Octopus Resort, Waya Island - Monday 23rd June 2014

When the Yasawa Flyer pulled into Octopus Island we saw crystal blue sea and white sandy beaches! It looked beautiful and like a great place to be spending the next 2 days. To get to the island we had to be transferred on little fishing boats, which I thought was quite cool. As we pulled into the shore, we were greeted by the Fijians singing a welcome song and shouting “Bula”, to which we had to shout back Bula, and as we climbed off the boat we were given a fruit punch - nice way to arrive and be greeted if you ask me. We were able to check straight into our bure – little wooden hut/bungalow room which was so cute, consisting of a big bed, small wardrobe and nice veranda (we had shared facilities, which weren't too bad). We could tell the resort was probably one of the more upmarket island resorts as it was very cute and had a small but nice pool with lots of comfy sunbeds around it and lined along the beach; the guests weren’t your typical backpackers either and mostly consisted of families, couples and elder people.

After we had dumped our bags, we headed back to the sand floor restaurant for lunch - which was delicious and of great quality - another sign of an upmarket resort! The day was pretty overcast and cloudy, much to my disappointment, but it was still warm and we spent the afternoon sitting on sunbeds on the beach relaxing. I went for a swim in the sea with my googles and found that just 5m from the beach there was this amazing coral reef with loads of fish, which was pretty cool and I enjoyed having a good swim around and decided I would explore it better the following day with snorkel gear.

After having a shower and getting ready for dinner, we headed down to the bar, enjoyed a cocktail and joined the Kava ceremony, which is a Fijian welcoming ceremony. Kava is a traditional Fijian welcoming drink made from the roots of a Kava plant, powdered down and mixed with water. We got to join the circle and try some of the Kava to be welcomed into the group and to the island and it tasted exactly as it looked - like dirty water, gross! Just the one boat (the coconut shell they serve the Kava in) was enough to make me gag and I kindly declined the second time it was passed around the circle, Darc still had a second bowl, even though it wasn't very nice! I knew I wasn't going to like the Kava before I'd even tried it, but it was one of those things you have to try when you’re in Fiji as it is their tradition and culture, plus now I've tried it once it means I won't have to try it again.

Following the Kava ceremony, we had a yummy three course A La Carte meal in the sand restaurant, which concluded with a banana cake dessert served with Fijian ice cream, which I might add was so tasty and we then watched England get smashed by the All Blacks in the rugby. After an early start from the morning I was pretty tired (it's a tough life doing nothing all day), so we went to bed and had another great night’s sleep.

When we woke the next morning, the weather was better than the day before but still a little overcast. By the time we had our buffet breakfast and set ourselves up for the day on a sunbed on the beach, the clouds were beginning to clear and we were soon to be graced with bright blue skies and the sun’s rays blaring down on us, well me anyway, Darc being the milk bottle he is, had positioned himself nicely under an umbrella.

We hired snorkel equipment out for the day, so early around 10am, we went on our first swim out to the large reef just 5m from the shore. The coral looked so pretty and colourful and we saw loads of different types of fish swimming about. We didn't stay in the water for too long, because we both kept getting stung by something which felt like little electric shocks all over our body. When we got out we had vinegar put on our red spotty patches and returned to our sun loungers. We asked what it was that stung us and the guys in the dive shop said it was just coral and life under sea. Darc reckoned it might have been tiny jelly fish, but whatever it was, it was annoying and did ruin the snorkel a bit (we later found out it was jelly fish lava). We spent the rest of the morning like every other relaxing on the beach, reading our books, listening to music and sleeping. Just before lunch we took out a kayak each, which was nice and relaxing, as we ended up just floating in the sunshine on the crystal waters of the Fijian ocean and looking down through the glass sheet to the reef below.

