Bula! Fiji Break 2010!

Okay just to give everyone fair warning- don't start reading this blog post unless you have a LOT of time to kill! It's so long, and will probably take you all day! Other than that- here's pictures from my trip to Nadi, and the Yasawa Islands of beautiful Fiji!!!! I had the absolute time of my life! I miss it already! Such a great experience- it'll be hard to top it! So the very first picture I took was in the airport bathroom... sounds weird, I know. But in Sydney's women's restroom they had this vending machine with "grooming essentials..." it was literally a vending machine that spits out make-up and lip gloss when you put your coins in. What is this world coming to?!

My HUUUUUGE double-decker airplane that took me to Fiji! It took about 5 hours each way. On the way TO Fiji, I had a whole row to myself! On the way home today, I had a window seat and a Canadian woman was on the aisle, but no one sat in the middle... which is SO lucky. I sprawled out and definitely took advantage of that!
A view of a rainbow from 38,000 feet in the air!
Alright so once I got to Fiji, it was around 10pm at night. My flight was delayed for 2 1/2 hours. I made my way through customs and everyone was getting beads put around their neck once they found their group. But what does my group get? NOTHING. Cheap. Anyway, this man told all of the people going to my hotel to wait on the airport curb. 20 minutes passes and he comes out and says, "Okay, you can get a taxi now. I thought there was a shuttle but I guess not!" Uhhhhh? So we all hop in a taxi and get to our hotel- Nadi Bay Resort. I check in and this sketchy guy shows me to my room and kisses me on the cheek right before he left and said "Can't wait to see you tomorrow, Lauren." Creepy? I think so!!! I had my own room which looked pretty nice at first, until I looked at the sheets... STAINED brown! Definitely not okay. Yuck.
The next morning, a big yellow bus took our group to the marina. It was about 7:45am on a Tuesday so there were Fijian kids walking to school alongside the road. Every time we passed a group of them, they would yell, "BULA!!!!" (aka: Hello). We were celebrities! Once we got to the marina and checked in, we boarded this yellow boat for the first (of MANY) times- the Awesome Adventures Yasawa Flyer!

A quick snapshot on the deck...

Everyone on the big yellow boat were all going to different random islands. So what would happen is, we would get close to an island, the captain would walkie-talkie the locals and they'd send a boat out to meet you and transport you to their resort. Same thing happened after every time we left somewhere...board the crappy, beaten up boats and they would take you to the main one. Get it? Hope so.

After FIVE HOURS of sailing, we reached our first island resort- Coral View! I definitely made an entrance when I tripped while getting out of the boat and got SOAKED before I even made it to the sand. Always keepin' it classy! P.S. what you see in this picture was the WHOLE length of the island. 3 out of the 4 islands I slept over at were a 5 minute or less walk from one side to the other.

These were are adorable Fijian dorm villas! No air-conditioning, fresh (let alone warm) water or electricity. Anywhere. Oh and at this particular resort they served chicken for dinner both nights, and had a chicken coupe sitting outside of the dining hall... for any of you who know about my meat phobia- this wasn't a good thing! Beautiful island though!

I went snorkeling here and saw a GIANT blue starfish! It was amazing! The color was so radiant and it was bigger than my whole head! Unreal. After that, I spent 2 days in this hammock. I got a gnarly farmer's tan AND my face burned the outline of my sunglasses. It was (or I should say, still is) a sight to be seen!

The 2nd night we were there, they hosted their annual "Cross-Dressing Fiesta." I think I pulled off a pretty nice 5 o'clock shadow! These are some of my friends I met... (from the left): Helen, Nikki and Simon. There was a fashion show and everyone did the cat walk, too. It was intense. I lost, but still rocked it! haha

LOVED THIS SIGN!!! You really did have to watch for falling coconuts everywhere! SO Fiji!

Our next island was called Koravu. Try saying Koravu, and then Coral View and realize how similar they are! We were getting tongue tied ALL week! This island had beautiful scenery buuuuut wasn't quite up to standards for Lauren Price! This is what our outdoor, stinky "bath_rooms" and toilets looked like! When in Fiji, do as the Fijians do I guess??

Another shot of the island, Koravu.

These were our accommodation dorms. RIGHT on the beach! This resort also had no electricity or clean water! I didn't even mind the lack of clean water for drinking, because you could buy bottles- BUT we would go swim in the sea and then have to shower in salty sea water...it made no sense and didn't help at all!

