Chris and Charly's Pacific Island Pit-Stop - chrischarly
After 6 months in the Western world, it is time to put back on our backpacks, pack away the rain coats and hit the Pacific!

OFF TO FIND SOME SUN!!!
Auckland, New Zealand
On the plane to Fiji
Had a quick coffee with Sam before she left to go to work and then Chris walked into town to post my diary home and change up some money into Fiji dollars. We then packed up, showered and waited for our shuttle bus to come and pick us up for a surprisingly cheap price.
Leaving NZ
I hate airport days as I always feel agitated until I know I am safely on the plane so when the shuttle but was running 5 minutes late I did start freaking out, but we got there easily and with time to spare to grab some lunch before getting on our Air New Zealand flight,
which, by the way was a nice change to the budget airlines as we had leg room and a T.V. so a nice 3-hour flight. We landed in Nadi at 6:24pm, cleared customs, collected our bags and walked around trying to find our pick-up to take us to the hotel we booked.
We couldn’t find them anywhere so we sat outside, waited and waited before finding another couple who were also waiting to be taken to Wailoaloa resort. After an hour, Chris went to the information desk and called them and still nothing. 1 hour, 45 minutes later someone eventually turned up after 3 more phone calls to pick the 4 of us up. Very irritating and not the perfect start to Fiji. But the resort was lovely and the room pretty nice for $55, so we had some dinner and went to bed.
written by  chrischarly on March 29, 2012 from Auckland, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Pacific Island Pit-Stop

Underwater
Nadi, Fiji
Outside our room
After hearing the rain on the roof through the night, we were hopeful of a nice clear day when we woke. We were wrong! The rain was pouring and our resort was underwater. We waded to the reception area through knee deep water and found out that more rain was forecast, the town was completely flooded and no transport was running.
The front entrance/exit
Looks like we might be here for a while! Taking it in our stride we had our free breakfast and then asked if we could stay another night. We could but we had to change rooms unless we wanted to be floating on the bed.
The restaurant
Luckily for us we got upgraded to a deluxe Villa, which was nice and big and had a kitchen, not that we could go anywhere to buy food. We moved in the pouring rain, and then settled in to watch some films on our laptop.
Chris wading through
After a while the power went off, so once we had run down our battery, we went back to the reception, the water had risen about another foot, which made it interesting. The bar was open but the kitchen was about a foot under water so no lunch. I had a beer and we munched on some bar snacks.
The restaurant underwater
We went back to the room and chilled some more before returning in the evening. The water had dropped a lot but the kitchen still wasn’t open. They were taking orders for fish and chips, and then going to buy them outside, we probably paid twice as much as it should have been, but at least we ate. We went back to the room and with power back on watched yet more movies before drifting off and dreaming about the pacific Sunshine!
written by  chrischarly on March 30, 2012 from Nadi, Fiji
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Pacific Island Pit-Stop

We are safe
Nadi, Fiji
Just a quick blog entry to keep everyone updated...
The price to use this computer is on the verge of criminal, so won't talk for long or have time to write any more blogs...
After the recent floods and cyclone last night things are starting to get back to Normal and the sun is even shining!
All power has been out for days including phone lines and internet.
Hopefully will be back online in the next couple of days and will be somewhere else than in Nadi when the ferrys, flights and roads are back open.
Chris and Charly
written by  chrischarly on April 3, 2012 from Nadi, Fiji
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Pacific Island Pit-Stop

Chris meets the President's brother... and we all go drinking
Nadi, Fiji
After putting everything we had onto the spare bed last night as high tide was expected at 1am so although we had moved rooms, we still expected to wake up with a wet floor, but alas our room was dry and most of the flood water had disappeared.
But still most inbound and outbound flights are cancelled and the roads still closed, so we spent the morning and afternoon researching what to do when the sun finally makes an appearance. Chris soon hit the beer and got chatting to a few people at the bar including the President’s brother, completely wasted on a business trip also trapped here.
Many hours later of sat drinking at the bar, Chris, of course was very merry and some of the others staying here said they were going to ‘Smuggler’s Cove’ down the road for something to eat at 8pm as our place still wasn’t able to serve any food and famished we decided to join
them and stayed there for a few hours as it was a nice change of scenery. At around 10 or 11 we headed back to sit at the bar for one last drink before bed before a few other people staying here announced they were going to go to the local nightclub, ‘Ice’, so Chris and I joined them and had a great night dancing and drinking before getting a lift back and we finally staggered to our room at around 3 or 4am.
written by  chrischarly on March 31, 2012 from Nadi, Fiji

In search for a hang-over cure
Woke up at 3pm today feeling very delicate and finally managed to emerge from our rooms at 4pm in desperate need of some food. We were very late for our complimentary breakfast of over-cooked eggs and still the kitchen was closed for any other food, so, craving an Indian we prepared ourselves for the long walk up the road in the torrential rain to the closest open restaurant which luckily was serving Indian food. Feeling sorry for us, the manager of Wailoaloa kindly gave us a lift in her 4x4 and promised to pick us up once we’d eaten, which meant we wouldn’t have to sit and eat drenched. Food was amazing and the perfect hang-over cure and when we returned we briefly watched some of the staff play rugby in the rain before going straight back to our rooms to watch films on the laptop for hours.
written by  chrischarly on April 1, 2012 from Nadi, Fiji

To the shops to stock up before the cyclone hits...
In the night we got a text about a cyclone warning due to hit Fiji in the next 24-36 hours, so we decided to take a stroll into the local shops with Andy, Abbe and Julian, to get some supplies. After getting to the main supermarket and finding it closed, we continued on under direction from Julian who said it wasn’t far to the next one. It was actually a couple of k’s, which would normally be fine, but it was boiling hot and extremely humid. We fought our way around the supermarket as it seemed everyone was panic buying and got some tinned meat, rice and curry mix. We caught a taxi back and stopped to pick up some beers along the way. We had all bought food, but when evening came, we all decided that a visit to the curry House was in order. The 5 of us walked down and had a yummy curry before the heavens opened so yet another taxi home, and got into bed to await the approaching cyclone.
written by  chrischarly on April 2, 2012 from Nadi, Fiji

Planning our escape
We thankfully awoke to no cyclone destruction, which to be fair we were all pretty terrified about, so planned our escape - Last day in Nadi today! Am so excited. Cannot wait to go exploring a bit more! The weather is slowly improving and the ferries have now started to operate again. We had done some research on the Island before arriving in Fiji and the main place we fell in love with is Ovalau an Island not too far away and apparently gorgeous and not touristy. It is also where Fiji kind of began and is the centre of the country, full of history.
We had also found the most awesome place to stay, ‘Bobo’s Farm’ but they are unfortunately fully booked for Easter weekend but we are hoping to get in just after, so we plan to just get straight to the Island and sort it out from there. Abbe, Andy and Julian are also planning to join us in our escape from Nadi, so it will be a nice place to hang-out for a couple of days. Didn’t really do anything exciting today.
Went to find some internet as the internet and power at our place was still not working and had some late lunch at a little local/tourist shack, but that is about it really. I also got a phone-call from Mum this afternoon. She is only aware of what has happened here from we have told her and by looking up the weather on the internet. I’m so amazed it isn’t plastered all over the news back home as most things tend to be and highly exaggerated, but apparently nothing has even been mentioned and as this has been Fiji’s biggest natural disaster to have happened on record, so this completely baffles me. Chris rustled together some tinned mutton, curry powder and rice, which was actually quite delicious, and Andy said it was his best meal in Fiji, very worrying!

We are now in 'The Real Fiji'
Suva, Fiji
Woke up at 6 and banged on Andy and Abbe’s door to wake them up, before showering, packing and then making our way to the restaurant for breakfast, which was a rubbish choice of toast (which I no longer eat) or black tea as they had run out of milk, orange juice, eggs, and fruit.
Luckily Abbe had a tin of baked beans to liven up the choice a bit. She also had some sausages but we couldn’t eat them either as it takes them over an hour to cook anything. But never mind, we are leaving and finally getting out of this place! Got a lift to the bus stop driving through Nadi town for the first time since we’ve been here as the road is now open.
At the bus stop we got familiar information to what we have previously heard in places such as Asia, “No bus [to] Suva. I take you in [my] car” just as the bus to Suva was just coming around the corner.
Hmmm. Need to remember that we are no longer in the ‘Western World’ so to speak… The mess and destruction that the floods have caused was shocking; too devastating to take photos of. So many homes and businesses destroyed and insurance isn’t something very heard of here, so many people have to start again from scratch, it was pretty heart-breaking.
Even the road between Nadi and Suva was in a mess including a bridge that collapsed in half, which meant we all had to get off the bus and walk across catching another at the other end. The bus ride though was pretty comfortable and we happily all enjoyed the scenery along the way.
When we arrived in Suva we had 1 ½ hours to wait before another bus picked us up and drove us to the ferry, so just enough time to eat some quick lunch and find a public toilet before a friendly guy walked us to the bus stop which we would’ve struggled to find without his help.
It was then about an hour’s drive until we reached the point to catch the ferry, again driving through some cute picturesque villages and then the bus drove straight onto the ferry, so we all got off and climbed to the top to watch Vitu Levu (the main island which we’ve been on) slowly disappear and Ovalau appear.
The ferries have only just started operating again since the floods but the sea was still too rough to drop us off at the main jetty so the ferry drove around and dropped us off the other side, in Levuka town, the first capital of Fiji, (originally chosen as it had a natural harbour due to the reef, and being the centre point of all the Fiji Islands) which actually did us a huge favour as where we wanted to stay, ‘Mary’s Lodge’ was just a short walk away, so really easy. ‘Mary’s Lodge’ is a homestay and although basic, Leila the owner is so lovely and funny we were glad we chose to stay here.
By the time we settled in, had showers and relaxed a little we were all getting hungry again, so Leila recommended a place to go for dinner, ‘Kim’s’ about a 5 minute walk away and this is where we discovered and tasted our first drink of ‘Kava’, a local drink served in a bowl and shared between a group. Can’t say I particularly liked it that much. Reminds me a bit of mud pies I used to eat as a kid in the garden at home, but the social aspect of it is really nice. It’s not alcohol or a drug but you do get a buzz from it and it sure makes you sleep like a baby later!
written by  chrischarly on April 4, 2012 from Suva, Fiji

