ed to splash out on 5 nights in a 5 star resort as a treat to ourselves for having roughed it for 5 months. It was a 90 minute journey to the resort and it was after 10pm when we arrived. We checked in and our butler showed us to our room... we jumped up and down in excitement for a while before collapsing into bed, exhausted by the past few days of travel.
! Our huge room was fabulous with a lovely balcony and views out over the resort and the coral coast. We treated ourselves to a buffet breakfast and ate more in one sitting then we had eaten in the past month! The plan was to then spend our time in the water, kayaking and snorkelling around the reef and doing our advanced open water diving qualification. However, we were disappointed to find that due to strong current and bad weather, all resort activites and diving were cancelled until further notice and that no access was being allowed to the beach. The wet weather programme was in operation and consisted of board games, bingo and coconut bowling. WHAT?!! Apparently there had been an earthquake out to sea which had caused severe currents and a huge uprising in sea levels. We consoled ourselves by signing up for a mini tour of the resort's spa.... specifically to get the free glass of champagne at the end. We then spent the rest of the day planning how we would spend our time on the Coral Coast in bad weather and organise some island hopping for when we left the resort half way through our time in fiji. 
Namosi Highlands and the Luva River where we enjoyed a combination of activities. We drove into the highlands along a narrow, unmade road that was reminiscent of our bus journeys in South America. The scenery was also very similar to the Amazon, but on a smaller scale. Our first stop was the remote village of Nakavika where they stopped practicising cannibalism only 100 years ago! 
The village was very basic but quite pretty and well kept. It was made up of little weatherboard homes that were largely empty inside with people sitting on the floor and chickens running around. We were dressed in sarongs to cover our legs as a mark of respect and taken into the tribal Chief's home to take part in a traditional Fijian 'Kava' ceremony to welcome us into the village. Kava is a local drink made from soaking a brown, dried plant root in water and is a 
mild narcotic. It looks like muddy water, tastes horrid and made the back of our throats go numb! It is considered very rude not to finish the whole cup so you must drink it whether you like it or not. Thankfully, the shape of the cup was such that it nicely concealed the looks of disgust on our faces and the look of horror when we were told we would be getting a second cup! We won't be making a habit of drinking Kava!After the village we walked down to the nearby Luva river where we jumped into big yellow inflatable kayaks (that looked a lot like bananas!) and spent the next 2 hours paddling 7km downstream on whitewater. 
We were thrown right in at the deep end.. straight onto strong rapids which was not quite the gentle paddle that Bi had envisaged. We weren't expecting so much swell but it certainly made for exciting and exhilarating paddling! The scenery along the river was beautiful, thick jungle, deep canyons and waterfalls that cascaded over our heads and into the river. On reaching the confluence of the Luva river and Upper Navua river we transferred into motorised canoes and finished our day with an hour's trip through the Navua canyon. 
We made it back to our resort in time to pick up our daily complimentary champagne and canapes which we enjoyed while sat on our balcony dressed in our big hotel robes and slippers..... luxury for us! That night, as we sat eating dinner overlooking the beach, the weather turned again and the condition of the seas dramatically deteriorated and the waves started crashing in over the resort, breaking several parasols.
We spent
our final two days in the resort just relaxing and taking part in some of the resort activities such as firewalking shows, meditation, pool aerobics (Bi only!). Bi made everyone laugh by falling asleep in the meditation session and stayed asleep after everyone had gotten up! Lazy wotsit! We visited the local town of Sigatoka (which had a heavy Indian influence) and we felt right at home again... it w
as chaotic, cultural and grubby! Although we enjoyed our time at the resort, it wasn't really for us and we were glad to be leaving half way through our trip. We loved the room, the view and sitting on the balcony drinking our duty-free Aussie wine but we felt a bit trapped... made even worse by the bad weather, cancellation of a lot of the activities and the millions of kids that seemed to take over the resort. For us it was devoid of any culture so it made for a fairly average experience but we would have seen it in a different light if we hadn't just spent all that time in South America and had arrived straight from work on a normal few weeks holiday.
On our fifth day (Sunday) we checked out and took a transfer back around the Island to the port of Denarau where we boarded a fast catamaran and travelled through the Mamanuca archipelago to the island of Mana, one hour from the mainland. 
From there we boarded 'Seaspray', an 83ft tall ship on which we spent the day sailing around the islands. It was another overcast day and the sea was a little rough but it was fantastic to be out in the Islands. Our first stop was a village on the small island of Yanayuna and our main stop for the day was on the island of Mondriki, made famous as the island wher
e 'Castaway' with Tom Hanks was filmed. Despite it being a little overcast the island was beautiful and it had some fantastic snorkelling (with a big school of squid being a highlight). We returned to Mana on some pretty rough seas, with the boat heeling so hard at one point that all the afternoon tea flung overboard before we had a chance to eat it! In the evening we were dropped off at Bounty Island where we spent the night in a highly romantic 20 bed dorm (it was all they had left but thankfully there were only 7 of us in it!). Unbeknownst to us when we booked it, we were staying on the island where 'Celebrity Love Island' was filmed a few years ago, but thankfully it had all been well cleared away! The island was tiny, taking only 40 guests and taking just 20 minutes to walk around the following morning. We saw our first Fijian sunrise......after all this time the rain had finally cleared and blue skies were back!
After breakfast on Monday we boarded the 'Yasawa Flyer' from Bounty Island and travelled 4 hours further away from the Fiji mainland, past all the Mamanuca islands and out to the more distant Yasawa archipelago. The catamaran trip was like a tour in itself as you got to see all the Islands along the way. 
We disembarked at a place called Oarsman's Bay Lodge on Nacula island. Well, what a difference! At Oarsman's Bay we finally saw what we had expected Fiji to look like.... beautiful pure white beaches, perfect clear water bulging with coral and sea life, kayaks, palm trees, hammocks and thatched bures set back from the beach. It was very private and personal with only 25 guests on the island. The resorts on the Islands are run very much like homestays by a local family who cook all your meals for you. We checked into our Bure (a small private lodge) and had a vastly improved last 3 days in Fiji. 
We spent most of the time lazing in our hammock, walking the beach and snorkelling and kayaking around the coral reef just off shore. Ash had a go at handline fishing, only to return having not caught a thing! All the staff at the lodge got to know Bi because she was their one and only vegetarian (!), and they took a real shine to her which paid off in a big way. 
On our second night we were due to move into the 13 bed dorm as there were no private bures available except for one deluxe bure which we could not afford. The owners quietly gave us the deluxe bure on the second night for the price of the dorm room and we were doing loop de loop! We could not believe our luck!
On Wednesday, our last day at Oarsmans bay, we took a 30 minute boat trip around the headland to the beautiful underwater limestone cave system of Sawa-i-Lau. We donned mask, snorkel and fins and had to swim through a small, dark, submerged passage to enter the cave system which was a little daunting. We swam around inside the caves where it was near pitch black and all sound reverberated around the cave system; it made for a very unusual swimming experience! On the way back we stopped at Honeymoon Island for some fantastic snorkelling in crystal clear water. Our stay at Oarsman's Bay was fantastic and very relaxing and we had beautiful weather. On Wednesday afternoon we returned to the mainland happy and more content with our time in Fiji and we capped it off with dinner and cocktails at the Hard Rock Cafe in Port Denarau.
We spent the night in a hotel near Nadi airport and were up early on Thursday morning to catch our flight to Auckland,New Zealand where we will spend five weeks touring the North and South Islands.
