I can't believe I have been home for a week and a half!

I seem to have slipped straight back into it though!

Today was a busy day sewing boosters, fitteds and night nappies....phew....I'm am tired now :P

It was with much sadness that I prepared to leave Fiji....it really was the most wonderful experience....I love everything about Fiji....the people are warm, welcoming and friendly.The country is rugged and yet at the same time incredibly beautiful.

I started my last day in paradise with a full body massage with Frangipani oil, banana pancakes and fresh juice.

After that my bags were taken to the car and I had a tearful farewell with many of the staff and Sena my friend..... with offers to stay in the village next time...I am certain to be back.

I boarded my plane back to Australia with a heavy heart...sad to be saying goodbye to my new found friends and the most relaxed lifestyle I have experienced in my life.....looking forward to seeing my family and friends..... promising to myself that I will return!

My second last day in Fiji was a very memorable one!

I went to a traditional Fijian village up in the hinterlands. After a one hour bus ride I jumped into a power boat for another 45 minute ride upstream.



Once we arrived we were greeted in the traditional Fijian way with the beating of drums, blowing of the conch and escorted to the main Bure. There the Kava Ceremony was performed (again!) and we were introduced to the village as visiting dignitaries.



Then we toured the village and witnessed out lunch being taken out of the Lovo.



We were entertained with traditional dances and songs and participated in a really fun dance called "The snake dance". A couple on the tour brought their 2 very young children and the Fijian people just doted on them!


After lunch be then jumped back onto the boat and travelled another 40 minutes further upstream to the most amazing waterfall system where we went for a swim....of course in typical Fijian style out village guide, relaxed.



Then we boarded traditional Bilibili to coast back downstream for a while. It was a very peaceful but slow journey.



When it looked like we were going to get caught by the weather we got back into the motorised boat and dashed back to Pacific Harbour. Unfortunately we did get caught and I was totally drenched by the time I got back.

Once back at the resort I had a warm shower and just chilled out for the rest of the evening with Dinner and a bottle of wine. Then packed my bags as I was busy the next day!

My birthday started in the most awesome way! I had banana pancakes and fresh tropical fruit for breakfast with a pot of Fiji coffee.

I was taken out to the main road where I waited for the Zip Fiji bus. I sat there talking to a local man and his uncle who was blind from diabetes. Then the transfer arrived, it was a long journey and on the way we got to see the most amazing countryside!

We stopped at Pacific Harbour and I grabbed some lunch as we were going right into the jungle and there was nothing to eat out there....well except some paw paw and iguana! When we got to the spot we all got out and got harnessed up, signed a waiver and listened to the rules.

Then it was all go! It was the most exhilarating experience I have ever had. To stand on a platform 30 metres above the jungle floor and just jump off is both terrifying and the best fun....but then then while you are travelling along the flying fox, you get up to speeds of 60 kph!

It was the best fun....and the guys that run FijiZip just have a ball! Singing,hanging upside down, swinging around...they really know how to enjoy themselves.

Eventually the fun is over...and we all head back to the bus to go home, on the way back I saw and old Fijian guy with a GIANT red snapper and I mean giant. It went from his hip to the ground so it would have been about 1.5 metres long! I have never seen as big a fish in my life.

When I got back to Wellersley resort Sabir was waiting to take me fishing for my birthday. We went out and I caught a Red Snapper (no where near as impressive as the one I had seen earlier) for dinner. I went back to the kitchen and gave my fish to the chef to cook. Then quickly had a shower and headed off for a full body Fijian massage with frangipani infused coconut oil. BLISS....

After my massage I went to dinner and the resort had put on some entertainment, a local guy was there singing traditional and some not so traditional songs. It was hilarious! I had my Red Snapper for dinner which had been swimming in the ocean less that 4 hours earlier.

This was followed by the staff of the Wellersley singing me happy birthday, well the traditional Fijian version...they sing SO beautifully!

The chef had made me a birthday cake which I shared with everyone.

My birthday challenge was to drink every cocktail off the cocktail list...which I am proud to announce I did....and I didn't hurl! That was followed by the Kava ceremony with me taking the traditional position of chief but only for the night LOL as women are not allowed to be chief. I spent the next 3 hours laughing and singing and have a great time with some New Zealanders and some really cool expats.I took photos of every cocktail as proof here are a few LOL

I rang my family and Amber and then off to sleep for me merry and oily and smelling like a giant frangipani. It was the best birthday I have ever had!

After breakfast Sena and I caught the local bus to Kula eco park...it is a breading facility for rare and endangered native Fijian wildlife.....

Of course I got to pat several Crested Fijian Iguana and tree pythons.....the entrance money goes direct toward supporting the conservation and education programme.

