Background: Fiji became independent in 1970, after nearly a century as a British colony. Democratic rule was interrupted by two military coups in 1987, caused by concern over a government perceived as dominated by the Indian community (descendants of contract laborers brought to the islands by the British in the 19th century). A 1990 constitution favored native Melanesian control of Fiji, but led to heavy Indian emigration; the population loss resulted in economic difficulties, but ensured that Melanesians became the majority. Amendments enacted in 1997 made the constitution more equitable. Free and peaceful elections in 1999 resulted in a government led by an Indo-Fijian, but a coup in May 2000 ushered in a prolonged period of political turmoil. Parliamentary elections held in August 2001 provided Fiji with a democratically elected government and gave a mandate to the government of Prime Minister Laisenia QARASE.
August 26th 2007Oceania » Fiji » Suva Hibiscus Festival - a week long festival of pageants, rides, concerts, talent competitions and BBQ! ... 12 photos[full story]
May 5th 2008Oceania » Fiji We arrived early evening and were promptly split up from all the "real holiday makers" who were going off to their fancy 5 star resorts while we were picked up and taken to our hostel. We stayed at H ... 16 photos[full story]
May 19th 2008Oceania » Fiji » Yasawa Islands Hey folks,
Here are a few snaps from our 10 days in paradise.
Fiji is a wonderful place and the island we stayed on was perfect.
Enjoy!
Mikey and Kaz. ... 28 photos[full story]
October 9th 2007Oceania » Fiji » Mamanuca Islands » Malolo Island After Vanuatu, I flew straight to Nadi and met up with my sister - my first visitor to Fiji!
We jumped on the Malolo Cat and cruised to Malololailai Island (Little Malolo Island) before transferrin ... 21 photos[full story]
September 9th 2007Oceania » Fiji » Caqalai This past weekend I went to Caqalai (Thang-ga-lie) Island for the weekend. It was a great weekend away out of Suva with great snorkelling, lying around in hammocks and not doing much at all. I'll le ... 16 photos[full story]
May 3rd 2008Oceania » Fiji » Yasawa Islands Bula,
Before we even got to fiji we had a little setback. We were delayed for 2 hours! Great! But when we finally boarded we only had a short 3 hour journey. We got to Nadi airport at 7.30pm, but w ... 44 photos[full story]
May 10th 2008Oceania » Fiji » Yasawa Islands Hey there everyone! We are now safely home after an incredible six and a half months! Very disorientating and we're very jet lagged but it is good to be back. So here is what we got up to in our last ... [full story]
May 15th 2008Oceania » Fiji » Vanua Levu Bula !
Walking on to our Air Pacific flight and seeing that all of the air crew were wearing brightly colourful flowery shirts we got the feeling we were really going to enjoy Fiji. We have been ... 55 photos[full story]
April 17th 2008Oceania » Fiji » Nadi
After queuing up in the heat for what seemed like hours in immigration,
we were glad to finally get outside into the fresh air.
We made it to the Travellers Beach Resort in Nadi, just befor ... 45 photos[full story]
May 2nd 2008Oceania » Fiji » Viti Levu
3 hours after leaving Auckland we touched down at Nadi Airport on the main island of Fiji in the South Pacific. First thing that hit us when we left the aircraft was the heat, 30 degrees or mo ... 29 photos[full story]
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