Allison's New Zealand Blog: Fiji Feb 18th-20th (Days 1-3)

This is my post from the first 3 days in Fiji, I will try to post more soon! It takes much longer than expected, but I am working on it, I am now in New Zealand in case you didn't know. I have also posted some pictures from Fiji. Also, I didn't really have time to proofread so there may be some repetitions or errors.

2/18/2012-Saturday

Bula! That’s how you say Hello in Fiji! Fiji was so incredible! It was by far the most beautiful place I have ever been. While there a local said, “You live in a city, we live in a bush.” I couldn’t describe it in a better way. It just so green there, everything is untouched and the scenery is extremely diverse. While driving one moment you will be looking at green rolling hills, the next it looks like grasslands and then you will see crystal blue water crashing onto to white sand beaches. It is very mountainous. We arrived in Fiji at 5:15 am on Saturday the 18^th. We got to our hotel called the Trans International and had a breakfast of fruit, which by the way is soooo much better here than in America; I think I ate my weight in pineapple this week, I also tried papaya which was pretty good, toast and beans in red sauce. Then we had introductions and afterwards a group decided to go to the beach around 8:30 am. I was so excited to already be doing something so quickly. We went to a beach that was off of some hostels about 15 minutes away. The sand on this beach was pretty wet but the water was really nice and of course everything was beautiful, there were palm trees everywhere. We then went over to lay on the hammocks and chairs of the hostels and I purchased my first beer, a Fiji Gold, which turned out to be the alcoholic beverage of the entire Fiji trip. We went swimming in the pool and then around 11:30 we went back to the hotel for lunch. The food in Fiji is a mix between Chinese and Indian with a lot of tropical plant foods like taro, potato like food and cassava. We had a lot of lamb, stir-fry and curry. They give you a ton of food in Fiji, you are definitely well fed. After lunch we went to Hindu temple and then walked around town and went to the grocery store to buy snacks for the next day when we would be going to Beachcomber Island. We went back and swam in the pool before going to bed at around 8:00 because I was so tired.

2/19/2012-Sunday

Today we went to Beachcomber Island for the day. While we were there I first took some pictures of the beautiful paradise we were in. When people say paradise, they mean this place, no American beach could ever compare. The water was perfect and there were palm trees and greenery everywhere and when you looked off into the horizon you saw more islands and picturesque mountains. After this I signed up to go parasailing, it wasn’t too terribly expensive and I figured I would probably never get to go parasailing in such a beautiful place so I went for it. It was really cool and I got some great pictures! It almost felt like flying, definitely worth it. Then later in the day I went snorkelling. A boat took us out a little farther into the ocean where some coral was and I got to see blue starfish, some colourful fish, these clear squids with rainbow spots and I even touched a purple jellyfish! After this I went to a pool with baby turtles and got to feed them and then hold them, they were adorable! My friend Maura and I then explored for a little while and found a nice spot with a hammock that overlooked waves crashing on the beach, it was beautiful! I went back and swam in the spectacular clear blue ocean for a while before it was time for the boat to take us back. The sun made us all very tired and I went to bed shortly after dinner again. I also definitely got a little red this day!

2/20/2012-Monday

The next day we went on a hike of the Sigatoka Sand Dunes and to the Tavuni Hill fort on our way to Suva where we would be meeting our homestays. The Sigatoke sand dunes provided great views before we headed to the actual dunes where there was a lot of washed up debris and wood. There has been a lot of archaeology done at these dunes and they have found remains of humans as well as artefacts. We got back on to the bus and headed to the Tavuni Hill fort, a fort where an actual tribe used to hill, here we had yummy sandwiches and fruit for lunch. We then got a tour from the grandson of the last chief of the tribe. He showed us where the various huts/areas would have been and explained to us that tribes in Fiji used to practice cannibalism and showed us the “killing stone” as well as the “lavo” or underground oven that they used to cook the prisoners. Tavuni means “unhidden” in Fijian and this fort was given this name because at the top of the hill you could see for miles on end. It was one of the best views that I had ever seen. Then we got on the bus to finish the 3 hour drive to Suva. This drive was absolutely gorgeous. We drove along the coast to the other side of the island and the scenery was just amazing. There was crystal blue water, rolling hills, palm trees, and everything was incredibly green. It was so pure and untouched. There may be a view resorts or small houses along the way but it was mostly just stretches of beautiful green scenery that you would never see in America. We got to the University of South Pacific where we would be meeting up with our host family. My host family was the Volau’s. The mother, Martha, worked at USP as a secretary and the father, John, was a captain for a ship that took tourists to islands. The had two sons that lived with them, Gary (19) and Stanton (22), they also had another son Adrian, who lived in a house that was built right next to their home and was connected by a walkway with his wife Anthea and 3 children. Luckily the family had wi-fi so we were able to connect home before having a delicious dinner of stir fry and chicken. Martha made so much food and it was great! We relaxed and hung out with our family for the rest of the night.