When we arrived back to the beach we had lunch and retook our position up on our sun beds for yet more tanning. Half way through the afternoon, all the village children came down to the beach as they were waiting for their boat which was taking them across to school for the week. We were told the night before at the Kava ceremony that the school was only 15 minutes away by boat, but the children boarded there from Sunday to Friday as it was cheaper for parents to send them away for the week than to send them across and back everyday. There were so many children, no older than the age of 12, pile onto two fishing boats with just their backpack and maybe one other carrier bag, with few parents standing on the beach - mostly those that worked at the resort, to wave them bye. It was one of those cultural things that we were quite lucky to see and I thoroughly enjoyed watching - how the other half live!

We went snorkelling again in the afternoon, with t-shirts this time to minimise the sting but found we didn't get stung at all. We spent a good 45 minutes snorkelling this time and again saw loads of cool fish and coral, which fascinated us both.

The afternoon went pretty quickly and before we knew it we were sitting on the beach watching a beautiful sun setting over the sea. We had already booked to do a night snorkel, so at 6 o'clock we headed down to the dive shop to collect some snorkel equipment and a torch before heading out to the pitch black sea! The night snorkel was pretty cool and a little scary. There weren't too many fish about but we did see some and I did spot nemo at one point! As it was night we were also lucky enough to see some lobsters and a couple of crabs and Darc even spotted a Octopus as we were coming into the shore just metres from the beach and from him. I was quite gutted I didn't see it, especially because I would've swam right over it. We were pretty cold by the time we got back as the water temperature had dropped enough to provide a chill and we very much looked forward to a warm shower and some dinner. After another great 3 course dinner, the resort put a film on around the pool area which we watched under the stars while eating some gorgeous strawberry Fijian ice cream, before heading to bed.

This morning we were leaving this beautiful island to head onto our next adventure. Once we had breakfast, we checked out and waited the short period for our transfer to the next island. Again, as we boarded our little fishing boat which connected with the main boat, we departed to the Fijians singing and waving goodbye to us!

We are now on our 30 minute transfer to Mantaray Island, which if you hadn't guessed by the name, is famous for the seasonal manta rays spotted by the resort. I will be back again in a couple of days to let you know how we're doing and if we spot any manta rays! Until then, stay on Fiji time - take things easy, chill out and have no worries!

Xoxo

To see our pictures from Octopus Resort Click Here - Octopus Resort

2 Relaxing & Luxurious Days at the Hilton - Saturday 21st June 2014

Bula!

If I had a pound for every time I've heard and said that in these last 2 days I would be a millionaire and I recon I would be a billionaire by the end of this holiday! Anyway it means welcome, so Bula to Fiji!

We landed in Nadi around 6am local time to a lovely warm, Fijian morning – beautiful! We had a private transfer from Nadi to Denaru, which took a short 20 minutes and when we arrived at the beautiful Fiji Beach Resort & Spa managed by Hilton at 8am we had a warm Fijian greeting, with some Fiji water and a refreshing mint towel! It was nice and reviving, especially as we were feeling pretty tired from the overnight flight. When we checked in, our room wasn't ready as expected, so we got out some swimmers and shorts, got changed and walked to Port Denaru to get some breakfast, where I had the biggest pot of tea in the world (well for one person anyway), and also have a look around the shops, before walking back to take a well needed dip in the pool and have a nap in the sun!

The resort we were staying in, as you'd expect with any Hilton, was absolutely beautiful! It had a couple of luxurious pool areas surrounded by very comfy sun loungers with big thick cushions (no wonder we napped in the sun) and, to Darc's joy, sun umbrellas – it was a very relaxing place to spend the day! The Fijian people that worked there created an even more relaxing atmosphere, with their friendly, welcoming, polite and content personalities, continual smiling faces and saying bula to anyone that passed them.

Our day was very much spent sunbathing and getting in the cold pool every now and then to cool us down from the very humid air. It was a bit overcast throughout the day but we didn't mind because it provided a nice breeze which gave us relief from the very hot and humid day we were graced with. In the late afternoon just as the sun was beginning its decline, we took a 2 seated kayak out in the sea which was pretty fun and relaxing. It did turn into a splash fest at one point, which not surprisingly I lost, sitting at the front of the kayak, and resulted in me missing the 2 jumping fish which Darc saw and was raving about, saying how gracious and beautiful they looked as they jumped 3 feet out of the water.

