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chrischarly

700 Blog Entries
6 Trips
5148 Photos

Trips:

Chris and Charly Down Under
Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
Chris and Charly's Pacific Island Pit-Stop
Chris and Charly's mini trip to The States
Chris and Charly's African Adventure
Chris and Charly's Indian Odyssey

Shorthand link:

http://blogabond.com/chrischarly



Buddy List

Jason Kester
Jason Kester
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chris_j_knight78



Something smells very fishy...

Suva, Fiji

Alarm went off at 4:30am this morning. There should only be one 4:30 in the day and definitely not the am one. We then quickly finished packing, got dressed and went outside to wait for our taxi. We had booked it for 4:50am and by 5:10am it was clear that he was a no-show. What a bummer. No other taxi drivers were answering their phone so we had no choice but to power-walk it down to the bus stop. Well it started off as power walking but in the dark and with our bags I soon resulted to dawdling as that was the fastest speed I could muster up this early. Stupid taxis. We luckily arrived in time for the bus, which we were delighted to see was more than half empty, so picked our seats right at the front, got comfy and we set off.
Unfortunately as the bus didn’t have 20 or more people we had to get off at ‘The Junction’ and clamber onto a very full bus, with the only seats left for us at the back. Not ideal for a long trip, but no other choice. We then drove for another 4 hours before arriving and waiting for the ferry in Nabawalu, for an hour along bumpy muddy roads and I had the pleasure of sitting behind a man with hygiene issues for the way. Then, onto the ferry bound for Natovi Landing, which was a lot nicer than sitting on a bus as we had space to move around and lucky managed to grab a space on the comfy sofas in front of the T.V. to watch a couple of films along the way. Then after the approximately 4-hour journey we got back onto the bus for another long ride to Lautoka. The bus stank. Luckily the man mentioned earlier moved seats had his seat nicked by someone else so he found somewhere else to sit and a lady plonked herself down next to me who had obviously eaten something that didn’t agree with her so I had to open the window and close the window every few minutes. But the journey only got smellier.
About an hour in there was a very strong smell of rotten fish eggs, well that was the only thing I could compare the smell to having had the pleasure to smell them before when fishing off the wharf in Levuka and the smell just got more and more intense throughout the journey without a clue where it was coming from. After 3 hours I just couldn’t take it anymore and moved right up to the front with Chris when a couple of people got off for the last hour. At maybe 8:30pm we finally arrived at our destination, opened up the luggage department to collect our bags to be faced with the intense fish smell once again. So that was where it was coming from! So I prayed and prayed that it hadn’t seeped into our bags and we found Chris’ first which did have a hint of fish smell, but pushed right into the middle was my bag, and ironically sitting on top of my bag was the source of the smell. So, soaked through from the rain that had leaked in, the fish (which we discovered was dried fish) was now wet and all the smelly juices had soaked through to my bag. It was vile and I had no choice but to put it on to walk and find a mini bus to take us to Nadi airport, so I too stunk, as that is where Wailoaloa agreed to pick us up from. The ride to the airport didn’t take long, maybe 30 minutes and as expected, our transfer wasn’t waiting for us, even though we asked them to be there 15 minutes before we knew we would arrive as they are so slow at everything. So after calling them twice, they finally came at 9:45pm, so we hurried back to the resort in time to order some dinner as we were famished. Then, off to bed after washing my stinking bag.

permalink written by  chrischarly on April 20, 2012 from Suva, Fiji
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Pacific Island Pit-Stop
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Bye Bye Dolphin Bay

