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Our Trip To Fiji !


Lollipup
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Wasn't sure whether to post this in Off Topic or here, but it will have a lot of photos, so here we go!

We just got back last Wednesday from Fiji which was my first trip overseas. We went for seven days and stayed at the Naviti resort. My cousin-in-law got married there on the Saturday so we had a great holiday with a big party in the middle.

I am SO glad I bought the Panasonic Lumix FT4 camera just before we went as it was the main camera I used for the whole trip for photos and videos.

I was often thinking of how I can't wait to get back to tell DOL all about my holiday and show the photos - how sad is that? lol

It took me a few days to sort them all out, I took 1800 photos and videos between the lumix and the DSLR, most of which was on the Lumix while the DSLR stayed in the safe, which is why I'm so glad I got the baby camera.

Anyway, onto the tour:

Arriving at the resort, everyone greets you with a happy "Bula!":

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Our room the day we arrived:

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I had a fair few of these. We had the All Inclusive deal which included all local beer, wine & spirits! We only had to pay for cocktails but they were only $10FJ which is like $6 or $7 AU

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This is part of the small village next door to the resort, which you were only allowed to go to these few shops without being with a guide. They had cheaper tours which were quite the experience but will cover that later

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This sort of sight was everywhere and was saddening. They use these dogs for pig hunting. They are about the size of a kelpie. We saw a pregnant/lactating bitch on the road trying to scavenge something on our way from the airport to the resort, but this guy was in the village.

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The beach at the resort:

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There were lots of these:

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The resort pool with swim up bar

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My husband Jamie - made him stand in the rain to take the photo. It only rained a little bit and it was still hot so it didn't affect what we did. The view of the gardens from the rooms walkway:

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We ate a LOT of food and it was all really good. Apparently the head chef gets paid $2.50FJ per hour :(

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The ever changing dessert table

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Where we dined the most often

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The pool bar, loved it but a lot of screaming kids splashing around. Many people had chlorine in their drinks so I didn't drink in there as often as I had planned!

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Most the photos that I am actually in are the result of selfies - this one on the way to the scuba lesson

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Scuba lesson in the pool, first time I have done it and now we want to get our licences!

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Waiting in the hammock while my husband and his cousin disappeared on kayaks. Couldn't see them anymore and ended up sending out the activity guy to get them as he had the room key in his pocket lol

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THIS CAT had the life. By night he begged for food at the dinner tables and usually scored some from children. And by day he was on the pool lounges!

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This was just before one of the tours we did through the village. The main group were going to the hot springs and Jamie and I were going on a horse ride to a waterfall, we were all supposed to leave together and then split up but we were taken off separately at the start in this little car and didn't really know what was going on!

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Driving through the village - they were preparing a massive peice of meat and the dogs were waiting nearby!

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Our horses. Our "tour guides" were two 12 year old boys who sat on the back of the horses. The stirrups were held on by rope, the bridle was rope, reins - rope, girth - not sure I want to know but it was loose as, horses were apparently on kava and were very slow. I knew it would be different to riding at home but I was a little bit shocked by a few things. No helmets, no indemnity forms. Oh, and all the horses were stallions!

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I asked what was the horses name, the guide said "boy" and I asked what were the dogs names - "boy"

Me and my tour guide:

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Edited by Lollipup
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Jamie on his horse, an ex race horse he was told

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The start of the track

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It got more and more rocky, very rocky river crossing galore. The horses had battered legs, they do this every day. I felt bad for the horse as I could feel his bones clicking underneath me. I took it easy on him but the boy on the back kicked, yelled at and whipped him constantly.

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This is when I realised all the horses were stallions - Zeke, the boy, said "oh oh, woah" and then told me we had to wait for the tied up horses on the other side to be moved or the horses will fight. One of them had a massive sore on his withers

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We tied up the horses and went by foot

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One of the dogs that followed us

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We then had a refreshing swim at this waterfall. I was glad we went there and not the hot springs on this hot day. A few more locals met us there and it was just the two of us with the locals.

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Us

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On the ride back we had different people with us.I had a young girl on the back this time. It was very hard to get the horses to go faster than a walk. only had a couple of short trots.

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One of the crossings

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We were walking along and the woman with the thongs whacked the dog with them so hard he yelped. I asked what did the dog to and the girl with me said she didn't know. It seemed very out of the blue!

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They dropped us off at the side of the road and said goodbye. They were all very nice to us. We had to walk a couple hundred metres back to the resort but the woman walked with us. They left the horses with the kids at their house.

One of the crossings

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We were walking along and the woman with the thongs whacked the dog with them so hard he yelped. I asked what did the dog to and the girl with me said she didn't know. It seemed very out of the blue!

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Snorkelling was great. I was impressed with the camera. If I had some skill with it they would be awesome. Big respect for kja, taking photos of fish was so hard!

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Lots of starfish and they stay still lol

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Does anyone know what these fish are? They were very curious and somewhat aggressive. They would come at you snapping their teeth at you, you could hear it!

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Then we did another tour through the village. This was a snorkelling tour where they were meant to take us out on a glass bottom boat but it was broken so they took us on a normal boat but not very far from the shore. We couldn't get snorkel gear from the activities desk at the resort in time like they told us to, so the guy took us to his house to get some gear, which was all very leaky and dodgy.

The view from his house

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One of his dogs

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Our transport, very different to home!

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We then walked through a destroyed resort that was ruined in a cyclone

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View from the boat

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Fishies, they told us they would find us Nemo LOL but these aren't clown fish right? As they only have one stripe?

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The guide dived down and grabbed this and passed it to me with something living in it! :eek: I quickly passed it on!

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To Jamie LOL

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Each snorkelling environment was different

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Jamie's grandmother stayed on the boat and tried some fishing

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Then back to the pool bar where I had two cocktails way too fast and had to go lie down. You don't get to see the photos of that!

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At dinner

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Fun pics of us with some of the local entertainers

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Circling Brisbane airport waiting to land on our way home

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PHEW that was a lot of work! Hope you enjoy it. There is a video to come with all the highlights. Uploading to youtube.

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We got the bad news that the day after we left, the main area of the Naviti resort where we stayed, was burned down :(

A fire started in the kids club area and destroyed it, the shops, three restaurants, the entertainment areas & main bar.

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Looks like you had a fabulous time, great photos, gee that camera takes some good underwater shots, did you have to use the flash for any of them? Which camera is it exactly, I have a mate who has just got his diving licence and wants an underwater camera, he wants one that goes down under the water a long way.

Gee the horses look extra skinny and I always feel sorry for the dogs in places like that where they seem so unloved.

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We got the bad news that the day after we left, the main area of the Naviti resort where we stayed, was burned down :(

A fire started in the kids club area and destroyed it, the shops, three restaurants, the entertainment areas & main bar.

:eek: Thats awful, just as well you had already left too.

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Looks like you had a fabulous time, great photos, gee that camera takes some good underwater shots, did you have to use the flash for any of them? Which camera is it exactly, I have a mate who has just got his diving licence and wants an underwater camera, he wants one that goes down under the water a long way.

Gee the horses look extra skinny and I always feel sorry for the dogs in places like that where they seem so unloved.

Its the panasonic Lumix FT4. It goes 12m underwater but I'm sure you can also get a dive housing to take it deeper. These were without flash. I tried the flash and it ruined my photos as the flash caught on all these floating specs and bubbles :(

Make sure you read my commentary lol

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