An awesomely sunny day
Levuka, Fiji
What a gorgeous day! I couldn’t believe it when we awoke to fantastically beautiful blue skies, a calm sea and more importantly no rain. Perfect day to enjoy Fiji and Levuka at its best. Think some relaxing and Sunshine was in order so after eating breakfast we wandered to the shops for a crate of beer before the 5 of us booked a taxi to take us a few kilometres down the road to a resort with a swimming pool which they let us use for $1 each. Such a hot day and it is so great to finally enjoy it in a pool as the resort we stayed in in Nadi, although had a pool, was permanently closed due to the flooding as the water was fowl. We stayed there for about 3 hours, before returning, showering and going out for some dinner at the same place as last night where we once again drank lots of Kava between us for $5,
which was about 5 litres still trying to ignore the taste of muddy water.
written by  chrischarly on April 5, 2012 from Levuka, Fiji

Good Friday Celebrations
Levuka, Fiji
Chris woke me at 9am this morning as Leila the owner of Mary’s Lodge said we were welcome to go up and visit the church here in Levuka to join in with the Good Friday celebrations especially as many of the local children were doing performances.
So we woke Abbe, Andy and Julian and then ate some tasty brekkie before taking a walk to the church. The children were really sweet and tried really hard and although re-inacting some pretty gruesome historic events in Fiji involving one about cannibalism and another about Jesus before and during his crucifixion, it was light-hearted and entertaining.
The Priest and other adults in the church were really happy that we came down to join in with the celebrations and kindly translated everything into English for us after first spoken in Fijian, but this also meant that the service went on for 2 hours and we were boiling in there.
The Priest also gave us some further information on Fiji history and the relationship the country has with England, which seems to be a close friendly one. But it was also sad as he spoke of how the Fijians felt very sorry and prayed for the Australians during the recent bush fires and yet news of the
flooding that happened just last week hasn’t even reached news in other countries regardless of the lives that were lost, implying that Fiji isn’t important enough to hit the headlines. At midday we came back, Chris and Andy raced to the shops to buy some fishing line before they closed at 1pm and after untangling the line for over an hour and eating some lunch we walked down to the wharf.
The sun was yet again out in full force and was almost suffocating it was that hot (not that I am complaining of course). A couple of locals also fishing at the end kindly gave the boys some super-smelly fish eggs to us for bait as the bread they brought with them was simply laughed at.
Andy was the first to catch a fish closely followed by an almost identical one by Chris and although they were both small, they saved them both to use as back-up bait once the fish eggs ran out.
An hour or so later Chris felt a hard tug on the line and excitedly reeled in and we were amazed to see a big octopus hanging on! It was amazing! A local guy with his two children had just walked past and we exchanged some friendly ‘Bulas!’ (a bit like ‘Hello’)
with them and we called them back to show them his catch and too check if the octopus was good to eat and not poisonous. But just as they arrived the octopus let go of the line and crawled back into the water, too fast for me to get a quick photo. We were all very upset, especially when it was explained to us that the octopus is “good eating”.
Never mind. I then walked back to ‘Mary’s Lodge’ having had enough sun for the day and left the boys behind to continue fishing and a couple of hours later they returned with a big fish (can’t remember the name of it though) which we took down to ‘Kim’s restaurant’ later to get fried up and accompany our dinner. It was delicious!
written by  chrischarly on April 6, 2012 from Levuka, Fiji

Too much testosterone for 1 club
Levuka, Fiji
Waved goodbye to Julian this morning as he had to get back to the main Island for his flight out and the
rest of us went for a stroll around town and went to the internet café while Chris searched for somewhere to get some clothes repaired.
It was again baking, but we decided to explore around Levuka regardless. We strolled up the steps towards the mountains seeing many inviting swimming holes to jump into and saw locals doing just that.
It was a really nice walk, but due to the heat we didn’t last long before retiring back to the hotel for some chill time. Chris and Andy went for a snorkel to cool off
and then in the early evening we headed to check out the Ovalau club, sort of like an old English gentlemen’s club that time forgot.
We then headed to a new restaurant that Chris had found during his wanderings earlier in the day, they sold huge pizzas, so we decided that a pizza night was in order.
Adjoined to the restaurant was the only ‘club’ in Ovalau, which was more like a school disco filled with lots of blokes… only blokes actually. All very friendly,
some a little too much at the sight of two white girls. We got the party started, and consumed a little too much beer and some very dodgy Bounty rum that Chris thought was a good idea. We staggered home at some point and took our sorry selves to bed.
written by  chrischarly on April 7, 2012 from Levuka, Fiji

A great big slice of paradise
Ovalau, Fiji
We awoke slightly delicate today, and had breakfast before packing up ready to move on to Bobo’s farm. They were planning to pick us up mid-afternoon, but in fact called around 11 and said they were early. We were picked up by Bobo’s dRiver and driven over the very picturesque coastal road with some photo stops on the way.
When we got there we were dropped at the side of the road and lots of locals came out to help us with our bags. Andy and Chris being men, decided to take their own, while Abbe and I took a few small things.
We were led down a track that was pretty slippery and muddy and Andy went to ground first, followed by Abbe and then Chris who at one point was seen doing the can-can on the slope before getting his balance back. How I never fell over I will never know especially considering my previous clumsy records.
When we got to the bottom of the slope we got to a River, WITHOUT a bridge, where we then had to wade through and up the other side before finally getting to Bobo’s. Bobo and Karen arrived 30 mins after us, and came from another direction with no slopes or mud, which they thought very amusing!
Which to be fair, was. We got to our lovely guesthouse in the middle of beautiful Forest and gardens. Very basic here, with no power or fridge but some basic cooking facilities, but amazingly peaceful and I’m sure we are going to have an amazing time. In the evening we went for dinner and had some local scrummy roots and ferns from the farm, with some tasty Chicken. We then had our welcoming ceremony and all drank kava (which tasted a hell of a lot better than in Levuka as it is fresh) and enjoyed chatting with Bobo and his friends.
written by  chrischarly on April 8, 2012 from Ovalau, Fiji

Snorkelling and fishing trip. Awesome.
Rukuruku, Fiji
Woke up this morning and Bobo had hired his friend’s boat to take us out for the day snorkelling and fishing. Although it was heavy rain when we awoke, as soon as we were ready it was fantastic weather for the whole day, so we were very lucky. To get to the boat we walked for about 15 minutes to the beach through a local village greeted by loads of friendly smiles and happy faces.
The boat took us out for about 20 minutes before we all jumped in to cool off in the Fijian waters. We snorkelled for about an hour seeing some beautiful fish and corals before swimming up to the sand bar and climbing back in the boat.
We then continued on to another spot a lot deeper to throw in a couple of hand lines to try and catch some dinner. Chris was just like a fish himself and continued to snorkel and both him and Bobo saw a few sharks.
The hand-lines didn’t prove very successful, well Andy managed to catch 2 fish, and I even caught one, but I was so excited and was busy showing everyone dangling it over the water, and the fish, cleverer than myself just jumped straight off the line and back into the water. Very stupid mistake.
Bobo and his friends who were also on the boat had a lot better luck swimming and spearing fish which thankfully meant that we had 4 smallish fish for our late lunch. After a few hours out at sea we came back at around 3pm all pretty knackered and had a nice cool of in the river before showering and gladly returning back to our balcony.
Chris and Andy managed to find some energy from somewhere and soon disappeared again with the snorkels to attempt and fail to find some freshwater prawns whilst Abbe and I stayed behind, read books for a while and soon fell fast asleep for a couple of hours.
The boys returned as I woke back up having hiked in mud and wading through the river and under the bridge through a pipe for hours. We then ate some quick dinner before meeting up again with Bobo at the main house to drink a load of cava and chatted for hours before finally retiring to bed for a much-needed sleep.
written by  chrischarly on April 9, 2012 from Rukuruku, Fiji

Visiting a local school and drinking with the chief!
Rukuruku, Fiji
Today we planned to chill in the morning and go for a village tour in the afternoon.
We had a good walk around the village and then had an amazing tour of the school, which has to have the best view from any school in the world.
The kids seemed so happy to see us and sung us some nice songs with very strong voices. After this Bobo took us for a hike up a hill to see the nice views and sit under a huge mango tree.
On a Normal day it would have been fine, but it was so hot it was a killer. On our return to the village we saw some local men sitting by the school enjoying a bowl of Kava, after mowing the lawn around the village.
We were invited to join them and we soon realised that they were drinking full strength grog, it was great fun and Chris was even got the privilege to sit next to the village chief!
We staggered back home, which was quite difficult after lots of kava and grabbed a quick shower before Chris and I headed to have dinner leaving Andy and Abbe to their 2-minute-noodles.
We had a delicious dinner of freshwater prawns, cassava cakes and local spinach cooked in coconut milk – Chris was very happy!
After this we joined the party on the deck which was a joint leaving doo, mainly for Andy and Abbe but also covering us too. Lots more Kava and some local music and dancing – it was great fun, but we were so knackered that soon had to call it a night.
written by  chrischarly on April 10, 2012 from Rukuruku, Fiji

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.
written by  chrischarly on April 11, 2012 from Rukuruku, Fiji

Our own private beach and ocean
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.