Savusavu, Fiji

Gutted that we have to leave here this morning. Especially when we know that we are faced with 2 days of solid travel, which we are not looking forward to, to get back to Nadi to fly onto Tonga. So after breakfast we said goodbye to everyone and the staff all sang us a farewell-song in Fijian which was a really nice touch, followed by giving us a necklace each made out of shells.
Then we got into the boat to take us back to Taveuni to get straight onto a Ferry to take us back to the mainland again. Although the Ferry was busy, it was fine and took about 1hr30 minutes. Then, straight onto a bus bound for Savusavu. It was so much easier than we thought it would be. Fiji transport is actually very organised.
Bus journey was ok too, the roads of course were shocking so it was bumpy but we arrived in Savusavu at 3pm. We thought the easiest thing to do was to go back to Sunset Lodge as we knew the beds were comfy and the prices reasonable so this time got into a taxi and went straight there after booking tickets all the way to Lautoka (close to Nadi) for tomorrow. After unpacking our things we went to the internet café, then for some dinner, followed by a beer and an early night, before our 4.30am start in the morning.

permalink written by  chrischarly on April 19, 2012 from Savusavu, Fiji
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Pacific Island Pit-Stop
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Corals that look just like cabbages

Dolphin Bay, Fiji

As soon as the generator started this morning at 7am we woke up, dressed, and walked to the restaurant to eat breakfast before I squeezed into my stinger suit, applied some sun-cream, grabbed some fins and got on the boat to take us snorkelling and another guest diving leaving at 8:30am.
The first spot we stopped at was called ‘Coral Garden’ which was amazing. So many beautiful corals and millions of stunning fish, including 4 white-tipped reef sharks! 2 of them were huge but
the third one was probably the most impressive sighting as I was snorkelling along with Chris a little ahead and it started swimming closer and closer to be, until I managed to catch up with Chris to show him as well.
It was pretty scary as it was obviously quite interested in me, not for its dinner luckily, just being nosey. Then after an hour in the water and the current getting stronger we climbed back onto the boat and moved on to another place called,
‘Cabbage Patch’ aptly named due to a section of coral looking just like a cabbage patch, of course. This site was also really nice especially alongside the reef but I think it is more aimed towards divers as it is a lot deeper so visibility wasn’t as great.
But still a fantastic stop off and we enjoyed playing in the bubbles created by the divers underneath us. After another hour in the water Chris and I were pretty tired, so once again climbed out and relaxed before collecting Mike and Roland.
We then drove back on the boat, showered and hungrily ate our lunch; a tasty curry and we then read books for the afternoon, before having Lovo for dinner.

This is a traditional Fijian dish cooked underground for 50 minutes at a seriously high temperature. My God it was delicious! We then stayed up for ages chatting to other guests staying at Dolphin until crashing out.

permalink written by  chrischarly on April 18, 2012 from Dolphin Bay, Fiji
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Pacific Island Pit-Stop
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Snorkelling

Dolphin Bay, Fiji

After breakfast this morning Chris went off for an early snorkel whilst I waited behind and watched him from the beach waiting for him to return to inform me whether or not there were any jellyfish in the water as I wasn’t keen to risk it again. After about an hour he returned having failed to spot any jellies, great news so after lunch I also went out for an hour, with Chris to snorkel up and down the bay.
They have had some heavy rains and landslides here so the visibility isn’t very good unless you are in the shallows but there are tons of fish to be seen and we saw 3 lobsters hiding under rocks. Dolphin Bay, the place we are staying protects this bay from fishing so the fish are in abundance everywhere which is great for snorkelling, but not so much for the locals as they are not allowed to go spear fishing. After we came back, we showered and changed before going to the bar to have a couple of drinks, use the internet and wait for a delicious dinner of fish kebabs, using the ribbon-tailed snapper that was caught yesterday.

permalink written by  chrischarly on April 17, 2012 from Dolphin Bay, Fiji
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Pacific Island Pit-Stop
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Jellyfish, sharks and a lost Chris, or a blind Charly?

