Category: Travel

We had preordered breakfast to be delivered at 8am….

because we had a date with the beach for some snorkelling…

Is this a postcard or what?

We got our gear and headed out. Kevin gave instruction to my Mum (who only once snorkelled)

I took video and photos – but underwater it’s hard to see what you’re shooting so I only have 2 photos to share…. which is probably a relief to you all :-). There were lots of fish – some big, some colourful, some slugs, gorgeous blue starfish…

and a pretty cute eel….

After about a hour exploring we headed back to land…

and promptly sat in the sun to dry off and enjoy the view….

while the girls went for a kayak…

Doesn’t this photo just scream FIJI?????

We had wanted to go a tour of gardens but after waiting 15min gave up on the guide turning up. So we headed poolside for some swimming and reading…

Christy had fun joining in aqua aerobics.

It was pretty hot out today and we felt we’d had enough sun. After getting changed we headed to the poolside restaurant Bavari for lunch…only to discover it had the same poolside menu! Not that it mattered very much.

I chose to have the mango, avocado and macadamia salad that Kevin’s had a few times.

At 2pm Kevin dropped the girls at kids club and went spent some time reading indoors and in the air conditioning. I think it’s the first time we’ve hung out here all week, except for early morning and the evening.

At some stage Kevin wandered off to get himself a cocktail. As you can tell for a normally non-drinker he’s really gotten into the spirit of a tropcial holiday.

After kids club Christy put on some the fake nails from Santa (a bonus is she now can’t bite her nails) and headed back out to swim with her friends.

Around 4pm Nan, Pop and I went for a walk to explore a bit more of the resrot.

Just the four of us went to dinner tonight as Mum & Dad weren’t yet hungry but we needed to feed the girls before they went to kids club. We headed back to Baravi, and discovered they had a different menu at night.

Look at how brown Christy is getting…

We received some complimentary dumplings to start…

and enjoyed some of the night-time torch lighting ceremony…

I had a vegetarian chow mein. It was nice but a little bland. Unlike Amy’s chili dish which I sampled!!!

Then it was a quiet night back in our bure. We had planned for a post dinner swim but we were much too full. Maybe another night.

I was up early again at 4.30am. But do you remembemy request for blue skies???? Look what I saw when the sun finally rose?

Kevin headed off for a scuba dive at 7.30am. Amy was up around then and Nan & Pop not till after 8am. Christy was sound asleep. We started trying to wake her up gently at 9am with natural night, cuddles, etc but it took shaking and loud talking to rouse her. Poor thing, we were just getting desperate for some breakfast.

As we walked out Nan’s door we realized that they actually have a water view – look carefully through the trees….

Christy had opted to stay in bed while we headed off to the buffet breakfast.

Such a great selection with smoothie shots, made to order omelettes, fresh fruit, a juice bar and more of those yummy pastries. I’d had my first (small) plate when Christy arrived covereed in bites, so I had to rush off up the hill to get some stop itch. I think this is the first trip in forever that I haven’t packed any!!!

Itching problem solved I could finish my breakfast. The juice was pineapple and ginger. Nice but a little too gingery for me. The citrus steamed potatoes and baked beans were my favs.

We were still doing breakfast when the girls headed off to do some (paid) craft. Shortly after Nan, Pop and I headed for the pool, and pretty much dove straight in.

We were still in when the girls arrived back with their creations….

and then joined us in the pool. With Kevin showing up not long after. He enjoyed his dive (and was the only one on the trip) but had sinus problems so postponed his second dive.

The girls found the hair braiding lady. Amy had a just a few put in but Christy conned Kevin into letting her get her whole head done. It’s such a long procedure (unlike in Mexican where Amy had her whole head of long hair done in around 10mins) and she’s to go back for the second half tomorrow morning.

Remember me telling you about the little touches – here is the poolside toilets….

Ah…. must be time for another mocktail….

After an hour in the chair Christy returned. She loves her braids – I’m just not sure about the little antlers from her fringe :-).

Life certainly passes at a slow pace here on the island but eventually  it was time for lunch. Today we headed to the beachside grill.

Great service….

A great view….

and great food. Kevin and I shared a tapas (my first) which is why you might spot meatballs and prawns on the plate.

Everything was delicious.

And here’s the beach photo I didn’t take yesterday… will definitely need to come hang out here sometime this week…

Back to the pool while Amy does an intro to scuba class in the pool. I get a few hair braids at Kevin’s suggestion and find the only unfriendly staff we’ve come across. Then enjoy some tea by the pool.

Around 3pm the clouds rolled in and unleashed a considerable amount of water so we headed back to the room. Here’s Christy pretending to be Santa guiding his sleigh.

Not sure how well I captured the rain….

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but here’s the path off the verandah….

The best part of the rain, besides giving us this lush landscape, was all the frogs we saw hopping around. It was so cute. Not sure if you can make this one out – he’s the brown blob in the middle right of the photo.