One of the activities of this island was a cave trip! We loaded onto a little fishing boat with a guide who took us to this cave that the Fijians believe their God lives in.

Inside of the cave! Once you walked up those yellow stairs^ you were at the top of the cave and had to JUMP in. It was incredible inside! We were in this section of the cave for a while, and then he guided us into another room which was pitch black! It seems really fun now that I look back on it, but I was scared out of my mind! One good thing is that animals can't live in the water due to excessive salt, so there was no need to worry about anything grabbing your foot. Oh, but you should have read the liability form we had to sign!! I think part of it says "I understand that there's a high chance of debris falling from the rock ceiling, deep cuts from underwater coral and a chance of slippage. I agree that if I die from this experience my family will not sue Awesome Adventures..." I wish I was kidding. Other than that, this really was a neat experience!

Every island we arrived at, or departed from played music and sang while we were sailing in or out. I learned both songs VERY fast! Oh- let's take a break and learn some Fijian sayings, okay? Okay. So first- "Bula" means hello. "Vinaka" means thanks and "Vinaka Vaca Leiu" means thank you very much! There were other ones too, but I can't remember. I'm a horrible teacher- sorry. Mooooving on....

Another snapshot on the way to our 3rd island! I sat on the top deck of the boat every time. It was a blast up there! REALLY rough winds and loud party music.

ISLAND #3 (and my personal favorite) Waya Lai Lai. Since I know a ton of you probably read that name more than once, I'll just tell you how to pronounce it. It's called...why-a-lie-lie. These are the huts we stayed in. This picture was taken from higher ground since the resort was built UP the side of a mountain. This place was heaven...I never ever, ever wanted to leave!

Relaxing in a hammock! So comfortable and happy to be there!

On the first night there, the island's dance team the "BULA BOYS" preformed! They were HORRIBLE dancers. H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E! But they definitely weren't rough on the eyes! Oh here's a story- one of the girls I was with asked a Bula Boy how they get such huge muscles (thinking it was from all of the manual labor they do around the island) and he responded by saying "Lifting weights and doing pilates." It was a total letdown to the imagination! Bummer.

After the dancing they whipped out the FIRE batons! It was incredible to watch!! One of them even licked the baton and set his tongue on fire. We went nuts.

Then this other guy out his feet up, and let the fire sit on his toes for like a whole minute while he screamed in pain! I was about to run up and push it off for him!

Here's what the inside of our dorm looked like! Every place we went to, my friend Nikki had the top bunk, and I was on the bottom. We had mosquito/bug nets too which was a first for me! I thought they were more useful for looking pretty than keeping out the bugs. Another thing I loved about this bed was that it had REAL SHEETS! The other 3 islands we slept at were literally a mattress, with a piece of cut fabric on top. And that's it. But this was true luxury to have real linens!

Coconut trees EVERYWHERE.

On my 2nd day at Waya Lai Lai, we went on a snorkel trip. And what did the guide fail to mention? Oh nothing big... just the fact that we would be swimming with SHARKS!!!!!! I was absolutely terrified at first, but once we all got in, I warmed up to the idea, and it was honestly the greatest thing I've done. It was the biggest adrenaline rush. Each shark was 4 or 5 feet long, and at one point a group of 6 of them were circling us! Our guide had a wooden stick to "protect us." It was like a dream...I can't believe I snorkeled with sharks!! Ahh!! And we all got to get really up-close and personal with them!

I saw this shark make it's move on an unsuspecting fish! Circle of life in action!

This is a shot from when they were circling us! Our guide brought some chum with him, so we just watched him feed them...some of the boys were brave enough to try, but I was most definitely not one of them!

SO SO SO SO amazing!!! I have really great memories from this day!!!

I slept outside on one of the hammocks that night! This was in the morning. See that mountain behind me? CONQURED IT. Okay, that's a little exagguration. It conqured me, but I still made it to the top! Proud (but sweaty and tiring) moment!!

Livin' the island life!

Almost to the peak of the mountain!! This is a shot of the Blue Lagoon region. Not sure if any of you have seen the Brook Sheilds movie, The Blue Lagoon or not, but if so- this is where it was filmed!