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.
written by  chrischarly on April 13, 2012 from Nabouwalu, Fiji

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.
written by  chrischarly on April 14, 2012 from Savusavu, Fiji

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!
written by  chrischarly on April 15, 2012 from Tavuki, Fiji

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.
written by  chrischarly on April 16, 2012 from Dolphin Bay, Fiji

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.
written by  chrischarly on April 17, 2012 from Dolphin Bay, Fiji

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.
written by  chrischarly on April 18, 2012 from Dolphin Bay, Fiji

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.
written by  chrischarly on April 19, 2012 from Savusavu, Fiji

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.
written by  chrischarly on April 20, 2012 from Suva, Fiji

Thieving Wailoaloa
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
WE HAVE BEEN ROBBED!!!
Chris calmly woke me up this morning to tell me. He had realised this after noticing that the alarm had failed to go off on our phone, so after going to the toilet he got dressed and put on his shorts to discover that his wallet was in the wrong pocket, so thinking this strange, he checked inside to notice that it was empty of cash and then that our phone, which we had left on charge on top of the fridge was also missing.
Thank God we watched a film last night so had to charge the laptop and thus it was next to Chris’ sleeping head all night or that would’ve clearly been taken too. Can’t believe this has happened after 22 months of nothing, which of course is lucky I know, but still. Just hate the thought of someone creeping about in our room last night whilst we were fast asleep. Plus, we ALWAYS make sure we lock our door, so pretty sure it was the staff here at Wailoaloa, but of course we cannot prove it, but luckily our cards all remained in our wallet, but maybe that was so we could still pay our hotel bill before checking out! So, even though we stayed here when the floods were in Nadi and we hated it then, we came back as it was easy as we fly out to Tonga today. BIG MISTAKE.
After calming me down a bit Chris went straight to the bar to inform the manager that we had been burgled and left me inside the room as I was too upset to leave. He then came back explaining that a manager will be over to speak to us straight away in our room, so we waited. After an hour, we gave up waiting and went down to the bar to order breakfast and asked yet again to speak to someone.
As we were flying out today to Tonga we had to leave the resort at 2pm so we needed to get this sorted asap and I the staff were aware of this so I think they were trying to delay speaking to us as long as they could with the hope that we would just forget and think it wasn’t worth the hassle. But someone Chris managed to persuade me to be patient and eventually a manger came over to see us and said she had checked the cctv and no one was near our room all night. This is where my patience started to run out and I told her to check it again to make sure as someone clearly took our things as it was obviously not a gecko, so we disappeared and returned a little while later telling us once again that no one was there in a patronising manner which implied to me that she didn’t believe us. I then of course was very upset in the way this was being dealt with, not at all seriously so asked he to call the police so they too could check the cameras as nothing was going to be solved through this resort and by getting the police involved may also scare the resort and staff into action.
Chris then went and saw the cctv himself as we obviously didn’t believe the manager and discovered that the camera didn’t even cover our room! So no wonder they didn’t see anything on it! But of course this wasn’t mentioned to us, which fuelled us even further to belive that our things were stolen by a staff member as they knew nothing would show on the cameras and they would know where to hide and not be seen.
The police arrived after yet a few more hours of waiting and to be fair to them, they were fantastic. They assured us that they were going to conduct a full investigation into what happened and wrote us a long detailed report of what we told them and promised they would do whatever they could and email us the details of what they found.
As we said before, this was our last day in Fiji and we had the most amazing time previous to this day so we were glad when we finally arrived at the airport and we just decided that we would put this all behind us, well after I write a review on both Trip Advisor and Hostel Bookers so future travellers contemplating staying at Wailoaloa will think twice before risking their belongings also disappearing.
Anyway, we did strike lucky when checking in as the lady at the desk asked us if we minded having emergency exit seats, so we jumped at the chance knowing that this always meant extra legroom as long as we promised to help (touch wood) in the event of an emergency.
But the flight was delayed an hour, and a further hour once we were on the plane as we were waiting for 2 other passengers to get on as a plane was late arriving from Hawaii. But check out how much leg room I got! A whole extra seat’s worth! What a bonus! The flight once we were in the air was only an hour long and we chatted the whole way with another traveller sat next to us, Hal who came to stay in the end with us at ‘Toni’s Lodge’ as we had a pick-up waiting for us.
The guesthouse was about 30 minutes away from the airport, and about 15 minutes from town and it is pretty basic but clean and cheap for Nuku’Alofa. We were also luckily upgraded as the house we had originally booked, ‘The Green House’ was over-booked so we got a nicer double room at ‘The Blue House’ for the same price. Bargain. We stopped at the super-market en-route and joined in drinking some Kava with some other people staying here so it turned out to be quite a late night in the end before turning in to a nice room with a bed big enough for 4 people.
written by  chrischarly on April 21, 2012 from Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Sunday= Day of Rest
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Everyone staying here at ‘The Blue House’ woke up today feeling rough and dizzy, including both Chris and I and I had a bad stomach to accompany it. So we didn’t achieve much today as none of us had the energy or motivation to do so. But as it is a Sunday, that didn’t matter much anyway as no-where is open or any activities even flights don’t run. So Sunday is definitely a day-of-rest, so we took complete advantage of that and just relaxed and watched T.V. and films all day.
written by  chrischarly on April 22, 2012 from Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Into the city
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
We caught a shuttle bus into town; well it is in fact the capitol of Tonga, so a city, but it is quite small and reminds me of a small Asian town actually. Which is nice as we don’t really like cities anyway.
But as it is small, there isn’t much to do or shops to buy anything decent so the main reason to go in and buy a new Mobile was unsuccessful as they were all really expensive for what they were. We just wanted a dirt cheap ugly-looking thing that no one would want to steal. We then went for some cheap local lunch which was a BBQ.
Pretty unhealthy BBQ actually as the meat was really fatty so only something you could eat as a one-off, but it still tasted good. The shuttle bus was due to pick us up in another 2 hours after lunch, and as we had already walked all around the city and ate lunch we had nothing else to do except sit in a
café and waste away the time. But the staff were really friendly so we got the good opportunity to learn some news Tongan words as well as phases to help us decipher the local menus, but even their English menu was funny to read but at least it was understandable. Then once the shuttle arrived, we came back, went on the internet for a while before relaxing back in the T.V. room for the evening.
written by  chrischarly on April 23, 2012 from Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Cancelled flight :(
As we no longer have a phone we no longer have an alarm, so Moni, one of the staff here woke us at 6am so we got get packed and ready for our flight leaving at 8am to Vava’u. All through the night the rain hammered down and this morning was no different, the first thing Chris said to me was, ‘I bet the flight is cancelled’ and unfortunately he was right. We left Toni’s at 6:30am and drove to the airport arriving at 7am to check in, drink some coffee before we noticed the change on the whiteboard.
The rain was starting to clear a bit but the pilots also sitting in the café confirmed they were waiting for the weather to clear the other end before we could set off, so after 3 hours of waiting it was announced that the flight was in fact cancelled and rescheduled for tomorrow at 11am. So we called Toni and asked him to come and pick us up. But unfortunately as we had already checked out, some other people were due to move into our room and as there were spaces in ‘The Green House’ now we either had to move there or pay to stay back in ‘The Blue House’ where we were originally. So we upgraded as it’s far nicer. Spent the afternoon on the internet and again watching films as it rained almost continuously all day so not nice to anything else.

To Vava'u
Three Little Birds, Tonga
We set off again to the airport to fly to Vava’u but luckily a little later in the morning at 9:30am than at the crack of dawn and amazingly even though there were thunder storms at the airport the flight was still going just 30 minutes later than scheduled.
But unfortunately they had changed planes as the pilot that flies the DC-3 had run out of hours and we had to fly in a CIC. Poor Chris was broken-hearted as he desperately wanted to fly in this 60yr-old war plane, but I still think that the plane we did go on was pretty special, it looked like a rocket and was tiny and claustrophobic inside.
But at least we made it and in 2/3rds of the time the DC-3 manages it in. We were met at the airport by Lee, who took us to the beach and our home for the next few days. It is an amazing beach and the Fale was really nice, although pretty basic without electricity.
They had made an extra effort to finish it for us and it was nicely made up for our arrival. They had erected a temporary water tower so we could have some running water, all from rain water. Once we had settled in, the tide was low, and there were locals collecting shells to eat, so we put on our reef shoes and went out to join them, we even managed to find some for them.
The beach started as sand but quickly became rocky with coral and lots of hidden sea urchins, so we had to be careful where we walked. After a while Chris came back and got his swimmies on so he could go for a snorkel, and managed to spike the side of his foot with a sea urchin, luckily not too badly.
After a while Lee, Isi and the team set off and said they would return around 6.30pm to collect us for dinner. We chilled on our own private beach for a while, before having a quick shower and being picked up. We were taken back to the village to have dinner in Isi’s house with his lovely family. We asked to have just what they would eat and we had a delicious Tongan meal of raw fish in coconut milk, taro and some local salad. All washed down with a tea made from lime leaves.
After dinner we tried to have a chat with the family, who didn’t speak much English, but it was nice none the less. Then we headed to town to watch a drag show at Tongan Bobs, it was hilarious and called ‘Fak-a-lady’ and the ‘Fak’ part is pronounced the same as the common ‘f’ swear word, but instead of what it sounds like, it actually means ‘like-a-lady’.
We had a few beers each and after a couple of hours watching the show it finished and so they drove us back to our private little beach.
written by  chrischarly on April 25, 2012 from Three Little Birds, Tonga

