Bula from Fiji!

Bula! (hello in Fijian) We are back on the mainland after an incredible week of relaxing, snorkelling, drinking, learning about the Fijian culture and more relaxing. We left stinkin' early on the 27th to hit up our first island, Nacula, where we stayed at a resort called Safe Landing for four nights. The highlights were the cave trip and the visit to the Fijian village. During the cave trek, we swam in a freshwater cave and even swam underwater to get to a closed roof cave (that was a little freaky...you have to dive underwater to get to the other side). During the visit to the Fijian village, we attended a preschool's end of year presentation. The children were so friendly and smiley! They are just mesmerized by our toys like digital cameras and ipods. We even went back on the Sunday to attend a church service. We don't really know what they were talking about because the whole thing took place in Fijian, but I am sure they pray about the same things that most Christians pray about.

After Safe Landing, we visited the island of Waya and stayed at the Sunset Waya resort. It was much more basic than at Safe Landing (including the addition of mice and cockroaches), but the activities were more fun. We went on a snorkel and shark feeding trip. Yes, we swam near a reef shark. At one point, one of the guides grabbed the shark (after luring it with a fish) and I got to pet it. Don't worry, it was a reef shark, which only eats fish, but it's still pretty crazy to be swimming around and seeing the shark come closer. I have seen Jaws one too many times to be completely comfortable with the idea of swimming near a shark! We also went on a mountain trek and got great views of another village. We also went mango picking and ate Fijian apples.

We spent our last night at Beachcomber, also known as the party island. It wasn't incredibly jumpin', but our standards are pretty high from partying on bigger party islands in Thailand.

So, here we are on our last night in Fiji. We are staying at another hostel this time, and even managed to get a beautiful private room. Jason is feeling under the weather so I think a good night's sleep will do him a world of good.

We leave tomorrow for Auckland then to Bangkok on a layover. It seems that the situation in Bangkok is fine, but in Mumbai it's a little sketchy. The travel agent who booked our round the world ticket informed us that India airlines are changing reservations free of charge, so we will likely scrap India and maybe either stay longer in Thailand or go sooner to Dubai. We will keep you posted!

Here are some recent photos of our travels. From left to right, I figured out how to mess around with our camera so I did a colour swap with the sunset; the inside of the open roof cave we visited; me with a Fijian child (I think it was a girl, but it's hard to tell. He/she was so cute!); two Fijian girls chillin' out with the ipod; the view from the mountain at Safe Landing; and Jason snorkelling with tons of fish (our guide put cracker crumbs in the water to attract the fish).

I hope all is well back home. Don't be shy to give us an update on what you have been up to!