Goodbye Maqai Beach

It was sad to leave Maqai Beach as everyone there has been so welcoming and generous, but all good things come to an end. Maqai is the last stop of our travels before heading home. To say goodbye, they put on a leaving party for us which was a great way to say goodbye to all the friends we had made. The next morning we were given the traditional 'fair-well song'...

After the 19 hour ferry and two ten hour flights we eventually arrived back in Heathrow on the 11th. So six months later, six countries and tens of thousands of miles we are back home and back to reality. We will definitely be planning some more travels, so keep an eye to see where we go next!

Nanuku Island

While staying at Maqai we took an overnight trip to Nanuku Island. It's really small and takes about 3 hours to get there from Maqai by a small speedboat. On the way there, we stopped at one of the nearby villages to pick up Meli, the son of the chief of Maqai and Nanuku. Unfortunately we didn't have a chance to walk much around the village as there was a big meeting with all the chiefs from surrounding villages and islands. Five guests went including us, Dan and Fiona from Jersey and Isabel from Switzerland with six staff, Meli, Simon, Do, Lucy, John and Pela.

The island is so small that it couldn't be seen until we were almost there, and as we approached we realised just how small it was. The tiny sand island takes ten minutes to walk around the outside and is surrounded by crystal clear waters with coral.

All around the island there were various turtle tracks heading from the sea up into the bush in the middle. So during the night, Do, Simon, Dan and I went for a walk to see if we could find some, we didn't see any so it turned into a hunt for coconut crabs. We climbed through the bush barefeet looking for piles of coconuts that the crabs had been eating. Both Simon and Do caught one each, but neither me or Dan fancied grabbing one barehand as they use their strong claws to open coconuts for food.

The next day while we spent a bit of time snorkelling on the one of the reefs. The visibility was incredible, I thought it was good when we had snorkelled Australia and Thailand but Fiji was far better. We were in the water for around 20 minutes when Do swam up to the surface shouting for Meli to bring the boat over, and Pela (who was on a kayak) was shouting at us to swim to the shallow water over the coral, although I wasn't sure why until Isabel from Switzerland screamed shark! I looked under the water but I couldn't see anything and quickly swam towards the shallow coral. We did see plenty of reef sharks though.

While out snorkelling, Lucy and John prepared the coconut crabs for lunch before a quick rest and heading back to Maqai in the afternoon.

Maqai Beach, Fiji

I don't have a huge amount to write about on this blog post, Izzy and I are in such a small little beach resort surrounded by jungle that I haven't been more than 100 metres in any direction from where I sat right now writing this (except out to sea!). It's really nice to not have much to do, no bags to lug around, just the sea and the beach with good food and good people. We have made some nice friends while here too, locals and other travellers.

I tried a bit of surfing the other day with Lindsay & Brian from the U.S. and Inaki from Spain. All three of them are amazing surfers and make it look so easy. There are no waves on the shore, they are about half a mile out to sea near a reef, so we have to take a boat to get there. I jumped off the boat, paddled to the waves and pushed through a few to try and catch the edge of a small one, but the current dragged me towards the shallow water near the reef where the waves were breaking. I was out of breath and energy by the time I had paddled back out of there against the current so called it a day! Little dissappointed I didn't catch any waves, but it's so different trying to catch waves out to sea where the current is so strong, nothing like when I have tried it near the shore and generally within my depth.

Lindsay & Brian had a Nikon zoom lens with them which I borrowed to get some shots of them and Inaki surfing from the boat, as I said they make it look easy!

Today and yesterday have been pretty quiet, as nearly all of the guests went for an overnight trip to Nanuku island, which we're going to do a little later on. We've just been sat around chilling in the sun topping up the tan we lost whilst in New Zealand. I think the people who work here at Maqai resort have enjoyed it being quiet too, as they don't feel they have to 'entertain' so much like they do normally. Most days there are optional activities we can do, such as volleyball, surfing, fishing and trips to the villages and jungles. The other night, Simon, one of the locals, put on a traditional Fijian fire show.

Qamea Island, Fiji

Getting to Fiji has probably topped the list for the worst journey yet, which consisted of a ten minute lift to Nadi town, a four hour cramped bus ride to Suva, a nineteen hour boat ride from Suva to Taveuni, a one hour min bus ride followed finally by a 30 minute boat ride. The nineteen hour boat ride was particularly bad, as it was a very old rusty boat with nowhere to lay down. It was infested with cockroaches, literally hundreds of them. At one point, I counted 17 on the wall next to my chair where our bags were. However, it was definitely worth the persistence as the island of Qamea and our resort Maqai Beach are beautiful.

It is the wet season currently in Fiji, pretty much every evening without fail it rains, but it's sunny during the day so that's all that matters. As it is the last leg of our trip we opted for a double room instead of sharing a dorm room with several other people. The little bungalow we have is set right on a pure white beach with crystal clear waters. It's quite a small place, the island is only 5kms around and it is very remote. Electricity is only on between 6-11pm then it's lights out (at which point they plug a laptop into a satellite phone for some internet!).

Today I went out on the boat with a few of the other guests who were surfing. I would have liked to give it ago myself, but yesterday I was swinging into the sea on a huge rope swing hanging from a palm tree and managed to land straight on a rock and injure myself. Nothing too serious, just badly bruised my foot, hopefully it will be alright in a couple of days. The best waves break quite far out away from shore near one of the reefs, a short boat ride away. My lens didn't have quite enough zoom to get good enough photos, so tomorrow I'm borrowing a zoom lens and going back out there with them.

Arrived in Fiji

Last night was our last in New Zealand. We stayed at the same holiday park we had been staying at so we could get all of our clothes washed and everything sorted on the camper before having to return it this morning. Our bags have grown in size even more since we first hired the camper van. I can't remember buying anything particularly big in New Zealand, but both mine and Izzy's are packed to bursting point now!

Our flight was not too long, only taking three hours to get to Nadi International Airport in Fiji. First impressions on the country is... WOW! We found a nice hostel online that picked us up from our flight this afternoon. Every member of staff here has been super friendly, so much so it's quite unnerving. If a stranger was this nice to you in England, you'd be a bit concerned. Here's a shot of the beach across the road that I took a couple of hours ago...

The hostel has been super helpful with sorting out the rest of our trip too. They have a sister hostel on another island. I think this place is kind of a stepping stone to go from the airport to their other resort. So we have booked 6 nights there, from the day after tomorrow. Unfortunately it takes a three hour bus journey, 16 hour ferry trip, 30 minute taxi ride followed by another 30 minute boat ride. Everyone we have spoken to in the hostel has said it is paradise. I'm pretty excited about the activities we can do on the island, such as snorkel with sharks and manta rays, play in the natural waterfall/waterslides on the smooth rock, and spear fish with locals.

The owner of the two resorts has a 'secret' island which takes 10 mintues to walk around the outside of it. It has two buildings and rarely has more then a few people on it so I think we will be taking a little trip there for a day or so too.

My next blog post will probably be in a couple of weeks when I return to the main island before returning home because there is not much electricity, let alone wifi.