Hey all!

So at the moment we are back in the Nadi backpackers resort where we started off on the first day in Fiji. It is our last night here before heading off to New Zealand tomorrow.

Today we have come back from the Yasawa Islands of Fiji, where we've been for 7 days. It's all the usual stuff you hear about Fiji - sun, sea, sand etc. In total, we stayed in 4 resorts over the course of the week.

Our first stop for one night only was Beachcomber Island. Now, I know a few of you had warned us off Beachcomber for it being the "non-stop party island" - but we ignored you :) For those of you who don't know, this island accommodates you in a skanky 100-bed dorm room, but we were lucky (if you can call it that) enough to get beds on the top level (Although I did find droppings on my bed...) We were told that we had missed the party, which was the night before, so that evening we were there was a chill-out night. It suited us fine! I guess it would have been nice to see what the party would have been like, but some people already on the island were saying it doesn't live up to its reputation - No Ibiza apparently ;-) I woke up the following morning with a swollen bottom lip probably from something rank having a nap on my lip - I was glad to be getting on the boat for somewhere new...

Next stop was Mantaray Island Resort, which was about another 2 hrs on the boat up North. This island had come highly recommended by lots of people, past and present, so it was a must. Upon arrival, I have to admit I couldn't see what the fuss was about.. It looked very average. We got a Treehouse Bure on the Beachfront, which literally was a bed in a room, not a bedroom. There was no space to manoevure round the bed, but still it was a double room so it was a luxury. We were acquainted again with fellow FeeJee Experience travellers, so that was nice. This island is known for it's Mantaray snorkelling trip, so the following morning about 10 of us went on the trip. There was one Mantaray - and I was the only one who didn't see it, what a disappointment! Ketan and the rest of the group saw it, but it obviously didn't like me. The guide was saying there used to be 24-25 Mantarays around last year but annoying tourists used to try and touch them, so they don't come back anymore. The guide kindly took me in the water again for a third try, but no such luck. The longer we were at the island, the more I warmed to it. It had a nice atmosphere and a good crowd. After much lazing on the beach, it was off to Island no. 3.

Coral View Resort, which is one of the most northerly Islands was our 3rd stop for two nights. I won't go into too much detail, because there just isn't much to say. It was EXTREMELY windy, the staff were just plain wierd, the guests were rude and the beach was average. The only good thing was the room, it was spacious and we had our own (cold) shower and toilet - what a luxury for backpackers :) We were glad to leave this resort after two stormy, boring nights.

Last but not least was Octopus Resort (www.octopusresort.com). Now... THIS is what I call an Island. We had heard brilliant reviews of this place, on paper and by word of mouth. As soon as the boat floated to the island, Ketan and I had big grins on our faces. The beach was 10x better than all the other beaches we've seen (voted in the Top Ten beaches by Conde Naste Traveller). The resort itself was picturesque, had a gorgeous poolside, friendly staff and the list went on. The dorm room was clean, tidy and not a bunk-bed in sight (very rare) :) After spending a few hours there, we got the very obvious feeling that this was more of a family resort. We were speaking to some older people there, and they had mentioned how they booked this place months in advance to get a week's booking. What!? I think we were very lucky to get the night we did, and boy was it worth it.

Most of the islands were much of a muchness (except Octopus, oBviously). Because of this, seven days was plenty of time in the Yasawas. It really is a place to do nothing, and doing nothing gets boring after a while..

We are leaving Fiji tomorrow evening for our flight to Auckland. We were originally to leave in a few days time, but by then we probably would have outstayed our welcome in Fiji. It's been great fun being here and I would definitely recommend it. In hindsight, ten days would have been enough time here, but I guess it depends on the person and how much of "nothing" you really can take. It's a place I won't forget in a hurry, but I cannot WAIT until New Zealand now. We're both itching to be busy and have things to do! Bring it on..

Next post: New Zealand - Yes!

