Wow! Sorry it has been SO LONG since i have posted!! Mostly everything has been crazy since I got home and then when I did have time I didn't want to post cause I knew it would take forever to catch up :) haha well I guess I should start where I left off...which would be Fiji! Pretty much the most amazing thing ever!
June 3, 2009 We flew into Nadi first and got the warmest welcome! They were so excited to see us. We stayed the night...which is also where we met Tony and Brent (our guides for the trip) and then flew to the island of Kadavu the next morning. (pronounced Can-da-vu) There are no roads on the island except right around the airport so we traveled by boat, kayak, or feet the entire time we were there. They also don't really have money there they just live off the land.
Right when we got off the plane in Fiji
June 4, 2009 Before we went to the airport we went to a fresh fruit market and to an orphanage. The kids are so cute!! We flew over and the largest plane fit 12 ppl. It was crazy!!! The airport is the size of the Terrace in the wilk...maybe even smaller...and it had cement floors and was basically just one big room. After we all got to the island we got in boats that were like canoes with motors and drove for an an hour and half to the "resort" we were staying at. They use the word resort very loosely...don't worry we camped everywhere we went :) We stayed at Kenia Beach Resort on Ono Island and the family the owns and runs it is so nice!! They are amazing. We also met our 10 Fijian guides that would be with us the next 2 weeks helping us around the island. That night we of course ate fish....and then had a bonfire and busted out the guitars and sang. It was so great. It seriously reminded me of family parties.
The kids at the orphanage
June 5, 2009 We had bumbacow for breakfast, which is like a scone only a little different. Hooray for something I liked :) We went cliff jumping, learned some kayaking skills, and got to know the guides better. Me, Em, and Al were grouped with Simon who ended up being my Fijian boyfriend :) hahah
Cliff jumping
Workin the spray skirts :)
the amazing family the owns Kenia
June 6, 2009 We took turns kayaking to the uninhabited island since there weren't enough for everybody to kayak. The guides are so fun and hilarious! We searched for shells, sang songs, seriously like everything you would imagine paradise to be. When we got to the uninhabited island there was a ceremony asking permission from the people that look over the island if we could stay. A few of the guides had gone earlier that day to cut out a place for us to camp and set up a bathroom and eating area. It was amazing. The ceremony was such a neat experience....all done in Fijian so I didn't really understand, but amazing! After the ceremony and they said we could stay on their island there was a lot of drinking kava and singing and dancing to the guitar.
Mine at Steph's matching hair :)
June 7, 2009 We held our own sacrament meeting in the island and most of the guides joined us. What a neat experience. We hiked up to the highest point of the island and it was gorgeous. We then kayaked over to our next resort. This one being probably the nicest we stayed in. There were a few bungalows, hammocks, an eating area, they even sold candy bars and coke! haha our group was a little excited!
Tombai, Simon, me, Toks, Emily, and Ratu
June 8, 2009 We got and got to do 2 scuba dives!! So great! We had to split up into smaller groups because they didn't have enough gear but it was such a blast. We saw a lot of really cool things and it was even more colorful than in Australia. Apparently we dove at like the 9th largest reef, but it's basically untouched because there aren't like any tourists. We spent the rest of the day playing volleyball and just laying in the sun. Such a blast! We had a little dance party that night and then just all sat around and chatted. It is so fun to learn about the Fijian culture.
Chelsey, Kristyn, Emily, Katherine, me, Kandyce
Simon and I
me scuba diving
June 9-12, 2009 These next few days were spent in the villages. Our group was split in half and one group kayaked to their village while we hiked over the island. It took about 4 hours to get there, but Simon carried my backpack the whole way and cut me down a walking stick. We had a great time hiking. Some parts were pretty hard, but so worth it. We had to wear sulu's (like lava lava's) the entire time we're in the villages so we weren't offensive. There was also a ceremony asking if we could stay. Oddly enough the half of the group that was in Vacalea (vathalea) were all pretty quiet. hahaha the more eccentric personalities were all at the other village. We stayed in Simon and Gus' village. We learned to gather the food, prepare food, sew or weave the mats they sit on, learned lots of Fijian words, played with the kids in the school, helped get sand for bldg a dormitory and chopped firewood. It was such a neat experience and the ppl were amazing!! They were so excited for us to be there and treated us so well!! We also played volleyball every night. I almost took one of the little girls home with me and Gus said I could, but...... :) We all bonded as a group and had such a good time. A few of us STARVED in the village slash the entire time we were in Fiji cause we don't like fish, taro, or casava, but we survived. Our good-bye ceremony was so great, the kids sang and danced for us and they sang to us. They all have such amazing voices and can harmonize! So great. We sang "God Be With You Till We Meet Again" and a lot of them were in tears after. Such an amazing spirit. We had to kayak 4 hours back to meet the group. It was pretty intense cause we were headed into the wind and waves. I was first with Katherine one of the guides and she is so good at it so it wasn't too bad, but then Amy Jo and I were together and we did a great job, but we almost thought we wouldn't make it :)
the beginning of our 4 hour hike to the village
the kids standing at the entrance to the village waiting as we hiked in
so excited to have something other than fish, taro, and casava!!
the school kids
the girl I was supposed to take home :)
washing my clothes by hand
June 13, 2009 We got to kayak in the pouring rain today! Such a blast!! I loved it! We sang and played tricks on each other the whole time we were kayaking hahahaha at the end of kayaking we hiked up to a waterfall. It was gorgeous. That night some kids from the school came and danced for us. We also met an LDS family that lives right by the resort we were at.
the waterfall
June 14, 2009 We held our own sacrament meeting again and it was really cool. The guides sat in and listened too. It was so great! They hadn't really even heard of the church before. What a humbling experience it was to be on the island. We did a little walk to this gigantic tree and then came back and had a testimony mtg of sorts with all the guides before they left. We were sad to see the guides go.
All of our guides
the whole crew
June 15, 2009 We got up to watch the sun rise and then packed up our stuff and headed to the airport. It was kind of a long day because we can't all fit on one plane so we had to sit around at the airport for hours. We got to Suva and watched a choir from Kadavu perform and then went to our resort.
Morning sunrise
view from the plane as we took off
Kadavu airport
don't worry just drinking Fiji water in Fiji :)
the island of Kadavu and all the places we stayed
June 16-18, 2009 We shopped in Suva...it kind of reminded me of China town in NY. It was pretty crazy. We also got to go to the temple for a few minutes in Suva. We rode a bus back to Nadi and our last night there had a good-bye dinner and all just hung out. It was so fun and we were all sad to leave, but excited at the same time. We flew home all day the 18th. From Fiji to New Zealand...in the airport for like 7 hours and then to LA....don't worry this was all on the 18th and we landed in LA in the afternoon. haha so crazy!
eating fresh cut pineapple at the market
Suva Temple
all the blondes :)
We got to LA and the Sorensen family was there to pick us up! So fun! Em opened her mission call that night! Hooray!! SLC Temple Square! I hung out there for a day and then flew to Las Vegas to meet up with Bex and surprise my mom!! More on that in the next post.
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