Paradise Found - Fiji

Our taxi driver, Lawrence, picks us up from Nadi airport and drives us the two and a half hours to our amazing bure, on the beach. Lawrence likes to talk, is easily swayed by cigarettes and drives like a Frenchman, overtaking on blind bends and once swerving at some children playing in the road 'for fun'. He is however, charming and very knowledgable about Fiji.

We arrived in the dark, but I know the ocean is close, because I can hear it from my bed. In the morning, the doors of the bure are opened and it's 20 paces to the water. The sea is like bath water and I've never slipped into water so quickly, except perhaps at South Beach and Sara's wedding. And our outdoor shower is just gorgeous, I dread to think what antics honeymooners have got up to in there.......




The beach outside our bure (beach hut)




Our outdoor shower


But there ain't all that much to do. Having vetoed the idea of learning to dive again (memories of a massive panic attack on the Great Barrier Reef, aged 19) we mainly just laze around in the sun, swim in the sea and read. Vicky, who is far braver than me, goes diving with sharks and loves it. We venture out on Saturday night to have a meal at a beautiful place called the Pearl, the food is divine, bats sweep the night air, and just in case you thought it was too puke makingly idyllic, there's a really pissed Aussie a few tables down, being very loud and actually clutching a can of VB, mate. He's like a caricature of the Aussie male, although by the end of the evening, I'm not sure he could even say the word caricature, let alone spell it.




Dinner at The Pearl




Nom, nom, nom


On Monday, we head out to the reef to do some snorkelling, and spend a pleasant hour circumnavigating the reef, seeing some amazing coral and tropical fish, including a puffer fish. When we get back, the hottie who manages all the adventure sports (Rex, rhymes with.......) asks if we saw any sharks. I tell him I would have had an absolute nervous breakdown if there had even been so much as a hint of a shark.



Out on the reef - avoiding sharks


We do get in some actual exercise in Fiji, we run up and down the beach in the sea, attracting strange looks from the locals. Then we decide that's far too strenuous, and have to have a massage to make ourselves feel better. The massage probably qualifies as the best we've had this trip.

One thing they don't tell you about paradise is that it rains. Quite spectacularly and quite a lot. I mean, it's still warm and everything, but the rain absolutely lashes it down. However, Vicky and I discuss this over Coronas and quickly come to the conclusion that even here in the rain is better than the 'first day back at work blues' that would be engulfing us in chilly London.





On what we believe to be our last night in Fiji, I check our flight itinerary and find out that we actually have an extra night - whoops. We rush to reception, but they're full, so we book a hotel in Nadi and Lawrence takes us there. Big mistake. The salad we order for lunch is almost inedible ( we only eat it because we're so hungry) and the staff adopt a perfect attitude of 'don't really care'; we ask for extra towels, they repeatedly tell us they don't have any spare, despite hardly having any guests. Yes, we've roundly slated them on booking.com.

So to round off, we enjoyed Fiji, but a week was plenty long enough. The islands are beautiful, the people are friendly (everyone says Bula! as we pass them in the street), and our tans have come along a treat. Lets hope we can keep them that way in New Zealand.




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