Fiji - Day One

Last week Dan and I went to Fiji for a much-needed holiday (on his part), and in time-honoured tradition I feel the need to show off all the (200+) photos we took of the first time I've been outside New Zealand in ten years. Dan gave me the holiday as a graduation/birthday present, which was extremely awesome/thoughtful/wonderful/caring/kind of him.

Fiji was... hot. As in, I got off the plane and my clothes started sticking to me as sweat almost immediately started running down my body. Hot. And even more humid than it was hot. I have to admit, I wondered if this holiday was even going to be bearable if this was the average heat/humidity... thankfully, once we got to our resort and changed into t-shirts and miniskirts/shorts, it was fine.

We stayed in our own little "bure" or house, just as the Fijians of yore stayed in — complete with thatched roof and air-conditioning.

I have to say, I wandered in the door (the guide keeping up a constant stream of cheerful chatter), glanced around the room — and my gaze was riveted to the bed.

In case you can't read the words spelled carefully out in little leaves and petals on our bed, it says: "Enjoy your honeymoon".

...we aren't on our honeymoon.

...we aren't even engaged.

...we have different surnames, I don't wear any rings on either ring-finger... how on earth would they think we're on our honeymoon?

"And here's your complimentary champagne, to celebrate your honeymoon," our guide carried on, motioning to a bottle of wine sitting in an ice-bucket next to a fruit platter of pawpaw (I think), watermelon, pineapple and banana.

...I decided maybe it was our honeymoon after all, and nodded and smiled brightly at our guide. As far as I know, Fiji's a relatively Christian country; so later, as Dan and I explored the little foot-shaped man-made island in front of our resort, we decided that any PDA's could be excused because, apparently, it's our honeymoon....

Above is my ham-handed attempt to sew two photos together with MS Paint. Yes, I know the line between the two photos is pretty obvious, but I repeat: MS Paint. At least it gives you some idea of the view from the "heel" of the foot island, though, as we looked back at the resort.

We didn't do much the rest of the day, as it was already dinner-time. Dan ordered seafood in banana leaf, which looked pretty awesome:

...although I wasn't brave enough to sample any of it (I had chicken filo. I know, go to Fiji for a holiday and have something as exotic as... the meal I had in Palmy on Wednesday).

During nearly every meal, this cute little resort kitten would beg for food from the guests. She was way too shy to actually approach a human, so she would just sit a few feet away and flirt with you over her shoulder.

And then we retired to our honeymoon bed, though it cost me a pang to sweep all those carefully-arranged leaves and petals away. But I feel I've bombarded you with enough photos for the time being, so I will stop for now, leaving you with an image of my dessert that night: the elegantly-titled chocolate "mouse" cake.