Dolphin Bay, Fiji

Just before getting ready to go snorkelling this morning a couple that are staying here, Carla and John returned from a swim with John having 2 bad jellyfish stings, 1 on his arm and another on his neck.
This immediately got me worried so I opted for a stinger suit then after seeing a jellyfish just offshore I rapidly exited the water having only been out about 5 minutes. Chris went out for about an hour and saw some huge lobsters and a turtle among lots of other fish.
I was supposed to be his land based spotter but lost sight of him, as he had gone so far out, so I decided to walk around the bay to look for him.
Somehow he must have made it all the way back before I saw him as I had walked all the way around to the next resort worried he had drowned or been eaten by a shark. I myself saw 3 reef sharks swimming in the shallows just off the shore with 1 swimming right at my feet, causing me to jump out of the water and onto the rocks just in case my toes were mistaken for fish and thus nibbled. We once again had a delicious dinner and enjoyed chatting to the other guests.

permalink written by  chrischarly on April 16, 2012 from Dolphin Bay, Fiji
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Pacific Island Pit-Stop
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To yet another place in paradise

Tavuki, Fiji

We awoke by 6am to get down to the bus station for departure at 7 to Taveuni where we would get picked up by the Dolphin Bay Divers Retreat boat.
There had been some rain overnight so the mud road was slippery and we have to “hail to the bus driver” for his skills driving a very crappy old bus, stacked to the rafters over these roads.
It wasn’t the most comfortable journey, but we are used to that by now and after around 4 hours we reached the Ferry crossing which was easy. Just before we reached Taveuni, Chris spotted the pickup boat following us in and they were on the dock waiting for us when we disembarked the Ferry.
It took 20 mins to come back to the resort that was in a little bay and was absolutely beautiful and also has its own time zone from the rest of Fiji; a further hour ahead.
We had a great welcoming and then some lunch before being led to our tent, that turned out to be an amazing bure as they had upgraded us. Chris really had outdone himself getting us here – we later found out that we had 3 meals all included and a really nice room for $85 per night (about £30) for both of us. We relaxed for the afternoon before enjoying happy hour and a delicious 3 course dinner. We only wish we had more than 4 nights here as it is truly paradise!

permalink written by  chrischarly on April 15, 2012 from Tavuki, Fiji
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Pacific Island Pit-Stop
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Fish with Miti (Coconut)

Savusavu, Fiji

It was nice to have a lie-in this morning, especially in our air conditioned room! So after lounging about for a while
we took a walk into town and went for some delicious lunch at a little local shack eating ‘fish with miti’ which we ordered although clueless what it would be and a Chicken curry to share.
The fish was amazing cooked in coconut milk with some greens on the side. Just as I announced it was quite possibly one of the most tastiest things I have eaten as well as the cheapest I took a big spoonful of the sauce which had many tiny bits of chilli in and coughed and choked myself half to death!
It was still tasty though nonetheless and as usual I entertained the locals by embarrassing myself! After lunch, we went to find some Wi-Fi and stayed for an hour before they closed and then went in search of somewhere to find some info on ferries and buses.
As it was a Saturday everywhere was closed and it will be tomorrow too. So we went and asked a few people for some information and got many different answers from everyone so we are none the wiser. Then as then rain hit we walked back to The Planters Club for a drink or 3 before calling it an early night.

permalink written by  chrischarly on April 14, 2012 from Savusavu, Fiji
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Pacific Island Pit-Stop
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A lot of travelling, travelling with many smelly bodies