Yummy octopus
Three Little Birds, Tonga
Chris did some fishing off the wharf, unsuccessfully, and I chilled out on the beach reading my book. We headed into town after lunch to go on the internet and Chris tried to help Lee sort out access to her website so he could write it for her.
When we got back from town Chris went for a long snorkel, and some guy had been spear fishing catching 8 octopuses plus some other fish so Isi bought some for the House. We got ready to go to Isi’s House for another amazing meal, this time octopus cooked with Taro leaves. It was so yummy I could almost give up cheese for this.
written by  chrischarly on April 26, 2012 from Three Little Birds, Tonga

Chris being arty
Three Little Birds, Tonga
Chris decided to Surprise Lee and Isi with a little flower display in the morning, quite arty for him really! After this he sat down in the office he had built to help Lee draw up plans for the restaurant Fale.
Today was exciting as we were going to meet Isi’s family (wife Martha and son LeLei-Leka) who visit at the weekends. We picked them up and went back to Isi’s for a lovely meal, including some random shellfish that was tasty. Martha had bought a huge coconut pudding, which was simply divine!
written by  chrischarly on April 27, 2012 from Three Little Birds, Tonga

EARTHQUAKE!!
There was a lot going on at the beach today with the builder working on the furniture for our Fale, so everyone was busy. Chris fixed the tap and silconed the kitchen and also found time to make a swing for the kids whilst I cleaned out both shower heads for the fales.
In between Chris and I went snorkelling and saw some really nice fish, but not there wasn’t much coral and thus fish as well but it was still a nice swim. After everyone had gone home, we chilled for a while,
then showered and off to Isi’s for dinner. We awoke around 11.08pm to the Fale shaking around us, it was terrifying and my first thought was that some people were outside and literally shaking the building. After it had finally stopped, we went to check the building then gave Lee a call to check in. It was a fairly large earthquake, either a 6.4 or 6.7 as some websites gave different scales, but luckily no-one was hurt, just a bit shaken and scared, especially the two of us as it was our first one we’d ever experienced.

To church and a tour of the island
We decided to join the family this morning and go to church as this is what almost all Tongans do every Sunday. But before church began we went down and drank some Kava at 9am with some of the local men- a tradition before and after the service. Afetr church we went back to the family home and ate Umu, which is food cooked underground on a huge fire, another tradition on a Sunday, similar I suppose to a Sunday Roast.
Isi and Lee then took us on a small tour of the Island including visiting a small cave with freshwater inside next to the sea, then to Tongan Beach Resort where Lee collected some ideas of what her place will look like when it is finished and then to a restaurant which had some botanical gardens next to it. At the last place we stopped for a couple of drinks and a chat before we were dropped off back at the beach before Lee came and collected us again for dinner. Nice chilled evening and an early night for us.

Poorly Chris
Went to town this morning to get logged on as this was the first opportunity we had to get connected since the earthquake on Saturday and as we don’t have a phone yet, we were worried that our families couldn’t get in touch.
But it looks like the earthquake didn’t hit the news as we didn’t have any emails about it, which is good. After spending an hour on the very expensive and slow internet we headed back and relaxed for the afternoon as Chris wasn’t feeling well, just very achey, so he went to bed at 4pm and didn’t really get back out of bed apart from go to the toilet and eat some dinner which was brought down to us tonight so he didn’t have to go out. Whilst he was resting I did some washing, tidied up a bit, read my book and just looked after him.

A nice chill day
Had a nice lazy morning, I read my book whilst Chris worked on Lee’s website offline. Chris went for an unsuccessful fish again and then borrowed one of the staff’s kayak to play about in for a couple of hours. Then went to see the family again in the evening to be informed that they had really missed us last night, which was lovely to hear.
Over the past few days I have somehow managed to teach Isi’s Mum and nephew (with a lot of patience as they don’t speak and English and myself only basic Tongan) how to play a dice game with me which has proved immensely popular and it was nice to sit on the floor and play with them for ages, which has become another nice routine here.
written by  chrischarly on May 1, 2012 from Three Little Birds, Tonga

Chris finally manged to catch some fish
Isi’s parents came down this morning, one to see us and another to see how the guesthouse is coming along. So Chris and I kept Isi’s mother (Ofa) entertained by going out and collecting mussels and other shells and some yucky-looking things to eat.
We were out for ages and ages and we did actually get quite good at spotting the mussels and shells inbetween the corals dodging the sea urchins and sea snakes. But after a while I caught up with Ofa and saw that she had cut her feet as all around her the water was red and as I couldn’t communicate very well with her,
I ran back and made Isi take her out my reef shoes to wear so she wouldn’t hurt them anymore, which she finally appreciated once her stubbornness wore off.
I then went back to the beach and sat with Moni (Isi’s father) and we tried a few times, sometimes successful to have a conversation, but he was just happy with me sitting next to him.
God I love Isi’s parents, they are so adorable.
Once Chris and Ofa had had enough of the shell collecting Chris was taught by Vincini, one of the staff how to go fishing with a net.
His first few attempts were simply hilarious to us all, but after a while he finally got the hang of it, and after catching just one tiny fish,
on his next throw managed to catch 5 which we all ate raw straight out of the water (after displaying them in a basket for photo purposes) and Chris of course was so happy. We then cooked some tasty food on the beach before relaxing for a while and then to the family home yet again for dinner and then out to Aquarium for a couple of drinks before bed.
written by  chrischarly on May 2, 2012 from Three Little Birds, Tonga

Spit-roast suckling pig
Our last day in paradise was spent relaxing, with Chris having a bit of a fish and a very long snorkel.
In the evening was our leaving dinner and we were having spit roast babe – the only problem was that babe was alive when he arrived, so Chris took on the manly job of dispatching him under guidance from Isi.
Chris then decided to teach the Tongan’s about black pudding and made a batch with the blood, liver, kidneys and testicles. All wrapped up in a leaf and cooked in the Umu. Surprisingly not many of them wanted to try it, but Isi did, and I did and it was actually very tasty. The pig was delicious as were all the veg we had with it. We washed it down with some beers, sitting out under the beautiful night sky.
written by  chrischarly on May 3, 2012 from Three Little Birds, Tonga

Back to Tongatapu
Lee picked us up at midday today and took us to Isi’s House where we ate our last lunch in Vava’u which was a tasty fish curry shared with Isi’s family. After spending 22 hours up at the House it was a sad goodbye with Ofa and Moni, Isi’s parents who were even crying as we left. We’ll miss this place.
We then went and collected Martha and Lelei-Leka (Isi’s wife and son) from their village and Martha had made us some pretty flower necklaces as a leaving present, before driving to the airport and saying some more sad goodbyes. Unfortunately yet again we were not to fly on the DC-3 and back on the same plane we flew on before so Chris was disappointed, but at least it was on time and not delayed or cancelled. Peter, who works for Toni was waiting for us at the airport and drove us back to Toni’s via the supermarket for some basic supplies, before getting settled in and chatting to some of the other guests who we would be staying with, 11 Canadians who were training to be nurses and as they had made so much food they kindly shared some with us. It was then for an early night to be bright and fresh for Neil’s arrival tomorrow morning.
written by  chrischarly on May 4, 2012 from Nuku'alofa, Tonga

NEIL'S HERE
Peter, Toni’s driver had said to us we could sneak into the minibus that was driving to the airport to collect Neil and by sneak we mean not pay the transfer fee so we woke up early, showered and got ready to get a phone call from Peter to say that Toni would be driving to the airport instead. Bugger.
So we walked down to try and sweet-talk Toni into letting us come with him and to try and blag it for free. He of course was having none of it; we either pay full price or don’t go, so after some negotiating Chris managed to secure himself a seat for ½ price but there was no room for me in case he collected some more guests. So I turned back around and walked back, with the intention of going back to bed but instead stayed up and chatted to Carol, the mother superior of the nurses for a few hours before the boys turned up. It was of course fantastic to see Neil again and we were all excited to be spending 3 and a bit weeks with each other, Neil soon forgot about his jet-lag having flown for 2 days straight we all unloaded our bags in a different room and went straight to town to help keep him busy and awake. Then, after coffee and a bite to eat we headed back after a couple of hours and spent the rest of the day relaxing.
written by  chrischarly on May 5, 2012 from Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Changed flights
With Neil still recovering from the jet-lag we had a
relaxed day again today not particularly doing a lot, but Chris and I being King and Queen of relaxation it didn’t worry us and we happily wasted away the day chatting with other guests staying at Toni’s, so although not a lot occurred we still had a great day. Oh, but we did decided to change our plans a little; instead of spending a week here, after listening to our travel tales about Fiji, Neil liked the sound about spending a bit more than 3 days there, so we changed our flights and we leave tomorrow!
written by  chrischarly on May 6, 2012 from Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Returning to gorgeous Fiji!
Suva, Fiji
Woke up, packed, showered and checked out before spending the morning yet again chatting to fellow travellers and sorting a few things on a horribly slow internet connection. Then Peter came and picked us up along with a few others and drove us to the airport to go on a small plane to Suva, Fiji’s capitol.
We opted to go to Suva instead of Nadi as it is closer to get on a Ferry to Ovalau where we visited before and where Neil also can’t wait to go and also because it is nice to check out somewhere we haven’t really visited before.
Once in Suva we shared a taxi to a hotel with Curly and Vo (some travellers we met also staying at Toni’s and on the same flight with us) which was a Best Western. To be honest it sucked as it was expensive, had a pool that was under maintenance thus empty, faulty air-con that we only realised too late and a fan that sounded like a helicopter landing, but as it was only one night it didn’t matter I suppose. Then down into the city for a couple of drinks followed by an Indian.
written by  chrischarly on May 7, 2012 from Suva, Fiji

