Bula!

Bula! Yep, we're now in Fiji.
On our way back to Sydney we stopped off at a couple of different places, but we made sure we went to South Durras again... although we felt we were being treated a little frostily by a couple of the locals. Jack had just come out of the sea and was talking to Sarah who had been reading her book (Lord of the Rings, by the way... no chick-lit trash for me! :P). A couple of elderly ladies approached and so we both smiled and said hello, expecting the usual "G'day" in return... however they just glared at us and mumbled some sort of greeting, and hurried away. We were both a bit puzzled, but soon forgot about it until a bit later when Jack turned to walk back down the beach, and Sarah noticed the huge rip in the back of Jack's swimshorts exposing his little white bum to the world (and, apparently, those two old ladies). Heeheehee.
(Illustrations are on the way)

Our last few days of our Aussie adventure were a bit different from the rest- we headed inland to a place called Cambelltown, where Sarah's lil sis was born, and then we drove up the road to Ingleburn to see the house the Baillie's lived in, and the club where they saw Rolf Harris perform. Ah, joy.
Then we stayed at a caravan park on the outskirts of Sydney for two nights, and Jack went a bit stir crazy... it was a pretty horrible site; in fact it was more of a 'trailer park' than a holiday park (lots of people with mullets and checked shirts living there full time). What's the point of a caravan if you don't move it?! Some (such as the Top Gear guys) would say, what's the point of a caravan at all? But actually we really enjoyed our little campervan holiday, and Sarah is now the queen of cooking Spaghetti Bolognaise in the back of a van.

We handed the van in the next morning (driving through Sydney during rush hour is not for the faint-hearted), and pegged it to the airport with only an hour or so to spare.
But with only a small amount of time before her flight, Sarah managed to buy... her SECOND pair of Uggs!!! Extravagance! For those who are interested, they're tall black ones. :D

The flight was fine, and Jack charmed his way into an exit seat to accommodate his long legs. But when we got there, Sarah's seat was smaller than any other seat in the whole plane, as she was sat behind the bulk of the emergency door (Jack assures me that this is where they keep the slide), and could only stretch her legs out diagonally. To top that, our tv screens were the only ones on the plane that didn't work, and the air hostesses kept forgetting about us. Other than that, the flight was fine!

Eventually we got to our hotel in Fiji, and we didn't really know what to expect, as it was only a small backpacker's digs. However, it has been lovely- the fact that it is small means we get the pool to ourselves most of the time, and the staff are really helpful. We were sitting by the pool yesterday when the manager came out and pulled a coconut off a tree for us!
Last night we went for dinner at a hotel along the road and were treated to a Samoan Fire Dance show, as well as some traditional Fijian dances- lots of bottom shaking involved there! At one point, we were amongst the helpless 'volunteers' pulled up to the front to join in a dance called the 'Snake Dance'. It was embarrassing... nuff said.
The fire dancing was pretty spectacular, too.

The weather has been lovely, although today was a bit overcast. However, that was perfect for our trip out to Mala Mala Island today. It's a 6 acre, uninhabited island with white sand beaches and a coral reef surrounding it. We were part of only a small group, which made it much more enjoyable and sociable- we got chatting to everyone there.
We relaxed on the beach, snorkeled, played volleyball, explored the island, swam, kayaked and had a massage on the beach- not forgetting the fantastic Fijian BBQ buffet.
It was a really good day, and neither of us are too badly sunburnt (although Sarah is being eaten alive by the mosquitos).

Speaking of being eaten alive, we went to a shop the other day that sold traditional handmade cannibalistic (is that a word?) artefacts- such as a 'Skullbreaker', and a four pronged fork used to pick the brains out of the skulls. Yummy! Our BBQ buffet today didn't involve any of that, though...

Tomorrow we're going on another excursion, this time on a 86-foot schooner called 'Seaspray', which I'm sure is the day we'll both get hideously sunburnt. Jack wants to assure you that he is beautifully tanned. Sarah wants to assure you that she is ridiculously freckled.

We'll try and get some photos up soon!
Bula!
Jack & Sarah
xxx