Around the World With Uncle Moose: Fiji, Kiribati, and Home

Our flight from Melbourne to Nadi, Fiji left about 8:45AM and arrived in Nadi at around 3:30PM. Nadi (pronounced "Nandi") is not the biggest city in Fiji (Suva is), but seems to be the jumping off place for most resorts.

We flew over Sydney--here's an aerial view

Another view of Sydney. Opera House at far right.

Apparently Holy Water is a health hazard in Fiji.

The coast of Fiji.

More of Fiji

Fiji is a collection of islands, and Nadi is on the main island. There are a few hotels and resort areas on the main island (including ours), but most of the resorts are on outlying islands. Since we were only in Fiji for a couple of days, it wasn't worth the hassle to trying to get to an outlying island, so we stayed near Nadi.

As soon as we got off the plane, we encountered the universal Fijian greeting--"Bula", which seems to be the Fiji equivalent of "aloha". For the next several days, "bula!" was uttered by every person we ran into (except for Fijians who had gone to Yale--they said "Bula! Bula!).

On the way from the Nadi Airport

On the outskirts of Nadi.

We stayed at the "Fiji Resort and Spa, Managed by Hilton". I'm sure that there is a reason why it isn't the "Fiji Hilton" or "Hilton Fiji Resort", but we never found out. In any event, it more than met our needs and expectations.

Hotel Lobby

Our room

View from our room. That's a hammock between the front set of trees.

Another view from our room

The Hilton (which is what I'm calling it) is one of several resorts in an area called Denaru, which is about 8 miles from Nadi. It's not exactly a "native" experience, since the only buildings on Denaru are international chain hotels and expensive condo developments, but since we only had two days, and the price was right, we took it.

Another less-than-wonderful thing about Denaru (and the main island) is that the beach isn't particularly good--kind of grayish sand, not very clear water, and a lot of seaweed. On the other hand, the resorts themselves (at least the Hilton) were wonderful. Maybe on our next visit, we'll spend more time and visit an outer island with good beaches...

The Hilton itself had seven different swimming pools, along with some really nice views. A few shots of the pools and view are below.

The day after we arrived, we took a tour of the Nadi area. The next few shots are of central Nadi.

Sri Siva Subramaniya, a Hindu temple

Sri Siva Subramaniya

More of central Nadi

Central market in Nadi

At the market

The main street in central Nadi

Housing in Nadi

I wouldn't dare think of it....

After visiting central Nadi, we drove about 10 miles to Viseisei tribal village, which is the oldest village in Fiji. Although it is a "tribal" village, most residents work in Nadi and it appears to be like any small settlement in Fiji.

Countryside near Nadi

Village visitors had to wear sarongs.

A house in the village

The village (Methodist) church

Our next stop was the Garden of the Sleeping Giant, which is a large orchid farm started by Raymond Burr, of Perry Mason and Ironside fame. It's a rainforest environment that contains lots of tropical plants in addition to orchids.

After visiting the garden we returned to the hotel and were forced to lay around the pool, waiting for dinner.


A cemetery near Nadi.

Nuku is the main restaurant at the hotel.

The next day was our last day in Fiji. Our flight was not scheduled to leave until 10:30 that night, but the hotel gave us one of the great late-checkout times in history--6:00PM! So, in the morning, we took a shuttle bus to a little shopping center in the middle of Denaru.

Denaru Shuttle, or the "Bula Bus"

Entrance to the Denaru Shopping Center

That's about $10 million in US dollars

The dock next to the shopping center

Typical real estate on Denaru

Denaru Golf Club

These trees were all over--not sure what they are

Another typical residence on Denaru.

Back to the hotel for more inactivity....

We checked out at 6:00 and had Happy Hour and dinner in the hotel restaurant.

The restaurant lounge

The house band

Farewell dinner

Our flight home was from Nadi to Honolulu to Los Angeles to RDU, with an overnight stop in Los Angeles. On the flight from Nadi to Honolulu, the plane stopped in Kiribati (former Gilbert Islands) for refueling. Since Kiribati is an independent country, if I could get off the plane and walk around, I could add it to my list of countries. My paranoia was that they would make us stay on the plane while they refueled and picked up passengers.

Sunrise over Kiribati

Christmas Island, Kiribati

Landing on Christmas Island

My fears were unfounded--they actually made us get off the plane, so Kiribati becomes country 89 on my list! Not only did I add another country to my list, but I got to see Cassidy International Airport, one of the world's great transportation facilities!