Just the 3 of us
We moved hotels to the South Seas that was half the price of the Best
Chris
Western, if a bit basic, but still a really nice building
Traditional canoes to sail the Pacific
and the staff were super-friendly. We then went for a walk around Suva and I tried and failed to buy some new tops as all of mine are falling
Traffic
apart due to being stretched so much from hand washing. We had a very tasty lunch at the Pavilion by the sports ground, which was full of locals and not another tourist in sight serving local curries for cheap.
Chris and Neil
Then after lunch we had a good look around the Suva museum before walking into town again and finding some internet. Then, just like the old times, the 3 of us went to the cinema to watch ‘Pirates’ in 3D which was entertaining, before having a couple of drinks and grabbing a pizza before heading back.
written by  chrischarly on May 8, 2012 from Suva, Fiji

Back to Bobo's!
Shops
We awoke reasonably early this morning so we could check out of our nice hotel and head downtown to do some internet work,
Local buses
booking flights etc. before getting tickets and heading back over to Ovalau.
Changing the tyre
We took the nice bus and Ferry as before and as we were going straight to Bobo’s, got off at the wharf rather than travelling to Levuka on the bus.
Check out their jack!
We were expecting Alvin to meet us, but when we walked off the Ferry all we could see was Bobo and his huge smile and waving arms. We exchanged hugs and boarded Alvin’s truck for the ride back to the farm.
Replacement tyre with a chunk out of the side
Neil was very happy with the ride as the views are amazing and he took several pics.
Our completely-bald flat tyre
We decided that we should take the rough track and River crossing to the farm, if only for Neil to experience arriving as we did on our first visit.
On the ferry to Ovalau
Luckily no-one fell over this time, although it did take Chris and I a lot longer than Bobo and Neil.
Road to Bobo's
When we arrived Karin and the dogs/cats were all waiting and we had some lovely refreshing mandarin juice.
Sunset
After a while of swapping stories of our travels we went up to the House,
On the way to Bobo's
to get settled in before our Kava welcoming ceremony and dinner. As ever Bobo was the perfect host and storyteller and Karin the amazing cook. Neil was very pleased with our choice, and we were pleased to be in our pacific “home”.
written by  chrischarly on May 9, 2012 from Rukuruku, Fiji

Waterslides
Neil having some down time
Chris on our balcony
Dragon fly
Karin's lizard
We had a nice chill day at Bobo’s today. I wasn’t feeling too great today having come down with another cold and feeling dizzy, so decided to relax for the day before our hike to Levoni tomorrow.
The pigs kissing!
Chris and Bobo on the farm tour
Nice tree
The bridge to get to the pigs
Chris and Neil went on the farm tour again as Neil didn’t go before and Chris liked it so much.
Neil and Chris
Our place at Bobo's
Coco
Chris and coco
They then went for a small hike up to a waterslide and a few swims before they came and got me for one last swim in the River.
It was then time to just have a nice early night after a few hours chatting in the evening with Karin and Bobo to store up any extra energy for tomorrow as it will definitely be needed!
written by  chrischarly on May 10, 2012 from Rukuruku, Fiji

Levoni Hike
Levoni, Fiji
Chris and Bobo climbing
After a stormy night we knew our trip to Levoni was going to be slippery but we hadn’t expected it to be quite as tough as it was.
Break time, thankfully
To set the scene, we were hiking from Bobo’s, on the coast, to the centre of the island before finally arriving in Levoni, a village which sits inside a crater of an old dormant volcano.
Neil and I
Bobo led the way and after making this trip several hundred times before, had no issue with the mud, that was until he stepped to the side of the track to help
Cooling down
Charly pass a slippery section and disappeared into the vegetation, only held by Charly until Neil could assist.
My nice ripped trousers :(
We went up first into the plantations and it was pretty slippery but doable, then we left the track and the rest was Bobo hacking through the forest on what he told us was his secret track.
Nice view
It did resemble a sort of track I suppose. We climbed, descended, slipped, fell over, got knackered, fell some more, crossed the river/s more times that I can remember,
taking breaks in the cool water, and then 5 hours later we were there. Not bad for a 3-4 hour trek that Bobo used to be able to do in 1 hour, in his youth.
View down to Levoni crater
Charly and I were totally knackered, Neil not so, but he is a tad fitter, or at least disguising his tiredness very well.
Levoni village
We met Epi, the Levoni host for a fabulous and well needed lunch and to learn the amazing story of Levoni and how it fits in with Fiji. I won’t recall the whole story,
Neil looking good in his sulu!
but it was really interesting and if you want to know the full story you just need to come to Levoni and meet Epi. If it’s been raining take the road, not the hike across the mountain!
Little local house
Epi took us for a quick tour of the village, where there is a stone marker showing the absolute centre of Fiji. After this we took Alvin’s truck back to Bobo’s for some rest and relaxation and more of Karin’s lovely food – this time my favourite freshwater prawns that we saw swimming around in the streams on the walk today. Early night was very much welcome.
written by  chrischarly on May 11, 2012 from Levoni, Fiji

Local buses and rugby games
Neil and his new mates
Chris, Bobo and I
Market stands
We awoke early today to get some brekkie before heading off with Bobo, to Levuka, to show Neil around and watch the local rugby.
A fishing boat
We took the local bus/truck which was packed! After 1 hour of bumpy roads, and with numb arses, we made it to Levuka.
Local market
We went down to the cessation stones, where Fiji was originally signed over to UK in 1874, and then back to Fiji in 1971.
Levuka town
We then went for a look around the museum and town, which was nice with a guide like Bobo telling us lots of information Chris and I missed on our first visit here. We went to have a look around the Royal Hotel, before we popped in to Mary’s to say hi again to Leila.
Me
The oldest hotel in the Pacific
Rugby Match
Fans celebrating
Commiserating their loss
Then we headed for some lunch and a beer before making our way to the rugby ground.
Eating at Bobo's
We caught the second half of a local game and then the full Ovalau vs. Northland that unfortunately Ovalau lost.
Bobo and kava
We went back on the truck, which was even more packed than before and Neil, Chris and Bobo had to stand, whilst I was kindly given a seat by a local guy which I was extremely grateful for as I was so sore from yesterday and I there was no way I could’ve reached the bars at the top of the truck to hold on to. In the evening Karin made us a lovely curry dinner and we had some Kava with Bobo for the last time as once again we have to leave tomorrow.
written by  chrischarly on May 12, 2012 from Levuka, Fiji

To another remote island in Fiji
Lellevia, Fiji
The long walk down
We left Bobo’s once again, and we will really miss Bobo and Karin. They are great hosts and we really fell in love with the place.
Walking down to catch the boat
We walked down to the village with Bobo just as the boat from Lellevia was just coming in to meet us. On the way we caught a few squalls and it was like icy spikes hitting your face.
Leaving Bobo's...
When we arrived on Lellevia the sun was out and it looked really nice as there are no mountains on the Island so the rain doesn’t hang around for long.
Frozen coconuts
We knew they would be doing some construction, but they were offloading a large ship of materials, so it could be worse than expected.
Our bure
As soon as our bags were off the boat we had lovely coconuts that had been kept in the freezer so just like slush puppies before going to our room, which was ok, if a bit tired.
Nice view
That’s why they are building new ones I suppose. The conch horn sounded signalling lunch and we headed down for some Chicken
Chris in our room
curry. After digesting we all went for a snorkel that was better than expected with a wide array of hard and soft corals and many fish.
Neil and his little scary-looking friend
It is protected here and it shows, it was some of the best snorkelling we had seen for a while. After snorkelling Chris and Neil enjoyed a couple of happy hour beers before showering and dinner. We chatted to some of the other guests while having a few more beers before retiring to our bure for a good night’s sleep.
written by  chrischarly on May 13, 2012 from Lellevia, Fiji

Stupid friggin' chainsaws
Lellevia, Fiji
The stupid chainsaw
Before booking to stay here on Lellevia Island we had been warned that they were doing “a little bit of construction work”.
The beach
But nothing was mentioned about being awoken at 8am by a chainsaw being started right outside our room and continuing all day until after the sun had set. We were not happy. It was so loud there was just no escape from the noise as we were on such a small Island with at least 20 workers rushing to get some more bures up in time for the high season, next month.
Where Chris and I spent most of the day
Neil wasn’t feeling great today as I had kindly passed on my cold and stomach cramps over to him so he was especially irritated when all he wanted to do was rest and catch up on some sleep. Chris and I sat on the
beach for most of the morning as far away from the building work as we could get. Then, after lunch, Neil was back up and we went for a walk to the Cannibal Pol, which is still there from years ago when the locals would come over to
Nice beach
the Island to cook up
The cannibal pot!
some yummy humans for the chief. After having a quick look at the pot and not wanting to hang around for too long in case we fell in, Chris and I went for a snorkel while Neil relaxed and recovered on the beach. In the evening after our dinner we drank some Kava with the workers and watched the replay of the rugby sevens which were on last night, but the reason why we couldn’t watch them live was because they couldn’t pick up the signal on the Island, so a DVD recording was brought over instead. It was nice to have something to do in the evening and to hang out with the friendly workers and watch them so happily watch Fiji’s victory especially over England.
written by  chrischarly on May 14, 2012 from Lellevia, Fiji

