#feejee experience

Fifteen Days In Fiji: Part 1 – The Tour

I went to Fiji from the 31st of December till the 14th of Jan 2016 and had a very interesting time there. There were some pretty great moments and some pretty bad ones, and I wanted to share a few of those here with you. At most of the places we stayed, wifi was only available if you paid – at rates of 45FJD/day – so instead I just wrote everything up on paper and transcribed it onto my laptop…

- 10th September 2015 -  

Exploring Viti Levu (Fiji Mainland) with Feejee Experience

Fiji has been on my bucket list for travel destinations since the day I arrived in Australia, a year and a half ago. It has been a place I have heavily researched lately and continuously followed on social media over the last while. With my last holiday being my trip to New Zealand about 5 months prior, I was craving adventure. It was time for a two-week trip to Fiji with Feejee Experience.

Feeje…

Hellooooo, it's Megan!

Five months into the trip and Scott has finally trusted me to write the blog so instead of the usual detail you’ve been used to reading, expect fluffy sparkly things throughout.

Fiji was always a highlight of the trip, so I was one excitable pup as we left chilly New Zealand and arrived to 30degree heat at Nadi airport. Entering the terminal building there was a group of Fijian‘s singing a little welcome song as we made our way through customs. Ah nice!

We opted to do the ‘Feejee Experience’ tour while in Fiji after such a good experience doing the Kiwi Experience in New Zealand. At the airport, their team were waiting to greet us with shell necklaces and big Bula smiles, ready to transport us to the Nomads Skylodge where we spent our first night. We weren’t in the hostel long before discovering Port Denarau, which had loads of bars, restaurants and shops for us to entertain ourselves for the night.

Our Feejee experience began at 8am the following morning with Dave the guide and Arvin our driver, the funniest man to ever have lived in Fiji! First stop was Nadi town market where we were able to stock up on amazing fruit for the next few days. This was also the place we were asked to buy sulus for the village visits, Scott looks very fetching in a skirt!

^ At the markets in Nadi - very cheap fruit!

From the markets, we spent a couple of hours having lunch on Natadola Beach. Quiet and really gorgeous there but the tropical rain hit for a while, which meant the sun bathing had to be put on hold.

  ^ Gorgeous beach!

Next stop was Malomalo Village where we had to wear our sulus for the first time. As we pulled up, loads of children came running up to the van and had flowers for us as we got off. We were taken into the town church, around the village and into their community centre, which then turned into what could only be described as their version of pub at night for the local men to have kava ceremonies. You’ll hear more about kava later - it wasn’t of the bubbly variety!

^ Our bus, with traditional sulus, in the village

^ Inside what Fijians would call a pub!

We left the village and headed towards the sand dunes nearby for an hour of sandboarding. Being the wimp I am, I was a good girlfriend and took photos of Scott as he flew head first down the dunes on a body board… it looked a lot scarier than it sounds! Scott tells me it wasn’t that bad and the view at the top was amazing.

^ Sandboarding - views from the top and bottom!

That night we stayed in the Mango Bay safari lodge, where we had our own little wooden house for the night. This meant another night sleeping underneath the mosquito net, which after a few drinks is a little impossible to get in and out of. Oh the fun times we’ve had doing that!

The next day was interesting and started with a four-hour rainforest trek. Me being me thought “Oooh a nice stroll through some pretty trees”, no no! The local guides were barefoot throughout the whole day and helped us as we slipped down muddy hills, through rivers and came to my rescue after a mishap involving a swamp. Not ideal being waist deep in mud and Scott unable to help due to laughing so much. Grrrrr!

^ On the rainforest trek with the hat made by the guides

It was all well worth it as we reached the most beautiful waterfall in the middle of the rainforest. We spent an hour or so here, swimming in the water and climbing up slippery rocks to jump off at the top. The local guides were crazy, doing flips and jumping from trees that were about 10-15 metres high!

^ Part of the huge waterfall - very deep at the bottom!

No sooner than we were clean, we were back on our trek to a longtail boat waiting nearby to return us to the village. Here it was an emotional goodbye to the boots I’d decided to wear, big mistake!

