Fiji Time

Bula! My daughter Ashleigh was visiting this week so we decided on a whim to spend a few days in Fiji- which is only a 3.5 hour flight from Sydney, similar to travelling to the Caribbean from the southern states. Since this is Ashleigh’s final semester at A&M and I’m celebrating my b-day for a full year 🙂 we decided to do something adventurous.
Fiji is two hours ahead of Sydney so we arrived at Nadi ( 3rd largest island in Fiji) around 7:00 p.m. on Thursday evening and then transported to Deneraus Island for an evening stay in close proximity to the airport. The entire Deneraus island is man made and is composed of luxury hotels/resorts and a golf course. There is no beach…only rocks and mud…but the Westin was very comfortable and we had a side view of the ocean from our room. You gotta love the heavenly beds at the Westin and the buffet breakfast was fabulous with free flowing champagne and a lovely view of the Fiji Islands. BTW- Fiji has over 300 islands and island hopping is expected!

Since we were staying at a small private island for the next two nights, we decided to find some local shopping that is located around the Port where the cruise ships dock. I expected Fiji to be less commercial than Hawaii or Mexico because of it’s remoteness but I was wrong. This is Mexico all over again with mega resorts and private homes in the ocean front areas with the very poor working class everywhere else. We even saw a McDonald’s on the main island! Yuk!

The Fijian people are very friendly and accommodating and most women wear traditional short fro’s. Both men and women wear sarongs which they call sulu. Ash and I had to wear these our first night in Fiji for the traditional ‘ Lovo ‘dinner.

We managed to find matching maxi dresses and the obligatory cannibal forks for souvenirs! At 3 p.m. our Navini Island driver picked us up and we headed to the airport to get another couple who were flying in from Sydney. Then we drove 20 min to a marina where a speed boat waited to transport us another 30 min to Navini Island Resort http://www.navinifiji.com.fj/

The island is absolutely beautiful! You can walk around the entire island in 10 minutes or kayak within 20. There are only 10 houses ( Bure’s) on the island and more staff than visitors to assist you with anything you might want/need.

I think ‘ low key’ is probably the best description for Fiji. …some call it ‘Fiji time’ and that is good because I never felt pressured or rushed and time stood still.

The first night there was a big ‘lovo’ dinner…similar to Hawaii with pork and fish cooked in an underground oven. There was also the passing of the ‘ kava’ cup. Kava comes from an indigenous root and is then pounded in to a powder mixed w/water…Ash says it is dishwater…Then everyone passes around this communal cup of libation which is a religious ceremony…which for many has a mild drug like effect- kinda.

The night’s kava ceremony gave way to Fijian singing by the staff, and then to a session of laughter and all-join-in dancing of what is known traditionally as a ‘tara-la-la‘.

Ash- sniffin’ Kava root Enjoying Kava Ash- after…

Yes…Ash noticed they were mixing the Kava w/ a dishrag Too much ‘Kava’

OK- there are real islands that look like this… and we stayed there!

We did a snorkelling excursion to the reef which was great…although Ash started to get sea sick when the guys insisted on fishing,( caught 3 large fish) but the interesting thing is that it took us much longer to get back to the island because of low tide…all of the reefs were exposed so we actually had to get in to a smaller boat to bring us back to the island…then wade thru coral beds to get on the beach…. Saw a blue star fish on our wade in…