Fiji

FIJI.. I cant believe I actually went to Fiji, let alone by myself! Fiji is the first place I have traveled alone outside the United States and the first place I have ever visited that’s on the opposite side of the International Date Line. So it will always hold a special place in my heart. I’ll admit though, it was not what I expected! 1. I knew it was going to be warm, but not that hot! Oh my was it hot! And I hate heat and sweating and everything involved with heat, so that part wasn’t fun. But I am thankful for the nice tan I was able to get from it! =P 2. Fiji is not what I pictured. Whenever I heard of Fiji I always thought of white sand beaches and crystal clear water, that’s not how the main land is. So I was a little shocked. But Fiji itself is so  beautiful and there are so many different areas around the main island that that doesn’t even matter! My only regret is that I didn’t get to visit more of the islands. I guess that just means I’ll have to go back and explore it more, right?! =)

My first glimpses of Fiji from above.

The man above was making Kava in the Market, the man below, he’s drinking it. Kava is one of the weirdest things I have ever tried. Its made from a root of a plant and dirt I think? Im not 100% positive, but personally, its pretty gross and I tasted just enough to say that I did. Plus it makes your month numb and that’s just really weird. You can read more about it here if you like.

Today I joined a little tour to some different spots on the island. We went to the Garden of the Sleeping Giant, the Vuda lookout, the First Village of Fiji where they used to be cannibals and a gorgeous Hindu Temple!

Can you see all those tiny little black specs on the image below? Those are BATS! While watching the sunset one evening I started noticing something flying above me. I stared out at the island in the below picture and hundreds, I mean hundreds of bats were just pouring off of it! It was crazy!

Today I joined about 50 other people and set sail to check out one of the 300 islands of Fiji. We took a boat ride (sail?) to Tivua Island where we spent the day, with just us. It was amazing. We were the only people on the island and it was one of the most gorgeous things I had ever scene. This is exactly how I pictured Fiji. My only regret is that I didn’t take my big camera with me, I thought we wouldn’t be the only ones there and I was afraid to leave it behind while enjoying the water. So these images are from my GoPro. But check out that Starfish! I have never scene a blue one before!

On my second to last night there it rained. One moment I was chilling at the pool to beautiful blue skies and had walked back to my room to get ready for the evening. Then when I get ready to head out for dinner the skys were black! It was crazy to watch the storm roll in. I was also really worried because this was the evening I was meeting up with the Buontempo family or their family portrait session and I didn’t want the shoot to get rained out. Thankfully it was mostly over by the time I met up with them and we just had a little spritz here and there, but when it was over it left us with the most gorgeous sunset and clouds.

**images taken with Canon 5D MKIII, GoPro Hero 4 and IPhone 6S**