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Published: August 17th 2008
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Perhaps it’s because I still think I’m a traveller but for holidays I really don’t like to make plans, scheduled itineraries and most of all bookings. Sometimes this works for you and sometimes it doesn’t - Unfortunately my Fiji experience was a case of the later.
We’d done plenty of research on Islands we liked resorts that looked nice and expected to play everything by ear when we got there. My reasoning that Fiji is a big backpacker destination must make it an easy place to improvise. Upon arrival though it seems that most backpackers like to pick a package tour of 2 nights here a night here then another couple here.
The reason for going to Fiji was to experience the epitome desert island full of Islands whos diameters are measured in meters not miles, the land mass is made only of sand, the water is crystal blue, the only vegetation is palm trees and the only construction is limited to few huts and perhaps a swimming pool. Fiji is all of these but this creates quite a predicament for two happy go lucky travellers. Islands are so small that they generally have only one resort and are serviced by
other islands by a daily boat. Booking therefore is a necessity as if a resort is full, as we found many to be, you can’t simply walk to the next and if you don’t like the resort then you’re spending at least the night.
We stayed in three resorts over our time and it was very much a case of Goldilocks and the three Islands......
First off was Treasure - At the airport we were struggling and found ourselves the only couple off the plane that seemed to need to book anything. Resorts in Fiji seemed expensive on the web so my reasoning had been they must be cheaper on the location. This didn’t prove to be correct and the only difference we were finding was availability. With the boat departure time arriving we decided on Treasure Island which could accommodate us for only one night but this would get off the mainland and seemed the best transport hub that Fiji had to offer.
Catamarans are the staple transport for Fiji but with the sea being so shallow smaller boats will always ferry you from the main boat to your island. Arriving at Treasure we had our first experience of
Fijian hospitality as the boat came in to moor two guys and one guitar bellowed out a traditional welcome song. Off the boat rather than being directed to reception we were taken to the bar for a welcome chat and a quick introduction to the amenities. Within the talk it started to make a bit of sense why we were paying so much... Islands this small are not self sufficient in any form. Water has to be either piped from the main land or barged in as does any food or other supplies.
We liked Treasure but it was very set up for families and seemed the perfect place to take kids as they had a very fun club and were could they get lost in a island so small? That night we watched our first Fijian Sunset with our first Fijian cocktail had an amazing dinner although the night was soured somewhat by still needing to find a plan for the next day.
Discussing all the permutations we decided to stay and relax on Treasure till late and catch a private boat to their sister Island Bounty. The next day we got up and walked round the island which
took all of 10 mins we then decided to Kayak over The infamous party island of Beachcomber
It’s very rare you can island hop under your own steam but from Treasure we took a couple of Kayaks and went to the infamous backpacker party island of Beachcomber. Beachcomber was a much smaller island and only took 5 mins to walk around and although it is for the budget traveller it has been well done. I’m not too sure I have ever walked round an Island in a day so to do two was an experience.
Goldilocks verdict of Treasure - Too much for families...... Bounty Island had been the set on Celebrity Love Island a UK TV show that i had watched just before I travelled to oz. The Island was much larger than the previous two although still only took us 40mins to circumnavigate it was also probably the most spoiled one. For some reason the TV film set had been transported round the island and was now the main restaurant and swimming pool but where it originally been was far from restored. Once again the hospitality was very Fijian with another welcome song but the
cliental was very much the backpacker. We stayed two nights but just kicked back in hammocks, read books and took it easy.
Goldilocks verdict on Bounty - too backpackery... At last on bounty I had managed to negotiate a discount at the exclusive resort of Matamanoa.
Thus far we’d had a great time but hadn’t quite fitted in anywhere.... This resort was exclusively for couples and everything had an extra class around it.
Goldilocks verdict on Matamanoa.... just right!!!! It was a beautiful Island amongst some incredible competition and the resort itself had daily activities - Although this can make you feel like you’re on some sort of butlins package it was nice to have something to break up the day. At night all of the staff that where busy looking after you moonlighted as the resorts band and would even serenade the leaving guests on their last night. Another highlight was sampling Cava which the Fijians native alcoholic drink fermented from the root of a plant. We also participated in some Karaoke with some other guests and possible one of the most fun nights was crab racing - 10 crabs are assigned a country and put
up for auction, the crabs are then placed in the middle of a circle and the first three crabs passing the chalked radius are given a split of the auction proceeds . The Auction was almost as good fun as the race lucky for us I was the only Englishmen amongst the guests and got our crab for a bargin price of 22 Fijian I also picked up another crab for 13 it didn’t look to have the sharpest claws in the bucket but probability wise I saw it as a good buy. The Kiwi crab ended up going for 90bucks the aussie for 75 and Fijian which was suspiciously 3 time the size of any other went for 80. With the race on the idea is to whistle round the circle although it’s not very selective to your own particular crab.. needless to say my two didn’t come in and the Fijian crab won!!!
The weather had began to turn when we arrived on the island and two full days had been quite overcast with the weather report not suggesting any improvement we headed to the airport to see if we could change our flight and head home a
couple of days early.
While the start of the holiday proved a good example of how plans and bookings could have worked in our favour the end of the holiday illustrated how flexibility is priceless - rather than spending 300aud a night and sitting in a hotel room while it rained we dashed back to Sydney.
Fijian people were as hospitable and charming as their islands were beautiful but I can’t say I have a great desire to go back as it was all too expensive... we actually made the call it would have been cheaper to go to resort in Australias Whitsundays!!
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