Fiji!

Arrived in Fiji safe and sound and had a night at “bamboo backpackers” getting my fix of backpacker vibes, trying the Fijian beer and sleeping in a 16 person dorm! Arriving in Fiji was a bit of a culture shock- it’s been a while since I saw anywhere so built up or so many tourists. The hostel was full of brits, where Samoa only threw me 2. I got up bright and early to head back to be airport and greet George after his 23hr journey with my sign and a flower garland. It was so bizarre to have a part of home over this side of the world with me, after building a whole new world out here for the last 2 months! We had a catch up on the bus over to “beachouse” on the south coast of Viti Levu, the main island. At Beachouse we chilled out on the beach, joined the daily yoga, had some good food and cocktails, played some Uke, watched a couple of nice sunsets and the stars. We also did a hike to a waterfall through a jungle, where I inevitably fell on my ass in the mud- cleaned off swimming in the beautiful waterfall though! A particular highlight was the hot shower in our “garden bathroom”, a pleasure I’d only enjoyed perhaps twice in the last month! It was also nice to be completely sand free, having been so sandy staying in fales on the beach! Callum and Molly joined us for drinks the first night. Callum is George’s friend from home, who has been setting up various projects out here on batiki island and effectively lives here now- we would be joining them on the island later in the trip.

From Beachouse we got the bus to Suva, the capital and the biggest city I’ve been in since Singapore back in March! It was an interesting fusion of many cultures- the colonial English style, the Indian presence, the indigenous fijian, the Asian influence and the western features. We had a wander round and had a look around the Fiji museum. We found some lunch at the market- lamb curry for George, a veg roti for me and a selection of Indian sweets for pudding! Next leg was the bus and taxi to Bau Landing, from which we took the boat to Leleuvia Island resort.

Leleuvia is a small island (you can circumnavigate it in about 15mins) with beautiful beaches and corals. We stayed in a traditional bure right on the beach. Mainly chilled out on the beach, went paddle boarding, George went diving, there was some amazing snorkelling- schools of fish, large colourful corals. Sadly the reef was damaged but is making a revival- you can see this where there is coral growing on top of the old dead coral. I received an email confirming I’ve officially passed med school, so we celebrated one evening with Prosecco!

Our crew pitched up during Sunday lunch to take us to batiki- Callum and Molly, their Batiki Dad and 3 siblings Lo, Rebekah and Jone, who were incredibly excited having not left the island for a few years! The lack of travel outside of the island led to jone stripping down and peeing on the beach rather casually to an audience of tourists sunbathing!