On our last day at Waya Lai Lai, we attended a church service in the local village. And guess what Dad- it was Methodist! Everyone that lived on the island was a United Methodist. The whole service was in Fijian, so I understood nothing- but still managed to figure out what was being said. We had to take our shoes off before we went in, and boys and girls had to sit on opposite sides of the church- we weren't allowed to mix at all. These were the children there, who sang beautifully!

There was 6 people in the adult choir. And you can see the altar in the background. WAAAAAY different from PVUMC! They told us that the service would be 1 hour, but it ended up being 2 hours and 45 minutes... in a muggy room that was about 90 degrees. I was DYING. I did find it funny though that the pastor said not a single word in English until it was time to give our offerings. Then he knew exactly how to say we were "allowed" to give money to them.

So moving on to my 4th and final destination- South Sea Island. What you see in the picture is what you get. It was TINY. I did a complete loop walk around the island and it took me exactly 3 minutes. Wherever you stood, you had a perfect 365 degree view of the ocean.

Total paradise.This was my personal cabana for the time I was there! We literally each had our own hut right on the water. I'm just now realizing how spoiled we were at this last island!

The gorgeous sunset from my lounge chair! This picture doesn't even do it justice!

A picture of me on the beach that a friend took...

The first night we were there we had sand CRAB RACES!!! Here's a pre-race pose with our runners! Each crab had a number written on its shell with a whiteboard marker.

There were 2 circles drawn on the ground with chalk. All of the crabs started in the middle circle, and the first one to cross the outter circle was the winner (#6)! Unfortunately, mine (#10) lost. Oh!! Ha, and another thing... each crab was assigned to a country since we were from all around the world. At the beginning of the race, each country's national anthem had to be sung by the people who come from there. Guess how many people were there from the United States.....ONE! I sang it all by myself. It was wonderful, I'm sure.

On our last day in the Yasawa Islands we went on an all-day sailing trip on the boat, Seaspray! I learned how to sail and even got to help put up and pull down the sails! SO much fun! The weather was terrible- cold and overcast... but at least not too much rain!

The whole day was all-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink soooo we definitely took advantage of that! This is a girl I met on the trip, Megan.

Here is a group shot of the girls I spent most of my time with! (From left): Megan, me, Lucy and Roz. They're all from the UK/London. I loved their accents and they loved mine, it was fun!

THE CASTAWAY ISLAND!! For those of you who have seen the Tom Hanks movie, Castaway, this is the island it was filmed on! We hopped off the sailboat and got to explore for a while! Didn't really recognize much, but so many Castaway puns were made after we got back on the board.

A perfectly split coconut we found on the island!

We had a barbeque lunch on the boat and went to our next stop. We pulled up to this REALLY poverty stricken island where the tribe came out to the water-front to greet us. They preformed a Kava Ceremony for our group. Kava is a really popular Fijian drink that mixes water with some kind of opiate drug that's apparently legal, but makes your whole mouth go numb and makes you really sleepy! In this picture, the guy in the middle is the tribes cheif. He's never, EVER, supposed to speak in public- so the 2 guys on both sides of him are his spokesmen. The cheif looked like a Fijian buddha.

Roz and I trying the Kava out of a coconut shell. "I will if you will!"

On the island, one of the stray dogs had a liter of puppies!!!! I had to PAY to hold it and have this photo taken, but I don't care it was so worth it- they were absolutely adorable!

This is a shot of the Shell Market that the women of the village had set up for us. I ended up buying suvineers for my Dad, Andrew, Betty and Anthony here...it's all homemade neat stuff. Although, getting it through customs in Australia was quite the challenge today!!
We boarded the boat for the last time, which as you can see was going through some rough weather! The whole sailboat was tipping over to one side as we went through a storm. I truly thought it was going to capsize! This photo is of me holding the camera straight and upright! CRAZY!

Seaspray took us back to our original marina where I had gotten on 10 days earlier, and just like that- the trip was over! I left with so many wonderful memories... this vacation came at the perfect time! I'm going to miss everything about Fiji...well besides the locals and their terrible body odor (because yuck, that was NASTY). Oh and I'm not going to miss eating coconuts, fish and rice every day. But other than that- I promise, I'll miss it all! 10 days just wasn't long enough! I had a BLAST.

I'm back safe and sound in Newcastle...classes start up again tomorrow morning. I guess the vacation is really over! Anyway, vinacka vaca leiu for reading my whole blog! I love you all and miss you like crazy! 2 and a half more months until I'm back in the states! xoxo

--LP--