Final full day in Fiji

It was the day of the last trip, I went to the bus stop at 7.30pm, I saw Charlie, who had helped me to find Yu’s house.  I saw a small kitten being wrathful chased by a small flock of very angry starlings.  Then I saw the bus, that was supposed to pick me up go sailing past.  I quickly rang the day trip company and at first they were saying that I was booked for a different day.  I stood my ground and a small suv truck came and took me to another stop where I joined the others.  The group were not a very social group and kept to themselves.
Our group boarded a small boat and headed up river to a Fijian village.  

As we were travelling, I struck up a conversation with the manager of the island resort we were heading to later.  Margaretta, from Sydney, was a bit annoyed when I told her about the pick up disaster. 

We were greeted by the chef who took us all up to his village. A beautiful walk that was surrounded by lush, green trees and the air was filled with bird song.

We headed to the main building.  We had to remove our hats and our sunglasses as we made our way to the ceremony hall.   As we walked around, the villagers would shout Bula and we had to shout bula back.  At the ceremony hall, the Fijian people demonstrated the kava ceremony, then we had a quick tour of their village which included the chef’s hut where the guide explained the role of the chef and the church where they have a service every day except Sunday when they have 3 services. My group went back to the ceremony hall where we could buy gifts and then we took part in some dancing.

The next part of the package was a boat trip down the river to the resort island.  Along the way, the crew hauled up some cages that had caught mud crabs. 

When we arrived, the programme of events was explained to us and everyone settled in various areas to chill.
The first activity after lunch was snorkeling, only 3 of us went and they were Georgie and Will from Brighton, England who were staying at the resort on the island.  They were a lovely couple who made me feel welcome and chatted to me for the rest of the day.  The sea was very choppy and as we snorkelled, the currents were very strong and the visibility was extremely poor but I did see a few fish but no Sharks.  The crew were very nice and relaxed and encouraged us to dive and swim about. I did 3 dives off the side of the boat.

The next activity was a Turtle hunt, I was very excited, thinking I might see a turtle but see the video below.

Next was crab racing, we had to choose a number and then stand on the outside of 3 circles that had been drawn in the sand. The small hermit crabs were held in an upside down bottle and were released when the race was ready to start. 

A demonstration of how to cut open a coconut and the contents were added to make a mud Crab dish which was served in the husks of the coconut.  There was too many Crab shell for my liking. Our dinner was prepared and cooked in a fire pit and after the food was removed, the staff demonstrated fire walking on the hot coals of the pit. Our dinner was served and as the sun went down, the staff lit a beach bonfire and sang songs.

The evening entertainment began with another kava ceremony, a photo session where the staff were dressed in full Fijian costumes, they then showed us different dances relating to the history of the islands. 

The evening ended with amazing fire dancing. 

As we departured, there was a full moon and a lightning storm which was a bit disconcerting as we were travelling back in a metal boat. I was the last drop off and finally arrived back to my Airbnb at 11.30pm, my host had not given me a key so had to wait up for me.