Last week I touched briefly on some of the activities we embarked on while we were in Fiji. This week I will expand on our River Rafting adventure, because it turned out to be a once in a lifetime experience.

Before the trip started, this was one of the things we had already set our minds on doing. It was an all day trip that would take us to parts of Fiji we wouldn’t otherwise get the chance to see. The trip started early in the morning when we met up at the River Rafting offices just outside our hotel. While enjoying a hot cup of coffee we signed the waiver, were then given our wet bags and off we went!

It took us about two hours to get to the starting point of the river, but the drive, as bumpy as it was, was gorgeous. As soon as we turned off the main road, we ventured into the rainforest for another hour, driving up some pretty steep switchbacks that I’m not sure any other bus could handle. We stopped at one of the high points on the road for a quick break and some banana cake, which is where we were divided into our rafting groups and assigned a guide. We were lucky enough to be in a group with some new friends of ours who we had just met that morning at our hotel, so it was just the four of us and our guide – which made the day just so much better! Here are some of the pictures from the trip to the river:

This is where we stopped for our break and banana cake.

Once we got to the starting point, we geared up and set off on the twenty minute, extremely steep and muddy, hike to the mouth of the river where our guides and boats were waiting. After a quick lesson on what to do when you fall in, because apparently it was guaranteed, we were on our way. At this point I didn’t even care about the rapids, I was so excited to be surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen:

The time we spent on the river was about 5 and a half hours with a lunch stop in between. We didn’t really know what to expect in the way of ‘white water’, but we knew nothing could be as bad as the class 4 rapids we battled in Ottawa a few years ago. As we got going down the river through steep cliffs and rainforest we hit a few sets of rapids here and there, but nothing too challenging, which made for one of the calmer adventures of our trip!

After lunch we continued down the river, and as we were getting closer to the main town, we started rafting through some of the local villages. At this point there weren’t really any more rapids, so we spent the final few hours on the river just taking in the real life that surrounded us. There were kids playing and waving, people relaxing, cows grazing and it was just inspiring. Every person you passed would wave and smile, and you really got a sense that we were surrounded by genuinely happy people. Unfortunately some of the pictures came out a bit blurry, but I’ve posted them anyways in hopes that you can get a sense of what it was like:

If you look closely you can see the cameraman in the kayak – this goes to show how full and lush the forest was surrounding us.

She wanted to go swimming too like her brother (above).

If you meet someone from Fiji and they say they’re no good at volleyball – don’t be fooled. We made that mistake and lost miserably almost every day we played.

Local transport to and from the main town.

All the local kids were showing off by seeing how far they could jump into the river. They were having so much fun that we were tempted to jump out too!

In the end, our entire trip to Fiji turned out to be a really cultural experience. When we planned the trip last October, we were hoping for a hot, sunny, tropical getaway. Well, we didn’t have too much of that, until the day we left of course! But we left with friends we didn’t have before and people to visit when we return to Fiji. Because of that and the experiences we shared, the trip turned out better than we could have ever expected.

You won’t find Rice Crispies in FIji, instead you will find Rice Bubbles.

While I was hoping to share our Fijian adventures in sequence, it turns out that we cannot upload the video of our diving, which should come next, so I am jumping ahead for now while I prepare my home made video of our video- classy.

After we checked in to our resort, we had a quick lunch and went straight to the dive shop where we had arranged all of our diving for the trip. The problem though, was that because we were supposed to be there two days earlier we had missed a lot of it, and in order for me to do the shark dive, I had to finish my certification. The only problem now was that the shark dive we booked was for that Saturday and I wouldn’t be finished my certification until Sunday. Luckily for us though, someone cancelled the following week so we were able to go, but more about that later.

For the most part, our mornings were bright and sunny with a bit of rain in the afternoons. After we finished our final dive, we spent a few days relaxing at the resort because thanks to all the rain, every trip that we were supposed to go on was cancelled. Every day, even if it was nice out. This was because the whole time we were there the weather kept calling for cyclones, and even if it was nice weather on land the seas were still really rough. So, we didn’t get to do the jet ski safari or any of the other trips to the islands that we had our hearts set on. But that’s okay, because we ended up having an incredible trip and it was all worth it in the end.

In a way, the weather was a blessing because we experienced some of the most amazing things and met some of the most amazing people, which may not have happened if everything had worked out.

So in the week that followed our diving we relaxed, went zip lining, river rafting and snorkeling, we ate some good food, and played beach volleyball everyday rain or shine with the staff. We were also extremely lucky and were invited to a local village one night to play guitar and drink their local drink, Kava, which pretty much tastes like muddy water. Here are some of the pictures:

ZIP LINING

A taste of the amazing scenery we had while we were zipping through the rainforest.

Our zip lining group.

