Paradise...
Trip Start
Sep 26, 2011
1
15
65
Trip End
Jun 25, 2012
Waya, Yasawa Islands, Fiji
Saturday, November 26, 2011
With more than 300 islands to see in Fiji most people go island hopping during their trip. But after seven weeks of travelling, we just wanted to enjoy one island and after being recommended the Octopus resort on Waya island by three people that's where we decided to spend our six nights.
When we arrived on the island the sun was shining and we were greeted by the staff with a welcome song. They are such smiley, happy people. And it's obvious why; they live in paradise.
While I was determined to spend my first day relaxing, Ry took one look at the daily list of activities and threw himself into a scuba diving lesson. And then played volleyball with the locals. Then went snorkelling along the reef. Then played volleyball again. Then swam in the pool. The whole time I did nothing but put a huge dent in my new book.
And that's basically how we spent the rest of the week.
It really was an amazing island. We could sit for hours just looking out at the view of the clear blue sea, surrounded by palm trees and golden sands and listening to the waves crashing on the shore.
I did join Ryan and go snorkeling a few times. We also went on a trip to the village to meet the children at the kindergarden. They sang us songs before jumping on us, giving is cuddles and, more bizarrely, flicking us the v-sign. They are only five!
There is something to do every day at Octopus - including, hikes, free jewellery making, cookery lessons and fishing trips. And everyone is invited to join the Kava welcome ceremony, which is definitely an experience. Kava is nothing like the similarly named fizzy wine we drink back home, this is more like a watery clay.
One day we decided to go hand-line fishing too - but without much success. There were two boats and while the other caught 14 fishes, we caught nothing. Unless you count the two the captain caught. Ryan didn't stop moaning about that for days.
He did have more success with diving though and, after his first lesson, he went down 12m in the sea. He loved it and got to see some amazing coral reef, trumpet fish and puffer fish, among other things.
But our week in Paradise had to end eventually. As you can imagine, we were very sad to leave the island. The food was great - a different theme every night - and we met some incredible people - Canadian friends MJ and Marjan, salsa dancing Saskia and Gecho and the Irish girls Elaine and Moira. On the last night we finally stayed up past 10pm (it's tiring doing nothing) and partied with some of the guests and staff. We finished the night by taking a late night swim in the pool - fully clothed. Not so easy to swim in a maxi dress!
Now it's back to life on the road in New Zealand, the country Ryan has been dreaming about visiting since he was a kid. If spending every hour of every day together isn't testing our relationship enough, let's see how we cope with 25 nights in a (very) small camper van...