After being in Fiji for 8 days so far, it is going wonderfully :)

The FeeJee Experience is something I would recommend to anyone who is up for a LOT of adventure, games, socialising and anything else fun-like. It's a 4 day trip around the main island on Vitu Levu, hopping on and off a big green coach doing all sorts of activities and cultural experiences.

It went something like this:

Day 1: Being introduced to our guide, Bola, and our driver, Arvind, we hopped on the coach, which by then was full of other like-minded travellers, so it was a little intimidating at first. We headed to the beautiful Natodola Beach, which Bola mentioned was voted the 7th sexiest beach in the world.. It lived up to it's expectations. We conversed with some locals there, getting an idea of their daily life, but they weren't best pleased with me leaving their stalls empty-handed. The waves were Huge at this beach, it felt good to be there. Our guide/driver had prepared a meaty BBQ feast whilst we frolicked in the sea, it was yummy.

It was a good opportunity at the Beach to talk to the other 20-odd people on the experience with us, who happened to be similar to Ketan and I - so far, so good.

The next thing on the agenda was the Sand Dunes - now you wouldn't think you have to climb up the VERY steep dunes first, in order to sandboard down them.. What a mission! There was I, panting and trying to catch my breath walking up and then facing the daunting task of coming down! But, rest assured, it was thrilling and not as scary as it looked. Everyone else made it look like a doddle, typical.

Now for the cultural part of the day. We visited a typical Fijian Village, called Malo-Malo. Bola was very passionate and respectful of his country and his people, and therefore knew what he was talking about. We all listened intently and fell in love with the lazy life of the Fijians.

So, back on the Green machine, we headed to our first night's stay at a *lovely* "flashpacker" resort, called Mango Bay. We opted for the dorms, considering we knew all the people who would be staying with us, including a couple called Marc & Charlotte who we seemed to click with almost immediately :)
We were all called for the "Kava Ceremony", which is the root drink that Fijians drink and it happened to be quite a formal affair. The locals would chant in their language, (like a proper ceremony) and then we would have to follow and then drink. Kava numbs the tip of your tongue, a wierd sensation. They say that if the root is not diluted and then drunk, your whole body will fall back in numbness - eek!

After a lovely dinner and lots of talking about other people's trips, it was an early night as we had an early start the following morning. We were told to prepare ourselves for day 2..

Day 2:
Today entailed a 3 and a half hour trek in the Namosi Highlands, it was a LOT harder than it sounded.

We all keenly started the trek which started off with steep, gravel-y, slippery slopes so you can imagine my face. It then got a lot worse as the sun came out, and the clay-like floor become even more slippery. Ketan was the first to fall in the group - Yes! But.. I fell in total of 4 times, so I can't laugh. For a 45min period, we were trekking through a river, which at times was thigh-high, but mostly up to our knees. Then came the rainforest - lovely (!) It was a really tough trek, not for the faint-hearted, but the sense of achievement at the end was all worth it.
The beautiful Navua River arrived at the end of the trek, surrounded by tall cliffs, which we "tubed" down. (Rubber tyres floating down). It was fun floating down with everyone, splashing about, having jokes, etc. We eventually got to some Waterfalls, I jumped into one of them, but not the higher one - because I was a chicken. And so was Ketan :)

By this time it was raining hard, so we eagerly got on the longboat ride down to River, heading back to the bus. But little did we know HOW long. Myself, Charlotte and Ketan were laughing at first because it was pouring with rain on a windy, fast boat ride, and 45minutes later the looks of our faces were completely different! Never-the-less, it was a memorable end to a memorable day.

An hour later on the bus it was still raining, and hence we arrived at the aptly-named resort - Raintree Lodge. It was a bit glum, but the company made up for it - we had made friends with some tres cool people on this experience, who had a lot of stories to tell..

Day 3:
Another cultural experience in the morning, we visited a local school. All the students were very friendly and I got some good snaps of the local culture. Most Fijians were quite fascinated with the fact that we are Indian, so we got special attention sometimes. It was great meeting the students and teachers, they have a good life and they were grateful for it.