Onwards to Samoa!
Nananu-I-Ra, Fiji
The bar
After waking up and having breakfast we packed up and left Lellevia on a tiny little boat to the mainland.
Neil chillaxing
It was supposed to take just 40 minutes but instead took 1.5 hours, luckily Neil had his sun-cream close to hand or we would’ve all baked in the sun as the boat wasn’t undercover. The reason why it took so long was because the boat kept cutting out and they had to keep pulling it apart and repairing it.
Beautiful sea
But eventually we made it and caught a taxi to Suva to get on a very small and cramped bus to Nadi airport with a couple of hours to spare to take our flight to Samoa. The flight wasn’t long, under 2 hours and it was nowhere near full so we all got to spread out, but they sure like their air-con so it was freezing so I snuggled under
No smoking sign
the 3 blankets on the seats next to me. When we landed, the accommodation we booked, Livingston apartments was there waiting for us and drove us from the airport and into Apia driving the long way through the city taking in some night sights along the way. By the time we had unloaded our bags and gotten into bed it was gone 1am so we were all really tired so soon got into bed excited about being in a new country and going to explore tomorrow.
written by  chrischarly on May 15, 2012 from Nananu-I-Ra, Fiji

A traditional fiafia show
Apia, Samoa
Chris enjoying a Vailima
After our late night last night we all had a bit of a lie-in this morning and once we had all arisen, ate some papaya for breakfast and did
Neil and I
some hand washing as all our clothes were filthy and no washing machine were available. So I washed, Chris rinsed and Neil rung out and hung up; a good conveyer belt system we thought!
Practicing for the boat race
Fiafia show
But it did take ages and by the time we had finished it was boiling hot outside as it was now midday. But we still had a nice walk around Apia which is in fact a really nice capitol city kept immaculately clean with nicely manicured gardens all along the road side. We stopped off at a posh Chinese restaurant which served tasty, yet expensive food served by some miserable staff, surprising for such a friendly country.
Traditional ladies dance
After lunch we all wandered about a bit more and Neil and I brought a new top each in between going in and out of various hire car companies trying to get the best rate, car and price with the lowest insurance excess which we finally found when we walked into Avis. They were very efficient and said we could have the car straight away if we wanted so as it was already 4:30pm just managed to book some ferry tickets for the following day in time and thought we may just as well get straight out and enjoy the nice beaches on Savaii. So happy with our new car we drove back stopping for a quick drink along the way at the Yacht Club to watch some rowers practising for the 50 years independence in a couple of weeks’ time before going back to Livingstone Apartments for a quick change and out to Aggie Grey’s for dinner, in a very old hotel which served a delicious buffet dinner accompanied by a fiafia show, which is a traditional Samoan dancing and fire show, expensive but worth it.
Firedance
Our drinks and food
Enjoying a cocktail
We all really enjoyed ourselves, ate too much food and drank a couple too many cocktails.
written by  chrischarly on May 16, 2012 from Apia, Samoa

Off to beautiful Savai'i
Mulifanua, Samoa
Our new ride
Alarm went off at 5:30am today to head to Savaii the other large Island here in Samoa. So after packing we hung up our wet clothes we had washed yesterday that had failed to dry completely over the backs of the seats in our car and drove to the Ferry terminal in Mulifan, 1 hour away.
Day fales
It was nice to be up bright and early so we could make the most of our day and make it to Savaii at a reasonable hour to have a look around before finding somewhere to stay.
Coastal road
So after a quick snack for breakfast we drove straight onto the Ferry and found some seats upstairs. The Ferry journey was comfortable and not too long, just 1 hour and as soon as we arrived in Savaii the sun was there to meet us and we had a nice slow drive to Lano as the speed
Chris and Neil
limit is just 40kmph but at least it meant we could enjoy the views along the way. We chose to stay in Lauiula Beach Fales as it had a nice open restaurant with a lot of breeze going through and also had the traditional Samoan Fales to sleep in.
View from our fale
These are all open with shutters all around that you can either leave up or down when you are sleeping and when open give fantastic views of the sea, beach and Sunrise in the morning.
Neil
But as they are so open, security of any valuables is an obvious issue but luckily we had our car that we could lock anything
Big bowl of 'ava for the 3 of us
valuable up in. So after a tasty Chicken curry for lunch the 3 of us all went for a snorkel for an hour or so before having a relaxing afternoon and evening. After dinner we decided to buy some ‘ava which is the same as kava just spelt differently and as there were other people staying here as well we chose to get 2 bags so we could share it around. But typically as we had gotten so much the others didn’t like it so we had a huge bowl all to ourselves which was a struggle to drink and kept all of us up at night needing to use the toilet. A good night though.
written by  chrischarly on May 17, 2012 from Mulifanua, Samoa

Flat battery...
Lano, Samoa
Our fale
After watching an amazing sunrise this morning Chris and I dozed for a little while before waking up and seeing the sun shining as it has done every day since we have been in Samoa so far so we had an awesome day just relaxing, reading books and going in and out of the water snorkelling. Neil unfortunately left his clothes out on the line to dry last night, as did the rest of us but when he came to get ready he noticed that they were nowhere to be found.
Inside our fale
So annoyingly after searching everywhere they had obviously vanished, but we did find a mysterious pair of shorts outside his fale that didn’t belong to anyone staying here, so it seems that someone who must’ve walked by late at night took a liking to his shorts and decided to swap them for his or her own. Irritating, but kinda funny. Then when it got to lunch time we decided to go out and find somewhere to eat something as our place wasn’t serving lunch today and they had run out of supplies.
Explaining the ingredients and how to make
So got in the car to realise that we had a flat battery. Great. We have only had it one day, so Chris called up Avis and they remarkably sent someone straight out to buy a new car battery and sent him on the 4pm ferry to come over and change it for us. Pretty good service really, but it did mean that our car wasn’t fixed until 6pm and then it was pointless going out and doing something, but still, a good excuse to enjoy the sunshine.
Richard demonstrating the umu
So, when dinner did arrive at 7:30pm we were all famished, but at least it was delicious as we had ‘umu’ but instead of being cooked underground as the Fijians and Tongans do, it is instead cooked above ground cooking the same things though, just using slightly different methods. Chris and Neil went and watched the preparations as Neil had never seen it being made before whilst I enjoyed some more quiet time reading my book. The evening was a quiet one again as nothing much seems to happen in the evenings so we stayed up chatting for a few hours before grabbing an early night.
written by  chrischarly on May 18, 2012 from Lano, Samoa

Lava fields and a protected Virgin's Grave
Saleaula, Samoa
Virgin's grave the lava missed completely
Got up this morning, chilled for a little while before checking out of Lauiula Beach Fales and headed North for a little while to go and see
Old church destroyed by the lava
some lava fields in Saleaula, which were really impressive that happened between 1905-1911 which destroyed 2 churches and impressively missed a ‘Virgin’s Grave’, the lava spitting in half completely avoiding covering her grave.
Corrugated iron melted by lava
There was a couple staying at Lauiula with us who we made friends with and as they didn’t have a car and wanted to go and stay at the same place as us we all squeezed together
Lava fields
in the car and headed out together which helped our negotiation skills when trying to find some accommodation after seeing the lava fields as there were now 5 of us and it isn’t quite the high season yet.
Chris driving through a restaurant
After deliberating over lunch between the 5 neighbouring fale accommodation we finally made a group decision to stay at ‘Vacations’ which although was the most expensive was clearly the nicest.
Our little mozzie-eating friend
Then, for the rest of the day we all did what we know best… relaxing, which a bit of snorkelling added into the mix. Then, later after we had all showered and were enjoying the gorgeous sunset Chris spotted a turtle coming up for air just past the shallows, then after seeing
Awesome beach
it in the same place for a second time decided to grab his mask and see if he could see it and he luckily got the chance to swim alongside it for a while before coming back out and enjoying gloating to the
Sunset
other guests who have been staying here for a week desperate to see a turtle themselves but not being able to. At 6:30pm dinner was served which was some Chicken and mashed potatoes and then the bar closed shortly afterwards so the 5 of us sat and chatted for a couple of our before Chris, Neil and I retired to bed to all snuggle up and watch a film.
written by  chrischarly on May 19, 2012 from Saleaula, Samoa

Sunday= day of rest
Manase, Samoa
Had a nice little lie-in this morning before getting up and eating some tasty fruit for breakfast. Then Chris and Neil went out for some early-morning snorkelling but the current was so strong they soon returned having gotten stuck in some places as the current just wanted to take them far out to sea, so we decided before going out again we would wait for higher tide when it wouldn’t be as strong, which it wasn’t but still a good work-out swimming session.
As it was a Sunday we had umu for lunch; very tasty and lots of nice selection to choose from. Samoa is similar to Fiji and Tonga in the way that everything virtually stops on a Sunday so most if not all shops are closed and the people just relax the whole day, so we did pretty much the same.
written by  chrischarly on May 20, 2012 from Manase, Samoa

Mt. Matavanu Crater
Manase, Samoa
Pidgin English
Checked out this morning and drove to see Mt. Matavanu Crater which is a Volcano responsible for the devastation visited upon North Eastern Savaii a century ago.
Warning
We were greeted by the famous Gr8TRMan (Crater man) and drove on a rugged 4WD track and took a short hike to the top to take in some impressive views and read some signs written by the Crater man himself in his funny Pidgin English.
Neil
We then continued on to find somewhere to stay for night after our first choice was fully booked and stumbled across a deserted amazing beach with an old resort on.
View from the crater
Luckily the family were still taking customers but due to the reputation this part of the Island has for car break-ins we had the whole place to ourselves which made it simply paradise!
Old church affected by tsunami
After we had settled in, the sea soon started calling us so we grabbed our snorkels and went for a swim.
Sunset
It was in fact the best snorkelling we have seen so far in Samoa and we saw a big puffer fish and amazingly a HUGE shark!
Nice sunset
It was by far the biggest Chris and I had ever seen and we would like to think it was merely a harmless(ish) black tipped reef shark, but by judging the size and shape of it (it had a huge belly and a few black stripes down the side) I’m not so sure, so we got out quite quickly just in case!
View from Neil's fale
Our beach fales
We then had a couple of drinks and some tasty dinner and relaxed watching the stars.
written by  chrischarly on May 21, 2012 from Manase, Samoa

