After four long days of travelling from Mongolia to the Pacific islands, we finally arrived in Nadi, the capital of Fiji. As we queued at the immigration counters, two men in tropical shirts, sarongs, and sandals played ukuleles. 

It was late in the evening so we needed to get a taxi into town because the buses were no longer running. I’d read that the yellow taxis were expensive, but we couldn’t find another one so we ended up approaching a car that arrived in the departures drop-off zone. The driver happened to be in charge of dropping pilots at the airport and was happy to earn a bit of extra cash and take us into town. 

We checked into a little room and hit the sack as we had an early start travelling to the Yasawa islands the following day. 

Our plan was to spend ten days exploring the islands, staying in homestays along the way. We’d prearranged with the first homestay to pick us up in their private boat from the mainland as it was slightly cheaper than taking the Yasawa Flyer ferry and it put money into the locals’ pockets. But things didn’t go to plan and we were told that the weather wasn’t good and that they’d pick us up later in the afternoon when it should be calmer. 

We checked the forecast and it wasn’t due to be any calmer; in fact, it was looking worse, so we decided it was safer to catch the Flyer. It was probably a wise choice as the little fibre glass boats the Fijians use don’t have the best reputation. The morning of our ferry we saw the headline on a newspaper said ‘Six doctors found alive after boat capsized.” Apparently they had engine failure and were adrift at sea for 36 hours before they were spotted! 

The Yasawa Flyer was full of backpackers and I was beginning to regret the trip as I was concerned that the islands would be too touristy.

Our first destination was Wayalailai in the southern part of the Yasawa islands. Instead of having little ports on each island, the boat just floated in the sea while fibre glass boats pulled up alongside the ferry. It kind of resembled a scene from the film Captain Phillips where pirates pull up in their tiny boats and attempt to come onboard.

The staff called out the name of the resorts and homestays when the associated boat was ready to collect the guests. Our homestay was new so we weren’t actually sure what the name was as it seemed to go by two different names, so we were put on a boat to the village.

The flyer stopped between two islands and as we travelled through the passage we spotted what I thought was a statue atop a rocky outcrop – but then it started moving. It turned out to be a ‘Fijian Warrior’ dressed in a reed skirt and holding a traditional wooden club as he danced around, welcoming everyone to the area. 

We cruised across the shallow, blue water until the boat was almost touching the beach at our final destination.

There was a large rocky mound above the village, and behind the beach were wooden houses where the locals lived. We had no idea where our homestay was so we just wandered around until a kid approached us and we told him our host’s name. Everyone knew everyone so we were led to the blue house opposite the church. 

A lovely lady welcomed us into her wooden bungalow and took us to a lovely room in the back with a huge queen-size bed wrapped in a colourful children’s bedsheet. A fly net draped over the bed and there was a little wooden dresser table tucked into the corner. Down the hallway was the shared bathroom which had a cold water shower, and across from the bathroom was the kitchen with mats on the floor made of woven palm leaves. 

Inside the dining room were a couple of beds where the family slept. It was just £13.50 a night including breakfast so we were very happy with it. Our host sat us down and welcomed us before telling us some important rules in Fiji. Shoes cannot be worn inside the house, nor should bags be carried on your back when walking through the house – a little challenging when travelling with a backpack. Because we were staying in a village we had to dress modestly; however, bikinis were still allowed on the beach. 

There seemed to be more dogs than people roaming through the village, with gorgeous little puppies running over to us. Many of them were riddled with fleas but I couldn’t resist stroking them. 

We only had one day on the island so we set off on a hike to the big rocky mound. It was a pretty simple hike, with steep sections, roots and boulders to navigate, but it was fun to be out exploring. A few groups of tourists with Fijian guides walked past us on their way down the mountain – but we were happy we were walking alone, stopping as often as we liked to capture the scenery. 

The view from the top of the rock was absolutely incredible with the vast blue sea below us and glorious patches of reef visible in the shallows. The island we had a view of is where they offer tours to dive with bull sharks. It was something we hadn’t considered doing as the sharks are fed, but we used our binoculars to scan the sea for any potential predators lurking in the water. 

Once we were back down in the village, we headed to the beach to spend a couple of hours relaxing. The sun was out but there was a bit of a chilly wind – apparently Fiji was suffering from one of the coldest winters they’ve had in a decade. 

We headed back to our homestay to shower before the sun set, turning the sky behind the house a vibrant orange colour. We noticed a couple of dugout tree trunks but didn’t know what they were until the clock struck 6pm and a kid from the village began banging it like a drum with two wooden sticks – which we were later told happens every day at 6am and 6pm. 

Our host made us a fabulous dinner with curry, vegetables, pineapple and homemade roti, followed by boiled bananas for dessert. Family members came and went – after all, everyone in the village was pretty much related to one another, and she also acted as the village shop, providing basic supplies. 

We fell asleep to the sound of waves crashing into the beach just a stone’s throw from our window. At some point, roosters started making a racket, and at 6am a kid began banging wooden drums a few meters away. So we got up and walked the short 10 meters down to the beach for a morning dip. 

Our ferry north was picking us up at around 10am but the little fibre glass boat that was supposed to take us there ended up running late and we watched in panic as the ferry arrived at the meeting point while we still stood on a beach 1km away. We eventually got moving and ploughed towards the big boat, making it there just in time for our scenic journey north through the Yasawa Islands.