My eyes shot open. There it was again. Something was moving outside my bure (Fijian for traditional thatched building full of bugs). As my eyes became accustomed to the dark, I saw a hand creep through the open window. It crawled down the wall searching for me and then grabbed me by the shoulder.

"I'm awake, I'm awake!" I shrilled and leapt out of bed, cracking my head on the bunk above me. As I rolled about on the floor, moaning softly, I heard a voice asking in a puzzled whisper, "Are you okay, Mr Sam?"

It was 4.30 in the morning. Not my favourite time of day, but I was going on a hike up Wayasera's mountain to see the sunrise. I had been on the island for four days now and thought it was time to do something active.

After checking to make sure I was definitely awake (no doubt about that), my guide Naputo moved on to wake the others. I got dressed by torchlight, being careful not to look too closely at the rustling walls. I had seen a spider the size of my hand the night before and had come to the conclusion that denial was the best approach. If I couldn't see the the spiders, they couldn't see me.

I walked out and found the others. There were four in our little group: barefoot Naputo, Milan and Helen, both American, and me. With three torches between us we set off up a trail behind the village.

After only a few steps I was pouring with sweat. The heat and humidity were intense, and the creaking cicadas all around us seemed to make it worse. We climbed steadily up through the undergrowth, slipping and tripping.

As we got higher I could see pale streaks shooting out of the eastern sky. We hurried on - sunrise was not far off. Then we were out of the jungle and climbing over rocks. It was light enough to see now and we left the torches on the path.

Naputo said we were almost there. There was just one more hurdle; a walk along a narrow edge with a sheer drop on both sides. We gingerly stepped (or in my case crawled) along it... and there we were, on top of the island.

We were just in time. The sun came up 10 minutes later and the sea sparkled. Below stretched the islands of the Yasawas marching off towards the horizon. I guess it was a view worth getting up for.

I spent a week relaxing on Wayasera. It's a lovely place; what makes it extra special is that it's run by the island's villagers. All the proceeds from the holiday makers go straight back into the community - to provide new books for the school, for example. And because they live there too, the villagers are always around - calling 'bula' (hello) to you and shaking your hand. There are activities (organised by the smiling Big Jerry) such as snorkelling, a trip to the local village or the hike I did. And I met lots of nice people including two new card playing companions, Zoe and 'pokerface' Cathy.

So it was all very pleasant. But after I'd read all my books and reorganised my bag (for the millionth time on this trip - I'm still trying to get it down to a weight that I can lift) I did begin to get a little bored. I know all you people sitting back home in the office won't want to hear this, but there's only so much sitting on the beach you can do. However, after having rushed round the US, I thought a little boredom and time on my hands might not hurt, so rather than going to the airport I went on to another island instead.

This one was called Waya and I stayed at the Octopus Resort. It had the most amazing curved, palm-fringed beach and a coral reef right up to the shore. The green hills rose up behind the simple but clean bure accomodation, which sat virtually on the beach. The atmosphere here was rather more like that of a resort with good food than the other island - there was a definite distinction between the management and the local Fijian staff.

Still at the end of the day, no matter how beautiful it was, it was still just another beach, and after the initial excitement of looking round a new place I began to feel boredom setting in again. In a desperate attempt to stave this off, I went to the village church (it was Sunday and there was nothing else to do).

It's been some time since I last went to church, but I have to say that I thought this was a pretty remarkable service. After the usual readings the priest took the pulpit. He obviously felt his flock had been rather wayward recently, as he launched into an extraordinary fit of rage. There was much shouting and pointing of fingers. It was all in Fijian, so I'm not too sure what we were being berated about. I did ask afterwards but was told it was 'just the Bible'. All the locals seemed to be ignoring him anyway. They (and I) were more interested in the small child who kept trying to steal the hymn books. The choir was very good, though.

I left Waya the following day and got a fast boat back to the mainland. With me were a very cheerful Australian couple, Ben and Amber, and a Swedish girl called Hannah. More card playing companions - although these three kept beating me so I didn't like them quite so much - only kidding. Ben and Amber should feature in my tales again since they very kindly - and foolishly - invited me over to see them when I get to Sydney.

We stayed a night in a cheap hostel in Nadi (no spiders this time - just cockroaches) and then decided to travel down the Coral Coast to a backpacker place called the Beachhouse which Ben had heard about.

I can't recommend this place highly enough. It was clean, freshly painted and they served coffee and cakes in the afternoon. This was my kind of place. The beach wasn't that exciting but I'd had enough of them anyway and the Beachhouse made up for it by having a beautiful garden with hammocks.

After a very good night's sleep on a proper mattress, we joined the owner and his family on a hike inland. The local Fijians had just cut a trail through the rainforest up to a long forgotten waterfall and everyone was excited about seeing it for the first time in many years. It took a couple of hot hours of wading through streams and slipping back down muddy slopes before we reached the waterfall. With the sun streaming in, it was stunning. There was noisy rainforest all around and a small bathing pool at the bottom. With the others I climbed up to sit halfway, water pouring on my head and surrounded by little rainbows. As much as I liked the beaches, this is how I will remember Fiji.

Now I'm in Auckland, New Zealand. It looks like England only tidier. I'm supposed to go floating down a cave on an inner tube tomorrow - so I'll let you know how that goes next week.