Nabouwalu, Fiji

Alarm went off at 4:30am closely followed by a bang on the door from a sleepy Bobo, so time to hurry and get ready to walk up to the main road by 4:45am to get our taxi to the ferry. Guided mainly by moonlight the walk took about 10 minutes but luckily as the rain had held off it was pretty easy apart from our tired legs slowing us down. Alvin, the driver was running late and turned up at about 5:15am and every minute that went by was an extra minute I could’ve spent in bed.
On the way to the ferry we picked up many other stragglers loitering on the side of the road eager to pick up a free ride as we had already booked and paid for the lift, but a car full of smelly bodies was not what I needed at this time of the morning. But we did get dropped off straight on the ferry bound for Natovi just outside of Suva on the mainland before continuing on to Nabouwalu where we got off on Vanua Levu (the second biggest island). The ferry ride itself was pretty painless apart from the loud films they played along the way, but I soon zoned out and read my book for most of the 6 hour journey.
Once we arrived at our destination we got straight onto a bus which the seats were very skinny for our not-so-skinny bums and drove for a few hours with some simply spectacular views. All luscious green forests everywhere, completely untouched. The roads however for most of the way we just dirt tracks and as it was hot outside I had to have the window wide open the whole way, which meant I was completely covered with red dirt which the locals and Chris especially found highly amusing!
We were dropped off at ‘The Junction’ (named for obvious reasons) to catch another bus to Savusavu and I think it was the only actual junction we have seen on this island so far. The bus was already parked up and waiting for us and we just had to wait another 15 minutes before some more passengers arrived and then we were on our way. The final journey was only anther hour and it was pretty comfy as we had a whole bus for just 5 of us.
Once in Savusavu, Chris phoned one of his Government friends and we took a taxi to meet a guy called Herbert who found us a cheap room in Sunset Lodge. It is a nice room with air-con, what a luxury but very basic, but it’s all we need really. We then showered away the dirt and smelliness before going for some serious tasty and cheap food, followed by a drink at The Planters Club, which we believe to be yet another old English Gentleman’s Club. Then bed.

permalink written by  chrischarly on April 13, 2012 from Nabouwalu, Fiji
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Pacific Island Pit-Stop
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Our own private beach and ocean

Rukuruku, Fiji

Today was another Bobo expedition, so we thought we better get some breakfast inside us, which was some Weetabix with fresh fruit, avocado, and then wholemeal pancakes with Forest honey and star fruit jam
– as delicious as every other meal at Bobos! After breakfast we packed up and headed off, first on the gravel road up and down hills for a while then across a neighbour’s farm, with a nice break under yet another huge mango tree.
Then we headed further down a supposed track that was more bush than track, but Bobo did stop to harvest some sugar cane for us,
which when finally at the beach was a delicious snack. Then while Bobo amused himself making a shell necklace for Charly, we headed off into the beautiful Coral Bay to explore
and for Chris to hunt with spear in hand. Much like his “ing” expeditions in NZ Chris managed to fire the spear at many fish and hit approx. zero.
This was mainly due to the fact of his excitement and thrashing around once a big fish came by, causing the fish to swim away to live another day. After a while
Chris started to get cramp and went for a rest while Bobo and I continued to explore the underwater beauty of this untouched paradise.
Once we were all pretty knackered we came ashore and as the tide had retreated followed the coast around to the village, stopping at Bobo’s childhood playground and grandfather’s House before returning to the farm for some rest and to start packing. We then had our last delicious meal before an early night, knowing we had to get up at 4.30am.

permalink written by  chrischarly on April 12, 2012 from Rukuruku, Fiji
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Pacific Island Pit-Stop
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Farm tour

Rukuruku, Fiji

We awoke at 4.30am to say goodbye to Andy and Abbe, then straight back to bed. We had a good lie in and then we went for a farm tour with Bobo.
The farm is spread over a large portion of the 500 acres that Bobo owns, but it is in no way a conventional farm.
He has pigs and cows but it is mainly a collection of fruit trees, vegetables, flowers and trees that all work together, with no need for fertilizers or pesticides.
If you want to weed then you let the cows come into an area for a day. To list them all would take too long, but some of the amazingly tasty fruits include bananas, mandarins,
kumquats, passion fruits, star fruit, avocado, papaya and the biggest mango trees you have ever seen. Apparently, in mango season (October), locals sit underneath the mango trees and gorge on them until sick.
To add to this there are of course all the local root vegetables they survive on, plus kava, plus coco, chillies, vanilla,
ginger plus lots of herbs and spices. To put it simply, you could live in this place and be fully sustainable on pure organic and wild foods.
To say Chris was excited would be a massive understatement. We ate fresh coco pods and marched around the farmyard (read jungle) in awe of what Bobo and Karin have accomplished in their little piece of paradise. After our tour we chilled before having a delicious Indian dinner.

permalink written by  chrischarly on April 11, 2012 from Rukuruku, Fiji
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Pacific Island Pit-Stop
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