Have had to hide in total shade for couple of days after getting majorly sunburnt while sat in what I thought was the shade on an air seat/hammock thing.
I had no direct sun on me – must have been reflecting of the sand or sea or something. And I’d covered head to toe in the most expensive sun cream money can buy. Mmm – seems that talk about the ozone layer missing above oceana seems to be true.
I have some very attractive bubbly, blisters, so I at least don’t feel alone with my scaly appearance when the 6am lizards come visiting.

We had massive storms yesterday. It’s funny how I normally loathe the rain, but I love it here. Probably because it’s not normally long until the sun comes back out again. Plus, rather than dreary, drizzle, the rain and storms are so much more dramatic. Thunder and lightening and rooms shaking – very entertaining.

Plus, the aftermath can be entertaining – leaves from palm trees that have become dislodged, falling down at random points of the day, onto un-suspecting backpackers.

Some of them deserve it to be honest. On the whole, people are friendly and pleasant but there are some people who tend to get my back up somewhat.
At first I thought it was an age thing – but no, it just seems some people are a bit rude (thought the young americans have tended to lead the pack so far).
There is a tendency to talk the staff in a way that they clearly wouldn’t dream of talking to their friends. In essence talking to them as if they are staff, erring on the side of servants. When asking for things it can be more of a demand than a request. Quite frankly, especially when they are talking to the older members of staff here, I am tempted to lean over and clip them around the ear.
It’s even more alarming when you get this from the older generation, who certainly should know better. But I guess this is just life, but it did surprise me, in an environment where you’re paying very little and getting a lot, you should be grateful and not take it for granted. I kind of understand it more if you’re in a big hotel or resort where you’re paying a fortune. But here – no. And in Fiji where the people are so exceptionally nice – definitely no.

But as I say, that is a minority and on the whole everyone is happy in paradise. It says a lot about how good this place is that there is a lot of people from Oz and New Zealand holidaying here rather than in a hotel or resort. The problem with this of course is that I think we may have been incredibly spoilt at our first stop and that as we continue on we will have this amazing place to look back on probably rather dreamily.