As it was early evening by the time we got back from our kayak, our room was available so we went back to have a shower, chill out and get ready for dinner. We saw a bit of the sunset from our porch area during this time and it was so pretty, creating a pinky stripped sky. It looked even cooler as the backdrop to a private dining experience which was set up on the beach (as you’ll see in the photos). For dinner we went to one of restaurants at the resort which did Asian food. It was pretty good, Darc had a pad Thai and I created my own noodles which were delicious and I also enjoyed a Blue Moon cocktail (as you have to do when you're on holiday) which I think contained a whole bottle of tequila, it was good though! We had had a very long day (well technically 2 days) and were pretty knackered from being up for so long, so after dinner we crashed and had an awesome sleep in the famous comfy Hilton beds!

Yesterday we had a pretty good lay in and I was up in time to see the last 20 mins of England crush their World Cup hopes. We then got up and went for a nice morning run along the beach followed by some interval work on the sand and a yummy and massive buffet breakfast overlooking the sea! We were set for the day!

We then took our place on a sunbed down towards the beach (it was like our own little private area) and it was so quiet and peaceful lying there soaking up the rays. Again it was a little overcast in the morning, but the sun did keep making some appearances. After an hour or so of lying there, we both began to get a little fidgety and decided it was time for some beach activity, but this time stand up paddle boards! Darc within 5 minutes of being on it fell off, it had nothing to do with the fact my board may have hit his, I was still standing! It was good fun and hard work at times! Darc took a few tumbles into the sea and I lost my balance a couple of times and took a refreshing plunge, but it was all fun and games and rather tiring!

After a morning of being active, we resumed our position back on the sunbeds for a few more hours, reading, listening to music, sleeping and taking the occasional dip in the sea. The beach and sea wasn't the best at the resort, Denaru is not exactly famous for its good beaches, but it was good enough to cool us off and we have the white sandy beaches and crystal blue seas ahead of us when we island hop! Half way through the afternoon we moved up to the sunbeds around the pool and relaxed there for an hour or two, before once again taking out a kayak just as the sun was beginning its decline.

In the evening one of the resort restaurants was doing a taste of Fiji dinner, cooking up a mix of Indian-Fijian food. The Fiji dishes were yummy, I can’t quite tell you what some of them were, but they tasted good all the same and the way they laid the buffet out was really pretty with little fairy lights and colourful curtains/hangings. During dinner there was also a Meke show which is a cultural Fiji show where they sing and do a bit of dancing/acting/storytelling. The singing was absolutely beautiful and so harmonious and the show was good to see.

We went to bed after dinner as we had an early start this morning due to our early pick up for the start of our island hopping. A bus picked us up from the Hilton and took us around to Port Denaru where we boarded our Yasawa Flyer (the big yellow catamaran) which is currently taking us on a 2 hour ride to our first island - Octopus Resort!

Anyway I will sign back in 2 days on our journey to the next island to let you know how it went and what we got up to, but for now I can guess it will be pretty amazing from the beautiful islands we have already passed, with their golden beaches and crystal blue seas.

Anyway until then my friends, take it easy, I know we certainly will be!

Xoxo

To see our pictures from the Fiji Beach Resort & Spa managed by Hilton Click Here - Fiji Beach Resort & Spa

The Day We Go To Fiji ..... Or Do We?! - Wednesday 18th June 2014

So today we did not have the best start to our holiday and there were tears at one point of the fear we might not be able to go! But lets start from the beginning!

This morning we were feeling a little rough from the night before, as we had a house party to celebrate Brock's 21st and him leaving for Canada for 6 months, which obviously involved a fair amount of alcohol consumption. Naturally, we spent the morning lazying around doing nothing and a bit of packing, but even in the state we were in, we didn't care because WE WERE GOING TO FIJI TONIGHT!

