As soon as we got off the plane the heat hit us and we loved it! As well as it being hot we were over the moon to arrive at our hotel the Radiison Blu, Denarau. The idea of a prober bed and space to spread ourselves out was a dream compared to life in a campervan!

Fiji is made up of about 332 islands but only 110 are inhabited. Viti Levu (where we stayed) and Vanua Levu are the two largest islands and have 87% of the Fijian population.

We spent the first few days relaxing around the pool, trying out paddle boarding (standing up on a surf board with a paddle) which I loved and improving out kayaking skills. We also used the local Bula Bus (Bula is an all encompassing Fijian word meaning hello, goodbye, how are you, welcome, happiness etc.) to get to the port which housed a handful shops and lots of restaurants.

We went on a trip which saw us stopping by the Nadi Hindu Temple which is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, a fruit and veg market where we tried Fijis traditional drink, Kava (yuk!), The Garden of the Sleeping Giant (named this way because of the shape of the mountains) where we walked through the tropical rainforest and saw the famous orchids (in all honesty it was bloody hot and the orchids were small and not as impressive as we were hoping!) last but not least we stopped by the natural hot springs located in one of the villages. We were given a tub of mud and told to paste it all over ourselves, we then walked around in the sun until it dried before washing off in a hot spring. All a bit rustic but its meant to be good for your skin and our guide told Dean he looked 10 years younger so we thought it was worth it!

We also set sail for a day on a beautiful boat which whizzed us around some of the stunning islands. One of these was where Tom Hanks filmed Castaway. We got to snorkel in the clear blue water, which was great until I spotted the jelly fish amongst the coral and that was it I was out! We also stopped by at a remote island village. The Chief welcomed us with a traditional service but luckily only he had to drink the Kava!

Overall the Fijians are the happiest bunch of people we have had the pleasure of meeting. They say ‘Bula’ with a huge smile to everyone and are just so friendly. We put this down to the sunshine, beautiful surroundings and a simpler way of life, we’re not sure they would like London very much at all!