Landing in Fiji however was a little less luxurious. While people in the airport could not have been more helpful in pointing us in the right direction to check in with the desk we booked our tour from, getting to our hotel proved to be a little more of a challenge. We were instructed to take a taxi and went to wait for one in the designated area. Around the airport many people from many companies are trying to help you and ask you where you are going, which is often alarming and makes me suspicious people are just trying to take advantage of me- its the worrier in me. However, after waiting too long for a cab and being told it would be atleast another 30 minutes before all the cabs were taken another man came back and told us he had a cab and would take us but noone else drives to the hotel we were going to because they pay too little [the hotel was paying our cab fare]. We were very sketched out but the man had sold us as if we had no other option. He pulled around his legitimate cab car and loaded our bags and we fearfully entered. I immediately cracked the window of the cab and kept my hand ready on the emergency call button of my phone, ready for anything and we could not have been happier to see our hotel. When we checked in it seemed the front desk was not very happy at what he had told us and that he was a normal cab driver but not a taxi driver and therefore his fares are much higher for the hotel to pay. We were very confused at what had happend and the hotel was very apologetic but as long as we had arrived safely at that point I did not care!! The place was much nicer than I had expected it to be, with 6 single beds in a huge room, 2 toilets and 2 showers. We even had a laundry room within our room! Or atleast a door labeled laundry room. In the water lilly dorm [the name of our room] behind the laundry room door you will find...an outdoor deck with a sink and a clothes line. very modern. The rest of the night was spent in the hotel restaurant enjoying a delicious and quite large veggie pizza and the flowers we were given to put in our hair. In the restaruant we actually bumped into a mutual friend that we had met at movie world who was going to be going to the same island as us the next day! Another great coincidence in my life!
The next morning we woke up for our early deparature out to see. We were picked up at the hotel and taken to Port Denarau where we loaded the giant yellow Awesome Adventures boat which travels between the many islands of Fiji [Fun fact: there are 300 islands on Fiji, but only 100 which contain people!] Our first 2 nights were to be spent on Beachcomber island, only 45 minutes from mainland. We enjoyed a short but very sunny trip over to the island and before we knew it were unloaded and welcomed onto the island with a nice big BULA! After a slight baggage "crisis" [Rachel and I got an extra ride out to the boat as our bags arrived on a separate boat from us. We were told we had to ride out to collect them but they had already been loaded to be brought to us. Communication on the islands was...not so great. But I wont complain about an extra boat ride]. Our bags were then carried to our luxious...100 person dorm. Now on first glance this room was overwhelming with a million bunk beds thrown into it facing all different directions. On second glance it was even more overwhelming when I noticed a second floor containing even more beds! But on third glance I found cabinets under each bed to which we were given a key to put all our bags inside and lock up our belongings. This was very nice in staying in a room with so many strangers, and provided more security than many of the 4 person hostel rooms I stayed in. And seeing as I can fall asleep just about anywhere these days the room did not bother me one bit.
Speaking of falling asleep anywhere...it was time to head to start my week of sleeping on the beach. This we accomplished very nicely. Our two days at beachcomber were spent laying on the beach until it was time to...move to the water or to....eat. Once we took a break to explore and cool down in the islands spa pool, but this break was quickly taken back to the beach before our attention was quickly brought back to meals. All our meals were served at designated times buffet style. Since we were getting up very early to be sitting in the sun the long span between meals and lack of snacks in between was very hard and when it finally came time for the buffets we really took to stacking our plates. We often got so hungry in between meals that our new friends teased us as the hungry girls and would advertise this fact around to many people on the island. Luckily the food was delicious! I even got tricked into trying fish thinking it was chicken on the BBQ night. I didn't overly mind it due to the marinade...but could definitely tell it was fish due to the texture...the part that always bothers me.
At night beachcomber becomes the "party" island. As we came during the quite season the island did not exactly hold true to its title but it still drew a nice crowd and had a dance floor going at the bar all night. The first night there we made some friends that we were able to hang out on the beach with and the next night, and one friend who was even going on to Manta Ray Island with us after Beachcomber! It was fun to hear even more travelers stories- especially as fiji is just a holiday destination for so many areas within this side of the world that the people we were meeting were all on there way somewhere coming from somewhere else!