At 2.30pm, Darc had an appointment at the doctors to have his second X-ray reviewed of his thumb which he broke 2 and a half weeks ago and it was not good news. The doctor asked if we could cancel our trip because he said Darc needed surgery to fix it, but we should get to a hand specialist today for a further assessment. So great, it was 3 o'clock, we were suppose to be leaving for the airport in 4.5 hours and we are rampaging around doctors and hospitals trying to find out what's going on. We headed straight to the hospital and were sent to A&E (rolls eyes) which had a massive wait time. After convincing Darc we were most likely in the wrong place and would be wasting our time, we went on our own hunt for the hand specialists. When we found it, we explained to the receptionist about how we were flying out that night to which her reply was "2 weeks is the critical period to have it operated on" implying we wouldn't be going. We then explained the story about how it had been nearly 3 weeks since he broke it and that the first doctor on the day he did it said it was fine and just get it re-X-rayed in a couple of weeks, from which she pulled a face to say I don't know what you're going to do. Brilliant! Anyway she asked to have the X-rays to show a surgeon to see if it was worth seeing us today and he said he would and for us to just wait. I felt sick from what I thought would happen next. Had he said he'd see us to persuade and tell us not to go? My excitement of going away had completely gone out the window and I honestly believed for a bit that the trip was going to be cancelled.

Luckily we weren't waiting very long and were seen by a plastic surgeon who said we are past the 2 week operating date where it would be a simple op and now they would have to re-break the bone and shave it down before putting pins through it. He sat on the fence first on all about what we should do and whether we should go, before finally suggesting that because we really didn't wanna delay the holiday and that the op would be as complicated in 2 weeks time as if he had it tomorrow that we should go. Phewww! He still didn't sound completely convincing though. Anyway he sent Darc to get a better splint made which might hold the thumb more stable while we were away and booked him an appointment to come back after our holiday. At 5.30pm we were leaving the hospital with a big sigh and still the edge massively taken off our holiday.

When we got home we had some food and finished off packing and tried to chill out after the stress of the day. Even then it wasn't over, as within 30 mins of being home we got a call from the plastic surgeon we had just seen, saying he'd shown the X-rays to another colleague and they suggested even though we're due to fly out tonight, we should come back tomorrow to see a specialist, who may say (might I add) that Darc needs surgery in the next couple of days, next couple of weeks or maybe even not at all. The choice was up to us. Nope, Darc had decided we were going, no more messing us around, if they really didn't think going on holiday would be a good idea they would have advised us against it.

At 7.30pm we finally got in the car and headed to the airport and we both couldn't feel more relieved getting through customs and now sitting with a drink, toasting the start of our holiday. Anyway best sign off because it is nearly 11pm and time for us to finally fly out. Catch you all in FIJI!!!

Xoxo

A Busy Couple Of Weeks Filled With Work - Monday 16th June 2014

So while I have an extra 5 minutes, I thought I'd do another blog update to keep you posted of my whereabouts.

Firstly I want to apologise because I completely forgot to mention in my last blog about Becky (my housemate last year from Bath) coming to Melbourne for a couple of days. She came the Wednesday and Thursday before we went to Sydney and I caught up with her both days meeting her Wednesday afternoon after work for a drink and wander around the city and also on Thursday where she, Tom (her boyfriend), Robyn and one of her friends, me and Darc went for dinner at Crown, drinks along the river in Southbank and to a backpacker bar where it was karaoke night. It was lovely to see and catch up with her again and we had a really lovely evening. 

Anyway back to what I've been up to these last weeks. Well work has been absolutely flat out. I have been doing some more work for the Sporting Success team who did the testing of fundamental movement skills in schools before christmas, but this time helping out with data entry and checking/proofing the data. This has filled up a lot of my days as it has been a large job and lengthy process but has been alright to work on. Amongst doing this, I have also been fitting in other testing around this helping out with GXTs (graded exercise tests) and taking numerous training sessions for the Speed Gene research group, which has created long days. I've also been helping out one of the girls upstairs, Shelley, with all her testing, where she is using EEG to look at brain activity during dual tasks of walking and responding to a tone directing participants left and right and a word memory test, with my role being to generate the tone.

