My Happy Place!

Hello all or should that be Bula!! I have just spent the last 9 days in 'my happy place' - Fiji. This place is paradise on earth to me and it is where my mind wanders to on those days when life is just getting a little tough. I think we timed our departure perfectly, by chance, as we had had snow here in Wellington the week before we left. To go from wearing layers of merino wool daily, to wearing not much more than a bikini and jandals was absolute bliss.

Flying out of Wellington at sunrise was beautiful. And a mere few hours later we arrived in Nadi ready for a short drive to our lovely resort. There is no time difference between NZ and Fiji so it's a great place to visit with children as there are no ridiculously early starts with confused little body clocks! The Fijian people are probably the friendliest I have ever met in all of my travels. Everyone makes eye contact and greets you with Bula (hello) which is wonderful and makes such a pleasant change to where I live where it seems people go out of their way to avoid eye contact sometimes! Their pace of life is very relaxed, they adore children and take great pleasure in squeezing their cheeks, kissing them and generally spoiling them at every opportunity. The most amazing thing of all to me is that the lovely folk at the resort remembered my childrens' names from our visit last year. How utterly amazing is that! That really sums up these beautiful people for me - they are truly caring, loving and genuine. It was amazing.

This was the view from our room - a beautiful lagoon and waterfall and the most glorious gardens.

This part of Fiji doesn't have the white sandy beaches, but it is still gorgeous. The small folk had great fun running in and out of the water after breakfast each morning. By far the majority of the stay was spent in and around the many swimming pools rather than in the sea. Probably because I am scared of crabs, sharks and seaweed!!

This one is the adults only pool which was a bit of a treat to escape to while Mr 6 and Miss 4 went to play at the amazing kids club. They wanted to go back each day for the crab racing, coconut bowling and frog hunting amongst other things. Who was I to argue with them!! It was a real treat to have a wee bit of time out to sit in the sun and read a book. I'm sure all other mums out there will understand exactly what I mean!!

Now I did warn you there would be a few palm tree pics!!

And another one...

Gorgeous gardens at our resort with another beautiful lagoon.

This really is my happy place. How could it not be? The swimming pools have sand all around them so you still feel a little 'beachy', clear water and stinking hot sunshine - aaaaahh. It was almost too hot for me which is really saying something.

Staggeringly gorgeous sunsets - every night was picture perfect and as we sat outdoors to have our dinner each evening - this was our beautiful outlook.

On the last day of my stay I was wandering around a neighbouring resort and spotted this gorgeous lounge bar. These are my fave colour combinations - I wish I'd discovered it sooner as it would have been the most perfect place to laze in the heat of the afternoon with a nice cold drink or two.

Walking back to my room I spotted this man showing some wee kids how he could climb the trees - he was such a total poser when he saw me with my camera!

Now the only thing that could make this picture more perfect to me would be to have a crochet hook and a ball of wool at hand!!

Each afternoon the Fijian drums would be beaten to announce that it was happy hour at the bar. On the last day of our stay as the drum was beaten, Miss 4 leapt out of the pool, threw her arms in the air and announced "It's Happy Time"!!! Hilarious.

I hope you've all had a fabulous week. I can't wait to catch up on all the beautiful blogs I've been missing over the last week and a half.

See you again soon!

Leah
xx