Uprising resort was our next destination and we were blown away by how amazing it was. It was like a five star hotel for hostel prices and we had the most incredible room waiting for us with an outdoor shower, which helped to get rid of the swamp juice just nicely! The afternoon saw us having lunch and cocktails on the beach followed by a romantic massage together... aawww!

^ Our lovely room at the Uprising Resort

More drinks followed later with dinner and the hostel set up a bonfire on the beach, where we were able to get to know everyone on our bus a bit more. Unfortunately for the Danish girls a little too well as we tried to break into their room that night. My bad!

^ Bonfire by the beach

From Uprising the next day we set about our journey to Volivoli Beach with the most amazing and fulfilling day. Wailouia Village was where we spent the whole day and as we pulled into the village, a local Fijian (who was strangely similar to Gok Wan) greeted us. Scott was named as the chief of our tribe, which meant all responsibility lay on him for our group. We were led inside the community hall, where Scott was asked to sit in the middle of the room opposite their chief and we sat in a semi circle behind him.

^ Scott as the chief!

The Kava ceremony then began and Scott was presented with the first bowl. Kava is weird stuff! It is made from a ground up plant and then mixed with water, served in coconut shells. Apparently it has the same effect as alcohol but all it did was make my mouth numb. I’ll stick to vodka tonics I think! After performing the ritual and receiving 3 cups of kava, it was time for us all to introduce ourselves and be welcomed into the village with the local people performing songs and dancing.

^ Kava ceremony with the big bowl they use to mix it

We were then led down to a nearby river for time on the bamboo rafts. As we pulled away from the bank, the guides started to soak us and push us into the water and we were soon pulling up to a little island, where the village children were standing guard, covered in mud holding bamboo guns they had made! They invited us to join them and were barbequing breadfruit for us as we arrived.  Again, another strange thing to be consuming but fun all the same. It was then time for a game of Cat and Mouse, apparently this is a favourite with Fijian children and we really did have a good time playing in the water with them.

Back at the village we were asked to join in another kava ceremony, much to everyone’s delight! We were all then pulled up to dance and this carried on for an hour or so before we had to leave. Before getting back on the bus we had loads of photos taken with the local children. It was amazing to see what a simple but incredibly happy life they lead. One of the little girls I was dancing with came over as we were leaving and started to play with my hair and stroke my face. She had a really inquisitive little look in her eye and then just put her arm around me and posed for a photo. An absolutely amazing day, one I will never forget.

The hostel that night was really cool. The restaurant and bar had sand all over the floor and we spent the rest of the night having drinks with our new Danish friends Sofie & Marie, listening to Dave the guide tell stories of how one day he hopes to leave Fiji to go to Canada and meet Justin Beiber. A very amusing conversation!

The next morning was our first bit of free time we’d had over the last few days so I spent the morning by the pool, whilst Scott... well I don’t actually know what he was doing come to think of it. We were taken to a tiny restaurant in the middle of nowhere where Arvin the bus driver, self styled FBI - Fijian Born Indian, taught us how to make roti, which we had as part of our lunch.

^ Dave and Arvin - the FBI.

The next part of the day was one of the many times on this trip that we have been thankful for getting all the travel vaccines we could get! We pulled up by a field, told that all we need was our swimwear and led to a mud pool. Surprising myself more than anyone, I was the first to hop in and after a bit of persuading everyone else was in too. The feeling of hot mud, grass and god know what else between your toes is one that still makes me shudder!

We weren’t in here long before Dave lined us all up and started coating every bit of us in the mud, sold in to all of the girls as being very good for our skin. Perfect photo opportunity before going around the corner to a hot pool to wash it off. Strange as the hot pool seemed just as dirty as the mud bath but hey.

^ Mud pool fun times!

The last part of our day was spent at an orphanage. We were expecting a very sad place but as soon as we walked in it was clear once again how happy all of the children were and how well looked after they were. There were of course sad stories to be told but it was a little impossible to listen as you’re being dragged around a garden by little kids wanting piggy backs.

^ With one of the kids at the orphanage

That was the end of our Feejee Experience on the main island. We had a brilliant time but were very much looking forward to the next few days on the islands. We spent our last nice in Nadi back at Port Denerau where the jazz and blues festival was being held. A lovely end to a fantastic few days.

Next update is back to Scott and it's coming soon!