Two short days our time at Beachcomber was over an it was time to move on to Manta Ray, another island further north. This island took two hours by boat to get to and again we were able to enjoy the sun on the top deck the whole way there. Once again we were greeted upon arrival to the island by a song. This time our boat greeted the singers with a loud BULA back. Upon checking in we were given delicious smoothies and taken up to our dorm, a smaller room...of about 40 people, unfortunately no locks for this one. After getting settled in we heard drums. This noise signified our favorie time...meal time! Meals at Manta Ray were run by a menu where we got to place an order during lunch time. My lunch meals consisted of a pumpkin patch pizza- piled high with vegetables, vegetable pasta, and a cheese and tomato toastie with chips...all delicious. The dinner drum was my favorite. Not only was I always starving by this time of day, but the meals were great! 3 course meals were served for dinner. Everyone receieved the same to courses of soup and an appetizer. The first night the soup was pumpkin with rice balls as the entree and I ordered spring rolls. yumm. The second night we got tomato soup with corn balls and I had ordered mac and cheese. However as I was not hungry enough for my main course I asked for another cup of the soup [duhh] and let the rest of my table happily pick away at my main meal. The soup was so good I couldhave eaten the whole vat of it no matter how full I was. I am always so happy to have soup on the side of the world- it is such a rareity.
Aside from meals, manta ray proceeded pretty similarily to beachcomber. Days were spent on the beach and in the sun. However, on manta ray instead of breaks for the water...breaks on manta ray could be taken in the shade on hammocks. This helped heaps in my reading and I was able to finish my second book and move on to a third book which I traded for with on of the girls in the dorm. A good trade so far, and it was definitely very helpful in getting through the last few days of the trip.
Additionally on manta ray we got the opportunity to visit one of the island villages. One morning a group of 5 of us took a boat ride over to another near by island. This boat ride took about 20 minutes and was far from a smooth ride. For a while I thought we were white water rafting...despite the motor boat and I was gripping on for dear life...very convinced that we were going overboard. The look on our "captains" face was no source of reassurance either. But we made it...sopping wet but in one piece nonetheless. One of the women from the village led us around, through the area of the houses and the school. We saw where children went to school grades k-8. From there on they go to high school on the main land where they stay during the year, only coming back to the village from holidays and such. We peered through the library and watched outside as a class was in session. We also spoke to some of the 7&8th graders, who attend class in the same classroom. We were then allowed to enter the kindergarten classroom. These kids were very excited by us and were eager for us to pick us up and play with them and immediately took to us as human jungle gyms. They were very cute and it was adorable to see them line the windows yelling goodbye to us as we left. We were then guided to the church, the biggest and nicest building standing in the center of the impoverished village. It was interesting to see how much nicer the church was than any of the homes of anyone living in the village, and even how much more work and money seemed to go into the church than the school. Finally we were taken through a market that had been set up for us by the women of the village for us to buy souveniers from them. Unfortunatly I did not by anything. It was very interesting to see how the culture lived, and sad to see the poverty that the village seemed to be in when their village chief owns the resort of luxury at which we were all staying. It seemed to be a very ironic contrast and I wish the lady would have been able to communicate more information with us as to their lifestyle, but unfortunately we were unable to take much information away other than what our eyes could read into.
Thankfully, the boatride back, while extremely wet was atleast a little safer feeling and we were back on dry and solid land for the remainder of our time on manta ray. We made some good friends at our time here and I was sad to leave them as well as the beautiful islands when it was time to pack up and go on wednesday. I had even adjusted to manta rays waterless toilets and becoming unafraid of the dark/endless tunnel attached to the toilet seat.
But the boat ride back to the mainland was a long one, and to match the somber mood of leaving, a rather cloudy ride as well. Three hours later we were back to port and being taken back to our same hotel, and being checked into our same water lilly dorm. When we first got to the room our roommates were so spread out it appeared there was no room for us in the room. However after enjoying a delicious meal in the restaurant downstairs we came back up and were finally able to sort it out with out roommates and settle in. I got cozy in the awkward bed between the two friends. Why they did not want to sleep next to each other in the line of three beds is beyond me but like I keep saying- I'll sleep anywhere and was out before she even turned off the lighs that night.
