Well, it’s about time I posted something new on this site, but we have spent the last several weeks working hard and just getting through the cold and drizzle of Adelaide’s winter in anticipation of our trip to Fiji. We have now just returned from 2 weeks enjoying warm sand and cocktails at sunset. Because I have so much to share with you all, I’ll break the trip into 3 separate postings. I have also posted another web album (link to left) with pictures from our trip and links to the resort websites in my list of web pages to the left as well- take a look at the Castaway site to get a taste of paradise.So, first let me say that if you get the chance to do so, experience Fiji. It is truly a paradise, made even more special by the Fijian’s – quite possibly the kindest and warmest people. So our trip started by a pretty nasty overnight flight from Brisbane to Nadi, Fiji where we were greeted by the humid waft of warm wind as we stepped off the plane. We then took a quick bus ride through rural Fiji…this was reminiscent of the roadsides of Jamaica – kids waving from the roadsides that were lined with tropical fruit trees and wandering livestock. We then got to Pt Denaru to catch our ferry over to Castaway. This little dock was bustling with people travelling between various island paradises – everyone was happy, relaxed and moving on “Fiji time”…which some of you may know as “Jamaica time”. We stocked up on beer and mix for our duty free – make note of this as our liquor purchases come into play later on.
Anyways, we board a large catamaran with all the other happy people and spend the next 2 hours winding our way through island resorts dropping happy people off and picking sad people up. Each time we pulled up to a dock or a tender arrived to swap passengers, we could hear the Fijians playing their welcome and goodbye songs and sharing hugs with the guests. It was an overcast day…very humid. Then the rain started…gently at first, but by the time we got within sight of Castaway, it was pouring…West Coast pouring. We got soaked along with all of our carry-on luggage. Before I continue on, it is important to note that along with the humidity, the rain quickly disintegrated the box holding our beer and the other shopping bags carrying the bar essentials. Fortunately a lady working at the bar on the boat found us a big black garbage bag to carry the disintegrating box of beer.
We could hear the Fijian band playing as the tender pulled up to the boat to unload the sad people and trade them for us wet happy people. The rain was torrential as we hit the beach and ran for cover… We were lugging our dripping carry-on luggage, a garbage bag clanging with beer bottles and 2 soaking wet kids, all the while, leaving a bar mix yard sale the entire way as the other bags completed melted in the wet. The other family arriving at the same time and resort hostess followed behind us, picking up our limes and tonic from the sand and surf. Here come the Clampets! Not a very dignified arrival, but memorable!
It rained solidly until the next morning, which wasn’t a bad thing as we were so tired. Elise fell asleep in her chair at the restaurant before her lunch arrived – so we spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping in a luxurious beachfront bure. These bures were beautiful and perfectly appointed – totally luxurious, but very understated. It was the little touches that made them special – flowers on the pillows, a ceramic tub with floating flowers on the veranda for rinsing sandy feet, pottery urns in the bathroom with lotions and soaps, no radios, no TVs, no clocks…anywhere.
While the resort was complete luxury, it was very casual and aptly known as the “barefoot resort” as most people (guests and staff) were shoeless all the time. Mealtimes were announced with the beating of drums and a loud “lunchtime” or “dinner” bellowed out from the restaurant. Kids were always underfoot of the staff, but never treated as nuisances. The kids got to play with band that serenaded mealtimes and dance through the restaurant. The only TV at the resort was in the bar and I'm pretty sure that all that was ever shown on it was rugby. No one cared whether guests drank their own cocktails in the restaurant or ones purchased from the bartender. They didn’t even care about the box of “Cardonnay” (white plonk in a box) I brought to dinner one night.
We began our first full day refreshed and were greeted by brilliant sun. Dug and I hiked to the top of the lookout (this made for a great jungle run in the mornings) and then continued our exploration down to a deserted beach and back along the ocean to the resort. We arrived back to find out that Sophie and Elise had made friends with Sophia – the 6 year-old daughter of the American/Australian family that happened to be the ones that arrived when we did…following behind us, picking up my bar essentials. We got along famously, sharing child minding duties, meals and rounds of mojitos…and lots of Fiji Bitters – the National beer.