In my spare time I haven't been up to too much and just been chilling out after long and busy days at work. Last weekend 7th - 9th June, it was a long weekend for the Queen's birthday and Darc was supposed to be playing in a hockey tournament all weekend but he broke his thumb 2 weeks ago meaning he wasn't able to play. His Uncle (Daryll, who I met at camping) was still playing in it though so I watched a little on the Saturday and then on Sunday the rest of his family come down (Chantelle and the 3 boys), so we went to the Footie on Sunday night (Richmond vs North Melbourne) and I spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with them, which was fun. On Monday (9th June), Melbourne Vixens were playing Queensland Firebirds in the major semi final of the ANZ Championship, so I went along to watch. It was a good game with the Vixens taking a victory and being host to the Grand Final. The weekend just gone (14th and 15th), it was again another quite weekend which involved packing up to move out of my apartment (which I did today) and packing for Fiji because we leave Wednesday :). We also went down to Mornington to Darc's dads on Saturday night, where we had a yummy roast to celebrate Ange's birthday.

Bit of a boring blog really, but the next few will be alot more exciting because I will be in Fiji! So until then my friends,

Xoxo

A Lot of Testing, 3 More Muscle Biopsies & A Weekend In Sydney to Run a Half Marathon - Monday 19th May 2014

So work has been fairly busy these last two weeks with a fair bit of testing going on! The speed gene and performance study, run by our research group, is well and truly up and running now with quite a few participants coming through, which has meant there has been more testing opportunities and that I am in the physiology lab a lot more. I have also now been given more responsibility within the group and am able to take the high-intesity training (HIT) sessions, which consist of 2 minutes of high-intensity effort followed by a 1 minute recovery. I have also had more involvement within the graded exercise test by taking capillary blood samples via finger pricks, which has been good to get me practicing for my labs next year. I was a little rusty the first few times I took blood but I seem to have improved a bit now. Most of the other students use intravenous cannulation to take blood samples as it allows quicker and more frequent sampling due to the ease of it, so I don't really get a chance to practice taking blood and I've quite enjoyed it. As usual I have also got my hands involved in other projects going on in the lab, helping out by running bloods and looking after participants in post-exercise recovery periods. The other Wednesday (7th May) I was able to head over to Exercise Rehab for the morning to observe in Cardio Club. It was quite good to be back over there after a couple of weeks break (due to being busy with testing) and to see the great work the guys do with the patients suffering/recovering from cardio-respiratory disease.

On Tuesday 6th May, it was my turn to be on the other side of the needle and be a participant again in Jess' study looking at exercise and metabolism. This involved having another 3 muscle biopsies and cycling on a bike for around 50 minutes to burn 400 calories. The muscle biopsies were not too bad and I would say they were better than the last time I had them, but I still won't say it's a pain-free experience!!! As promised last time, for those that want to see what it involves, I took some pictures and a video to show you but I warn you it's not for the faint-hearted! 

To see the video of the biopsy Click Here - Video of Muscle Biopsy

The weekend of the 10th/11th was fairly quiet and chilled out. On Saturday I got up to very little, spending the morning just sorting things out at home before heading up to the State Hockey and Netball Centre to watch Darc play Hockey. After he'd finished we headed straight up to his mum's in Shepparton as the following day was Mother's Day. Again it was a very chilled Sunday, where we did very little, except from drive back to Melbourne in the evening.

