It's all over.....(for now!)

Yes, a well known flag at the top of this update: I am back in The Netherlands.... A bit earlier than expected, but I decided that I just couldn’t be bothered to do The States anymore, so changed my flights so I could fly straight on. That wasn’t as easy as it sounds as the flight from Fiji to LA was delayed 10 hours!! Thankfully I was travelling together with one of the girls I met travelling on the Feejee Experience bus. But because of this delay I missed my flight to San Fran in LA. I got to spend 3 hours in a Marriot bed, which was nice, but way too short, to get up early the next morning and miss the rescheduled flight too! After another half day at the airport I could finally fly on to San Fran and there I had missed the chance to get on the flight to Amsterdam for that day, so booked myself in another hotel and got on the flight the next day! A miracle maybe, but that flight went according to plan and even arrived 15 min earlier than scheduled! Haha! Ah well, at least I made it back safely! But let’s go back to Fiji, because I haven’t told you anything about that yet and it is definitely worth it!

After a few days in Nadi, one of the larger cities of Fiji, I boarded the Feejee Experience bus on Saturday. This is a hop on/hop off bus that takes you around the main island Vitu Levu in 4 days. On the bus I met Alex (who turned out to have been the housemate of Mirjam, the girl I travelled with on the train in Australia, small world!) and Josie, two girls from Canada and the UK. We went sand boarding and this was sooo funny. The three of us decided to stay for three nights at the first stop. A very nice resort and it was very relaxing! Didn’t do a whole lot, just lazed around on the beach, some snorkelling and made some jewellery out of coconuts! We hopped on the next bus after the 3 days and this was a very nice group of people. We did a 2,5 hour hike through the highlands and waded through a river, it was really cool. At the end of the hike we went tubing down a big river for about 45 min and then we jumped off some waterfalls (I was terrified, but did it for the picture!). Later that night we got entertainment dances and our guide Cam did some dancing too. He was gay and proud of it as you can see on the movie! It was awesome! The next day we went to visit a school, which was such an awesome experience, the kids are so lovely! Really made me think about maybe doing some voluntary work in teaching sometime in the future...Another thing to add to that to-do-list! We also had a traditional ceremony at a local village and here I was taught how to weave a bracelet from banana leaves. I was really good at it and the local ladies told me that this meant I was ready for marriage, so guys......??!! Alex and I stayed for three nights again at the last stop, which was a very nice place again. We had a party here with the theme P. This meant that we all had to dress up as something starting with P. I dressed up as a Pregnant Popstar and Alex and Josie were the Paparazzi chasing me. Very funny and apparently I was very convincing as a pregnant lady, cause the locals had asked one of our group members whether I was really pregnant! The guys also couldn't stop touching my towel belly as it felt so real according to them! haha! Was great fun! We also went diving, which was absolutely awesome! Best dive I’ve done so far I think. After three days we hopped on the bus again (after another party with the theme No clothes...very disturbing) for the last leg and this included a visit to local mud and hot pools. Very yukky and funny!

I spent a night in the hostel in Nadi again and had to get up early again the next morning to get on the boat to go and see the Yasawa Islands. Fiji consists of 300 islands in all different shapes and sizes, the Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands are probably best known. It was a beautiful boat rides, passing all the bounty island white beaches and blue ocean. Absolutely stunning! My first two nights were booked at Nacula, the top island of the Yasawas, so I got to spend 4,5 hours on the boat gazing around. I met an English couple and they went to the same resort. When we got to Nacula we were so amazed, the water is just soooo clear. Really unbelievable. The resort was pretty basic, but I did have my own Bure (fijian bungalow) and the people were soooo lovely. We got to be part of the family quite quickly. It was an awesome experience. I didn’t really want to leave after 2 nights. But I moved on to Wayalailai, an island a bit further down. Here I met up with Josie again, which was great fun. Met two Australian girls and we had a great time together. The next morning I got up at 5am to do a guided sunrise walk, this was a fair climb and we started in the dark with a torch, but the view we got at the top was just beautiful. Definitely worth the early rise and effort! That afternoon we also did another village and school visit, which confirmed my feeling of wanting to do some teaching somewhere. The next morning I went on a snorkel trip to go snorkelling with reef sharks! This was pretty cool. There were four white tip reef sharks circling below us at one stage. Pretty cool sight and slightly scary... Again the coral and clarity of the water was just amazing. Really want to go back again and do some more diving. After all these great activities it was time to pack up again and get ready for departure. And you’ve read at the beginning of this update what happened after that....

So...I guess this is the end of another 8 months of exciting stories and stunning pictures...;) I had an absolute amazing time in New Zealand, Australia and Fiji. Time now to get back to reality, which includes finding a new place to live, getting a job and not unimportant finishing my last year of uni!
I would like to thank everyone for their messages and I hope to ‘see’ you back for my next adventure, whatever that will be!
Cheers Pieternel