Fiji

I flew in Nadi in the afternoon with a carryon and easily made it through security. I took a taxi to Nadi Bay Resort Hotel where Kim, Jordan, and David were just returning from the beach to meet me. We talked with the travel lady and booked transportation on the Yasawa Flyer for a week to explore the islands northwest of where we currently are and booked a few nights at my parent’s timeshare for when we return. It was going to be a much more expensive week than I anticipated as we are going to the islands rather than exploring the mainland, but it was great!

Bounty Island
Our first stop was in the Mamanuca Islands at Bounty Resort after only half an hour on the flyer. It was beautiful weather and we went to the beach immediately. Kim and I decided to get some activities in our lives, we would walk arond the island. We found an employee spear fishing and we watched him for a bit. It took about 15 minutes, maximum, to walk around the island. We then joined the boys snokeling, came in for lunch, (where the food is very reminiscent of India and I LOVE it!) , went kayaking arond the land, worked on our tans, had dinner, watched the sunset and went to bed after many card games.

Beachcomber Island
The following morning we woke up early to catch the flyer to Beachcomber, known as the "party island." It was only 15 minutes away on the flyer. David upgraded up to a bure because the beds in the dorm were rumored to have bed bugs. We took a whole ten minutes to walk around the island before laying out to work on our tans again. We took a break to go snorkling. Over the day we met a few Norwegians, English people, and Israelis and hanged out with them for the day. After the buffet style lunch, we went out on a boat to the edge of the reef and snorkled some more. We then day drank, socialized with travelers, had dinner, enjoyed live, local music and a playlist afterwards. The food there was great and the people were fun! It was a great time, but I was happy to just spend a day there.

Tavewa Island
We woke up early to catch the flyer, looking forward to staying somewhere longer than a night, even though it would be a five hour ferry to our next stop. We had looked into PADI scuba certification and decided on Coralview Resort, on the northern end. We ended up spending the rest of our time on the island there, but it was wonderful. The staff was so welcoming and really made you feel at home. They were like family rather than just coworkers. Every night they sang, danced, and led everyone in a game (crab races, four corners with cards, etc). We met an array of interesting travelers. The weather was not so great all the time, but it worked out well because since we were getting certified, we were in the water a lot, or reading the PADI book. The "confined water" sessions were held at Blue Lagoon in shallow water. It was awesome- so much better than a pool! Every dive we did was beautiful with quite good visibility, and a wide variety of coral and aquatic life. I am so happy to be certified and am looking forward to being able to scuba more. The most amazing thing was, for our final dive, since we "did well" on our exams, we got to do our final dive at 20m to watch a shark feeding. So SWEET! Great pictures as well :).

Nadi
We took the long ferry ride back to the mainland and booked a hostel in Smugglers Cove at Bamboo, an extremely economical choice, but also with an incredible and welcoming staff. It turned out great, we had a kava session, listened to Fijians play music, and went out to a local bar. Again, great people. The following day, we ended up just hanging out after check out, made coconut bracelets, and I spent way too much time online, and am considering coming home early because I looked to much into the uncertainties of my upcoming month. We'll see! I would really like to go up to the Great Barrier and scuba there, but I am so indifferent on employment opportunities, I dred looking into it, also accommodation , etc. Who KNOWS! We took a taxi to Denarau Worldmark Resort where we enjoyed the comforts of a condo, (thanks mom and dad!). We layed out by the pool, watched Greece 2 at the pool bar, sat in the hot tub, watched the news, ordered in from Mamma's Pizza, did laundry, watched the Prince of Persia and Grown Ups. For my last dinner with the group, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe, followed by an evening out at the Ice Bar and Ed's. The following morning, we packed up, dropped off their things back at Bamboo and quickly went into town before I went to the airport to return to Australia.