Blogs from Fiji, Oceania - page 127

Mainly fine, 30c Chased by prostitutes, harassed by touts and barked at by wild packs of roaming dogs, welcome to paradise Suva style! You’d be forgiven for thinking you’re in Bombay or Calcutta, not only because of the presence of Indian Fijians but the environment - grotty streets, a harbour that’s a festering cesspool of filth and rat infested parks. Even the hardcore traveler’s bible Lonely Planet struggles for positives and advises “hide your money”, “beware of touts and sword sellers”, “always catch a taxi at night” and “don’t trust friendly strangers”. I’d be very hard pressed not to describe the majority of Suva as one big shit hole, and even then that’s a compliment. Leaving Vanuatu I made yet more ni-Vanuatu friends, one of which was the head of ground services at the airport. He ... read more

Me and Ang arrived in Auckland yesterday (OCT 22) at around 6 pm after a hot & sunny week in Fiji. The internet & phone service in Fiji is slow and expensive so we waited until we got to New Zeland to make our first entry. After a long night of flying we arrived in Fiji on the 15th of October at about 6 am. We stayed at Rendezvous Surf & Dive,located about an hour outside of Nadi at the Uciwai landing. On our Fiji trip we did a whole lot of relaxing. The weather was somewhat cooperative, we had a full day of absolute rain, which was a little bit of a shock, then sun and some wind. We had four dive trips in total which were amazing. Loads of different coral and species of ... read more

At last some hot weather. I flew from Auckland to Nadi with Jean- Luke and Rob a couple of days ago. Me and Rob bought an all inclusive boat ticket around the Yasawa Islands. The firat destination was Nanuyu Lailai where we spent two nights at the Sunrise resort. We met Emma, Jessica, Marie- Ann, Nigel, Tamara and Chris who were sharing a dorm with us. We did the trek to the Blue Lagoon and played alot of volley ball with the locals, we never won- Fijians are massive. We spent the next two days on the 'Wanna Taki', a sleeping cruiser where we could Kayak, dive off the boat, play drinking games and snorkel. The best day was when we were woken early and told that a manta ray had been spottedand we could snorkel ... read more

Another week has passed by since I last updated you all on my travels and what a week it's been...sorry to disappoint! The week got off to much the same start as the first....weather on arrival,overcast with rain expected for the next few days! Spent the first two nights in Nadi on the main island of Viti Levu staying at the Nadi Bay Resort. Was met there on my second night by Sarah and our Fijian adventure began.... Spent one day in Nadi itself...our breakfast in the Curry House being a highlight (anyone ever had French Toast filled with pan fried chicken ... not recommended)! Shopped in Jack's and stocked up on our alcohol for our trip out to the outer islands. On our way back to the hotel we got talking to a local lady, ... read more

Apres the Shark dive we took the rickety open sided local bus back to Nadi. Being a Sunday morning it was filled with locals on their way to and from Church. Sundays in Fiji are all about the church. Nothing is really open and all around you the churches which line the fields and beachsides are in full song literally. It is really nice and something different to see a real sense of culture still pervades this tourist hotspot. In fact the whole of fiji oozes this laid back local feel in abundance. It is like a step back in time. The buses have no sides and the locals are so friendly. A far cry from the misery of the number 8 which awaits us so soon. Best make the most of it. Our driver wore ... read more