My next stop after New Zealand were Fiji Island. I have heard a lot from friends that it is incredibly beautiful there and the pictures look incredible. I was really looking forward to Fiji.

Bula Fiji

In the morning I flew from Christchurch to Auckland and from there to Fiji. At the airport after I got my suitcase, I went to the agency where I booked my whole Fiji trip. There I got all my vouchers and was also brought to the hostel by them.

I haven’t even been out of the airport and it’s already raining a lot. The streets were flooded with water centimetres high. This clouded my mood a little bit, because when I thought of Fiji I always imagined blue water, sun and warm weather. No flooded streets and grey skies.

When I arrived at the hostel, they helped me directly with my luggage and brought it to my room for me. The room and its bathroom was not really the best but I didn’t expect much and you always survive one night.

Rainy season on Fiji

In the morning I had to get up early and pack my things again. First I went for breakfast, which I got served in the hostel. There are no kitchens where you can cook something for yourself. You order like in a restaurant and then the food is prepared.

After breakfast I waited outside in the rain with a few others for the bus that would take us to the ferry. The journey to Port Denarau went about half an hour. Once I was there I had to check in for my ferry, which left one hour later. My first stop was Mana Island, but I didn’t stay there overnight because I had booked a day trip by boat from there.

With 9 other people we went on the boat where they served us fruit and cookies. Then we went over an hour by boat over the water past a few islands. The sky was still totally cloudy and sometimes it rained.

First we stopped on a small island. There was nothing more than sand, palm trees and water. Just as you imagine a small island in the middle of the ocean. The water was so clear and blue that it was a real pity that the sky was so grey. With sunshine it would probably have been like paradise. Unfortunately we were also surprised by a pretty heavy rain shower. When this was over we were picked up by a small boat and brought back to the main boat.

As the big boats and ferries cannot stop right at the beach of the island, they always pick us up in the middle of the water by a small boat and then bring us to the island.

Back on the boat we had lunch. A buffet with salads, meat, bread and fruit, which all tasted very good. During lunch we drove on to the next island.

Meeting the locals

There we visited a village of the locals. We walked past the houses of them and also a school, before we took part in a welcome ceremony in a hut. We all sat on the floor opposite the two locals. First they sang for us and then we all got a drink. I was already warned by a German on the boat that the drink tastes pretty bad. Still, I really wanted to try it. It’s not something I really want to drink again but after being warned I expected much worse. Afterwards we could look around on a “market” which was built on the floor and look at the many pieces of jewellery or even buy them.

Beachcomber Resort

Then we went back to the boat which brought us back to Mana Island. There we still had to wait for the ferry, which brought us to our accommodation. Meanwhile it was raining really hard again.

My accommodation for the night was the Beachcomber Resort. This was on a very small island where there was nothing more than this resort and a lot of palm trees. First I had to check in with some others at the reception, where we also got a welcome drink.

The resort was really cute. When we came in, the floor was sandy, there was a small bar and everything was nicely decorated.

After checking in we were then taken to our room. We had a twelve bed room but fortunately there were only four of us that night.

Here on Fiji I do not have to take care of my luggage at all, it is always brought by the staff to the room and from the room to the ferry. I just have to check that everything is there.

I could not look at the island anymore, as it was already dark and it was raining incessantly. Once it stopped, it rained again after five minutes.

In the evening I went to dinner, there were not many people there. I think there were no more than 20 people on that island that night.

For dinner I had a soup with bread as a starter. The main course was mashed potatoes with vegetables and meat and for dessert I had ice cream.

Fiji in its beauty

It rained all night long. Even in the bathroom I got wet because the roof was not waterproof.

Fortunately it stopped raining when I went to breakfast. There was a buffet with fruit, toast and muesli.

Before I was picked up from the ferry again, the sun came out a little bit and I could take some pictures of the island in light sunshine. I was then taken to the ferry again in a small boat.

My next island, Mantaray Island, was a little further away, so I had a two-hour ferry ride ahead of me. Meanwhile we passed many islands and the sun came out more and more so that the water and the islands looked so beautiful. Everything was like paradise and I was so happy to finally see everything in sunshine. I can’t put into words how beautiful Fiji looks.

Arrived on Mantaray Island we were first greeted with a welcome song. Afterwards we all checked in and in the meantime we got a welcome drink. I immediately found the island beautiful and was glad that I even had two nights there.

Because the sun finally shone everything was so incredibly beautiful. We were then taken to our room, which was very fine. It was a 28 bed room but it was very clean.

First I went to the beach and took a lot of pictures, as I did not know how long the good weather would last.

Afterwards I went to lunch, there I got a card with the menu and could choose between over 10 dishes. I had a place from which I had a wonderful view, warm weather, and delicious food. What more do I want? After lunch I spent the afternoon lying in the hammock on the beach reading.

