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Fiji. Ahh Fiji. Finally. Fiji is a word that many people use to describe a place in their head that represents paradise. The people of this country know this, and they know that’s the reason people come here. But be warned: Fiji is not a cheap paradise. From the moment I hopped off the plane and the tropical heatwave washed over me, I knew I was no longer in coldy-cold New Zealand. The hoodie and shoes went to the bottom of my rucksack and the sandels and suncream came to the top. I’d been advised not to stay too long in Nadi (pronounced ‘Nan-dee’) – the arrival point into the main island of Vita Levu – to avoid touts and rip-off merchants. Thankfully I got into Nadi at night, whisked to my hostel and whisked straight to the harbour the next morning. I was here to explore the Mamanucas and Yasawas Island chains. Not having done much prior research into Fijian Island-hopping, I booked an Awesome Fiji ‘Bula Pass’ – a 7-day hop-on/hop off boat ride around the islands in the hope of meeting some interesting people. Many an interesting person I did indeed meet, however ‘Awesome Fiji’ weren’t so awesome: I received no information (nor could I find much on the internet) about the various islands and what they each had to offer. I had to go on word-of-mouth suggestions about the best places to stay, and whenever I tried to book ahead, most places were already fully booked! In hindsight, I would have definitely gone with the same company, but instead opted for an ‘Accommodation Pass’ like the majority of travellers had gone for.

I did have a strangley coincidental encounter aboard the main boat though: I disturbed a girl named Alice from her snoozing to ask which island she was heading to – Tavewa as it happened (one of the furthest out), same as me. As we chatted some more it suddenly became apparent that Alice had met with a certain gentleman on Frazer Island (Australia) who’d broken his leg several years ago only to sue the NHS, then begin travelling round the globe with his friend Ted…

Me: “Was his name Mark by any chance?”

Alice [surprised]: “Er, Yeah!?”

Me: “Baxendale?“

Alice: “Yes!!”

Combined: “Oh-my-God!!”

We then continued to laugh for the next 4 hours… actually we just found it quite ironic that Alice had bumped into a friend of mine from back home so randomly. Mr Baxendale – here is the proof:

Picture of a bemused Alice

Anyway, back to the travel blog… Tavewa was nice…

…basic, but actually very nice.

Staying at Coral View resort, I met a great group of people on the first night and thus decided to stay for another. We snorkelled several times a day and we were entertained by the island residents on a daily basis with cooked meals, dancing and even a Kava ceremony:

My next point of call was the island of Naviti. On recommendation of a drunk Englishman on the mainland, I ventured to the ‘White Sandy Beach’ resort. Now, I don’t wanna accuse them of false advertising, but there was a distinct lack of ‘beach’, aside from the fact that it wasn’t exactly white. It was sandy, so I’ll give them that I suppose…

I’d met two girls on my place from Christchursh to Auckland (Carolina and Jo) and bumped into them again upon arrival at Coral View. It turned out they were staying just down the beach at a resort called ‘Korovou’ (yes, there has been some confusion when explaining this…). After wandering down the beach and sighting the lush dorm accomodation – in comparison to my ant-infested dive – the swimming pool, the clearly better stretch of slightly-more-white sandy beach, for only $10 more per night…

…I promptly packed my bag, got a refund and defected to Korovou immediately.

The Fijians here were much more friendly and approachable, and their resident guitarist just seemed to love playing Johnny Cash songs. They had us up dancing, singing by the campfire and we lazed by the pool all day long with uninterrupted sunshine. It felt like a real holiday resort for all concerned.

‘Beachcomber‘ was my next island choice – dubbed as a real ‘party island’, this tiny sandy oasis (you could walk right round it in ten minutes…) was great, if somewhat quiet when I stayed there. A live band entertained sunbathers during the day before giving way to their resident chart-dance tune-spinning DJ at dusk.

People tended to stick to their own small groups, many of whom were gap-year students. This, combined with a distinct lack of people staying on the island that night made for a slightly lackluster party ‘feel’. I mean, the place looked (and practically was) empty. I imagine at its peak this place would make an amazing party experience. I happened to be missing my girlfriend like crazy, and just couldn’t be arsed sipping beer whilst watching wannabe-casanovas trying unsuccessfully to bump-n’-grind with 3 girls at a time. Amazingly, I slept soudly on the island that doesn’t sleep (gee, I must be geting old…!).

My final stop was on Bounty Island – famous (not that I remotely care) for being the location of the British reality-T.V. programme ‘Celebrity Love Island’. There were pictures adorning the walls of these so-called ‘celebrities’…

…most of whom I didn’t recognise a jot.

This was definitely the most pleasant island I’d visited due to the quality of its beaches and surrounding features:

However, upon walking round the island you stumble on the ‘love nest’ used in the T.V. programme…

…it had been completely trashed and graffitied by numerous English idiots who couldn’t help but leave their own shit-stain mark on this otherwise stunning island. Shame, as the buildings in question would have made for a pleasant little private hideaway retreat for someone else to enjoy.

The evening entertainment wasn’t exactly top-notch, but I amused myself for a few hours by thrashing everyone that challenged me (including several Fijians) at pool. Eventually I was beaten (by a fellow Brit), but happy to escape the heat and humidity and retreat to our spacious air-conditioned dorms.

Fiji lives up to its reputation as what people perceive as ‘paradise’, yet this is a modern country. The Island Fijians are friendly, accommodating people. However, these people are very much used to visitors, and they are aware of the business opportunities they present. Fiji can be an expensive place to island-hop, but there aren’t many places on Earth that equate to this country’s laid-back tropical charm. Just be sure to bring plenty of suncream and a high-limit credit card (or a suitcase full of cash) with you.

J.

Tags: Fiji, Random Stuff, Travel

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 10th, 2007 at 8:55 pm and is filed under Fiji, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.