Our woes actually started before we left Australia but I'll omit the details here; suffice to say our accommodation plans had changed, and would continue to remain in a state of flux for the first week. Just pretend all you read here was as planned... "problems" experienced whilst spending Christmas and New Year in Fiji would, understandably, hardly illicit any sympathy anyway (and nor should they!!).
For the first few nights, we crashed in a backpackers hostel on the beach in Nadi, with the idea of picking up Christmas supplies in town (just a few festive snacks, decorations and such like). It turns out, however, that although the Fijians do very much celebrate Christmas, its very different to back home.
Spend time with loved ones, enjoy a meal together and have a bit of a party. That's it. It puts things into perspective when you realise that even gift giving or special foods appear to be constructed traditions.
I stalwartly decided to embrace this minimalist approach; Bex, however, would take a little more convincing... she had her heart set on mince pies.
We distracted ourselves by way of a boozy desert island visit; we ate and drank too much with a load of Fijians just returned for the holidays, then it was straight on to our main stopover.
This was located in a remote region to the south of the main island, just a small main restaurant/kitchen/staff house and a series of bungalows on a verge above the sea. This was the real Fiji we were looking for and we'd be here till after boxing day.
It was basic but brilliant. The local staff involved us in everything and they were more like friends from the off. Aside from relaxing, eating and drinking, we also tried our luck at hand line fishing and went for a fair few walks with the resident dog, Ranger.
Ranger. Best holiday dog ever? Could be.
Christmas day was a great big social event between the guests and staff. Bex and I brought along a tiny bit of home festivities (we'd managed to find a Santa hat, Rudolf ears, crackers and a ton of fizz) other than that it was all Fijian; lovo (traditional earth cooked meal) for lunch, dancing, drinking and then a bonfire and BBQ on the beach in the evening. It was certainly different, but also definitely pretty awesome!!
Top crew.
Days later, we moved onward to a smaller island where we explored, relaxed and spent a low key new year, a couple more days after that our holiday within a holiday had come to an end. We'd had a fantastic break and meet some great people, locals and tourists alike. We were, however, now both eager for the next big leg of our adventure, an entire 3 months in New Zealand...
Sunset on Mana Island... It was alright I suppose
[More photos when I get home, I trashed my tablet halfway through the trip!]
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