Lay back and relax...

Deciding upon one of the more than 300 Fiji Islands after I arrived here was quite a challenge. I decided for the Wayalailai Island about 2.5h off the 'mainland' coast and the first island of the Yasawa Islands group. Good decision. Sun, sea, sand, palm trees like in the pamphlets! But...after the first day laying around at the beach, I already had somehow enough of it (think I'm not really a sunbunny) and I tried to walk around the island during low tide. Quite a challenge. After about 3h of walking (and some nice snorkeling in between) I couldn't get any further because the waves were already too high and I tried to climb up the stones - bad idea...It took me so much time to fight through the dense vegetation that afterwards I couldn't get back along the coast because the waves were already too high - about 6h after my round-the-island trial I finally arrived back at my resort - very exhausted and really happy to just lay around doing nothing :)

Even though the Fiji islands may be very beautiful, they're at the same time cramped with tourists. Virtually everybody goes to the Nadi Bay area first (after arriving at the airport) and then decides upon one of the two main tourist organizations, Awesome Adventures or Sea Turtle Cruises, which both have their own cruises. Best way to travel here would be most probably with an own boat...

After meeting several people who said New Zealand was the favorite country they visited, I'm looking forward to fly to Auckland tomorrow morning and I might even try one of the Great Hikes there...