At dinner I sat with two girls. As a starter we got a soup and a small salad, we were allowed to choose the main course ourselves.

I decided on pasta with vegetables. For dessert we had a little cheesecake. After weeks in which I only cooked in the hostel with many other people and mainly ate simple pasta, I did not feel like a backpacker here anymore.

The next morning I didn’t have to set an alarm clock for once. I was woken by bright sunshine. I was so relieved that I not only saw Fiji in the rain, but also saw how blue the water is and how beautiful it glows in the sunshine.

The day I spent with nothing else but reading, lying in the hammock or being in the water. In the meantime it rained a little bit for five minutes, but shortly after that the sun was shining again.

Corona cancels all plans

The morning started again with sunshine, but unfortunately the bad news came already, I had not even had breakfast yet. Due to the Corona crisis, my tour in Thailand was cancelled. This meant for me that I did not fly to Thailand two days later as planned, but back to Germany, back home. I was really looking forward to go home, but Thailand would have been my last stop and I would have flown back to Germany two weeks later anyway. Therefore it was a pity that I had to break off my trip shortly before the end.

After I had arranged everything with my return flight, I had no time for breakfast anymore, as I wanted to go snorkeling. Together with two girls we were taken by boat out to the reef. Snorkeling there was much nicer than in the Great Barrier Reef. Everything was much more colourful. I could also see many different fish and even several starfish.

After some time it started to rain, but that doesn’t bother you at all, if you are in the water anyway and it is warm. Much too fast the hour in the water was already over. But I was a little bit relieved because I had problems with my snorkeling equipment all the time and I had salt water in my eyes, nose or mouth all the time.

The last sunset over the ocean

The rest of the day it only rained. Together with other backpackers I sat in the sitting lounge and later we had lunch until some of us went on to the next island. I had a three-hour drive to South Sea Island ahead of me. Because of the bad weather the waves were also very strong, so that I got seasick.

When I finally got off the ship and arrived on the island it was already 6 o’clock in the evening. After all the new arrivals on the island had checked into their rooms, the sun was already setting and I enjoyed watching the sun set over the sea one last time.

As soon as the sun had set we were served dinner. With loud drumming and shouting we were called by the locals on the island. All together we then sat at the table and were served dinner. For the starter we got a soup with bread, as main course we had the choice between curry with rice and fish & chips. And for dessert we got ice cream.

The hours are numbered

The last day on Fiji Islands and therefore also the last day of my trip. After lunch on South Sea Island, where there was a big buffet with many salads, bread, fruit and meat, my ferry went back to Nadi.

Unfortunately the weather was not very nice on my last day. There was not much rain, but the sky was just grey and not a single ray of sunshine came out. Arrived in Nadi I was brought by taxi to my accommodation. There I was busy with packing my things and taking a quick shower. My thoughts, however, revolved incessantly around my return flight the next day.

In the evening I got to know two more Germans with whom I sat together, ate and talked. But our conversation were mainly about Corona. Even on the television that ran next to us, nothing else was reported.

A race against time

The next morning I left for the airport at five in the morning. Even though I was really looking forward to go home, I was very sad that my big trip was over. I sat on the plane crying and reviewing all the great events of the last seven months I had experienced.

The 48-hour journey back to Germany felt like a race against time. My flight from Nadi to Germany was via Brisbane, Melbourne and Abu Dhabi. On the way home, I was in regular contact with my family in Germany, who kept me up to date on the latest Corona measures.

Most countries had already closed their borders. Australia only let tourists in if they could prove they had a place to stay for the next 14 days, during which they could go into quarantine, and Germany was already only letting locals into the country.

Since I not only had a stopover in Australia, but had to go back into the country to get my next plane, I was afraid that there would be problems at the airport, as of course I did not have any accommodation for my quarantine.

As soon as I got off the plane in Brisbane, I was handed a piece of paper that required me to give all my contact information and also my quarantine accommodation. Of course I couldn’t fill anything out so I tried to enter with a blank piece of paper. Fortunately, the people immediately believed me that I would be leaving Australia the same day, so I was able to get into the country without any problems.

Then I had to wait several hours for my next flight to Melbourne. At the airport, I heard many conversations from distraught tourists and every display board showed several cancelled flights. I kept panicking that my flight would be cancelled too.

But when I finally arrived in Melbourne and there were no problems to get on the plane to Abu Dhabi, I was a bit relieved. Now I just had to hope that I would make it from Abu Dhabi to Germany.

When I finally sat in Abu Dhabi in a plane, in which only Germans were sitting, who had to go back home because of the crisis, all the tension slowly fell away, because I had now as good as made it.

After 48 hours later I finally landed in Frankfurt. Unfortunately without my suitcase…

I had been really lucky with my return trip. Only two days after I was home, the Corona situation got much worse. The prices of flights from Fiji to Germany had skyrocketed in just a few hours, so I would have had to pay 7000 euros for a single flight.