We spent  a bit of time hanging out in our room, then (while Kevin had a sleep) we walked up to check out the shops and visited the ladies from the nearby village who come in to sell their homemade items. Christy was excited to get a grass skirt and this sarong, necklace and head band. Amy also got quite a few goodies.

We made sure to organise dinner before the girls had to head off to kids club. Pizza via room service tonight. Yum.

We dropped off the girls, who were going frog hunting tonight and head to carols by candlelight. We weren’t sure what to expect and didn’t really want to sing ourselves, so were thrilled to just be able to listen to the resort/village choir. No music, just their wonderful voices.

While there Kevin enjoyed his cocktail of the day, them promptly felt unwell (don’t think it was related to the cocktail).

The resort is just as beautiful at night as it is during the day…

Back in our room we shared a cheese plate and waited till the girls to come back from kids club.

Which they did at 9pm happy and dirting after catching frogs and watching them race!!! Time to hang out the stockings for Santa and drag out bedtime as long as possible by tracking Santa on the Nordic tracker site. It was after 10pm before both girls finally fell asleep. It wouldn’t be a problem except Christy has a 9am appointment to get her braids finished off….

Oh, here’s a photo showing some of my braids 🙂

NOTE: There are constant greetings of bula all the time, whenever you pass or see a staff member. It really is lovely. The Fijians are a very friendly bunch.

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Some things never change and I was awake about 4.30pm and up at 5am having a cup of tea and catching up on blogs. It was dark when I got up and it didn’t get light until after 6.30am.

Quite a nice view when it does.

One by one everyone else eventually woke up but it wasn’t until 9am that everyone was up. Rather than go out to eat we decided to order room service for breakfast. We got 4 meals for the 6 of us and it was still a ridiculous amount of food. We actually kept 3 of the plates of fruit and 2 of the pastry plates to have later!

My breakfast was a poached egg, toast, some fruit and a couple of the pastries.

Love the fresh cut flowers that accompany everything – even breakfast!

Before breakfast I’d taken the girls and registered them for kids club and at 10am they went back for the their first session. We weren’t sure how Amy would be (being that it’s for 12 and unders and she’d be amongst the oldest) but when we saw her later she seemed to be having lots of fun.

On our exploration walk we ran into an childhood school friend. I knew he was here (thanks to facebook) but didn’t expect to run into him so quickly. It was lovely to have a little catch up. We saw the girls heading into the pool for some pool games and went down to have a look at the beach. It’s a rather overcast day (still warm, but not stinking hot) so I didn’t take any photos here – saving that for a blue sky day.

Kevin found the dive shop and got some info, and we headed back to our room. We got there just as the cleaners did so hung outside. It was getting rather warm and we were keen for a swim so after picking up the girls at 12pm, headed for the pool. Our room is in a great location, right beside kids club, which is right beside the pool. It really couldn’t be any better for us. The bures by the beach looked nice but there was no privacy from people walking past, they only sleep 2, and are further from the pool.

Once at the pool it was straight in for all of us. The water is a wonderful temperature, one that is lovely to be in for some time. Refreshed we got out and promptly ordered some drinks. Another cocktail for Kevin and virgin pina coladas for Amy and myself. Not quite sure why my family all cover themselves with towels. It wasn’t that hot and the sun wasn’t out!

I was sitting under an umbrella so had no worries.

We spent quite a few hours hanging out by the pool. We enjoyed lunch delivered to our sun lounges – falafel wrap…

and later an ice cream….

I must have been too relaxed to take many photos today. The kids came and went – Christy loved hanging out in the hammock outside our room – later she told me she was Santa and it was her sleigh :-). Kevin went back to the room for a sleep and later booked himself a dive for tomorrow. Even I had a little nap by the pool. Around 4pm we headed back. I showered and changed and Kevin and I went up to the shops for a few things.

Shortly after our return our talei (butler) arrived with champagne softdrinks and a plate of canapes (with chicken). We read and chatted and were still here when he returned with night caps. We hadn’t had dinner yet, but Kevin happily had his drink anyway :-).

The only problem we’ve had is that the rooms are quite dully lit. The middle lounge area is probably the brightest but as dusk fell even that proved a little dark for Mum trying to do a crossword. Kevin to the rescue. Those who know him will not be surprised….

Of course we all died laughing when Mum put the headlight on – but at least she could see. She was giving me the “don’t you dare take my photo” look. But I did and think it’s priceless :-).

The kids went off the kids club again and we finally ordered some room service for dinner. Amy had pizza, Kevin chicken wings, Dad a club sandwich.

Mum & I had veggie stirfry (hers with chicken). It was so yummy. We ordered a bowl of rice for Christy who was still at kids club (Amy had come back early).

Then more chatting and reading before everyone got tired and headed off to bed. I stayed up with Christy who was still eating her dinner and we headed to bed around 9.30pm. It’s been a near perfect day with only rain in the morning and evening, but I would like to see some blue skies tomorrow :-).