Hello, Fiji!

Saturday, 24.9.

In the early morning, it was time for me to say goodbye to Samoa. Peter, with whom I had arranged this on Tuesday, picked me up at the motel at 4:30 and drove me to the airport. Everything went well there and the flight was very pleasant with beautiful views over the Fiji Islands, as the weather was very good. At 8:25, I arrived at the largest airport in Fiji in Nadi. From there, I was driven directly to Diane, whom I found through Couchsurfing and who is hosting me for three days. After staying in the apartment for a while, I actually just wanted to quickly search for WiFi and then go from the city directly to Sleeping Rock, where there are hot springs and a botanical garden. But in the city center, a stranger approached me and dragged me into his souvenir shop, where we held a kava ceremony. He even talked me into buying a souvenir (which I actually shouldn't have bought, but I was pretty tired and somehow everything happened very quickly:/) and then wanted me to buy an even bigger one. Fortunately, I declined. Afterwards, I booked a full-day tour with his wife, who is a friend of Diane, to one of the smaller islands that make up a large part of Fiji. But I really wanted to do that ;) It turned out that his wife is a friend of Diane's. After that, I finally went to the hot springs. At the beginning, you have to cover yourself completely with mud and let it dry, then you go into a pool to get rid of it and then into three warm pools, ending with the warmest one. From there, accompanied by a nice Australian family, I went to the botanical gardens, where there were many beautiful plants and also very tasty juice :) Afterwards, I went to the main road with a Fijian woman to catch the bus. By the way, the locals are very nice and helpful, just like the Samoans. You are greeted everywhere with 'Bula!', which is the Fijian word for 'Hello!', and it is extremely easy to strike up a conversation with the people. At least with the ones I met. After dinner, I went home.

Sunday, 25.9.

After getting up in the middle of the night the day before and being pretty tired all day, I set off for Bounty Island on Sunday. It is one of the many islands that make up Fiji. We sailed on a small boat with nine people for about 1.5 hours and then went snorkeling in the sea. It was much larger in size than in Samoa and the water was crystal clear. It was really beautiful :) So many fish in all colors and sizes, so many corals... a true dream. Even I, a world-class swimmer (watch out for irony :D), dared to go into slightly deeper water with fins ;) On Bounty Island, there is a small facility where you can do all sorts of things. I went to the pool and shortly afterwards there was a VERY extensive and delicious lunch buffet. Later, our guides showed us how to open a coconut (without it bursting into a thousand pieces ;) ) and then made a small fish with a fishing rod out of coconut leaves. I also received a nice boat made of leaves, but I'm not sure how to carry it around all the time :/ After feeding the baby turtles there, we drove back to Denarau Port with cookies, a kava ceremony, and Fijian live music (our guides played the guitar), enjoying a consistently beautiful view, where we had started. It was a very nice day trip with nice people and varied activities, with snorkeling being the absolute highlight :)

Monday, 26.9.

In the morning, I mainly spent my time searching for bargains for various activities on a website that Diane recommended. I also booked the Off Road Cave Safari for Thursday through this website. Afterwards, I went back to Port Denarau and went to the Big Bula Waterpark there. It is a huge water amusement park with many different slides. Since I love doing this anyway when I'm in a swimming pool, it was perfect for me :) The slides were very different and I had a lot of fun there. Later, I walked around the city center, which is rather small, and then had an extremely delicious pizza for dinner. Later, I sat together with most of Diane's roommates on the terrace. After that, we watched two movies together and I went to bed.

Tuesday, 27.9.

My time in Nadi was already over in the morning. I took the bus to my accommodation for the second half of my stay, which is called "The Beachouse" and is located on the Coral Coast, i.e. on the south coast. It is a really well-equipped hostel where there are various offers at low prices throughout the day. You can swim in the pool and in the sea, there are boards for surfing and stand-up paddling, you can snorkel, play billiards, lie in hammocks, and much more. And the food is absolutely amazing ;) In the afternoon, I tried stand-up paddling for the first time. You stand on a board that is slightly larger than a surfboard and use a large paddle to move forward. I was shown for five minutes how to do it and then I could go on my own. I was surprised that it worked so well. It's really fun and I quickly got used to handling the paddle. After a few minutes, I paddled further out before the wind started to get stronger. That was relatively difficult for me. Not necessarily because the waves got higher and made it harder for me to keep my balance, but because I had to paddle against the current and barely moved forward :D I simply knelt down on the board and paddled further, which was much better. Later, when it calmed down again, I drove around the bay until my arms got tired :) I highly recommend trying SUP! After dinner, there was once again a kava ceremony, my third one by now. But I'm slowly getting enough of it ;) For the rest of the evening, I worked on finishing my first blog articles.

