Wednesday 19 September 2007

Fiji fun

After the slightly disappointing Cooks, Fiji delivered the Island Paradise goods in spades!

We spent the first 3 days of our Fiji leg on the Yasawa Islands - a string of sandy gems twinkling in the Pacific off the northwest coast of the Fijian mainland. We stayed at the Manta Ray resort, which totally rocked.

Highlights, apart from the perfect weather and picture postcard beaches, were:
  • Swimming with real live manta rays (for Ben at least - Debs caught a mouthful of brine going into the water and spent most of the time drowning)
  • Island handicrafts including making bracelets out of coconuts, and shell necklaces (one for Debs - Ben was too busy snoozing in a shaded beachside hammock)

  • Snorkelling in the shallows (both of us)
  • The food on the island - according to everyone we spoke to, Manta Ray's catering kicks every other Yasawa resort's sorry hide.
  • The other guests, in particular Paul and Paula (Hello!) who chatted, ate, and larked about with us, transforming good times into great fun. We miss you two already!
We recommend that everyone reading this post immediately drop everything, fly to Fiji and go to Manta Ray resort! Really! We were sorry to have to leave, but you know, time marches on, budget dwindles, places to see, people to do, etc etc.

Now we're back on Viti Levu, the mainland, cruising round the south coast for a week or so before we head off to NZ.

Ben

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought you were coming to NZ in October/november? Does this mean you'll be here while we're in Amsterdam? We go 26th sept back in wellington 17th oct. would be shite to miss you guys!!

Anonymous said...

Bjorn Zei...

Nice sunny pictures. Here in Amsterdam we were hoping on a nice after summer to kcik in. All we see are dark skies and rain. Nice to occasionally be reminded of what the world has to offer.

Ben and Debs said...

@Brenda: Yes, we'll be in NZ Oct and Nov - we've got a week or so to go in Fiji. The original plan is still accurate http://benanddebsyearoff.blogspot.com/search/label/Itinerary

See you in about 3 weeks!

Ben

brenda said...

whew. glad we cleared that one up! well I recommend going north of auckland for a while when you get here - then by the time you head south we'll be back!
North of Auckland is also absolutely gorgeous - recommend Opononi and anywhere in the Coromandel peninsula (which is kind of east, but you get the picture).
happy travels!

Anonymous said...

Tiddly-pip Ben and Debs. Absolutley terrible of us not to say 'hello' before now, and we think of you two loads (especially as you're still travelling and we're not!)
Hope it's still fabulous for you - 'end-of-trip-life' isn't much fun I can tell you.
Check us out Paul Lounds and Paula Cawte on facebook, loads of pics too.
Gonna try and email you too now. Catch up soon (defo wanna meet up when you're back in Amsterdam).
Lots of love.