It was another early morning getting to the airport and was about to be a long day. Little did we know exactly how long. Right from the start I had a stomach ache...I guess I should have taken this as a sign. At first as our plane from Fiji to Sydney is being slow to board I think nothing of it- having had adjusted to "fiji time" aka no time. However, as this boarding process is just still not being announced I start to get a little worried. Our layover between our fiji flight and flight to brisbane was only a little over an hr and a half...leaving us not a ton of time to go through customs and recheck our bags- even with speedy australia security! We go to ask at the counter what we can do if we are worried about our layover as they announce that the plane will be delayed 45 mins due to mechanical problems. They tell us there is nothing we can do until we get there...and to get on the plane. Odd considering they just said we were delayed but ok cool maybe they changed there minds?! Well apparently this airline is schizophrenic because they had thought they were ready and boarded the plane. We then proceeded to wait there for an hour. Then as we were all mechanically ready we finally headed down the run way. But wait! Why leave beautiful fiji just yet?! Instead, lets head back to the gate! Why you ask?! Well apparently they miss loaded the baggage. Originally they informed us that they forgot some luggage and had to go back. 5 mins later they told us that a man on the flight to brisbane's bag was on our plane [aka I should switch planes w that man]. What was the real story you ask? Air Pacific is crazzyy. Otherwise known as....Bula. So 2 hours later, officially convinced we are missing our next flight we are finally ready for take off. The flight wasa pretty uneventful and much less glamourous than the first flight. On this flight I watched the princess and the frog yet again and...ate a roll. Me and airplane breakfast dont work. No fiji snacks this time...and when I asked for a second roll she said yes and never came back. Boo. But I survived and...went to sleep. Shocking i know.
Getting off the plane things get a little more eventful. As we landed we still had about 20 minutes to make our flight. It had already boarded, so I had held this off as pretty impossible but I also had no idea what the procedure for rebooking flights in this country was, so while I was not too worried about getting home, and sydney was far from a bad place to be stuck, I was anxious to get off the giant plane and deal w it. We ran off the plan to the transfer desk where we had been instructed by our flight attendent to go. However, as this was the international transfer desk still we were not in the right place. Regardless of the fact that we were in the wrong area, we were still forced through their small security zone just to talk to someone who could tell us where the right place to be was! Not only was the x-ray scan necessary, but as they thought Rachel looked young we were brought in for additional questioning. As she was given an extra pat down and asked about all the explosives that apparently under 18 year olds carry, the nice security guard allowed me to proceed to the desk and try and work things out. Unfortunately me and the first lady at the desk did not get along. She told me that htis was international and I needed domestic. I had already known this but as our flight was departing right now and you needed to go through customs to get to domestic desks I was hoping to get some more immediate assistance. When rachel came and asked for an update I told her this lady could not help us. This did not please the lady and she began barking at me. Thankfully the lady at the next desk kindly intervened before it got ugly and walked us away from the rude one, pointing us in the proper direction. Unfortunately still, this proper direction was through customs. The line through customs was no problem, however of course, my bag was the last one off the flight. Even if these rude ladies had been able to help us sooner the timing of my bag would have made us miss our flight regardless. But in the end it was no problem.
When we finally found the right desk to recheck in our bags another kind kind lady had already had us rebooked on the next flight to brisbane! She was so nice and friendly and in looking at our passports was so excited to update us on the USA win in the world cup. We were very happy to have a friendly face after our previous ordeal. From there the day was looking up and after our quick ride to the domestic terminal we had an hour to spare before our next flight. We spent that our getting a delicious meal of ravioli and garlic bread and before we knew it it was time to board another flight. Each flight we take gets more and more interesting based on the people we end up sitting next to. Lately we have become so engaged in conversation with everyone around us about where we are from and where they are from- it is very different from the beginning of the semester but very entertaining. And with that, we were back in Brisbane. Of course after how smooth our flights ended up working out we needed one more glitch. This time, rachel's bag did not make it off the flight. Luckily by now it is back safe and sound and hopefully unpacked in the room next door.
We arrived back very tired after an extremely long day of traveling. But we need to recover quickly in order to get everything in during our last few days here! We are officially the last ones left in our apartment and I know these last few days are going to go by super fast- I can't even believe how fast the semester went by! While I am excited to see everyone...I don't want it to end!!!
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