Weeeeee!

Looking good in our helmets.

Practicing my monkey skills.

OUR RAINY SNORKELING TRIP TO YANUCA ISLAND

Please be prepared this video may make you dizzy. This is nothing compared to what we saw on our dives and we couldn’t get to the best snorkeling spots because of the weather, but we still got to see a bit of aquatic life and we had an amazing surfing resort all to ourselves.

This was the first time we found our tropical blue water. Apparently if you want to see this colour water everywhere you go in Fiji then you have to come in our summertime.

After a rainy grey day it finally got sunny and beautiful! Since we had finished snorkeling and were done getting bitten by sea lice, we spent the rest of the afternoon kayaking around the bay getting sunburnt.

The boat that got us to Yanuca island. We tried to get here before but it was disastrous. See below.

NOT OUR PROUDEST MOMENT

One day we got fed up with not being able to go anywhere. The weather seemed fine from the shore and all we wanted to do was get to the other island and go exploring. So, against everyone’s warnings we rented our own boat and hired a local guy to take us there. Boy was that a mistake. The boat was small and not exactly equipped for those kind of waves. No life jackets, no seatbelts. Only us with our white knuckles gripping on to the bottom of the unattached piece of plywood we were sitting on, while battling waves that were five times the height of the boat. Not fun. The good news is that we made it there. The bad news was that we had to go back again! This video doesn’t do it justice at all, but we thought we were in White Squall.

The aforementioned boat.

Relaxing for a bit before making the even rougher trip home.

This was one of the small coral islands we passed numerous times and were never able to get there because of the wavy weather.

JAM NIGHT AT THE LOCAL VILLAGE

During our stay at the resort, Mark made friends with the band that played every happy hour. They were incredibly talented and actually invited us into one of their homes to play guitar and just hang out. This is what traveling is about for us – being presented with opportunities to dive into the culture that surrounds us, taking them and soaking up every single moment. So many people go on vacation and never leave the resort. I don’t consider that traveling at all, so we were extremely excited to experience this and we took our friends who we met at the resort, James and Whitney, with us.

Making and passing around the Kava.

Jamming with the band.

New friends.

Every time I start one of these posts about our trip I feel like I could go on forever. I still have a lot more stories to share about our diving and river rafting adventures so be sure to check back soon!

So we were finally on our way to Fiji, all we had in front of us now was the ten hour flight! So we thought…

Once we landed in Nadi, Fiji, we were faced with yet another adventure. If you missed the first part of this story you can read it here.

As a result of the multiple flight cancellations and delays, our arrival time was obviously pushed back. Instead of landing in the early morning and catching our taxi to Pacific Harbour (where our hotel was), we were now landing late at night. And because it’s too dangerous to travel long distances by road (it’s a three hour car ride to our hotel) at night, we were stuck. But hey, that’s okay, because since it’s the airlines fault, it’s up to them to accommodate us somehow at their expense!

As excited as we were when we landed, we walked right into unorganized, hot and humid chaos. You’d think that with the ten hour flight they would have a solution for all of the stranded passengers by now. Not to mention the hundreds of passengers who have now missed their connections to New Zealand and Australia!

Well, they didn’t.

There were maybe five airline representatives in charge of finding hotels for just about every passenger that came off that Boeing 747, and let me tell you it wasn’t pretty.

We decided to find the company who was in charge of our transfer, and thankfully they let us relax in their air conditioned office, while they tried to figure things out for us. It turned out that we should have been waiting in line the whole time like everyone else, in order to try and get a hotel, but because all the hotels were filling up fast, they told us to go and find one on our own, and then send the bill to Air Pacific. Yeah, right! First of all, as if we’d get our money back and second, like we’d find a hotel!

Anyways, they managed to find us a hotel, after they had put all the connecting passengers up first. So now, we were finally able to start enjoying Fiji!

Before we left the airport, we arranged for our taxi to pick us up from the Wailoaloa Beach Resort in the morning so that we wouldn’t be stranded with no transportation. So now we were really excited. Everything was re-planned, and we were on our way to what sounded like a beautiful hotel!

Well, we had definitely assumed incorrectly. There’s no need to go into detail, but let’s just say it wasn’t the Hilton. In fact, the tiny motel my Dad and I stayed in in Homer, New York, with cracked windows and drug deals happening outside was preferable.

Regardless, the long journey was over, we had a bed to sleep on, and a three hour coastal drive to look forward to in the morning.

When we eventually arrived at our final destination, The Pearl South Pacific, we were in heaven. It was everything we could have asked for, and, being my first resort experience, I will definitely be back!

Our first Fijian wildlife just so happened to be this bird that would wake us up every morning with its’ not so delicate song.

The first thing we did once we arrived at The Pearl? Beer and fish n’ chips.