Another wet activity was on the cards that afternoon, and it was certainly a fun one. We went Bilibili rafting (rafts made from bamboo sticks). There were 4 rafts, with 5 people on each. We raced down the river, but we cheated a lot too :) Well, everyone cheated actually! These sturdy rafts are used by the locals' daily, but it looked difficult to steer them so we left it to the professionals!

The last thing of the day was to visit another village, this time mainly for a very formal Kava Ceremony. We all had to sit in a circle, while in the middle the Kava was being prepared. We all looked around to each other as the chants began, but then it was Kava Time! It tastes like muddy water, and no, it's not alcoholic unfortunately :) After the ceremony had finished, the ladies were taught how to weave and got to kept the bracelets as a keep-sake.

Another fun-filled day over, we got to our 3rd and last overnight stay, in a yet another beautiful resort called VoliVoli Beach. We got dorms with Marc & Charlotte and Karen & Steve - a married couple from Manchester who I found quirky and funny, and who had travelled the world together. The view from our dorm was spectacular.

It was dinner time by now, so the whole group gathered around a table together for food. After dinner, the drag-queen of the resort, Sasha, had prepared some standard backpacker games for us and most of us drank the night away.. Ahem! ;) Around 11pm, we were beckoned for a Beach bonfire, which was awesome. Steve had his guitar out, everyone else mingled with eachother, it was a starry night - and so on. I didn't think the Experience could get any better! We were both sad to think it would be over tomorrow though.

Day 4: (I'm almost finished, OK!)
This day was basically just travelling from VoliVoli back to Nadi. In between we stopped over at the mud pools/hot pools. The mud pools felt so wierd! It was all watery on top, but we stepped into knee high thick, smooth mud. Quite therapeutic really. Then to wash off, we went to the natural hot springs - lovely.

We all also got to have traditional Fijian curry lunch - you can imagine myself and Ketan were happy about that. We got the chance to make out own Roti's, and of course ketan and I were pro's at that, so took our chance to show off :) hehe.

The time had come - it was the end :( We got dropped off at the airport, as we had to take our transfer from there to Fiji Beachhouse. We were the first to get dropped off, it was quite emotional for a lot of us, which was suprising. It was been an AWESOME 4 days, quite easily tops off any experience I've ever done. It was made better by the fact we've made some great friends out of it too.

If anyone comes to Fiji, I strongly recommend the FeeJee Experience - you won't be disappointed.

For now, we are at our last day at Fiji Beachhouse - (where Celebrity Love Island was filmed) and tomorrow morning we head off to the northerly Yasawa Islands, for some sun, sea and sand. Oh Yeah. Then after that we head off to New Zealand. We've heard So much amazing stuff about it, we cannot wait.

Till then, adios x

(If only you could all know HOW hard I've tried to upload photos here. I've managed to get San Francisco and half of Big Sur up, which are on the right hand side of the blog, under "Latest Photos". It will take you to an external website where you can look at them all, there will be a lot of duplicates I must add! I haven't filtered through them as yet).

Sorry it's been a while, have been on the move constantly for the past few days.

So, Cook Islands. The weather didn't hold up for us the 3 days that we were there, which was a bit disappointing.

We arrived there at 6:00am and went straight to sleep. Waking up to the sound of chickens cock-a-doodling was a bit annoying! First thing we did was take a wonder round the hostel, which was steps away from the beachfront. After much snoozing in the hostel's hammock, we decided to take the bus to 'town' (consisting of limited bars and restaurants) and it certainly wasn't paradise!

