Half a day – that’s exactly how much sunshine we had during five days in wondrous tropical Fiji. But despite the lack of rays, Elaine and I had a great time at the Naviti Resort on Fiji’s Coral Coast.
After a four hour plane ride and a two hour bus trip, we arrived at the resort at about 9am only to find that we couldn’t be checked in until 2pm. But, after killing five hours wondering around the resort, we mysteriously got upgraded to an ocean view room. Bonus.
The weather really sucked the first day with severely overcast conditions with intermittent rain. But in between I did manage to use the moody weather to capture a pretty nice shot of Elaine below. She’s squatting on a pylon that forms a breakwater near the resort if you’re interested (you’re probably not).
Sunday we caught a shuttle over to the Naviti’s sister hotel, the Warwick. Because of an arrangement between the hotels we were allowed to use all the Warwick’s facilities, which is pretty cool because it’s rated a whole star higher than the Naviti. They’ve got some really cool stuff there like a bar that’s situated out in the sea, only connected by a small bridge. But rather than just sit there and drink, Elaine and I decided to have a dip in their hot tub… little did we know (until we actually jumped in) that the hot tub wasn’t that hot, in fact it was quite cold. Nevertheless we still sat there freezing and convincing ourselves that it was getting warmer for about half an hour before heading back to the Naviti to rest up for the next day.
Monday was Denise’s wedding at the Fijian, so we booked a bus to pick us up at 10:10am. By 10:30am, and without sign of the bus, Elaine and I started to panic. By 10:45 it was getting desperate and I was ringing the bus company. Five minutes, five minutes was what they kept saying. Now here’s the thing, when they say five minutes they mean five Fiji minutes which equates to about 15 minutes in the real world. Anyway, to cut a long and stressful story short, the bus company finally sent us a private driver who was apparently (and thankfully) familiar with the phrase “zoom zoom”. Then… finally… we had the only half day of postcard perfect Fijian sunshine just in time for Denise and Roy’s wedding. The wedding was absolutely wonderful. Check back for another post covering that great event.
Tuesday we went to Suva, the capital. It was a funny little town with little pieces of Australia to remind us that we weren’t that far from home, like Westpac and ANZ banks, and a plethora of shops selling Billabong and Rip Curl apparel. All up we had about five hours in Suva, which was just about enough time to cover every little nook and cranny of that curious town. Later that night back at the Naviti we were treated to a traditional Meke by the locals, unfortunately only one of the very few opportunities we had to view the local culture.
Wednesday was our last day in Fiji, and despite our most desperate prayers we could only get intermittent sunshine interwoven with occasional light showers. But we did get to spend some time in the Naviti hot tubs (which were only marginally warmer than the Warwick’s) and have a go on the paddleboats, which was a fun but tiring experience. That pretty much covers the trip. It was short (or at least felt that way), but was definitely most enjoyable, almost like a second honeymoon. I’m pretty sure Elaine and I will end up back there again one day in search of that elusive Fijian sun.
September 30th, 2006 by 
paul 
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