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Published: August 28th 2007
After four months of travel, much of it at a fairly hectic pace, we arrived in Fiji. We were really looking forward to a relaxing few days and something approaching a proper honeymoon!
We flew into Nadi in mid-afternoon and headed for our local hotel, as we had to spend a night on the mainland before being transferred to our island getaway the following morning. Our first impressions of Nadi, and therefore of Fiji, were not promising. Nadi didn't feel like much to write home about and our hotel had a distinctly unloved feel to it, with the bulidings being in need of renovation and the staff in need of cheering up. After a quick walk outside to look at the surrounding area we went back to our hotel for dinner, not realising that we were the main course as far as the mosquitoes were concerned! After a few minutes of sitting outside we were scratching all over! We wolfed our food down, ran back to the room and wondered what we'd let ourselves in for!
Fortunately, things improved an awful lot from there. The next morning we were picked up from our hotel, driven to the port and
ferried, with several fellow tourists, to the Octopus Resort, on Waya island in the Yasawas. After an hour-long boat trip we were greeted with a sight that looked like paradise - a long bay with soft yellow/white sand, a collection of small buildings and a singing-and-dancing welcoming party on the beach. As this was the proper 'honeymoon' bit of our trip we had splashed out on a beachfront lodge and it was simple but beautiful. We stepped out from our front door, down the steps and onto the beach, and if that was too much effort we had numerous lounging opportunities, including our own hammock!
The resort had no TV, no internet access and no mobile phone reception. Anything could have happened in the week we were there and we would have known nothing about it! The resort also had set meal times, so everyone in the resort (around 60-70 people) sat together round big tables and got to know each other. We weren't entirely sure how much we would like that but we met some really interesting people from all over the world, and we left with several contacts we will keep in touch with.
We spent
our days reading, sleeping, snorkelling, eating, swimming and relaxing into 'Fiji time'. The resort had a very laid-back feel to it, and though they laid on organised activities every day and most nights, there was no pressure to do anything. We went on a couple of short hikes to Nalauwaki, the local village - the first time a group of us visited a church service, complete with fire-and-brimstone preacher and a beautiful choir; the second time the two of us visited the local kindergarten, where we had a great time playing games with the children and generally being the centre of attention!
The days seemed to go very quickly, for it was time to leave before we knew it. We had a brilliant time and would highly recommend the Yasawas and the Octopus Resort - it's got a mixture of dorms and rooms, meaning that there's a good variety of people staying there. The recent coup wasn't an issue at all - apart from driving past an armed checkpoint on the mainland, we saw and heard nothing and had no problems. The people were warm, welcoming and very pleased to see us, and we reluctantly boarded the boat to
head back to the mainland, waved off by the staff.
And that was it for us in the southern hemisphere. Next stop LA. You can't get much more of a difference from Fiji than that!
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Sunny and George
non-member comment
Travel Journal
We spent a lovely afternoon reading your journal about all of your adventures. You both have a wonderful way of describing the places and your feelings of the areas that you have visited. Vietnam is on our list of places to go to thanks to your postive experiences and information!We are looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip to the USA and back home. Let us know when you have that done. We will write an email to you both soon. Thanks so much for sharing your honeymoon travel thoughts and pictures. Maybe you can do a blog on Canada sometime, eh? Starting with us in Halifax, of course.