Lazy Bums in Fiji

Well we arrived back in the US yesterday morning and my parents gave us a great greeting but before we talk about that we're try to catch you up on our time in Fiji.

We did get the itinerary to print and everything worked out at the Naviti Resort.  In New Zealand we had decided to book at this resort because the reviews were pretty good and it was cheaper than going to another island.  We were able to use our credit card reward points to pay for the all-inclusive package at this resort so it was really nice to have that all taken care of and not have to think about how much anything cost!  The resort itself wasn't particularly fancy but it was still quite nice and we spent most of our time lounging by the pool anyway.  The only trouble with that was that we read so much that we ran out of books and had to buy one and then found a place to trade a couple more! 

We did try to do some active things during our time at the Naviti but decided on the first day that we weren't going to do any tours or anything like that and that we'd just be happy to stay put and relax.  But since we had the all inclusive package at the resort we could use the sea kayaks for free which we did one afternoon for an hour or so.  Of course we weren't content to paddle around the little walled off part of the resort and wanted to go explore the reef area a bit so we headed off down the coast.  It wasn't until we were almost back to the resort area that we were met by one of the rec guys telling us we weren't supposed to go there and that the village people could call the police on us! (oops!)

We also went on a few runs on the beach which was a bit of an adventure because of the changing tides and varying stability of the sand, but we did it.  We even did a couple of sprint workouts on one particular stretch of beach.  We saw that stretch of the beach from the kayak and Michelle goes "oh, there's sprinting beach" as though that was it's official name. =)  Oh and we also paid $5 to use tennis rackets and played around for a bit.  We were both pretty awful and gave up after a few games and decided to play cooperative tennis and see how many volleys we could get going--it was pretty sad that we could barely get to 10 and our record was 14!  I also convinced Michelle to golf with me one day (not til we got back to our first hotel in Nadi) which was pretty hiarious. The course was completely empty and our rented clubs ($5 & no green fees) were half lefty and didn't include a putter, but we had fun anyway.  We were both pretty terrible but since I promised Marty I would golf with her for her birthday next week I figured I needed to at least golf once before that since I haven't golfed in over 10 years!

The food at the buffets was pretty decent and we were happy that our first night the buffet was Indian--the dahl soup was the highlight.  And after dinner that night they had a kava ceremony show.  Michelle and I were staying towards the back when they were giving people kava to drink.  Then when it seemed like that part was done we decided it was "safe" to sit on the grass mats they had on the floor to watch the rest of the ceremony.  Then next thing we know they say "another round!" and we both had to try it.  First you have to clap your hands and then they hand you this little bowl with kava and you have to drink it fast like a shot.  It basically tastes like muddy water and then it makes your tongue and mouth feel a little numb.

This post is getting a little long so I'll write more about our time in Fiji in another post or two...