars were absolutely amazing - way better than any nights skys i have seen in england.
the next day we kayaked around the island a bit, sunbathed and then went snorkelling.
i think we looked pretty stupid kitted out in flippers, a facemask and a snorkel, but once in the water over the reef it was great! the visibility was pretty good, and there were a fair few fish around. just being there and seeing the coral stretching out in all directions was awesome. i didnt really master the diving down bit so i mostly stayed near the surface and checked it all out, but i hope to get a fair bit deeper next time. i also got sunburned all over my back but its all good.
on sunday evening we ferried and bussed it back to lautoka, ready for another day of coaching on monday. i ended spending a fair bit of money so i might just chill in the house in lautoka next weekend. hopefully the pool will be fixed by then!!
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