Terrific Pacific
Trip Start
Nov 13, 2005
1
17
18
Trip End
May 02, 2006
Las Vegas, Nevada
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Just a 3 hour flight from Auckland found us in paradise. Fiji is comprised of 333 tropical islands. Some of them are so small that you can walk around them in 5 minutes, whereas others are larger than the Isle of White. They all possess perfect white sand beaches and all have clear turquoise water lapping at their shores. The beauty of Fiji has appeared many times on screen as well, with the Blue Lagoon, Castaway and even the Bounty advert being filmed here. Celebrity Love Island was filmed here as well, but don't let that put you off! We flew into Nadi (pronounced Nandee) which is on the island of Viti Levu (big island). We only stayed here a couple of nights as Nadi is mainly used as a hub for arranging boat trips to the outlying islands. From Nadi we made our way to the northernmost point in the Yassawa group of islands, Nacula Island. We stayed at a little resort called Nabua Lodge, a very quiet place, and at one point there were only us and two other guests in the resort. After 3 nights at Nabua, with little to do except sunbathe and snorkel, collect coconuts off of the beach, and at a push make baskets out of palm leaves, we were on the move, and we found ourselves in a resort with a lot more life to it. White Sandy Beach resort on the island of Naviti was a completely different kettle of fish. With as many as 20 guests and a full on party atmosphere, this made for an altogether different but just as enjoyable an experience. In all of the resorts all meals are provided so that pennypinching backpackers don't starve themselves. We were thoroughly fed and watered. One day it would be fresh fish caught earlier that day, then another day it would be a traditional Fijian meal cooked in an underground oven. One scarey thing about Fiji is the fact that less than 100 years ago cannibalism was still practised throughout the islands. One day we were talking to one of the waitresses at White Sandy Beach resort and she told us her name was Dudley Gibson Teeth of the White Man. Apparently Dudley Gibson was the name of the first missionary to visit her village and the Teeth of the White Man part comes from the first ever missionary to visit Fiji and was subsequently eaten by cannibals. Only his eyeballs and teeth remained and the name in Fiji is now quite a common, if gruesome one. But the last word on Fiji has to go to the locals, undoubtedly the happiest bunch of people that we have encountered in our travels so far. They laugh and smile continuously and it really is contagious! We thoroughly enjoyed our 10 days there.
Flying from Fiji to Los Angeles really messed with our body clocks. We left Nadi at 11pm on Thursday night. The flight was roughly 11 hours and we arrived in LA at 3pm on the same day, 8 hours earlier than our time of boarding the plane. The reason for the day being so long, a full 42 hours to be precise, is that we flew across the international dateline. As a result jet lag was a real problem for us for a few days.
And this brings us up to country number 12 on our trip, our last country incidentally. With only a couple of days to spend in LA (some would say that this is more than enough), we really went all out on playing the tourist. Staying in Hollywood, right on the walk of fame, we were perfectly situated to take in all that LA has to offer. Trips out to Venice Beach and Santa Monica were nice little jaunts, and we even got to watch masses of US daytime tv stars turning up at the Kodak Theatre (where the Oscars are held annually), for the annual soap awards, and all this from our hotel room window. Not really my cup of tea but Lisa managed to spot a few stars that she recognised.
After 2 days in LA it was on to Las Vegas and the final destination on our trip before flying home. Vegas seemed like a really fitting place to end our trip, seeing as we were married there just over 2 years ago. We hoped to try and win enough money in the casino to enable us to start our travelling over again, but alas it was not to be. It was probably a good job that we had spent virtually all of our money before arriving in Vegas, so our losses weren't too considerable either!
So here we are now heading home. It's been a fantastic, once in a lifetime trip and we have masses of really happy memories. I hope you've all enjoyed reading the updates as much as we've enjoyed writing them. See you all when we get back.
