It had originally been my intention to visit Vanuatu, but it seems that the season only goes till the end of October. In fact I was visiting Fiji close to the hot and rainy season but I couldn't get away earlier. Fiji is roughly the same longitude as New Zealand and the same latitude as North Queensland so it is only 4 hours from Sydney. I had opted for carry-on luggage so no wait to claim luggage, but I was delayed at customs and waited for the transfer taxi to decide that no one else was arriving soon. Some people had told the resort the day they were arriving but not the flight, imagine that.
First impression of Fijian countryside is of a tropical developing country whose infrastructure could bear improvement. Reminded me of Malaysia decades ago.The main road is semi-rural and lined with retail shops punctuated by the occasional hotel or bar. Many businesses are Fiji-Indian owned.
Nadi Bay Resort is actually more like a backpacker hostel with some upmarket double rooms. (Nadi is pronounced Nandi by the way.) But it also has a couple of pools. The beaches on Viti Levu (the main island) are undistinguished so the lack of a beachfront compared to the other resorts is no loss. The resort is conveniently located on the main road and only 15 minutes to the airport. It's close enough to the runway to get aircraft noise but that's not a problem at night.
There are a couple of cats at the resort. One's well-fed, perhaps too much.
At the Indian owned Jetpoint supermarket near the crossroads I bought a pair of flip-flops. Those turned out to be essential. The cream crackers were more like hard tack though edible, I guess this is so that they don't soften in the humidity. Apples are imported from NZ. They also sold fireworks for the upcoming Divali festival. You'd never find that in an Australian supermarket.
I took a dip in the pool to cool off. There was a father, mother and daughter family there speaking Portuguese. I guessed that they were Brazilian.
Dinner was at the Sitar restaurant at the crossroads. The resort has an excellent and reasonably priced restaurant but I decided to save that for later. Dining costs are about the same as Australia, but the korma wasn't as tasty. The only other person in the dorm was an older Swede who was travelling around the world. He had purchased an islands excursion from the same company as I had so we would be picked up the next morning.
First impression of Fijian countryside is of a tropical developing country whose infrastructure could bear improvement. Reminded me of Malaysia decades ago.The main road is semi-rural and lined with retail shops punctuated by the occasional hotel or bar. Many businesses are Fiji-Indian owned.
At the Indian owned Jetpoint supermarket near the crossroads I bought a pair of flip-flops. Those turned out to be essential. The cream crackers were more like hard tack though edible, I guess this is so that they don't soften in the humidity. Apples are imported from NZ. They also sold fireworks for the upcoming Divali festival. You'd never find that in an Australian supermarket.
Dinner was at the Sitar restaurant at the crossroads. The resort has an excellent and reasonably priced restaurant but I decided to save that for later. Dining costs are about the same as Australia, but the korma wasn't as tasty. The only other person in the dorm was an older Swede who was travelling around the world. He had purchased an islands excursion from the same company as I had so we would be picked up the next morning.
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