Stayed at Mamas Tropic of Capricorn for three nights and was quite pleased with the accommodations, location and staff. A family run hostel, which is right on the water, just a short distance away from Nadi International Airport. A great deal, especially if you get to stay in the new hotel which was added about a year ago. There is a free pick up from the airport, online reservations, and a registered travel agent located on the premises. Found it very convenient to research and book trips directly from Mamas and the staff offered great advice as far as places to visit. You can relax by the small but nice swimming pool, have a few cold beers and even order a home cooked meal which is served at the bar. Great choice for a budget traveler!

Stay away from Sonaisali Island Resort! My wife and two friends, all avid scuba divers, recently made our first trip to Fiji. We were immeasurably impressed with the people of Fiji, but we were met with incredibly disappointing circumstances at one of Fiji's mainland resorts. Upon arriving at Sonaisali Island Resort near Nadi, we were informed that not one, but both dive boats were out of commission. This is after traveling more than 20 hours from the eastern United States to dive. The staff's best efforts were to call a few other dive shops for us the nearest of which was 45 minutes away. One shop was at least a 2.5 hour drive -- one way. The expectation was that we should willingly and gladly pay between $100-140 per dive plus bear the extra expense of transportation to catch a dive boat at least 45 minutes away. In addition, several of the shops we called were booked, which is not surprising, considering the short notice. Sonaisali Island Resort advertises on its website that "Diving trips operate daily directly from the Resort Marina - with over 25 spectacular dive sites located just 20 minutes away via the Resort Dive boat." If they don't deliver that, it's like saying "Welcome to Disneyworld! Sorry, all the rides are broken." Incidentally, we couldn't even snorkel at the resort. The visibility was zero. I get the sense it is that way all the time, since Sonaisali is not so much "a true island escape in the beautiful South Pacific Ocean" as they advertise as it is part of an intercoastal waterway. The major part of the premium price that we paid for their resort was based upon the promise of a dive shop and they could not deliver. We traveled for more than 20 hours from the east coast of the United States to dive at Sonaisali resort in Fiji. We could have paid less at a different resort, but we traveled literally to the other side of the world to scuba dive. After two days of the runaround, we decided to book the jet skis for Friday morning to go snorkeling. We left the activities desk Wednesday with the promise from another of their staff members that if there were any problems, he would contact us. We heard Thursday morning from an Australian couple that they had booked the jet skis for that day, but they were all out of commission. We waited until Thursday night at 9:30 pm before checking at the activities desk and only then were we informed that the jet skis were still out of commission. In every case, the burden was on us to discover and sort out the problem. We requested reimbursement, but the resort manager, Ritesh Ram, said, "if our boats were non -operational that is something beyond our control and every effort are put to get boats operational as quickly as possible. In this instance I did explain you; we were waiting for parts from overseas." Here are three suggestions I made to Sonaisali Island Resort: "1. The most obvious and common sense step you could have taken would be to contact your clients to let them know of your limitations. If you cannot provide the services you promise, then you lure us under false pretenses. 2. Another option is that you could have rented a dive boat. I find it hard to believe that on all of Vitu Levu and the other 321 islands, you could not find a boat to rent, especially with four paid customers willing to fork out an additional $100 per dive. 3. Presumably, you could have used your fishing boat to take us (unless it was broken, too). The fishing boat was docked every time I walked past during the week." All of the problems with Sonaisali resort are not coincidence; they are signs of poor management and it was the one stain on our otherwise wonderful trip to Fiji. I would not recommend this resort to anyone. If you go with plans to do anything other than sit in your room, check first to make sure they offer the services they promise.

I have been to Fiji on several occasions. I am a Diamond member with Hilton, but had to stay elsewhere because there was no availability at the Hilton. The Mercure Fiji is located just a short 5 minute cab ride from the Nadi International Airport. The hotel is newly remodeled (Late 2007). At the time of our visit the hotel was undergoing renovations. The hotel lobby, guest area, restaurant/bar, pool area and some of the guest rooms were renovated. We luckily got a new room. They are simple/modern in design. The beds are a bit firm, but nice. The bathroom/shower was a bit small compared to your standard US hotel room, but still nice. The shower in our room did not have a curtain so when you showered you had to be careful you did not get water all over the place. The location is above average. The Hilton/Westin and a handful of time share resorts are all located on the ocean. If you plan on doing any excursions (Waterfall Hike, Cave Tour, South Sea Island, etc...) MUST take transport anyway. The food at the Mercure was AMAZING! I do not have a single bad thing to say about the food. The Chicken Curry is the best I have ever had. TREMENDOUS food. Of course the Fiji Gold beer wasn't too bad either. ;-) Over all is you are traveling to Fiji and you are on some what of a budget I would highly recommend this hotel. It is clean, safe and nice. I have stayed at hotel facilities on the island of Nadi as well. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need advice.

