Leaving too soon!

Our prayers weren't answered and the day of our departure from Caqelai dawned grey and wet.... 45 mins in what was basically a rowing boat with an engine attached to it was not going to be fun!! After we were seen off from the island with a scarily funereal like song from the locals, we proceeded to get ridiculously wet bumping up and down over the waves..... now that it's over it's quite comical, at the time.... not so much! Anyway, we'd arranged for a taxi to pick us up at the bridge and take us back to Nadi. Lotty and Graham were flying out to LA the next day, my flight was the day after and we had friends from Sydney arriving the following morning too. The journey back to Nadi, once we'd dried out was ok, it rained most of the day so we didn't really mind being stuck in a car all day. We made it back but about 3pm and checked into the Nadi Bay Resort Hotel.. which had been recommended to us. It was a great little place with 2 swimming pools, bars, restaurants and decent dorms, not to mention a proper shower! Yay! we spent the afternoon just catching up on emails, doing our laundry and having a long awaited proper shower... lush! Then, along with David, a guy from our dorm, headed to a nearby Mexican restaurant for our last supper together where we discovered Pictionary so had a cheeky game while waiting for our food. (another long awaited thing... a good feed, the food on Caqelai wasn't all that). As you can see from the pic, Graham in particular enjoyed the meal!!

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and chilled out in the bar with a cheeky cocktail before bed. We ended up bumping into a lot of peeps that had been on Beachcomber with us so it ended up being quite a late one. Fun though.

Thursday morning dawned... my final day in Fiji - Boo! Lotty and Graham weren't flying until that evening and Steve and Glen were arriving mid morning so the day, although sad as I'd have to say goodby to the lovely Lotty and Graham, would be a fun one too. Luckily it was beautifully hot and sunny so once we were up and about we set ourselves up by the pool to soak up the sun. By mid morning we'd found Steve and Glen checking into our dorm and caught up with them - having not seen them since Sydney, we'd been looking forward to them arriving. The rest of the day was spent by the pool, mostly playing Trivial Pursuits - the aussie version which took us an age to get through but we managed it in the end. Obviously not sure about Lotty and Graham but Glen and I let Steve and Andy win... we were just being nice!!! ;0) Honest! (pic here is the newbies, Glen and Steve btw, not that you can actually see Glen - there's a clearer one of him below though!!)

After the sun had set we all headed up to the dorm and chilled out while Lotty and Graham got packed and ready to go... and I pretended to pack (although how lying on the bed chatting is pretending I'm not really sure but hey it was fun!!) 7pm came and it was time for the cheeky two to leave us..... I can't believe it came round so quickly..... Lotty and Graham I had a ball travelling with you both, you rock and I can't wait to catch up when we get home (if not in South America) I miss you loads but hope you're having fun and games in LA!!

Anyway, once we'd tearfully waved them off we headed back to the room, Glen got the drinks in while I had a shower and the evening went from there..... somehow all except Andy 'forgot' to eat and while everyone else headed straight to the bar, Glen and I sat and chatted in the dorm, which unintentionally meant that we were sensible and didn't drink for a little (although we made up for that later). We finally dragged ourselves from the comfiness of our beds and joined the others in the bar where numbers had multiplied several times over in our absence, Andy had done his usual socialite thing and brought the masses together so there was quite a crowd going on and the atmosphere was great. Glen and I settled in nicely and thanks to several weeks of banter (aka: abuse) concerning our drinking abilities, it seemed only right to put such claims to the test... which meant only one thing... Sambuka!! Ouch!!! I don't know why I imagine I can do such things and be ok (and Glen, that isn't me admitting I'm a lightweight... that's your title!!) I did manage to hold my own though and if I recall correctly, the nearly full bottle of beer left voluntarily at the end of the evening didn't belong to me did it Mr Cameron??! Anyway, in a nutshell the rest of the evening post-Sambuka was spent, drinking, chatting, chilling out on the fab (and ridiculously big) hammocks the hotel had dotted around and generally being mischievous and having fun. Needless to say we all awoke with big fat hangovers the next morning and surprise surprise, we had to be up early to catch our respective boats/buses/planes!!!!! Clearly I will never learn my lesson!! Was a wicked night though!

Anyway, 8:30am Friday morning and it was time to say goodbye again... yet again to people I didn't really want to leave... having already said bye to Lotty and Graham, next to leave were Glen and Steve who were off to Beachcomber for a few days... Lads, it was wicked to see you again albeit for too short a time, it's a shame our timing wasn't better and we only crossed over by one day but it was a good day and the perfect way to end my time in Fiji. I hope you're having fun back there and I hope we'll meet again.... it's so much fun abusing Glen it'd be rude not to eh Steve! ;0) Glen.. what can I say.. I think we can call it even on the drinking stakes but I'm clearly still beating you on the tan front!!! xx

Next to leave was me, which meant another goodbye, to a very hungover Andy... the only one of us that didn't have to get up that morning so I let him off seeing me off and believe he promptly passed out again after I'd left. Andy... it was great to have met you and I know I speak for Lotty and Graham too when I say we're really glad you joined Team Fiji, you were fun to travel with and we'll see you back in London, Brentism's, Top 10 Saints and all!! Enjoy the rest of your trip matey.

And that was that... Fiji over.... I was on my way to the airport for my penultimate flight... a very bizarre feeling!! I could've done without the hangover for the marathon journey i was about to embark on but the hangover was worth it and at this point I wasn't to know just how long my journey was really going to be!! Fiji went all to quickly... it's strange how you look forward to something for so long and wish for it to come then before you know it it's been and gone. Even though I was really excited to be heading to South America, I have to admit I would've happily stayed in Fiji a little longer... xx