I am finally writing to wrap up my wicked Fiji trip last February.
Wednesday and Thursday were my last two days in Fiji on the main island of Viti Levu. This trip was not long enough to really enjoy Fiji and do everything I wanted to do, but by taking a tour it was a great way to see as much as possible in the little amount of time that I did have.
Wednesday was an inspirational day. We started off with a short trip to a small town where we bought school supplies and candy for a school we were going to visit. You can see in the video in my previous post just how adorable these kids were. They were also so amazed, by my camera and video camera and could of played with them for days. They asked me if they were going to be on TV after I made a few videos of them!
Beautiful kids and I told them I would send them the photos later. I hope they like them!
I will add more photos on my main www.travelyourself.ca site. One little boy even asked me for my autograph. He was so cute!
Also on that Wednesday we also visited yet another village and met with a chief who was not only Chief of his own village but was also the Chief of the whole province that we were in. Of course, a lot more Kava was had. The Chiefs wife and sister also taught us how to make our own bracelets out of grass.
After the Kava ceremony we requested permission from the Chief to go bamboo rafting on a river that crossed through his land and had a great relaxing lazy river time. After we headed to our resort for the night.
The resort on Wednesday was my favorite resort of all the places I've stayed on this trip. It was only 5 years old and was owned by a New Zealander. The prices were really cheap if you were staying in a dorm room, and they had everything you could want. It was very secluded on a piece of land that jutted out into the ocean with a nice sandbar. You can see some video footage of it as well in the video in the previous post. This resort was called Voli Voli and I wish I could of stayed longer!The next morning I actually got to sleep in a bit and lay out in the sun before we continued on our way back to Nadi to complete our full circle tour of the main Island of Viti Levu. On our way to Nadi we stopped at a tradional Indian restaurant and learned how to make our own roti (flatbread). The food was delicious, and I was surprised to learn that Fiji has quite an Indian influence and actually has a 40% Indo-Fijian population. The British brought many contract workers from India to Fiji in the nineteenth century to work at the Sugar factories and the population now is made up of their descendants.Our last stop before finishing our trip was to some natural hot springs and
mud baths.I had never been in a natural mud bath before, but it had to have been one of the must disgusting things I had ever felt! It was very lovely though after you got use to it! Creepy though because you can't see what is touching you in the mud and water. It was very warm and the mud came up to my waist, then it was all muddy water. It was almost impossible to walk around in and felt like I was in a pot of running mashed potatoes!
The hot springs and mud baths sat at the bottom of a mountain, in the middle of no where of course. There were no showers for you to get washed off in later or, houses to get changed in. One of the two outhouses that were there had its toilet sitting outside of it (obviously broken). The idea was for people to jump in the mud bath first, then head for the hot spring to wash off. At this point on the bus there was about 7 of us and I believe Hanna and I (my new Swedish friend) were the only ones to get into the hot spring to wash off.
To me the hot spring made me feel the exact thing Lobsters must feel when we stick them in a pot of water. It was extremely hot, it hurt to touch. It took me a good 10 minutes to get in, rare for a hot spring! The temperature was 45+ but other people were in it, enduring it so I thought I must be able to do it. A french lady next to me commented that since Fijians use to be Cannibals this must be where they take the dumb tourists to boil them before they eat them.....
I definitely didn't stay in the hot spring long, but I survived.
Following the mud baths and hot springs I was dropped off at my last hotel near the airport where I would stay until I flew back to Australia the next day.
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