Now that things are beginning to settle down a little, I'm ready to get back to blogging and sharing some of my new pictures. First up - Fiji!
After we said good-bye to New Zealand at the end of March, we had a 9-day, 8-night stopover in Fiji. I have to admit that in all the chaos of packing and planning to come home, planning another trip wasn't high on our list (terrible, I know!), but we had booked the flight stopover 2 years ago when we bought our tickets to come to NZ, so we just couldn't pass it up. We decided on 3 nights in a fancy resort on the edge of the main island in an area called Denerau Island and 5 nights on Plantation Island in the Mamanuca Island chain.
The Radison on Denerau had some super cheap rates and it was our place to chill out and recover from the move. It was an easy drive from the airport and the ferry port out to Plantation. Denerau is basically a man made "island" that is covered with swanky resorts, golf courses, and a small shopping area at the port. Inside the resort it looked very "Fiji", but it was a little too fabricated. The grounds were beautiful and the pools were really cool and thank goodness we had a nice room because it rained almost the whole time we were there!! It was a downer, but gave us no excuse to just relax... sleep, eat, read, repeat.
We swam a little in the pools, which were actually a little cool from all the rain, but we did have plenty of space to ourselves w/ so many people hiding in their rooms. We also took a few rides on the island shuttle to check out the other hotels and to do some shopping at the port. I got a Fijian designed and handmade dress and we both got snorkel sets for the next stop. One of our favorite things about this place was the breakfast... french toast (made with thick french toast) with grilled bananas and coconut cream sauce (aka: icing) - we ate it every morning!
The sun finally started to come out as we left for Plantation Island and we had a nice 45 min. boat ride to this tiny, remote location. I don't know any other way to describe it other than: like a postcard. The whole island was covered in palm trees and the water was crystal clear! We were greeted by the staff singing a welcome song and passing out shell necklaces, got a tour and checked into our "bure" (cabin). It was basically open air with wooden slat "windows", but thankfully had a small AC unit to help cut down some of the heat and humidity - which was really intense! We later found that geckos took over at night... we had them inside and outside the bure on the walls and ceilings.
Andy was pretty freaked out by the amount of palm trees on the resort... ok, not really the amount of trees, but the amount of coconuts in the trees. There were hundreds, all ready to fall at any minute. When we first arrived, he asked a staff member if people get hit by them very often. "No, never", she said. Two seconds later - one fell and slammed onto the metal roof of a cabin! Deep breath... fingers crossed we're not standing under the next one to fall. We heard them falling quite a bit, but luckily, were spared being hit... but it did keep things interesting. (Andy always looked up when we walked through the trees and here's one that missed us:)
Our routine, if you could call it that, was simple: eat, lay on the beach, snorkel, lay on the beach, swim, eat, nap, swim, snorkel, eat, drink... a nice life. The beaches were (nearly) white sand, the water was warm and crystal clear, and the weather was great!
I wish I could say that the food was good, but it was pretty terrible buffet style stuff. Eventually we found a really good little place a short walk down the beach that saved our stomaches! Outdoor dining, good cocktails, a no non-sense waiter (same every time) that approved of our choices - everything was delicious! We did have two scares at this little restaurant though. #1: A HUGE beetle of some kind landed on me. Thank god I never saw it when I ducked as it hit me and crawled around before Andy swatted it off me. I saw another one later and it made my skin crawl... scary. #2: A HUGE bat crawled around in the palm tree just above our table. These gigantic things flew in every evening from some other island... guess they have to eat too.
The resort had plenty of activities like snorkeling trips, kayaks, windsurfers, etc., so we had lots to keep us busy - but lounging in the hammocks and swimming was first priority!
We saw all kinds of sea life right off the beach and snorkeling was just a short swim away.
One day we got adventurous and took a walk down the island, around the tip and around to the other side. We didn't find much except for more palm trees, but it was a beautiful walk and really peaceful.
One evening before dinner, while we had the usual - Fiji Bitter beer, Andy started working on opening a coconut. Of course, it wasn't an easy task and eventually a crowd formed. A crowd of three little Australian girls on a family holiday. They talked our ears off for what seemed like an eternity while we waited for Andy to get that thing open! They were really fun though, and very well traveled as we soon found out. By the time we broke into the coconut and passed it around, no one was really interested in eating it, but we had made friends with the girls and eventually their parents as well.
We really had an amazing time there! Soaked up plenty of sun, enjoyed the warm weather and water, and got some great photos to remember it all!
