live laugh love with leezanna: South Pacific Study Abroad; Fiji

FIJI

Okay, so FIJI was amazing! If you EVER get the chance to go, GO! I'd highly recommend it for a honeymoon or anniversary trip. It's beautiful, not very commercialized, you can find any level of adventure you want, the people are friendly and its tropical islands -

how can you go wrong there!

It's a ten hour flight from L.A. and you land on the big island. From New Zealand we flew to Nadi Airport and had a briefing for our trip and stayed the night at the Nadi Bay Resort Hotel. The next morning we (32 of us) got onto an old bus and drove to the airport w

here we took off in three tiny airplanes to fly to Kadavu Island, about a 45 minute flight.

We got to Kadavu and got on these open air, fiberglass, fishing motor boats for a choppy, windy 2-hour ride to Kenia Beach Resort. We had a huge welcome dinner and got some time to get oriented in the jungle of Fiji. The next day we sea kayaked in legs to an uninhabited island called Vurolevu. We set up our tents and hung out in the shelter that was built for us. A nearby village brought us dinner and we had a sing a long in the jungle. Pretty cool.
The next day we went out from our campsite a few minutes on the motor boat, jumped in the water with our snorkel gear and watched the huge, majestic MANTA RAYS. I can't tell you how cool they were - they're about as big as my arm span, so about 5.5 feet. They were torn up a little because they are gentle and get pestered. They stay and hang out in this one area in Fiji because there are wrasse (which are little fish) that swim into their

mouths and clean them out. Its a symbiotic relationship and it happens at the island where we were. After that my family and I went out on the motor boat to another spot where we SCUBA DIVED (finally all that work during the summer paid off!) The dives we did were through valleys and almost caves and arches. There were so many fish and the water was warm and clear. I was nervous at first for my first dive, but it was amazing once I got down there! After our dive we met the rest of the group back at Kenia for a few more nights.
The next day was Sunday, so a rest day, we had church, I washed my clothes and read a book. We also went to the jumping rock (thats what the Kiwi's called cliff jumping) which was really cool because it was perfect for climbing and the water was clear for jumping.

(I know this is getting long, but deal with it!)

The next day we sea kayaked to our village stays. We snorkeled along the way with beach stops and beautiful weather. Our group was split into two and the half t

hat I was with hiked over hill tops and had a 360 view of the island, to a village called Vacalea (pronounced Vatha-laya). We were given a warm village welcome and ate fresh sea food and fijian earth oven food. The next day in the village we had a basket weaving lesson and with the baskets and our native Fijian guides we went and found wild food in the jungle. It was cool to be able to identify which foods we were eating and which were not good to eat.
The village has tons of roosters and chickens and they crow with the tides, so basically they crow ALL THE TIME. So, that afternoon we took a nap because the roosters had kept us up all night. We had a village farewell and the kids from the school there sang us a great song about a grandpa. Thats about all they could explain in English for us. But they danced around and put on a great show so it was fun for everyone.
We left the next morning after a huge breakfast and a tour of the school (75 students from Vacalea and neighboring villages) and the medical center (1 certified nurse with a generator and a building). We set out on more sea kayaking adventures to the chiefs (the chief of every village is called Ratu, but this was the chief who was also a business partner) house for lunch. I met his little 4-year old daughter named Wendy. She really liked me and dragged me around her house telling people in Fijian (since she didn't speak English) that I was her new friend. I was offered a spot on the last boat for Scuba diving so I took it. These dives were down shark alley and another reef dive that was nearly out in open water and the current took us inland. We saw 6 or 7 nurse sharks, a sea turtle, a blow fish and a nuddy branch (w

hich are really rare I hear). I think diving is really cool.

That night we all ended up at Waisalima Beach Resort. It was a pretty primitive resort (which means something different in Fiji than it does in America, so keep that in mind if you're ever planning a trip there). But, I finally got to take a short and cold shower and sleep on something besides my camping mat - a bed!
The next morning I woke up around 5 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep (things were scurrying across the walls) and so I got out of the bed and watched the sunrise. It was beautiful. We left Kadavu that day after hour 2 hour motor boat ride back to the airport. We landed in Suva (which is the biggest city in the South Pacific) and headed to the temple accommodation. It was the best shower I've ever had! It was hot, clean and I finally got to shave. We had pizza for dinner and everyone slept happily and hard.

We went to the University of the South Pacific the next day and had a lec

ture about ecosystems and how to sustain them in the south pacific islands. It was really interesting. The whole campus had so many different kinds of people from all over that area. I liked visiting there. After that we headed to Suva City to do some shopping. The handicraft shops reminded me of shopping in Tijuana, which was too bad but I bought a hot pad so I was happy. My family and I headed to the produce market after that. The structure that it was in was HUGE. I would say nearly 3 football fields big and there was produce everywhere. We ended up buying a few pineapples for later. I also found a Fijian mat I loved and purchased. It's about 8x14 ft. so pretty big, but its exactly what they used as their floor covering and fu

rniture in their homes. I'm happy with my purchase, and I only had to carry it around Fiji for a few days.

We spent the next day at the Fiji Beach House between Suva and Nadi. We just relaxed, played in the pool, did crafts and I got a massage. It was a day to unwind before returning to the exhaustion of the real world. On Sunday we drove to Nadi and went to church and then we repacked all our stuff to get it back to the U.S. What a madhouse! We had a farewell dinner with our company guides from New Zealand, where there was a lot of thank you's etc. We got to the Nadi airport at 8 p.m. or so and it was a MAD HOUSE. We didn't have any time to wait around after checking in, saying goodbye and going through customs and security. I fell asleep and ended up in America.

I'll put a plug in for Tamarillo Fiji Sea Kayaking Adventures now - th

at was the company we went with and they were amazing!! They took care of 30 of us, plus their 8-10 Fijian guides and all the women and men who moved us around and fed us. The trip was next to flawless and they were helpful and happy to be serving us. I couldn't have asked for a better experience with them!

So here are the pictures - again, in no particular order, but I'll try to explain and link it to what I told you already!