Matacawalevu Island and Drawaqa Island: Bula Combo Pass

Sunday 5th March - Monday 6th March 2017

We got up early today to go to church, on Sundays they don't run any activities so it was nice to have something to do to pass the morning!

Breakfast was really good, I had weetabix, apples and the most delicious custard slice I've ever had! It just melted in my mouth! We were leaving to go to the church at 8 so I just about had enough time to brush my teeth and sort my bags out before getting the boat round to the part of the island the village is in.

We walked up an extremely muddy path and eventually came to the church. This village is Catholic, but the majority of the churches in Fiji are Methodist. The ceremony was beautiful, everyone sang the hymns with the most amazing harmonies and it brought a tear to my eye not gonna lie! It was so nice having communion - it's been a while! Everyone is so friendly and kind, Fijians have such a wonderful way of life!

We then went down to look at the primary school, I was surprised to see Jolly Phonics stuff in class 1&2! It brought back good memories of working at nursery!

We then wandered around the village for a while, Jacob (he's part of the family that runs  Long Beach Resort) carrying his baby sister Cara, showed us around for a bit. Although it felt like he was just taking us places to kill a bit of time! He showed us a whale tooth in one of the houses, not entirely sure why but it was cool! There was also a hideous looking spider with a bright green body that he pretended to flick on us. He also told us we weren't allowed to take photos, before wetting himself laughing! Let's just say he likes a joke!

We then got the boat back round to the resort, and brought or bags round to the main but. It just started to torrential rain again and it was only 2 hours before getting true speedboat out to the big boat so we prayed it would stop soon!

For lunch we had spicy tomato pasta which was good, although it tastes like something I would've made for myself at uni! The sun came out for a bit but the clouds were still looming and the wind had picked up a bit. This made the ride in the small speedboat less than fun... I thought it was bad yesterday, well it had nothing on today! I just plonked myself in the middle and prayed I wouldn't fall in!

The ferry ride wasn't much better, the rain came in and the waves rocked the boat a fair bit - it wasn't as bad as the ferry from Wellington to Christchurch though! We had a covered boat to get to Barefoot Manta Resort which was good! Two girls greeted us on the boat who are volunteering at a nearby school for a month which seems cool!

Barefoot Manta is more expensive than the other resorts, it had a set meal plan of like $90 a day and wifi is $24 a day so I won't buy it today, and probably won't tomorrow unless it's raining all day again! Hopefully the sun will be out so I can get back to sunbathing and swimming! Emma got wifi straight away so I had a wander by myself for a bit. The island is stunning. They have three beaches, but sunset beach is my favourite. There are so many crabs it's crazy!

I then had an early shower as the weather still isn't great so I didn't fancy a swim this evening, but as it finally stopped raining I sat on the bench just outside our Bule and read for a bit until it was dinner time. We were a bit early for dinner, as Emma wanted to use her wifi, and when we got there hey we're doing a hermit crab race. This time we got to pick our own crabs and decide on the number, we had two rounds and a final. Emma's crab won the first round and mine won the second! So either way  one of us would win! In the end, my crab won but it was for a double kayak so it worked out perfectly!

Everyone we met had said that the food at Barefoot Manta was the best out of all the islands so I was super excited for dinner. However, I didn't find it to be that exciting! The pumpkin soup and pineapple upside down cake was amazing but the main course was mediocre - a super chewy beef patty with a jacket potato and veg.

We had met a load cool people here so we actually didn't go to bed straight after dinner for a change! We chilled out, playing cards (well I watched as there were so many people playing already!) and went for a night swim which was amazing - there was a storm at the same time and the lightning lit up the whole sky making it look like somewhere out of a movie.

Nacula Island: Bula Combo Pass

Friday 3rd March - Saturday 4th March 2017

It was a super early start this morning, and I fully hadn't slept well at all in the night which sucks! But we grabbed breakfast at 6:30 and  then the coach came at around 7:15. It was only whilst we were sitting at reception that it dawned on us that we had no idea what we were doing on the Bula Pass. It took us a while to find someone to even make sure we were going on the right coach!

When we got to the Port, we went to check in our luggage and we were asked what our destination was. We had no idea! So we went to check in and eventually found out that you can book as you go on the Bula pass on the boat, and just change where your luggage is going as you go. So after twenty or so minutes of pouring down the list of resorts, we decided to stay at Oarsmans Bay Lodge on Nacula Island. This meant we wouldn't be seeing the others, as they're all going to Beachcomber Island which is a shame, but it works out easier for us to do it the opposite way round. But this also meant we had 4 and a half hours to kill on the ferry!

We passed all the beautiful islands and time surprisingly went quite quickly! We got in a little speedboat and someone took our bags (thank god!). The sea is crystal clear and shines a beautiful shade of turquoise - the whole island is idyllic.

We were greeted by the staff members and a complimentary juice which went down a treat! The owner then went over meal times and things before giving us our room key. We are in a bule just the two of us which is amazing! It's been so long since we just shared a room together!

So I can't imagine my blog posts being overly interesting from now on but I'm going to keep going anyway and include more pictures! We spent the afternoon going from sunbathing to swimming, the water was a perfect temperature to cool down in - not too cold and not too warm! There were loads of fish swimming around as well.

I then went for a short walk to the rocks at the end of the island. The sand is so hard to walk on, it just consumes your foot with every step you take. There were loads of hermit crabs on the beach, and one showed a lot of interest in my GoPro! I had a look in some rock pools but there wasn't much there, a few crabs and fish!

The resort next door has an inflatable slide in the sea so we snuck on it... I managed to not die after going down the slide which was great! (I have zero confidence in my swimming skills especially after the snorkelling!) We then bumped into a couple of girls one of whom came from a nearby village, the other from Nadi. They had been snorkelling and then we got chatting about life! They work here in their uni break, both studying tourism which seems perfect for Fiji!

After showering and putting on moisturiser (I'm finally getting a tan yay!) we chilled out in the room watching Grey's until it was time for food!

Dinner was some sort of chicken broth with sweet bread,the broth was super yummy but the bread was a bit weird! Then we had Fish, chicken and sausage in some sort of BBQ sauce with coleslaw and one potato! I'd filled up on the broth so wasn't overly hungry but it was pretty good, just a bit random!

After dins we just chilled in our room, these long days are making me feel exhausted! But it feels so good to just be chilling for a change!