Bula Fiji!

Bula ngajubintharri!

It's been a while, how we all going in this new year? I hope everyone's start to the new year was a lot less stressful than mine!

I'm not going to get into the details but for those who don't know I'm spending 2 months volunteering in Fiji with GVI. I'm doing marine conservation and will be getting my Open Water and Advanced Open Water PADI cert while here.

I will say this. I will not be volunteering with GVI again! I volunteered with them in Nepal and I had the best time, absolute cracker of a time! But this time around has been shithouse. Not here in Fiji but the support/admin business beforehand was a joke. And incredibly stressful. Again not going into details, but I think it's pretty crappy to not provide the proper support/visa documentation for the volunteers who have spent an embarrassingly large amount of money to be able to volunteer, and then not provide them with any kind of refund at all unless they shelled out an additional $500 at booking to buy a Cancellation Waiver. Without which, tough shit, you do not get your money back at all no matter what the circumstance, even if it's GVI who have fucked up!

So if anyone is interested in volunteering I suggest you find another organisation and you read the T&Cs carefully!

But I'm here now and enjoying it for the most part.

The heat and humidity can get fucked. I thought Cambodia was bad but fuck me!

The mozzies can fuck off and all too!

Essential kit - the mozzie net

The ocean is incredible though. The fish are so pretty and the reefs are full of sea life. I've been snorkelling a few times and have seen lots of fishies and sea slugs, lots of dolphins and a shark.

The marine conservation base

The first arvo

I can't tell you much about where I'm staying but it is a remote little village with limited phone service and fuck all wifi so the updates are gonna be few and far between.

All the volunteers get adopted by a local family (which I love) and we have Sunday lunch with them and spend time with them as we would our own families (guess I won't be seeing much of them then 😜). My na (mother) is a beautiful woman with 7 kids who's names I cannot remember at all. But they are a beautiful family who welcomed me right away and cooked me a really yummy lunch of fish in coconut milk and boiled casava.

On Friday some of the local ladies took us all out fishing and sadly I did not catch a fish, but I did catch an eel and I was really happy until I found out the eel will be killed but not eaten because they are poisonous. And it had to be killed because it had tangled itself in the line and was slowly strangling itself to death. I felt awful! And fishing is one of my favourite things to do, it relaxes me and calms me like few other things and now I'm having second thoughts about it because of that poor eel. I guess it'll be eaten by the other sea creatures so...

Yeah the bush girl in me is wondering what the fuck my problem is.

Back from snorkelling

Poor eel

Anyways, this weekend me and some other ladies from the volunteer program decided to come to Leleuvia island.

I think resort might be a touch generous for the accom but it is gorgeous here. I don't think I've ever seen such a beautiful view in my life. And the water is perfect, not cold or hot, and flater than my tits!

Leleuvia island paradise

This morning I was sitting in my little hammock watching the crabs dig their holes and the biggest sea snake crawl out of the water and up the beach where it settled under a tree and ate a bird, afterward a dog ripped it out of the bushes and chased it back into the water.

And there are so many hermit crabs here - love it!

Don't know how I'm going to go in Fiji, if I'll make the whole 2 months or not. It's not been the easiest start to the year and as usual I have way too much on my mind.

Last year was a hard year, she said while travelling Asia...

No but it really was a hard year. I lost a lot of people in my life, some through death and some not. And all of them hurt. A lot!

So this year I'm trying to let go of the life I saw for myself (the life I wanted even if I couldn't admit it to myself) and try and embrace this new life that's presenting itself. Let's see how I go with that.

For now I think I'll go for a dip!

*edit - ok so if you want to volunteer with GVI don't let me stop you. Shitty admin experience doesn't take away from awesome volunteering or experiences. Just read the T&Cs carefully and be aware no refund unless you buy the waiver (I think this is dumb but that's my own opinion). And I wouldn't take back my GVI Nepal experience for anything.

*edit x2 - just wanted to share this but at the island resort they blow into a large shell to signal food is ready. Love that!

And I have been swimming, SUPing and kayaking this weekend and I am brown! I'm one of these people who tan standing under a bright bulb.

*edit x3 - man, do they love Celine Dion here! I have heard her songs more in the last week than I ever have in my entire life. And I lived through the Titanic year!