Our Own Private Island

Once we got to Fiji, however, we were quite glad to be there. And not just because of the jaw-droppingly gorgeous countryside and friendly natives (although that helps). It was also provided a nice break in between a series of long flights – it really does take a long time to fly to the other side of the world. Much like most tropical paradises, Fiji has stunning scenery punctuated by poverty and developed tourist areas. Fiji seems to be better off than Cancun, for example, with less abject poverty and almost no beggars that we saw, but most rural areas are pretty undeveloped.

People in Fiji are about as friendly as advertised. Compared to US flight attendants, Air Pacific’s Fijian crew was quite friendly, and people that we saw on the street were for the most part quite friendly and polite. On our shuttle from the airport to the Nananu Island Lodge, the backpackers that we stayed at for a few nights on Nananu-i-Ra Island (or "Daydream Island"), we stopped in a few villages and bought some hilarious snack food (more on that later), and saw a lot of natives, most of whom seemed to encapsulate Fiji’s laid-back and friendly vibe.

It would seem that even an ongoing military coup doesn’t dissuade Fijian tendencies towards friendliness. We drove through several military checkpoints on the way to our resort, and they had to be the friendliest military checkpoints that you’d want to encounter. At most of the stops at least one Fijian military personnel was holding a submachine gun while smiling, waving, and saying ‘Bula!’ to our van as we drove by. Not exactly Checkpoint Charlie. Now, it might just be because tourism is such a huge industry here the Fijians have an ingrained sense to try and make tourists feel at ease while they’re visiting during a politically sensitive time, but you had to see these guys – they seemed genuinely happy. However, I didn’t feel like pressing my luck, so we didn’t get any snapshots.

The only downside to the Fijian easygoing friendliness and laid-back attitude is an apparent lack of punctuality. Our resort said to expect a 2-hr ride from the airport to the wharf, which ended up taking over 3 hrs. A 3-hr ride isn’t necessarily a terrible thing, but when you’re expecting a 2-hr ride through the Fijian countryside, you start to wonder if they’re actually taking you to the resort, or are we being driven to the middle of nowhere…? I was pleasantly surprised at how well-maintained the main ring road was, as we’ve been on worse roads just this week in New Jersey. Another Fijian trait seems to be a predilection for scary passes of slow-moving trucks on 2-lane roads with other cars bearing down on you. Since they drive on the left side of the road here, I also had to fight a natural cringe every time I saw a car coming towards us in the right lane around a curve.

Andrew enjoying a Fiji Bitter on the shuttle ride to the island. A beer helps to calm the nerves during the rather harrowing drive.

Luckily, we got to the wharf after a few diversions, and caught the ferry (a generously used term since it was more like a 15-ft skiff with an outboard motor, but that’s what you get at a discount resort). Once at the resort, we found there were not many other visitors at the lodge, since it was January, Fiji’s summer, and temperatures in the high 80’s-low 90’s keep most tourists away at this time. Fiji and other South Pacific islands really are the equivalent of the Caribbean for Australia/New Zealand tourists. At less than 3 hrs from Auckland, Fiji is tough to beat for an island holiday. There were maybe ten other visitors at Nananu when we were there, many of which were Europeans (most Brits) traveling through Fiji on various around-the-world tickets. Fiji is apparently a frequent stop for globe-trekking Europeans between Auckland and LA. We also met a couple of Americans who worked at the resort, but were soon to leave, as the slow, hot season after the holidays is not the lucrative time to be working in Fiji.

The hazards of a beach vacation in Fiji

Nananu-i-Ra Island itself is a gorgeous small island not far from the northeast coast of Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu. With several white beaches, clear blue water, palm trees, lush mountains, and spectacular underwater scenery, the island is basically a tropical paradise. The Island Lodge is a rather rustic backpackers-type beach resort, meaning that while beautiful, it’s definitely meant for a younger (and cheaper) crowd that doesn’t miss typical amenities like AC, hot showers, fancy bathrooms, or things of that nature. Not to say that we didn’t enjoy ourselves there, but if you go somewhere like that, it’s better to know those types of things going in.

Like most backpackers accommodations, most of Nananu’s lodgings were dormitory style, though we lived it up and got a double room, which was nice as it was much more private. The bathrooms were pretty primitive, with brackish and pretty cold water running from the shower, which inspired even Becky to speed up her customary half-hour long shower.

The lodgings were all close to the beach, and we largely had the run of the place to ourselves as there were very few other visitors during this, the hot season. Even though it was very hot with a blazing sun, a strong breeze on the beach made the temperature much easier to bear. Despite slathering myself with what I considered copious amounts of sunscreen, I still ended up crisping myself, with a peeling nose to show for it now. Not that it will elicit much sympathy, but take it from me, paradise can be tougher than it looks sometimes…

"One Beach" on the other side of the island

On our first day at the resort we stuck to hanging out on the beach, and walking up to the bure on the hill above the resort area to catch the sunset. Despite a bit of cloudiness, the Fijian sunset was still pretty spectacular. On the next day, we were up literally at dawn, as the sun woke us up through our screen door. Waking up at dawn with no alarm is a pretty freaky thing for me, as most people who know me would probably attest. This made me think briefly that perhaps I don’t have a badly functioning body clock, I just live at the wrong longitude? At the very least, it’s an interesting theory.

The next day we took in some snorkeling right off the beach. It was incredible. Barely 50 yards off shore, we snorkeled in about 10 ft deep clear water with soft coral, anemones, and hundreds of brightly colored fish. The underwater scenery in Fiji totally blew the doors off what we had seen in Cozumel, Mexico a few years ago and showed us why Fiji is considered such a top dive spot. If we’d had more time at the resort, we would definitely have gotten dive lessons, but even just snorkeling we had a great time. Given that Fiji is costly and time-consuming to get to, if I ever go back to Fiji, it will almost certainly be to go diving.

The sunset bure at the peak of Nananu-I-Ra

After a few days at Nananu-I-Ra, we took our shuttle back to Nadi to stay for a night at the Nomads Skylodge. We were sad to leave our own private island, but, between the coup and the low season, the number of visitors to the resort had dwindled in just the few days we were there, so there wasn't too much going on at the moment. We stopped in downtown Nadi, which isn't much of a hot tourist spot... That is, except for the the hustling and heckling shop owners who tried to get us to go in their stores with the promise of kava. They all had nearly the exact same line: "We have a saying in Fiji: Until you have kava, you're still on the plane." To make a long story short, we didn't have any kava, but my peeling forehead strongly suggests we left the plane at some point in Fiji.

Next stop, New Zealand!