Back from Fiji!!

BULA!!

That is the "hello" in Fijian, and you certainly here it every 5 seconds, it becomes quite catchy! When we arrived, we were welcomed by singing Fijians and women putting shell necklaces around our necks! It felt very much like Hawaii. It was night when we arrived and we got on a boat filled with American's all doing the same thing as us, Spring Break in Fiji. Of course we got to talking and figured out we had many mutual friends, typical, on a dinky boat in the middle of a Fijian ocean and we know the same people!! 

Once we arrived, it was pretty apparent we overpacked rediculously since we all brought one of the HUGE suitcases we came with when we moved to SYDNEY, and in Fiji, no one wears shoes, so our black heels and jeans were definitely not needed. Dress code is Bikini and shell necklaces, never shoes. 

We had a great first night, there was one bar on Beachcomber Island where we stayed. It was a very small island but it was great. We had a beautiful little beach front hut, which turned out to be luxury because everyone else we met stayed in a 86 person "dorm" which consisted of a room enclosed with a tiny screen and 43 bunk beds...not my idea of luxury, so our hut with a fan was high class! 

Every day we sunbathed on the beach, went into the ocean, and then at night went to the bar. It was very relaxing and a great time! There was one staff member in particular that everyone on the Island fell in love with, his name was Clive, and he would have the biggest smile on his face at all times, and he would get us drinks and just pop out of no where! He is one of the pics below, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to figure out which one he is!!

I have to say, I won't miss the food. We had 3 meals a day, breakfast was strictly from 8-9am (naturally we only made that twice!), Lunch was from 1-2pm, then dinner was from 7-8pm. If you missed a meal, you had to eat the cheese sandwiches they made at the bar...so we definitely lived off cheese sandwiches since even when we made the meals, they consisted of a tiny scoop of rice, and some sort of curry. Cheese sandwiches were what got us through the week! 

It was stunningly beautiful and just Islands everywhere. The water was clear blue and at night, we could see baby sharks right off the beach!! We didn't end up going diving or anything so didn't see any big sharks (just you wait until we got to the Great Barrier Reef!!). We had a great time, but as always, its nice to be back home, and we are all happy to sleep back in our own beds I think! 

I would love to explore some of the other Islands in Fiji, there are so many, and each more beautiful than the next. Hopefully I will get the chance to go back again someday...