Now the weekend just gone (17th-19th) was a little more exciting as me and Darc went to Sydney as the time had finally come for us to run our half marathon!!! We had an early flight on the Saturday which meant by 11 am we had disposed of our bags and had an afternoon to see some of Sydney. We went to Darling Harbour first (as it was right by our hotel) and had some lunch (a nice burger - getting in the carbs) before heading to the marathon expo to pick up our race numbers. There was a fair bit at the expo so we had a little look around before heading down to Circular Quay to catch up over a coffee (or milkshake in my case) with Sarah (a girl from Bath on my course) and Jen (one of her housemates and also a Bath recruit). The weather was really nice and we were in this great outside cafe right on the harbour with a view of the bridge and Opera House and it was good to see Sarah and catch up and find out how placement and Australia was treating her. After an hour or two we arranged to meet up with Sarah and the rest of the Bath group before the race (Sarah was running too and the rest were coming along to support) before me and Darc headed to a supermarket and then back to our hotel to cook up our carby pasta meal, ready for the day ahead. At 8.30 pm Darling Harbour had their weekly firework display so we headed in to watch the short, but good display before going back for an early night.

On the Sunday we were up at 5.30 am (yes early I know) for a 6.45 am race start. We met up with Sarah, Ben and the others briefly before splitting and heading to the start line. The race was a good route but it was bloody hard! There were so many hills and climbs which I was not expecting. I was aiming for a sub 2 hour time and I started well and was ontrack to do it but the last 8kms (5 miles) were a struggle as everything ached and I could feel blisters on my feet. I was so happy to see and be across the finish line! I was a little gutted because I ran an official race time of 2 hours 1 minute and 7 secs, so I didn't reach my goal but I guess I took 2 minutes 30 seconds off my PB. In my head I'm telling myself I ran a sub 2 hour however because I had my GPS watch on which said I ran a total distance of 13.4 miles, when a half marathon is 13.1 miles so if you take that into account (and I checked my time at 13.1 miles) I ran under 2 hours! I have never hurt so much after exercise as I did then. As soon as I finished I seized up and hobbled around waiting for Darc to cross the line. He did awesome for his first attempt at a half, running a 2 hour 9 minutes and 24 seconds which was under his goal of 2 hours and 10 minutes so he was very happy.

After we had met up and then said goodbye to the others (my Bath friends) me and Darc had a hobble over to the merchandise store to buy a finishers top (has to be done really) before hobbling and struggling our way back to the hotel, where we used the pool and jacuzzi to try and ease our legs, and chilled in our room while refueling and moaning about the agonizing pain! I had booked for us to go jet boating around the harbour at 2.30 which was pretty good as it gave us a reason to get up and out again (I'm pretty sure we would have happily stayed in doing nothing). As we were down in Circular Quay early, we went to Opera Bar (underneath the Opera House) and enjoyed our first cider and some wedges. The cider went down very well and it was nice to be sitting in that spot again enjoying the view. After we went jet boating and boy was it fun! We were sat at the back of the boat and I was on the edge and it was great fun being whizzed and spun the whole way round the harbour. We got quite wet too (even though we had ponchos on), because we were at the back so every time the water just came from behind and straight down onto us. Sitting on the edge as well I managed to look like, as Darc described, a drowned rat at one point, copping water from all directions. After we got some adrenaline back into us, which I found seemed to ease the ache in my legs a bit, we headed back to the hotel and got ready and went for dinner in Darling Harbour. We found this really nice restaurant where we enjoyed a yummy garlic prawns starter and nice steak and glass of wine, before we crashed and needed the best form of recovery - sleep!

On Monday we awoke feeling a little more refreshed but still rather achy. After we checked out we went for a walk, to get the legs moving again, to Mrs Macquires Point. It was an absolutely beautiful day with the sun beaming down and it was a really nice walk with some lovely views. We then walked around the sea line to the Opera House and round to the rocks where we had some lunch before heading to Darling Harbour for icecream and back to the hotel to collect our stuff to head to the airport as it was time to leave and head back to Melbourne and work!!!

To see pictures from our weekend in Sydney Click Here - A Weekend in Sydney.

To see pictures from the half marathon Click Here - Sydney Half Marathon.