Front entrance.

The most amazing lobby I’ve ever seen.

Lining the hallway to the upstairs restaurant were these super somfy couches and booths, perfect for playing games on a rainy day – not like we’d know or anything!

Our first candlelit dinner. This was the ambiance every night and I was in heaven.

Not that you can see it well, but this is quite possibly the best curry I’ve ever had. We ordered it multiple times.

There were fresh flowers all over the hotel, everywhere you went.

The lounge style ‘game’ hallway by night.

Poolside strangers.

View from the pool to the resort.

Same view, just further right. That’s our happy hour restaurant for lunch and dinner on the bottom, and the breakfast and fancy dinner restaurant up top.

View from our breakfast table. Almost every morning was bright and sunny so we sat outside.

From the breakfast table again.

The pool!

Immaculate grounds.

The ‘unreachable’ island. Yes, from our breakfast table. So blessed.

And again.

We still have many stories to share, so be sure to check back to hear more about our adventures in Fiji!

So now that my life is finally caught up and back on track, it’s time to post some Fiji stories! I know it’s a bit late, but better late than never I believe is what they say?

It all started the weekend before when Mark called Expedia to try and switch our hotel in Vancouver (we had a one night stopover there before heading to LA). It was a good thing that he decided to double check our flight status and make sure that everything was in order, because it sure wasn’t. Turns out that the airline decided to flat out cancel our trip. Not delay it. Straight up cancelled. Who does this? Long story short, he was on the phone sorting everything out for the next six hours. So much for a ‘Happy Sunday’.

We managed to sort everything out and extend our stay in Fiji for a night, since we would have lost that time thanks to you-know-who, but it meant we had two nights in Vancouver instead of one. Which I’m not going to complain about because my heart lives a little on the west coast.

Here are some of the pictures from our stay in Vancouver:

At the Vancouver airport, some of the Haida art on display.

A Lego style Killer Whale.

At the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park.

The Olympic Torch.

Packed and ready to go! Next destination, Los Angeles.

So after Vancouver we were supposed to connect to Fiji through Los Angeles with a meager three hour stopover. You can imagine our excitement as our “vacation” was about to begin, only to find out that we were going to be delayed another three hours in Los Angeles thanks to our plane needing a new engine.

ENGINE?!?

Well, let me tell you, whoever thinks it takes only three hours to change an engine in a Boeing 747 is highly mistaken. Sure enough, by the time we were supposed to board our already delayed flight, it was postponed until the following day.

The bad news? We weren’t in Fiji and were missing our scheduled dives. The good news? We were put up in the Hilton LAX.

When we first found out we were delayed, there was nothing much we could do because no one told us an estimated time of departure. It wasn’t until that night that they told us we would be leaving the next day at 1pm. So now that we had an actual day and time, we planned a trip to Manhattan Beach the following morning.

Here are some of the pictures:

We spent an hour at Manhattan Beach walking around enjoying the sunshine and salty air, and then headed back to our hotel. Go figure there was no updated news as to when the plane was actually departing, and after we learned that the airline had booked another 40 rooms for that night, we decided to book it straight to the airport. Good thing we did, because they were checking people in as we got there, and weren’t even planning on telling a soul. Even if the flight was going to be delayed again, we really just wanted to get our luggage so that we could at least change and stop buying overpriced underwear from the boutiques in the LAX Hilton. Lucky for us though, we were finally on our way to Fiji!

Have you ever experienced a travel “nightmare”? If so, how did you deal with it. Being my first travel dilemma I would love to hear your stories!

As most of you may know, we arrived home safe and sound from Fiji about a week ago. I have been (and still am) playing catch up like crazy, which is why I haven’t had a chance to post anything about the trip just yet. That and the 36 hours of traveling sort of knocked me unconscious for a few days!

Despite the serious jet lag, I am happy to acknowledge the fact that my life is slowly getting back to normal. Projects are on track, I am sleeping normally again and life is good.

All in all, Fiji was amazing. I’m sure you knew I was going to say that at one point or another. But, it seriously was. When we booked our trip back in October, we were excited to be venturing off into the South Pacific. You know, the place where it is hot and tropical all of the time.

Well, at least we thought it would be, being their summer and all.

Once everything was said and done, we had a few months to do some more research, and, while avidly watching the Weather Network every day, we learned it was the rainy season. Fingers crossed, we hoped that maybe, just maybe, it would be clear blue skies for the two weeks we were there, and that all these threats of cyclones and tropical storms would eventually diminish.

All I’m going to say at this point in time is that we had a combination of both sun and rain, we got to do almost everything that we wanted, and we had a great trip full of once in a lifetime opportunities.

I have so many stories to share, so be sure to check back soon for more about Fiji!