So, while the weather was less than perfect, we had a great time playing at the pool and beach. Sophie fell in love with the Banana Boat – an inflatable tube that you sit on while being dragged at high speeds around the island behind an overpowered boat driven by a less than vigilant driver. Sophie especially loved being dumped off and didn’t seem the least bit concerned about bobbing around in the water 1km off shore waiting for the boat to turn around and haul everyone back in. I even went for a couple of rides with Tom, Angela and their very adventurous 12 year-old daughter (the American family from Melbourne).
Much of the beach was surrounded by a fringing reef and at low tide the beach was very protected and shallow for a long way out. The girls learned to kayak and while Sophie was happy to pair up in a double kayak with one of the many 8-10 year-old girls, Elise insisted on learning on her own…paddling as far out as she could. They got the hang of steering and turning and loved to paddle out to the tender boats bring happy people to the island, yelling “Bula, welcome to Castaway Island”.
The girls even got to learn a Fijian dance and perform it at the weekly staff and guest pool party and Kava ceremony (which by the way tastes like warm dirt). They also got to watch hermit crab and frog races where the guests would buy one of the critters and would win the pot if their champion racer won. The kids loved it – Elise decided to sneak her hand up during the auction of one of the frogs and was very close to being the proud owner of a $91 frog named “Fiji”. Fortunately, or unfortunately, someone else bid after her and we were off the hook for shelling out $91 for the eventual winner of the race and the $251 pot. We could have used that cash to pay for all the ice cream and Banana Boat rides.
Because the weather was pretty unsettled, we only got one snorkel trip. Sophie and I went out on the dive boat with Tom and Sophia all suited up in short wetsuits. We went about 2km offshore and got dropped off at the outer reef, which sat only about 1m under the surface. It was very windy and choppy with waves breaking on the reef, so my main concern was holding on to Sophie and keeping close to the rest of the group. Her main concern was following fish and trying to dive after them with absolutely no care about how close or far she was from me.. So we wound our way along the reef, staying just along the edge of the most amazing coral I have ever seen – red, green, blue and every shape and size imaginable. So to my left is Sophie enthralled and screaming into her snorkel every time she spied neon blue fish or a “Nemo” and to my right is a 45ft deep blue drop-off. I could just make out the shapes of bigger things swimming along the wall below. After we got into the boat, Tom confirmed my suspicions that one of those bigger things was indeed a shark lying on the sand at the base of the drop-off. Good thing I didn’t believe my eyes while I was in the water.
The highlight of our time on Castaway (second only to the Banana Boat) was our passage from the island to the next resort on the mainland. We got a helicopter transfer which was absolutely spectacular as we flew low over all the cruising sailboats and coral reefs dotting the turquoise water. We touched down at the airport to refuel (both the helicopter and ourselves with yet another Fiji Bitter) and then continued the flight over the mountains. I wish I could have taken a video of this amazing and captivating flight, but I’m sure that I would not have been able to do the scenery justice.
So that wraps up the first half of our trip, which was truly made even more special by the amazing experiences that I watched the girls take on with gusto. From getting thrown from the Banana Boat and screaming for more, to singing and dancing in front of 200 people, to kayaking in turquoise waters, to jumping fearlessly from the boat in the middle of nowhere to explore the underwater world. You can’t put a price on those experiences and this is just the beginning of the trip. I am so proud of my girls – their excitement, wonder and fearless attitudes – we should all be so brave.
The next installment of our trip will be posted soon.
Anyways, we board a large catamaran with all the other happy people and spend the next 2 hours winding our way through island resorts dropping happy people off and picking sad people up. Each time we pulled up to a dock or a tender arrived to swap passengers, we could hear the Fijians playing their welcome and goodbye songs and sharing hugs with the guests. It was an overcast day…very humid. Then the rain started…gently at first, but by the time we got within sight of Castaway, it was pouring…West Coast pouring. We got soaked along with all of our carry-on luggage. Before I continue on, it is important to note that along with the humidity, the rain quickly disintegrated the box holding our beer and the other shopping bags carrying the bar essentials. Fortunately a lady working at the bar on the boat found us a big black garbage bag to carry the disintegrating box of beer.