Awesome Blowholes
Manase, Samoa
A natural pool
Lovely day
Blowholes
Coconut man
Reluctantly we left our lovely beach and drove along the south coast to check out some other places. But unfortunately the place where we wanted to stay was closed due to a private function so we continued on and went to see some blowholes which were in fact amazing.
Admiring the blowholes
Huge blowholes
Chris and I weren’t that bothered to go out and see them as previous ones we’ve seen were pretty disappointing, but as Neil was keen we both tagged along and I’m glad we did. Then after watching a guy throw some coconuts inside the blowholes we drove further on and ended up in the main town by the wharf and found a nice resort and after some super bargaining by Chris we managed to get a bargain room for 100 tala, 50 tala cheaper than the original price.
Our fale
We then chilled for a while, went to buy some tickets for the Ferry tomorrow and then went for a swim in the natural fresh water pool before having dinner and an early night.
written by  chrischarly on May 22, 2012 from Manase, Samoa

Pulemelei Mound
Banana flower
We checked out this morning and left after a nice breakfast.
Check out how long the grass is!
The useless staff at the hotel managed to get our bill wrong and ended up not charging us for half our food, their loss! We then drove a little way to find the walk to the Pulemelei mound. After taking LP direction we arrived at a ford that we didn’t want to risk crossing so went around to the village to ask some locals for assistance.
Random bit of tarmacked road
They setup a guide and Neil and Chris went off for the walk, which was pretty tough so I was glad I didn’t go, instead staying behind keeping an eye on our car. The boys took lots of nice pictures though, and their guide was really nice and explained to them some of the history of this strange mound in his very basic English.
Rock hopping
He climbed for coconuts on the way back so Neil could watch with admiration as he’d never seen it done before. The walk had taken longer than planned, so we had to rush to get fuel and a quick bite before getting on the ferry. The ferry itself was a rough trip and we were pleased to get off the other end.
Chris having a little break
Once back on Upolu Island we met a Kiwi couple we had met at Lanu, and offered them a ride to their accommodation as we were going past it. On our drive the weather got worse and worse with torrential rain. After dropping off the Kiwis and stopping for a drink with them, we got on our way to find a beach fale in this horrible weather. A little way on Chris said he was feeling unwell, and offered an alternate plan to detour across the cross island road to Apia for a guaranteed good room out of the weather.
Neil and the boy's guide
We were pretty glad we agreed, as Chris got worse, and Neil did a great job driving in the dark rainy conditions.
We fed the hungry dogs whilst waiting for ferry
As we entered Apia, Chris told Neil to stop and got out of his system whatever it was that upset it, which we suspect it was the fried chicken for lunch. We got back to our original accommodation and got Chris rested up, while Neil and I went out and grabbed a take-away pizza. Later that night I got struck by the same as Chris only as it was later in the day and not so immediate I was up all night, only Neil was saved!

Sick sick sick
Neil
Inviting bed
Chris was feeling much better in the morning, but I was not, so after a lazy morning for all I let the guys go out and explore. They went out for a nice breakfast then up to the Robert Louis Stevenson House/museum before returning to check on me.
Neil about to have a nap
Table in the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum
Old photo in Robert Louis Stevenson Museum
I was still feeling rough so expedition 2 was to the point, and then to ‘Cocks on the Rocks’ for a few beers and pool, before returning to check on me again. The last expedition they went to McDonald’s and then the cinema to watch a blokey movie. Chris returned with acid reflux so took a few pills and had a pretty uncomfortable night, think the sickness followed by a day out eating badly may be the cause!

Keeping Neil entertained in bad weather
Lots of rain
Chris was feeling rough after a bad night, but I was feeling a bit better, so I swapped roles with Chris in entertaining Neil and we decided to go out on a mission.
Waterfall
Although the weather in Apia was not great, we had high hopes that it would be fine the other side of the Island, so we chose to take the cross-country route through the centre of the Island to the south coast and then drive up and round to the east. But the weather only worsened the further from Apia we went.
Neil checking out depth of ford #2
By the time we had reached the bottom of the Island Neil could barely see out of the windscreen so we seeked some brief shelter at a nearby resort.
Would be fantastic views if no clouds
We both felt very under-dressed as this was an obvious honeymooners retreat and we sat in the restaurant dripping wet in our optimistic beach wear receiving unfriendly looks from the staff as we chose to only have a drink and nothing to eat. As soon as we downed our smoothies, we drove quickly away faced once again with the rain.
The ford we didn't pass through
But as it had rained so hard, we were faced with a deep ford and feeling brave decided to chance it and luckily as we had quite good clearance managed to drive straight through, but just a few kms down the road we were met by another, this time fast-flowing which we just made through.
Choppy sea
Thinking we had finally crossed through the worst of the roads, we saw one more and there was no way we could risk driving through as it was really wide, even more fast-flowing and this time ended up in the sea, so we sadly turned back around and drove back to Chris for a relaxing evening and a quick bite to eat at a Chinese which unfortunately made Chris feel even worse even though he just ate clear soup.

A nice tasty treat of a meal
Neil cooling off
The cave pool
Fish in the cave pool
It’s Neil’s last day today and the first thing Neil and I did was to drive to the doctors with Chris who was still feeling unwell after a rough night, so after getting him some strong painkillers we tucked Chris back into bed and drove into town to buy him some bananas and do a little bit of souvenir shopping for Neil before returning a couple of hours later still to an exhausted Chris, who sent us back out again so he could get some more rest.
Chris
Us
So, as the sun was attempting to shine through the thick clouds we headed back towards the east coast and went to a cave pool. It was really nice and full of fish so we had a very cold yet refreshing swim in there for half an hour before we got back out and returned once again back to Apia. Chris was feeling a lot better so we all got dressed up and went out to Paddles restaurant for a celebratory last meal with Neil.

Bye bye Neil xxxx
Apia, Samoa
Got up early with Neil and drove him to the airport to bid him a sad farewell. These 3 ½ weeks have gone by so fast and we’ll really miss him. Chris and I then had a very quiet journey back to Apia in mourning of the departure of our friend…
Hermit crab in a snail's shell
Once back in Apia we drove around some other accommodation to try and find some availability for the 31st as it is Samoa’s 50th year of independence, but we failed to find anything but high end places for ridiculous prices as everyone else except us thought long ahead and booked up, so we’ll have to think of something else. Then went back and did some washing for 2 hours before driving back into town to buy some supplies for dinner. We then relaxed for the rest of the day as Chris was still feeling a bit weak and is unable to eat much else except bananas, papaya, eggs and bread.
written by  chrischarly on May 27, 2012 from Apia, Samoa

A plan day
Apia, Samoa
The roof's made out of flip-flop remains
Another rough night for poor Chris so we had to take another trip to the doctors in the morning after taking the hire car back but luckily after having another take-it-easy day he felt a lot better but still not perfect. We took a trip into town and managed to finally find some internet! Although it was pricey it was quite fast so we started planning our onwards trip to America. Then after wandering around town for a bit we came back and chilled some more, apologies if this is getting boring to read about…
written by  chrischarly on May 28, 2012 from Apia, Samoa

Finally finding a bed
Still feeling a bit off today but a great improvement on the past few days, after some brunch Chris and I took a walk into town. Instead of walking the boring road way, we decided to take our chances and go the scenic route.
Our home in Apia
Remarkably after stumbling through a couple of villages we managed to navigate our way to the coast alongside a River linked to the sea.
But OMG it was such a hot day! By crossing roads and paths a few times we did manage to stay mostly in the shade, but when we showed up at the visitor information sight we were sweating hard and appreciated their turned-up air-conditioning. With a bit of prompting the guy was quite helpful and managed to find us somewhere to stay for the night of the 31st for quite a good price, as it was looking like we may have just had to camp up underneath the stars. For such a huge event happening Samoa is so unprepared for the amount of visitor’s it’s going to have. But at least we have a bed for the night. We then continued to walk through town and going to the internet again for a couple of hours before taking a taxi back home.

A day in the docs
Chris had an early-morning appointment with the docs today and not wanting to wake me he slipped out the door informing me he would only be an hour. Unfortunately over 5 hours later he returned as they were just so busy after doing some routine tests and scans on him. But he did have to fast for the whole day so he could go back tomorrow for some more scans as they wouldn’t show up properly, so Chris was quite weak and tired for the day so again we didn’t do a lot, just generally relaxed.

Smelly disgusting motel
Checked out of Livingstone Apartments this morning as they are full for tonight, then back down to the doctors for another check-up on Chris before having some breakfast at a café and logging on for a couple of hours. After the internet, we took a walk around the waterfront and watched a heat of the massive canoe racing before making our way to our new hotel for the night.
Only after we had checked in and paid did we realise how lucky we have been with our previous hotel in Apia. This place ranks in our top 5 worse hotels to have stayed in during our trip. It was very small, hot and incredibly smelly, actually incredible smelly is an understatement. We didn’t waste too much time there, and headed out for an Indian to make us feel better, at least it’s only for 1 night!

