Blogs from Denarau, Fiji, Oceania - page 3

Amazingly enough all of our flights yesterday left on time - we flew from Toronto to Detroit to LA to Fiji, clocking in about eighteen hours in the air (with plenty of time waiting in airports in between). I think Jason enjoyed his first commercial flight experience - although much preferred the shorter two flights! We arrived in Nadi, Fiji at 5am on February 28 (losing Wednesday February 27 entirely in our travels). Our hotel was about a 20 minute cab ride from the airport, and it’s very much a tropical paradise. We can even see the ocean from the back porch of our room. The temperatures are lovely - particularly compared to the snowstorm we left behind in Canada. We’re hoping to avoid the sun in the peak hours today as even the 9am sun ... read more

Bula from a far-away place called Fiji- Unlike other blogs some of you may have been reading recently, our flights were on time, we made our connections and our luggage found us when it should. So much for the travel part. There were, however, a few interesting sidelights to our trip over. When we got our boarding passes for the long flight from LA, we did not have seats in row 32, 45, 57, but 69! A negative being our seats did not go back very much, which didn’t stop the people in front of us doing so, making for less than ideal sleeping conditions. A positive was that we earned a few coins as bathroom attendants as we had adjoining walls. On our first flight, the movie was “Blades of Glory”, which should not be ... read more

01/03/07 - 10/03/07 After our whistle-stop adventure tour of New Zealand, we were looking forward to some serious relaxing in Fiji - most of our time was spent relaxing by the pool, looking out over the beach, or playing table tennis or volleyball. Unfortunately this plan was partly scuppered by it being the rainy season, so occasionally we had to abandon the sun deck and run for cover as the torrential rains hit us. We took a local bus into Nadi Town and another into the village of Sigatoka to see the real Fiji outside of the resort complex. As usual we had to dodge the raindrops and waited at the bus station for the rain to subside before heading out round the market and shops. In the market we bought some fruit - mini bananas ... read more

Serenity can be found on a raft under the sun just off the shore of the Pacific. That’s exactly how I decided to spend my last day in Fiji…The Truth, however, lies in a bottle of Absolut purchased from Duty-free... 3-1-1. Three ounces per container max, one quart Zip-lock, one Zip-lock per person. Unfortunately, the bottle of Vodka Gene and I procured at the airport in Fiji upon our arrival was certainly not going to pass security on our way out of the country. Hence, what better to do than share it with new friends on our last night at the resort. Dave and Haley (just engaged), Heidi and Joel (on a belated honeymoon), Judith (a German traveling solo for one year), Tui (a native employee) and the Dutch (whose names I cannot recall), joined around ... read more

At Easter, we took advantage of those amazing airfare deals with Pacific Blue to take a family holiday in Fiji. Because we saved a bundle on the airfare we decided to check-out the new Sofitel on Denarau, 10 minutes from Nadi. Being brand new, everything was in good shape. We had a family room, which has a seperate section for the kids. In their room there was a bunkbed and a Play Station. In our room was the TV and a Queen-size bed. We all loved the pool which is huge. The kids particularly enjoyed the waterslide. On Denarau (which is an island connected to the mainland by a causeway), there is a free shuttlebus that runs between all the resorts and the marina. At the marina is a small restaurant called Cardos. Near the entrance ... read more