It was a truly beautiful place set into a valley in the jungle.

After that we hitched a ride to Sigatoka...which is a major nearby city. I managed to get nearly all my souvenir shopping done. Yay!


I also got my photo taken with the local constabulary just incase you didn't believe me about how HUGE the Fijian men are!!!

When I got home...the power was off in the resort so I decided to go snorkeling just off the resort....it was low tide so i wasn't really expecting anything exciting. I paddled out into knee deep water...all of a sudden there was a clearing in the weed and it was just like a scene out of finding Nemo...I kid you not...the most amazing fish...colours and sizes! just beautful...I was only planning on spending 30 minutes or so out there...I ended up out there for 60 minutes....

when I came out of the water there was the local rubgy team practicing topless on the beach....I tell you Fiji is getting harder and harder to take every day! LOL

I knew some of the guys from the local village, and the local young adults are having a big celebration tonight on the beach with a bonfire...and I have been invited! So it looks like I am all sorted for entertainment tonight!

I wonder if I can party on until my birthday? LOL I am pretty sure I can do it!

Saturday night we had a Kava ceremony...it is the most putrid and vile stuff I have ever drunk, and it is deceptively intoxicating. The weirdest bit is that your tongue almost immediately goes numb, the more Kava you drink the more of your face goes numb. I managed to stagger to bed quite late, but didn't feel sick the next day :o

Yesterday I had a really cruisy day....I am not used to it at all...it felt weird but also kinda nice.

I had tropical fruit and yoghurt for breakfa

st, with toast and Fiji coffee. After breakfast I went and watched the local village church service. It is just amazing listening to how beautiful they sing....it was lovely and they achieve amazing volume for such a few people.

The children were interested in all the "whities" in their church and kept turning around grinning at us.I went back to the resort for lunch.

After lunch I went back to the local Village

Namaqumaquaby, and hung out with Sena and her family. We sat on the grass right near the beach on this massive grass/leaf type mat that her mother had made. I was given a Milo and milk...which is a great honour as Milo is ridiculously expensive in Fiji. We spent the afternoon doind what Fijians do...just sitting around talking, laughing and sharing stories. Phillip, Sena's brother in law got me a coconut out of the tree and cut it open for me....they prefer to eat the coconuts green. He used a giant machete to cut open the coconut and then I drank the coconut juice, once the juice was finished then they cut open the coconut and eat the flesh. It is NOTHING like the coconuts I have had back home. This was soft and fleshy and VERY filling.

We talked for ages about Fijian life. They are extremely poor...only one person in every house has a job and they get paid about $20-40FJ a day. When you consider that a litre of milk cost $2.50 it puts it into perspective. They have no social security and so they don't starve they grow their own pigs, fruit and vegetables and fish from the ocean.

The bell was rung for church again (they go 3 times on Sunday) I decided to head back to the resort. One church attendance per decade is enough for me! I spent the afternoon just relaxing by the pool, reading and knitting LOL.

After dinner Sena came and got me and took me to get "prawns" turns out that they were actually Yabbies! LOL but there were a surprising number of them in such shallow water. I met her two cousins, one of them plays Rugby for Fiji :o he has just come back from Australia where he was playing rugby. I don't think he is first grade...I couldn't quite understand, I think it is equivalent to our reserve grade rugby? Anyway he was BIG I felt like a dwarf!

Today I am off to Kula eco park with Sena it is her day off today so we are going to hang out together. We will be also going to Sigatoka (a nearby main town) so that will be cool....

I will be back tonight with photos. I was invited to have dinner with Sena's family...still trying to decide...not too sure about Yabbies in coconut milk ???

I think I need SPF 500. I have put spf 30+ on for the last two days. First day I got here I put on SPF 30+ and only stayed in the morning sun for 3 hours and got slightly burnt. Today I put on SPF 30+, smothered myself in it, and went out fishing for 3 hours and this is what I have now:

It was kinda worth it though...I mean I did get to catch some amazing fish and have an awesome time with some local people!

This was my dinner prepared by the chef:


It was lush..Raj the chef slow baked the trevally with ginger, garlic and corriander with a lemon zest! Yummmmmmm combined with an Australian Reisling and you can't go wrong!

After dinner I went down to the beach and sat on the sand in the dark. I was gazing up at the crystal clear sky looking at the stars and could hear this beautiful singing.I was unsure of where it was coming from; I thought possibly the local village but then one of the local men walked up to me and sat down and intorduced himself. I asked him about the singing and he told me it is the local village men fishing out on the reef. He shone his torch out onto the water and called out to them to which they replied, bula! the local village men were out on the reef catching the next day's food....all signing these beautiful melodies while working in the pitch black. Just BLISS!