UB40
We woke up after an awful night in our smelly hotel room after a group of drunkards were outside our room screaming and throwing things at our hotel and checked out straight away.
We headed to a nice café for some breakfast then in to town to look at what was going on for the Independence Day celebrations.
It was really busy and everyone was in a buoyant mood, there were stalls setup all along the front and even the police had on shiny white uniforms (Sunday Best!).
It was very hot, so we had to keep stopping for refreshments, before heading back to our NICE hotel and getting a well needed shower and some rest before the big night.
We headed to Apia Park around 6pm, to get in early for the UB40 concert. We were glad we did as it was very busy.
There were a number of local bands on first, and one from NZ, but at around 8.30, when the place was really packed UB40 came on. They were without their lead singer, but still did a very impressive set lasting nearly 2 hours. The old stuff was the best, and the locals liked this a lot more than the newer. All in all a great night but both Chris and I were both aching from standing around in a small area for so long.
The party animals we are, we went back and to bed for a nice sleep; pity we didn’t have any Cocoa!
written by  chrischarly on June 1, 2012 from Apia, Samoa

Not a lot to do
Stacks of coconuts
The celebrations were still going on today and will be for the rest of the week so we headed into town today and surprisingly it was a lot quieter than we envisioned. Many places were closed or closed early so we soon got bored and headed out for an Indian before heading back.
written by  chrischarly on June 2, 2012 from Apia, Samoa

Another Sunday spent in The Pacific
Once again it is a Sunday so nothing to do again, so that’s what we did, nothing. Apart from make a tasty pasta bake and watch some movies.
written by  chrischarly on June 3, 2012 from Apia, Samoa

A great big dent in the bank balance
Took a walk into town today and wandered aimlessly around for a while, went online and booked our flights back home! OMG we fly home in 10 days! That is scary. So our USA, Central America and South America trip is going to be put on hold for a little while whilst we go back and visit family and friends for a bit! So all change out here, but change is good. We had just 2 hours in the internet before it closed as it is still holidays here and managed to book the cheapest options we could find…
American Samoa-Hawaii
then Hawaii-Alaska
then Alaska-Germany
then, finally Germany-Home
So after 3 days of travel which every night will be spent on planes with horrific lay-overs! But then again at short notice this was cheap. So pleased with ourselves but sorry about our new bank balance, we went back and chilled out for a while away from the blaring sun before heading back out for a yummy Indian in the evening.

A stupid mistake
Woke up this morning before 7am to our Mobile ringing. Uh oh… it was Chris’ dad informing us that we had stupidly booked our Hawaii-Alaska flight in July instead of June. So Chris’ dad thankfully managed to search online back home whilst on the phone for us and book an alternate route to get to Alaska in time before we missed our connections; so now instead of flying directly to Alaska from Hawaii we have to go Hawaii-Seattle then Seattle-Alaska, so yet another flight on our mammoth trip back home making it 5 flights in a row!
Wow, we are gonna be exhausted! But on the plus side, as there were on a couple of rubbish seats left on our new flights and not together, for just $100 more we get to fly 1st class! Now that is exciting! I have never flown 1st class before and it will be a nice treat to break up the journey! But on the downside we lost quite a bit of money as the original far was non-refundable so now our bank balance is really suffering! Never mind. So once the internet had opened for the morning we headed down into town for a couple of hours, ate in a crappy Italian, confirmed our Ferry tickets for tomorrow and hung out and watched some more boat racing. It was pretty cool as all the Samoans were cheering and enjoying themselves and then we finally headed back and had yet another relaxed evening.

Time travel
Pago Pago, Samoa
Got up at 6:30am and got ready to head to the ferry after waking Poy up to drive us there. We were told to be there by 7:30am at the very latest so we had chance to clear immigration before boarding the ferry due to depart at 9am, so we arrived at 7:15am thinking we were running late already but when we arrived everyone was also sat waiting for immigration to open. By 8:30am everything was still closed and this is when most of the locals started showing up clearly more aware obviously than us dumb ‘palangis’ that we are on island time and there is no way the ferry will leave on time. So of course we just sat and waited.
At around 9am immigration finally opened and some security officer started to announce things in Samoan which we kind of understood meant that just some V.I.P.s could start boarding now, not exactly sure who they were but they looked important anyway. So Chris and I, as well as 2 American friends we got talking to, Carl and C.J, decided to use our ‘palangi’ ignorance to our advantage for once and proceeded to board as well, even though no one else was moving forward. So with big friendly smiles, we cleared straight through without any fuss and managed to grab the best seats on the ferry before the masses came onto the ferry.
Haha. The reason as to why the ferry was so busy, as it was packed, is because it is the first ferry operating since the independence and many people from American Samoa came over to celebrate as well, so we were lucky to skip the queues. The ferry finally left at 10:30am bound for American Samoa and OMG it was such a horrible journey! The sea was so rough many Samoans were green within the first hour and it wasn’t long before the whole ferry smelt of vomit and even Chris and I felt really rough, which is not something we are familiar with when on boats,
so Carl kindly gave us some of his sickness tablets which helped a lot but didn’t cure us unfortunately. At one point in the journey maybe just under ½ way the boat hit a big wave and then thumped back down with a bang which sent off one of the emergency flares emitting continuous fluorescent orange smoke, which we thought was pretty awesome and we were half expecting some emergency helicopters to come to our rescue, even though we weren’t in any danger, but thought it might be cool to see. But we soon got sent inside until the flare stopped by some deck hands as the smoke is apparently dangerous to inhale so our excitement soon ended.
Mum told us that Venus was due to cross the sun at 2:30-3pm this afternoon and although it would’ve been interesting to see, it was really cloudy outside and walking was a right mission on this ferry as was trying to stand still, so after a weak attempt I soon gave up and sat back down. Suppose I’ll have to wait another 100 or so years until I get to see it again. Finally after 8 hours of hell on the ferry we arrived in Pago Pago- the capitol of American Samoa and we were all delighted; cleared immigration as quickly as possible and stood chatting once again to Carl and his son.
We met their family briefly and Carl’s Mum shared some oranges and papaya cup cakes with us, which were a nice change to cheese sandwiches as that was all we brought with us on the ferry and the shop was closed on-board. By the way, we crossed the dateline on the ferry so it is now a Tuesday but still the same time, so we are officially time-travellers! We then took a walk to the cheapest motel we could find in town at $60 a night, what a rip-off especially as we had to go searching for someone to let us in as it was empty. But the room itself is ok, pretty rubbish for the price, but never mind, it’s a comfy bed and then we took a walk to the Mexican downstairs. Food was tasty but even though it was just the two of us in there they had the music blasted up so loud and it was lit up with just disco lights you would think you were in a club and not a restaurant so we ate as quickly as we could and left for bed.
written by  chrischarly on June 6, 2012 from Pago Pago, Samoa

Woke up and it's a Wednesday... again...
Pago Pago, Samoa
Woke up this morning bright and early and went for a nice walk into town to find somewhere cheap with breakfast preferably with Wi-Fi.
American Samoa is pretty pricey actually much to our dismay so breakfast wasn’t cheap and we had to pay for the internet as well.
But we will have to get used to it for the next 8 days. On the internet we managed to get in touch with Carl and arranged
to go and stay with him from tomorrow onwards which will be very exciting, definitely beats staying in a motel for the rest of our stay. We then had a wander around town; Chris got his hair-cut and due to the usual miscommunication ended having it all shaved off really short. We then wandered back for a little while before having some sushi at a little Korean place down the road.
P.S, This blog entry is actually newer than 'The Time Travel' entry, but annoying this blog doesn't understand that!
written by  chrischarly on June 6, 2012 from Pago Pago, Samoa

Outside our room

Leaving NZ

On the plane to Fiji

The front entrance/exit

The restaurant

Chris wading through

Chris

Traditional canoes to sail the Pacific

Traffic

Chris and Neil

Shops

Local buses

Replacement tyre with a chunk out of the side

Road to Bobo's

On the way to Bobo's

Neil having some down time

Karin's lizard

Dragon fly

Nice tree

Chris and Bobo on the farm tour

The pigs kissing!

Our place at Bobo's

Neil and Chris

Chris and coco

Coco

Neil and I

My nice ripped trousers :(

Cooling down

Break time, thankfully

Chris and Bobo climbing

Nice view

View down to Levoni crater

Neil looking good in his sulu!

Neil and his new mates

Chris, Bobo and I

Market stands

Local market

Levuka town

The oldest hotel in the Pacific

Rugby Match

Fans celebrating

Commiserating their loss

Bobo and kava

The long walk down

Walking down to catch the boat

Leaving Bobo's...

Frozen coconuts

Chris in our room

Our bure

Neil and his little scary-looking friend

The cannibal pot!

The beach

The bar

Where Chris and I spent most of the day

Nice beach

Neil chillaxing

The stupid chainsaw

Beautiful sea

No smoking sign

Livingstone Apartments

In town

Clock-tower in centre of town

Shipwreck

Chris enjoying a Vailima

Practicing for the boat race

Fiafia show

Traditional ladies dance

Firedance

Our drinks and food

Enjoying a cocktail

Our new ride

Day fales

Coastal road

View from our fale

Our fale

Inside our fale

Big bowl of 'ava for the 3 of us

Explaining the ingredients and how to make

Richard demonstrating the umu

Virgin's grave the lava missed completely

Old church destroyed by the lava

Corrugated iron melted by lava

Lava fields

Awesome beach

Our little mozzie-eating friend

Pidgin English

Warning

View from the crater

Old church affected by tsunami

Nice sunset

Hermit crab in a snail's shell

View from Neil's fale

Our beach fales

A natural pool

Stacks of coconuts

Lovely day

Blowholes

Coconut man

Huge blowholes

Admiring the blowholes

On the flight to Samoa

Banana flower

Random bit of tarmacked road

Rock hopping

Chris having a little break

Neil and the boy's guide

We fed the hungry dogs whilst waiting for ferry

Check out how long the grass is!

Inviting bed

Neil about to have a nap

Old photo in Robert Louis Stevenson Museum

Table in the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum

Choppy sea

Lots of rain

Neil checking out depth of ford #2

The ford we didn't pass through

The roof's made out of flip-flop remains

Our home in Apia

Waterfall

Would be fantastic views if no clouds

Neil cooling off

The cave pool

Fish in the cave pool

Us