Wednesday, 28.9.

After breakfast, I took part in the Jungle Trek after a short relaxation at the pool. As the name suggests, we went into the jungle. Past a small village, we went deeper and deeper into the forest along narrow and not so easy to walk paths, past tall trees, pineapple bushes, and streams. Sometimes it was very muddy, hilly, and slippery. And it wasn't easy to cross a stream without getting wet ;) Anyway, I was pretty exhausted when we finished the outward journey. We then took a break at a large waterfall, which we all climbed. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of it now because my phone is not waterproof. But the waterfall was impressive, right in the middle of the jungle. Even if it wasn't very high. Then we went back directly. The trip lasted about 4 hours in total and was totally worth it. I mainly spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach. I also went swimming in the sea in between. At dinner, I met a lot of nice people, including three Germans. The others were from Canada and Sweden. We sat together for a while and had a fun evening ;)

Thursday, 29.9.

In the morning, I had breakfast with my new friends. After that, I went to the Off Road Cave Safari, which I had booked online. I was picked up by the organizer in front of the door and then driven to Sigatoka. From there, we went to the starting point, where we received vests that we had to wear in the jet boat, which in turn took us across the Sigatoka River, Fiji's largest river. On the other side, we got into our off-road jeeps. Then we drove for quite a while on very bumpy gravel roads to a small village, passing great views along the way. In the village, we once again held a kava ceremony, my fourth one in total, and then went into the most famous Fijian cave, the Naiheme Cave. It was pitch dark in the cave (we all got a headlamp) and sometimes we had to walk through relatively deep water or crouch for several meters at a time. Unfortunately, I couldn't take my phone into the cave and take any photos. The cave itself was impressive because it was simply gigantic. Very high and spacious. The stalagmites and stalactites were also interesting in terms of their shape. When we were out of the cave again, our guides had prepared a lunch buffet for us, which was really good ;) Later, we drove back the same way and then were taken across the Sigatoka River again on a kind of giant raft. From there, we went directly back to the Beachouse, just in time for dinner ;) Afterwards, there was a small fire on the beach, where I met two nice Norwegians :)

Friday, 30.9.

The day started with a shock, as I couldn't find my watch. I was already desperate, but then I found it under my mattress. I have no idea how it got there. I certainly didn't deliberately put it there :D Anyway, after a relatively short time, I set off for Kula Eco Park, where you can mainly see birds, but also other native animals. To get in the mood, I was allowed to put a iguana on my shoulder and a small boa constrictor around my neck :) Then it continued with turtles, aquariums, parrots, lorises, and many other birds. In between, there were always long stretches with lots of forest to see. It's a really nicely designed park ;) As you can see from a few pictures, I tried a funny photo shoot with some animals :D After lunch, I drove back. In the Beachouse, I didn't do much until dinner and then, after all my new friends had unfortunately left in the afternoon, I met a large and extremely funny Australian family with a few children. It was fun to eat with them :D

Saturday, 1.10.

On my last day in Fiji, I didn't do anything special for a change and stayed at the Beachouse or in the immediate vicinity all day, at least until my departure. After check-out, I first went to the pool, then took a walk along the beach, and later went on a small circular path behind the hostel. Otherwise, I mostly lay in the sun, read, and occasionally chatted with a nice New Zealander ;) In the evening, I went back to Auckland. I'm curious to see what awaits me in New Zealand in the next few days :)

Conclusion of the Fiji vacation:

Similar to Samoa, Fiji also offers beautiful nature, although I saw more beaches here and waterfalls in Samoa. But the biggest difference is that Fiji is much more touristic. Everything here is geared towards tourism, which is also noticeable in the prices, which almost explode in Port Denarau. I could easily have stayed here for another two weeks (even if my money would have suddenly become considerably less :D) because there was so much to see here. Anyone who is in New Zealand/Australia should definitely make a detour to this country, otherwise they will definitely miss out on something. Maybe I'll fly over from New Zealand next year, we'll see. In any case, The Beachouse is extremely recommended, even if it is rather expensive for a hostel. But you can do so much there that you even have enough variety if you spend the whole day there. So it's worth it :)

I hope that with this report, I was able to give you a vivid insight into my experiences in Fiji and maybe even motivate you to add this country to your list of countries to visit in the future ;)

The next report will be from New Zealand again.

See you then!

Your Max