To perk ourselves up a bit we went to an 'Island Night'. The larger resorts in Rarotonga hold them twice weekly to encourage tourists to learn more about the local culture of Cook Islanders, and it certainly did that. There was drink, food, music, dancing etc.. a good night out :)

After a bit of a lie in the next day, I thought it would be fun to hire a scooter for the day and drive to Muri Beach. It was a 20min bumpy ride with no helmets involved, but boy was it worth it - the aqua-marine lagoons, white sandy beach, need I go on? This was our last night in the Cook Islands, which, to be honest we weren't so sad about. It's a place to go where you can afford the luxuries, but they are few and far between I found. Backpacking there isn't ideal, maybe because of the season, or maybe because there is just not much to do there.

After hours of waiting for our flight, and more hours spent in Auckland airport for the connecting flight, we are now in Fiji. And already we both love it! We've met some fun people, got a great resort (which is a 32-bed dormitory but otherwise a 4* resort, strange, I know) and the general vibe is looking good.

Tomorrow we go on a 4 day trip on the FeeJee Experience. We've already heard some great things about it from people who have done it, so we are both looking forward to it a lot. Watch this space!

(Still can't upload photos, but will try again in the next place we stay)

Driving down to Big Sur in an Automatic round the long windy roads was fun, To our relief, the resort/cabin we stayed in was cute, cosy and clean. We went on a 2 mile walking trail (or TREK should I say), which led to the coastline. Big Sur is definitely a 'do nothing' place with stunning scenery - lovely.

Driving from Big Sur to L.A took around 6 hours. WHAT A DUMP. Well, Hollywood at least. Ketan and I were seriously contemplating staying elsewhere tonight, our hostel is a tad too seedy and unpredictable for our liking, as is the area. In the end, we've decided to soldier it out for one more night.
To make it better though, we saw the production 'Wicked' at the theatre last night, very nice!

Having a car in LA is SO useful; we've been to Venice Beach and Santa Monica, it was nice chilling out on the beach. At the moment we are back in the hostel to sort things out as we fly to Cook Islands tomorrow. In the morning it's a trip to the Hollywood sign, sunset strip and anything else left out.

P.s This computer doesn't allow me to upload photos either, so the wait could be a little longer :s

Tonight is our last night in San Francisco. The highlight being the Golden Gate Bridge - breathtaking views but absolutely freezing when walking across it. Got some good photo's, but these computers don't have the facility of putting photo's up.

Setting off tomorrow morning to Big Sur, which is a 150 mile scenic coastal drive from S.F, where we will be staying overnight.

Well I can assure you it's been a brilliant first two days here - all quite surreal too, being the first stop of the trip. It went something like this:

My friend from uni, Justin, was at San Francisco airport to meet us - Haven't seen him in about two years so that was a good feeling. He drove us to our hostel and as you can imagine, the whole 25 minute journey on route, Ketan and I were somewhat overwhelmed, tired, and in shock slightly. All in a good way, of course.

Later that day Justin took us to Fishermans Wharf - amazingly tacky but fun place, and very busy as it was Labour Day (equivalent to our Bank holiday), which we didn't realise until I thought to ask Justin if San Francisco was always this busy...

We went to Haight Ashbury too, which is full of hippies, homosexuals, and generally other eccentric sorts. Something very obvious about SF is the eccentricity, wierdness and diversity of the city. It's a very socially liberal place. Each neighbourhood is unique by personality, yet the layout of long, steep hills really makes the city what it is.

This morning we head straight to Pierr 33 on Fisherman's Wharf, to get our boat to Alcatraz Island. We actually caught our boat in the nick of time; slow walking and confusing maps didn't bode well with our time management. Still, was definately worth it, the prison seeps with history and stories to tell. Got some fab photos, which will be posted when I leave here.

We met Justin again in the evening and he took us to more amazing parts of town, like Castro which is the gay neighbourhood, and we headed towards Western S.F where we went to a beach with stunning panoramic views. As the sun set, the views brought the city to life. We were quite high up at one point, and the views were out of this world.

So back at the hostel right now and looking forward to our last day here, especially seeing the Golden Gate Bridge. Sorry for the length of this post, I promise it's just First Day Fever!