Well we've left Fiji and arrived in Auckland, back to the City, and the Internet.
So we thought rather than trying to summarize the last 4 weeks, we'd post snippets of our journal, anything we think might be interesting... This could be a long one.
17th December- On our way to Nadi Airport - Becky
"Andy got called into the 'Restricted area' at Rarotonga airport while I was in the toilet, when I got back Sam had told be where he was and was winding me up saying he'd seen all sorts of funny things through the door. Apparently they'd seen something odd on the xray of his bag, which turned out to be our gas lamp, they we're very excited by all his camping kit and Andy was in there chatting a little while, even got offered a cup of tea. The time difference in Fiji is 22 hours! We missed Saturday completely!"
18th December - Staying at Horizon in Nadi - Andy
"The music here is Hilarious! Fijians love Boney M, Cyndi Lauper, Earth Wind and Fire! Grease Mega Mix! Its in the shops, on the radio, at the hotel. We bumped into Sam again, he's on the FeJee Experience, a 52 seat coach touring the mainland, 2 of them left on it this morning, tourism is definitely suffering because of the coup"
20th December - On the Yasawa Flyer Ferry - Andy
"The Ferry ride is a great way to see the islands! Glad we're away from the mainland, amazing views of tiny islands, very cool, every time the ferry comes to a stop at a transfer point, flocks of boats race to the side of us to get their supplies, passengers, family who'd been shopping in Nadi. It reminded me of sheep running to the gate when the farmer arrived. Our first stop is the Island of Tavewa right at the top of the chain of islands, climbed into the locals boat and raced to where we were staying, Coral View. The boat couldn't get all the way into the beach so we had to jump out and paddle the last 50 meters with our packs through the water, first time it stepped into the water in Fiji, very warm."
22nd December - On the Beach, Tavewa - Becky
"The hammocks are great, I want to get one when we get home, theres Pumice all over the beach which has floated over from Tonga (There was a Volcano eruption there recently). One of the guys who lives here has been coming out every day to rake it up into a pile, I guess he's getting bored of it, today he left a patch and wrote BULA in 6 feet letters"
23rd December - Octopus - Becky
"Octopus, WOW, Not going to want to leave, Hammocks everywhere! Our dorms fantastic! individual beds (no bunk beds) with mosi nets, fans and reading lights. Huge, hot powerful showers! Fantastic Food. We joined in the Kava ceremony, my first bowl and my tongue was numb"
24th December - Christmas Eve - Becky
"Got ready for dinner, as we left the dorm I saw Charlotte was wearing exactly the same outfit! Over dinner the villagers came over to sing Christmas carols to us, which was amazing! All Fijians can sing amazingly, odd to hear 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing' in Fijian. Andy won a Fiji Bitter by playing paper, scissors, stone with the barmaid"
25th December - Christmas Day! - Andy
"Woken up by a very excited Bex who'd been outside with Charlotte and found presents! Very unexpected. I got up and we opened our cards and presents. The rest of the day was lovely, on the beach, swimming in the sea, in the hammocks, with Christmas music playing in the background. It may be 32oC but we still played Monopoly! Becky Won (Probably by cheating)"
27th December - Octopus Still - Becky
"Went Snorkeling with Andy, Charlotte and Pete. It was amazing! The water was so clear, we saw thousands of different types of fish, almost sculptural pieces of Coral, Pete spotted a Ray hiding under a ledge, and Charlotte and I were surrounded by thousands of tiny glittering fish. Andy went to do a ledge Dive in the afternoon, he said it was quite dark and scary in places, he saw a shark! a moray eel and managed to stay under for 47 minutes. In the evening we watched
Indiana Jones around the pool, as it started to rain we sat under umbrellas and ate popcorn. It wasn't until it poured down did they decide to pack away the projector."
28th December - Bounty Island - Becky
"Bounty's a tiny island, only a few acres big. Andy thought it was like a tropical Huish Woods, with paths all over the place. We came across a partly dismantled shell of a building, that after some investigation turned out to be the Celebrity Love Island House. Andy was overly excited because the dorm was converted from a production room and there where sockets all over the place"
29th December - Bounty Island - Andy
"We walked around the island, in 20 minutes, so then we borrowed some kayaks and paddled around, another 20 minutes. Becky struggled (Partly because she'd picked up a left handed paddle). The Islands close enough to the mainland to get mobile signal, the first time since we'd come to the islands. We spoke to our parents and wished the a Merry Christmas!"
30th December - Wanna Taki Cruise Boat - Andy
"I love boats, already I'm happy we're spending new year on here, Becky's feeling a little queezy but I'm sure it will pass. We both jumped off the top of the top deck, 8 or so meters up, quite a drop."
31st December - New Years Day - Becky
"Holly, Meredith and Andy spent the afternoon trying to convince me England's a nice place and that i should miss it, all they could come up with was Bumble Bees, Hedge Hogs, Wetherspoons, Castles and of course our friends and Family. We had a traditional dinner, a Lovo, food cooked in an underground oven with hot stones. Chatted till midnight, the staff drank a ridiculous amount of Kava and some of us jumped off the boat, we were warned about Barracudas, so no one spent any time in the water!"
Happy new Year!