Our room was upgraded to one with a pool and ocean view because we didn't have children with us, which was a lovely surprise because we were meant to have one at the back of the resort with a mountain view. Because it was evening we went straight to dinner and then for a few drinks on the sunset terrace overlooking the ocean.
To be honest, most days were spent by the pool/beach, and most nights were spent at the Sunset Terrace Bar - and that's pretty much the holiday summed up in one sentence!!! With crystal clear waters in the lagoon, a beautiful white beach, hot sunny days and warm evenings - what more did we need to do? Here it is in pictures.....
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| Complimentary bottle of bubbly from the manager! |
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| Music by the pool! |
But there are a few stories....
Bula! The most common expression in Fiji is "Bula" (pronounced boolah) it's the Fijian word for "hello". You quickly catch on to it - using it with everyone you pass. It represents more than just 'hello', however, it also means happiness and health, and is also used in the sense of "bless you".
Crab Auction and Race! The idea is that you bid for a crab for charity - and then race them! We tried to get England (Robin Hood) but the bidding went far too high for him. There were a couple of Aussie guys fighting it out, showing off infront of their ladies to make the highest bids, but I was the 'beautiful lady' at the back of the room who kept throwing in a higher bid so that they would raise their game!!! Eventually we got Japan (Honda aka Wacha!) for a relatively small price! All crab owners made their way to the race area to view their crabs - Fiji was a monster of a crab, while the others were tiny little things and I feared that Fiji might eat Japan before the race even started! After much excitement, Fiji won and Japan came second meaning that we won a cash prize that pretty much made our holiday fund bigger than when we arrived!!!
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| Collecting the winnings! |
Golf! There was an 18 hole mini golf course at the resort, so of course we had to give it a go! When the ball went into a tunnel on hole 2 and didn't come out the other end, we didn't hold out much hope for the quality of the rest of the course - but it was lots of fun! The result proved to be a draw - and if you know how much Darren likes his golf, you'll know that it would have killed him if I'd have won!
Bingo! One evening Darren went back to the room after the pool and I decided to go and play poolside Bingo (with an I for Ingland and an O for Ostralia apparently!)! Sounds sad I know, but I really enjoyed it - especially being the only one there representing England! And it's always nice to win - even though I was embarrassed when I collected my prize and everyone was cheering for 'Pete's sausage' (I was wearing a T-shirt Louise had sent me which says 'You can't beat' on the front and 'Pete's Sausage' on the back - so probably only Louise will find that bit funny as she knows the significance! - And she'll be pleased to hear that they wanted me to pick the last ball - sponsored by Pete's Sausage!).
Food poisoning! We'd been lucky enough to enjoy the nightly themed buffets without getting the Fiji tummy, but on our second to last night we decided to go to for one of their 'exquisite dining experiences' in one of their 'posh' restaurants. We opted for Italian and had a lovely meal of pizza followed by tiramisu. At 5am 'exquisite' wouldn't have been my word of choice!!! But it didn't ruin the holiday - just took the edge of our upgrade to all inclusive the next day!!!
Coming through customs they took a bookmark off me that I had bought in Fiji because it had pressed flowers on it, which was a shame because it was ever so pretty! And then going through immigration, the lady checking passports took a long time to let me through, and asked to see more photo id before she was sure that I was who my passport said I was! What would she have done if she wasn't sure - send me back?!
So would we go to Fiji again - for sure! But a week just isn't long enough!
