The final stop: an 8 night trip to Fiji. After spending a brief night
in Auckland, we put everything but our beach gear in storage and hopped on a
3-hour flight to Nadi International Airport.
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| "Anything you'd like to declare, sir?" |
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| Landing in Nadi |
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| Quick bus stop in Sigatoka |
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| Fijian money |
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| Unique temples on the way to the resort |
We got an accidental upgrade
to a larger bure, which are the thatch-roofed,
cottage-like huts that you stay in at the resort. This was a good thing because although it was
warm, it was cloudy almost the whole time we were there and we ended up spending
a good bit of time in the room. I certainly
caught up on my reading, which wasn’t as nice as being on the beach, but I don’t really tan anyways so relaxing inside was fine.
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| The village choir performing at the resort |
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| I thought I was taking a picture of 1 lizard in the bar... |
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| Brad learning how to weave (sort of) |
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| Always singing... |
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| Call to happy hour! |
Both mine and Brad's favorite thing about Fiji was definitely the snorkeling. The pictures don't even do it justice- it was stunning and the water is so warm. We saw hundreds of fish, including puffers, a lionfish, and clownfish, and we also saw some cool jellies, an eel, and sea slugs. We swam right out from the resort's beach several times, and took a boat ride out to some deeper water twice.
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| Jelly! |
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| Jumping in from the boat |
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| Clownfish |
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| More clownfish |
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| Giant clam |
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| Puffer |
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| Family of fish in the coral- some were the size of a pea! |
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| Moorish Idol |
The only time we left the
resort was to visit the only walk-able attraction: the neighboring village of
Namaqumaqua. Fiji is a third world
country (evident by the pictures), which made it all the more amazing how
joyous Fijians are. They are always
singing, smiling, and waving “Bula!”
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| The kindergarten! |
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| Locals selling jewelry and other little trinkets |
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| Inside a meeting house |
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| The medical center- the hospital is 2 hours away |
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| The church |
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| Drum for calling meetings |
We have been so spoiled by
New Zealand fauna: there is nothing there that can kill you. So needless to say we were a little dumbfounded
when we stumbled upon a banded sea snake slithering from water to rocks. Some local kids came by and killed it after
informing us that they are poisonous. My
vegetarian ethical radar was going off until I remembered the sight of their
village medical centre and I realized that I probably would have done the
same to something whose bite needs anti-venom within 30 minutes. For the most part however, the
wildlife is harmless, including the gecko that took up permanent residence in
our bure and chirped us to sleep each
night.
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| Found a starfish! |
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| red vented bulbul |
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| white faced heron |
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| Hello best friend! |
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| gorgeous collared kingfisher |
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| common myna |
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| banded sea snake |
I would go to Fiji again in a
heartbeat. It was a great way to wrap up
to our time in New Zealand and relax before the 27-hour journey back home.
Since
this blog was devoted to my year abroad this will be my last post. So I’ll close, appropriately, with some
Fijian sunset pics. I hope you enjoyed
my photos and stories from this year and that they may have inspired you to
take your own ship out of its harbor in some capacity or another. Over and out! <3