The bus from Nadi to Suva was a four hour trip, that wasn't too bad. Got  a window seat, so was able to get a nice breeze. The coach was $12. On arriving in Suva it was raining and I couldn't be bothered to wait for the Ferry Bus (mistake 1), so I got a taxi. I said that I'd like to go to a hotel near to where the ferry leaves for Ovalau. Ok - he said $50 but could I do him a favour - he wanted to go to his house to fill up with diesel, I said yes (mistake 2). I had a funny feeling that he was going to take me to his house, drug me and take out my kidneys. When we got to his house in the suburbs, he got out and I locked my door and kept a VERY close eye on what he was doing - he was actually filling up his car with diesel (not sure why we couldn't have stopped at any of the petrol stations along the way).
The trip resumes and we start making our way to the ferry-crossing hotel. It starts raining quite heavily and he tries to wind up his window, but it gets stuck. So - he pulls out a big knife (bye bye kidneys, after all) but uses it to push his window up. I was pretty concerned at the time and was going to ask him to give me the knife, so that I felt a bit safer. We get to the town/village where the hotel is and he stops outside a supermarket, saying that I can get out to get some food - yeah right, so you can drive off with my bags. Maybe I should have been more relaxed about things at this point, but the knife was still on my mind. I turned down the shopping-experience and said we'd move on to the hotel. We turned up at some ramshackle hotel, that looked like they'd closed down for the season. I decided that we should then move directly on to the ferry for Ovalau, as that was departing in the next hour. The road to the ferry was more suitable for a 4WD truck, than the taxi driver's ancient car. I thought we were going to go off the road at several points, as his car was sliding around in the mud. Anyway - got to the ferry just in time and got on board.


To be continued......


On arrival in Ovalau I realised that I should have taken the Bus Ferry, as the bus just drove off the boat and headed off to Levuka. I had to wait for another bus to arrive at the port - cue an hour's wait. A strange American bloke, who had moved to Fiji (and become Fijian) started talking to me, despite my best efforts to not catch his eye.
The bus eventually turned up, just as it was starting to get dark. The roads around Ovalau are an interesting experience - maybe not quite as bad as driving round hair-pin bends in Switzerland or Greece, but exhilarating nonetheless. The road skirts around the island, right next to the sea.

Arrived into Levuka in the dark and tried to find the Homestay (I hadn't booked). I walked up and down the high street a couple of times, before finding a policeman to ask for directions. He pointed me in the right direction and I started walking off, but couldn't find the road that he'd mentioned - so I started walking back into town, only to meet the policeman coming towards me. He was super-friendly and walked me to the Homestay. The police in Levuka are very friendly - some people drop into the station for some kava drinking!

I then walked up the stairs to see if I could get a room. After a couple of "hellos?" one of the owners came down and sorted me out a room. I then had a one or three beers with the owners (read the Levuka Homestay review) and they ordered me a pizza. An end to an interesting journey - I really slept well that night.

Not ready to leave Fiji yet... Have some job options I have to follow so I got a room at Radisson Resort. It is a 5 star resort and it is nice:O)

Staying here for around 2 weeks until I know if any of the jobs are going my way...

One of my friends came to visit me. Always nice to have people come.

She is staying for 9 days.

On the 24th we are going to Savusavu, a small town on Vanua Levu where there is a pearl farm.The reason we are going here is because my friend is a goldsmith and uses pearls when she makes jewlery. And I get 4 days off from work.

The most clean, comfortable and enjoyable stay I've ever had. The hosts John and Marilyn are superb, and go out of their way to help you out. The breakfasts are one of the major attractions! You won't need to eat for the rest of the day, after you've eaten. The rooms are spotless and have lots of little personal touches, that add up to a great place to stay. The price is quite expensive ($120 a night), but totally worth it. Just down from the homestay is the rugby field, where you can watch the locals ripping each other to bits.

What kind of image do you conjure up in your head when people mention the men of Fiji? For me it's a brick shithouse rugby giant with limbs like tree trunks and a voice deeper than the Pacific ocean. Imagine my surprise therefore when, upon arrival at the tourist info desk at Nadi airport, I'm shepherded into the orbit of Poni the travel agent.

Poni is a Polynesian fat period Dale Winton, a flower adorning his voluminous afro and a garish Hawaiian shirt covering a sizeable paunch. "Ooh I'll call you my Mr Tomato!" he trills upon learning my name. All big eyes and gentle arm strokes, he leads the way into his air-conditioned lair where he plans to screw me. Thankfully I'm not referring to bottom business, but instead the extraction of an extra slice of cash for advance booking my accommodation and transport for the next five days. 

At this point my brain feels like it had been fed though an industrial mangle after only 2 hours sleep in the previous day and a half. This is my excuse for not just winging it and saving myself a fair wodge of cash by sorting it all out, piece by piece, myself. I don't think I really know what I'm doing. Two hours later and I find myself at a hostel near the romantically titled Smuggler's Bay, about ready to collapse. After a night's kip, interrupted by the incessant barking of the local dogs, I head out to Mana Island, the archetypal tropical paradise setting of white sand, turquoise water and sunny lazy days.

