The Johnsons' Journal

We made it to Fiji and after a bit of transferring around by mini-bus and boat we arrived at our first stop, Octopus Resort on the island of Waya.

Waya Island

The resort was a great combination of dorm style housing and private bures recommended to us by our friends Tony and Emma (see blogroll). We were in the budget dorm accommodations but enjoyed it well enough. At least it had mosquito nets!

We got started right away relaxing on the beach, trying to get rid of our pale white skin.

Blinding White

After laying out for a little while though we found that noon to 4pm was rediculously hot in the sun. Morning and late afternoon were much better times to sun bathe. Mid-day was meant to be enjoyed in the shade and relative coolness of the bar and patio reading a book, playing cards, or maybe just napping.

Reading the afternoon away

I think this is the jetlag catching up with me...

They had a bunch of activities to do while at the resort including bracelet weaving, jewlery making, basket weaving and a hike to go visit the local village (and buy some handicrafts).

I don't see how that's going to be a basket

We enjoyed ourselves and even met some new friends from New Zealand. We drank some kava and even got to go scuba diving.

After four nights in our secluded beach paradise, we transferred back to the main island in order to catch a plane to Taveuni the following morning. Our Kiwi friends were doing the same to catch their flight home to Auckland in the morning so we got rooms at the same hotel.

A/C and a TV? What are you in the USA?

The air conditioning and our own private room was a luxury compared to the resort’s accommodations, however, as you would expect, the location was not as nice being near the airport.

We spent the afternoon checking out Nadi-town, the handicraft markets and having dinner. We then headed back to the rooms to play some cards and drink some kava! Andrew picked up some kava from one of the markets in town and was looking forward to giving it a go making some. We didn’t really have proper receptacles to prepare the kava, so we improvised.

"Andrew's Sink Kava", just like the true Fijians!

After a couple samples (and a call down to the front desk to make sure the tap water was safe to drink) we got the mixture right and were enjoying some sink kava.

Mmm, tastes like sink!

A few bowls of kava and a few games of “Up and Down the River” later we bid farewell to our new friends and got ready for our 530am wake up to catch our 645am flight.