Basically all of Saturday was taken up with travelling, we left Beachcomber at 1130, me battling with a nasty hangover and an even nastier reaction to one of my malaria tablets that I've been taking in preparation for South America - having missed brekkie thanks to it and only getting sorted thanks to Andy looking after me (thanks matey). We said goodbye to the peeps that had a few more days on the island... Simon included despite it being touch and go the previous day thanks to a close call with the loss of his passport and tickets (luckily found just before he was about to head back to the mainland in search of them... hope all's good Simon and you make it to Sweden ok. Have fun!) The pic here was actually taken at Beachcomber on our first night so not really relevant to this post but Lotty I thought it was a nice one of you and you always tell me off for putting not so nice ones (in your opinion anyway) of you on here! ;0)
The plan for us was to hop on the bus down to Suva, check out Fiji's capital city for the night then head over to Caqelai for 3 days chilling out on a nice remote tropical island. We ended up getting a taxi to Suva, as there was 4 of us it only worked out about $1 more expensive so it seemed daft not to... we made it down there having passed the 4 hour journey with some comedy games.. by early evening and checked into the Sunset Motel.... take my advice, anyone that finds themself in Suva... don't stay there. It was grim and like sleeping on a plank of wood.... we weren't sad to be on our way the next morning. We did have a little venture around the city to see what it was like and to be honest it felt a bit like being back in Asia - this was Andy's first experience of anything like it and it was really interesting to see a different side to Fiji than the idyllic tropical islands it's famous for. I'm not sure it's on my list of places to go back to and other than a great curry (according to the others anyway, me being a wus found it way too spicy!) there's not much more to be said about it.. so I won't bother!
Sunday morning came and we started out for Caqelai... the only way to get there was by taxi and boat. We got a taxi to a place called Waidalice River where the people from the island were picking us up... you can see from the pic here that we were basically dumped in the middle of nowhere, all feeling a little skeptical about whether any boat would be turning up at all!!It did though, and bang on time too. The next 45 mins were spent whizzing our way down the river to the island, we felt a little like we were back on the Mekong in Laos.. it was great fun. We arrived at the island by about midday and as it wsa a Sunday they were serving the traditional Fijian meal; Lovo. We were quite looking forward to trying it but I have to admit I don't think any of us were that struck... sorry Fiji! It was all a bit bland and lacked taste.. other than the fish anyway. Pic below is on the boat ride to the island!!
Caqelai though....... a strange island. Chosen because it was recommended by a mate of Graham's... aesthetically speaking it's stunning, as you can see from the pic's, beautiful white sands, palm trees, the lot... from all the other points of view, a little odd if we're being honest. It's run by Buddists who were all very lovely people and there was only about 15 guests on the island, maximum but I'm not sure how to put it so it doesn't sound offensive, they weren't exactly the same types of people as us... many of them we're sure like to think of themselves as 'proper travellers' ie, the type that look down their noses at the likes of us! Now don't get me wrong, some of them were very sweet but it was pretty clear that we weren't about to become best buddies with them... there seemed to be a routine to the island... so when we attempted a bit of volleyball at a time other than the usual 4pm, after tea... it was met with a little tension!!! comedy!!
Anyway... as we had the 4 of us there it was all good... the day we arrived, it was overcast so after lunch when we'd settled into our dorm - which was wicked, we had it to ourselves for all but one night and were able to fashion seperate 'boudior', lounge and even a bar section - we got on with some cards, then joined in the volleyball (at the accepted time) although 
I still have a big fat bruise on my arm and once Lotty and I had tired of nearly breaking our bones and listening to the somewhat pompous wannabe professional volleyball player (who really wasn't that good) we took it upon ourselves to crack open the duty free gin and take the boys a post-volley drink... ok so it was only 5pm but hey, there's nowt else to do on an overcast desert island! Suffice to say, the rest of the evening was hilarious... involving the discovery of George the cat (so named by us) dinner then a bit of a party for 4 in our dorm.... and also saw the birth of Team Toilet.... the toilets on the island, not to mention the cold bucket showers, left a little to be desired and as they were a little trek from the dorm, after dark there was no way Lotty and I were going it alone so Team Toilet was established... long may it live on Lotty!!
Talking of which.. on one such excursion... our fate as the misfits of the island was sealed when we encountered what we believed to be our friendly french neighbour... we happily greeted her with our Bula's and were promptly met with... 'would you keep it down, you're Quack Quack Quacking all over the place!' Needless to say it was all Lotty and I could do to keep a straight face and from there on in all team toilet outings were accompanied with actual Quacking!!!! Classic! We were naturally most disappointed to find that she was leaving the next day!!! ;0)
Luckily our second day there was lovely and bright and hot.... it was tough getting over the hangover but we managed to get some snorkelling gear together and head out to Snake island whnen the tide was out... it's a crazy little rock formation really shaped like a pirate ship and named so cos of all the sea snakes that reside there. 
When the tides out you can walk out there... so we did. It was cool to see but thanks to the shallowness of the surrounding waters we didn't manage to snorkel there and headed back to the beach to check out the underwater world there. It was cool to snorkel but it was still really shallow and the colours were no where near as impressive as on Bechcomber. The rest of the day was spent soaking up the sun, poor 
Andy got a tad burnt (and yes, that's me being kind, sorry Andy) and playing cards before dinner and a bit of a sing song at a bonfire the island peeps had organised. Thanks to the hangovers we didn't last too long that night and headed home to chill out before bed. One thing I've forgotten to mention thus far is a little comical element to our friend Andy.... he has an unconcious ability to imitate the comedy genius that is Ricky Gervais - although we all find it far more amusing to have nicknamed Andy; David!! haha.... it's truly hilarious, sometimes you'll just catch a 'Brentism' and he has no idea..... don't stop Andy, it's a good thing honest!!
Our third and final day on Caqelai was unfortunately dull and wet so it was mostly spent chilling out, reading, playing cards (surprise!) with a little frisbee thrown in between the rain in an attempt to do something other than lie in our beds all day. The pic you see here is of the lovely Lotty and Graham looking out towards the rain cloud that was approaching (shown in the other pic) it was awesome, you could see it coming towards you and where the rain started and yet be stood there totally dry... although not for long.... we had to do a mad dash to shelter right after those pics were taken!! Was wicked to see though. The evening was much the same as the last, dinner, drinks, cards and some comedy charades thrown in for good measure!! We were leaving the following morning at half 9 and although there were several oddities about the place, it was a good few days, spent with 3 people that are wicked and so we all had fun and I think were glad to have seen the place and experienced a different side of Fiji. We were just hoping and praying for good weather for the return river boat journey!! xx
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