I only have three nights there but it's an absolute pleasure. I do nothing but eat, sleep, read and burn. I even gain a little 2 GB MP3 player, courtesy of Geoff, a Canadian room mate, who finds it on the beach. No one claims it so he lets me have it. I think my luck may be starting to change finally but then a lens of my glasses falls out, shatters, and changes my mind. Bloody chaos roach probably found an old crisp or something.

The clientele at the cheapo backpacker beach resorts is, on the whole, young and beautiful. I fit right in obviously. A pack of snub-nosed Norweigan girls of 19 or 20 wanders around together in bikinis like little blonde dolls. They look nice enough but they're a bit blank personality wise, like a pack of unopened copier paper. Maybe they need some of the pages of their 20s to be printed out before they'll get more interesting to a grumpy old misanthrope like me.

I suspect that I'll be meeting many more people of this age in SE Asia and don't want to generalise about gap year backpackers. I've already met some who were pretty sharp and could more than punch their weight in a discussion - Jack, who's 18, would be an obvious example: he out-argued me over the finer points of European football. Also, I was only 21 when I was in Australia, before I spent the next 7 years handcuffed to an office chair. I'd have been pissed off if older people had taken a condescending attitude towards me back then. Bearing all this in mind, I'm going to try really bloody hard to treat everyone on their own merits. Even if they don't know who The Smiths are.

Anyway, on the whole Fiji was a success, a slightly pricey and all-too-fleeting success, but nonetheless highly enjoyable. It's allowed me to recuperate sufficiently to make the prospect of taking on Asia (Come on then - I'll 'ave the lot of yer!) a whole lot more palatable. 

Bula everyone!

Bula means hello in Fijian, and when you come to Fiji you get used to saying it around 50 times a day to everyone you meet! Seriously! Everyone is very friendly and they all walk around in a sarong (even the men) with a flower tucked behind there ear (even the men!). Its really great to be somewhere warm again after New Zealand!

We decided we wanted to plonk ourselves on a beach for the entire time we were here (well what else is there to do in Fiji??) so we chose an island in the Mamanuca's called Mana Island. Its about an hours boat ride from the main port in Nadi. The boat ride out there is lovely as you get to see lots of the other small Fijian islands. Actually they are all as beautiful and picturesque as the next - all of them have crystal clear water and lovely sandy beaches!

We arrived on Mana Island and couldn't believe the view from our room - it was looking out onto the beach about 5 meters away! There are 2 main beaches in the resort, North and South, and 2 pools, one of which was one of those horizon pools which look as if they go all the way out to sea! Very posh compared to what we are used to!!!  

We had 9 nights in the paradise of Mana island resort and our days were spent sunbathing on one of the 2 beaches or by one of the pools and snorkeling loads! We never missed the breakfast buffet which was included in our package. The main reason being was so that we could nick stuff from the buffet to eat later on! We are on a budget you know!  

We were lucky with the weather for the first 7 days but then it rained non stop! We spent that time in our room resting after all the hard sunbathing we had been doing. Luckily our room was really nice and we evn had our own bathroom which was pure luxury compared to the last month of being in the campervan and having to use (sometimes gross) campsite toilets! That said though, we have both managed to top up our tans in time for Sam & Bob's wedding next week. Well Adam has - I have just gone a deeper shade of pale!!

We fly to LA tonight at 10pm and arrive in LA at 1pm on the same day - thats going to be weird! Then Sunday we are meeting up with everyone in Las Vegas baby!

Bye for now and Vinaka X

This package was one of the best times of our lives in 2007. We were able to see and stay on five different islands, with all the accommodation, transport between islands and meals organised. We could do as little or as much as we liked while on these islands.

After having been shown photos of a fantastic bure, and having to pay in advance on the mainland, we were taken to the Island Nananu-i-ra to Safari Lodge. It was a Lodge which was run by an Australian(I am ashamed to say) The mossie ridden hot box room he gave us was on top of a steep hill right next to a noisy generator. After deciding not to stay because the place wasn't worth it, we were assured we would get our money back. We stayed on the other side of the island at Macdonalds which was absolutely fabulous with genuine fijian hospitality. Needless to say, we didn't get our money back and it is not the first time this has happened! OCT 2007

The Suva Motor Inn was a great place to stay to be central to Suva and to have day trips to Colo-i-Suva National Park. After walking in off the street, we were able to get the room cheaper as they weren't busy at the time. The Hotel has a restaurant which cooks great meals and there is a huge slide into the swimming pool. OCT 2007

This was a great little place to stay to get used to the fijian weather and pace. Just a short bus ride into Nadi. The food was great and the Fijian fire dancing show around the pool was the best! OCT 2007

Draft entry.

Returning via Suva, to Nadi. 

Stayed at the West's Motor Inn.

Just a draf entry at the mo, as don't have much time on the internet.