The Yasawa Islands on the big yellow bird

It was an early start and we were well up for it, we're going to the islands, get in!!!!

At the jetty we had a sudden horror image of running out of booze and hit the liquer store again, another bottle of voddie should see us through and as an afterthought we picked up a bottle of water and some biscuits!!! First island on our list was Nacula island at the top end of the Yassawas, we stayed at Nambula Lodge where bartereing pea got us a bure ( trad hut ) for 100 bucks instead of the 150 that they wanted, it's a great start to our fiji experience!!!! The hut itself was a bit dark but it was right on the waters edge so we couldn't grumble. The next three days were spent sweating on the beach in what must have been the high 30's, kayaking around the island, snorkelling in the crystal clear turquoise waters, collecting sheeva eyes ( this must be where they all originate as we must have found 3 or 4 hundred, mostly small ones which we're going to get made into jewellery, amazing ) We also met some great people Mike and Tasha, Sara and Johan ( team Sweden ), Kati and Jarno ( team Finland ), crazy dutch and Roger from Canada .

We had some great nights with the team drinking, singing and playing some great games......G'DAY SHANE, BIG TITTY INDIANS, SLAPS and GET YOUR F****ING GOGGLES ON ( all game rules available on request !! )and doing the Bula dance!!!! It's all a bit sad when after three days we were all off again to different places , we were going to Sea spray on the next island over, Mike and tash to Korovue, team Sweden and team finland to White Sandy and Roger and crazy to Long beach . YEEEEHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Sea spray, hmmmmmmmm, that was an interesting place, you could almost hear the fiddle player from Deliverence playing as we landed on the beach, dulla duh duh duh duh duh duh duh....dulladuhduhduhduhduhduhduh......

The bure was nicer than the one at Nabula but there was no electricity or shower, the toilet in the garden didn't work but on the plus side the beach was a corker!!! We were only here to visit the Blue Lagoon anyway so the accomo wasn't that important, but still it was an odd set up.

..the owners wife had died a few years previously and it seemed that he spent most of his time hanging out under the trees with two other old guys with huge hands ( not really important but they were big even for fijians ) and the big butch transvestite cleaner aptly named Queenie ( !!!!!!!!!! ) who carried a little black handbag around with her all the time in her equally humungous hands!!! It really was an odd place but anyway we dumped our bags in the bure and headed off to the Blue Lagoon over the hills. Follow the path they said, what they didn't say though was that the path hadn't been used since the last people had stayed there which must have been sometime last year judging from the path which was completely overgrown and full of mozzies. We eventually found our way to the blue lagoon, completely exhausted , filthy and soaked with sweat and fell into the waters where we snorkelled for ages but still couldn't find Brooke Shields anywhere!!!!!!!!!!!Adventure Pea , not feeling quite so advenurous, managed to persuade some locals to take us back to Seaspray by boat instead of climbing the mountain (yes it grew from a hill to a mountain while we were on the beach...strange place this Fiji !! )again . What a boat ride though it was worth every dollar we didn't pay them ( we forgot oooppppsss ) we saw the whole island and whizzed through tiny passages, a real James Bond journey!!! Back at Seaspray we had the by now usual carb hit of potatoe, rice, noodles and bread but they did spice it up with some great veggies and some tuna, then it was straight to bed with the last of the light, very strange being in bed by 8 but what a great nights sleep. Next day we were up at 8 .30, breakfast was about 10 ( fiji time ) , then out on the beach for some sun and snorking until we were called into lunch at 11.15 ( fiji time again, i think it just means they do things when they feel like it !!! ) then it was time to get in the boat to take us back to the big yellow boat to the other islands. Half way there we had an uncomfortable 5 mins where the engine wouldn't work....oh shit we thought they're  going to take us back to the island and use us as sex slaves, oh my god the thought of queenie and her big hands uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

REWIND SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS I forgot to say about the lovo night at Nambula . What a great time we were lucky enough to see the whole prepasration of it.

Lovo is how they traditionally cook  meat and veg in a hole in the ground covered with banana leaves and sand for 4 or 5 hours. It was great and followed up with a cava ceremony. Cave , a drink made of tree root and mildly narcotic, tasting of mud and really only numbing your throat and mouth, weird but a great experience!!!! Also whilst at Nambula we went to church ( praise the Lord !! ) which was cool with the priest pogo ing aroung alleuluyaing and the rest of us dancing and singing in front of him while a DJ chucked some background tunes into the mix ...don't worry Chris it's all on video!!!!!!

Anyway so we escaped being rogered by the blue lagooners and made it back onto the big yellow thing headed for whitew sandy to meet up with the team, we arrived and found out white sandy had prooved a big thumbs down and everyone had moved to Korovue so off we trundled secured ourselves a bargain and settled into life there with all the team again relaxing by the lush pool by the day, making coconut bracelets, sheeva hunting ( big ones here !! ) and bula dancing and goggling and playing OH F**K ( another great drinking game ) by night.

We persuaded Mike and Tash to stay longer and had our own Full Moon party culminating in a dance off and swimming in the pool where we took some pretty amazing underwater shots!!! We stayed at Korovue for three days until Team Sweded and Mike and Tash had to head back to the mainland and then headed to Waya where Team Finland had already been sent on as a scouting party!! Sunset Waya was in an unbelievably beautiful setting with it's own sandbank joining two islands and the food and entertainment at night were great but our hut was a stinker so ourselves , team sweded ,crazy and Roger headed back to Nambula the next day and as it was saturday experienced another great Lovo and cava ceremony . Unfortunately the rain started in Waya and for the next 2 nights at Nambula it rained constantly meaning no fishing trip which we had planned with team Finland and also meant many hours playing card games, unfortunately we also lost team Finland, not literally  they just had to go home but it was sad and just left us, crazy and Roger. On the plus side the ever demanding adventure rat had secured the best hut on the island for us for the same money so at least we had a luxury shelter from the rain PARP PARP HONK HONK BIG TITTY INDIANS POOP POOP!!!!!!!

After a couple of days of multi carbing at meal times it was time to get a veggie hit so we headed back to Korovou with a quick stop at another island and spent our last couple of nights on our Bula pass in luxury again thanks to Adventure Pea's bargaining, walking the beach in between rain bursts, snorking amongst some amazing corals, taking part in coconut demonstrations, herbal medicine tours, fish feeding and summit walks and pretty much taking it easy, playing some cards , etc etc yawn yawn too much detail,.

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Now we're back in Nadi and preparing for Robinson Crusoe Island, the Yassawas were great but for all those heading out there don't bother buying accomo passes like they try to make you at the office and on the boat just rock up to the resorts pay with cash and grab yourself a bargain also don't expect any manners from the people on the boat from awesome adventures they're all really rude....Fiji Time or just plain lazy you decide!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The islands are great though and definately worth seeing and the snorkelling off Korovue was amazing, infact we loved it there everything was good VINAKA GET YOUR F**KING GOGGLES ON WHAT'S THE NAME OF THE GAME WOOP WOOP PARP PARP