We could hear the Fijian band playing as the tender pulled up to the boat to unload the sad people and trade them for us wet happy people. The rain was torrential as we hit the beach and ran for cover… We were lugging our dripping carry-on luggage, a garbage bag clanging with beer bottles and 2 soaking wet kids, all the while, leaving a bar mix yard sale the entire way as the other bags completed melted in the wet. The other family arriving at the same time and resort hostess followed behind us, picking up our limes and tonic from the sand and surf. Here come the Clampets! Not a very dignified arrival, but memorable!
It rained solidly until the next morning, which wasn’t a bad thing as we were so tired. Elise fell asleep in her chair at the restaurant before her lunch arrived – so we spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping in a luxurious beachfront bure. These bures were beautiful and perfectly appointed – totally luxurious, but very understated. It was the little touches that made them special – flowers on the pillows, a ceramic tub with floating flowers on the veranda for rinsing sandy feet, pottery urns in the bathroom with lotions and soaps, no radios, no TVs, no clocks…anywhere.While the resort was complete luxury, it was very casual and aptly known as the “barefoot resort” as most people (guests and staff) were shoeless all the time. Mealtimes were announced with the beating of drums and a loud “lunchtime” or “dinner” bellowed out from the restaurant. Kids were always underfoot of the staff, but never treated as nuisances. The kids got to play with band that serenaded mealtimes and dance through the restaurant. The only TV at the resort was in the bar and I'm pretty sure that all that was ever shown on it was rugby. No one cared whether guests drank their own cocktails in the restaurant or ones purchased from the bartender. They didn’t even care about the box of “Cardonnay” (white plonk in a box) I brought to dinner one night.
We began our first full day refreshed and were greeted by brilliant sun. Dug and I hiked to the top of the lookout (this made for a great jungle run in the mornings) and then continued our exploration down to a deserted beach and back along the ocean to the resort. We arrived back to find out that Sophie and Elise had made friends with Sophia – the 6 year-old daughter of the American/Australian family that happened to be the ones that arrived when we did…following behind us, picking up my bar essentials. We got along famously, sharing child minding duties, meals and rounds of mojitos…and lots of Fiji Bitters – the National beer.
So, while the weather was less than perfect, we had a great time playing at the pool and beach. Sophie fell in love with the Banana Boat – an inflatable tube that you sit on while being dragged at high speeds around the island behind an overpowered boat driven by a less than vigilant driver. Sophie especially loved being dumped off and didn’t seem the least bit concerned about bobbing around in the water 1km off shore waiting for the boat to turn around and haul everyone back in. I even went for a couple of rides with Tom, Angela and their very adventurous 12 year-old daughter (the American family from Melbourne).
Much of the beach was surrounded by a fringing reef and at low tide the beach was very protected and shallow for a long way out. The girls learned to kayak and while Sophie was happy to pair up in a double kayak with one of the many 8-10 year-old girls, Elise insisted on learning on her own…paddling as far out as she could. They got the hang of steering and turning and loved to paddle out to the tender boats bring happy people to the island, yelling “Bula, welcome to Castaway Island”.
The girls even got to learn a Fijian dance and perform it at the weekly staff and guest pool party and Kava ceremony (which by the way tastes like warm dirt). They also got to watch hermit crab and frog races where the guests would buy one of the critters and would win the pot if their champion racer won. The kids loved it – Elise decided to sneak her hand up during the auction of one of the frogs and was very close to being the proud owner of a $91 frog named “Fiji”. Fortunately, or unfortunately, someone else bid after her and we were off the hook for shelling out $91 for the eventual winner of the race and the $251 pot. We could have used that cash to pay for all the ice cream and Banana Boat rides.
Because the weather was pretty unsettled, we only got one snorkel trip. Sophie and I went out on the dive boat with Tom and Sophia all suited up in short wetsuits. We went about 2km offshore and got dropped off at the outer reef, which sat only about 1m under the surface. It was very windy and choppy with waves breaking on the reef, so my main concern was holding on to Sophie and keeping close to the rest of the group. Her main concern was following fish and trying to dive after them with absolutely no care about how close or far she was from me.. So we wound our way along the reef, staying just along the edge of the most amazing coral I have ever seen – red, green, blue and every shape and size imaginable. So to my left is Sophie enthralled and screaming into her snorkel every time she spied neon blue fish or a “Nemo” and to my right is a 45ft deep blue drop-off. I could just make out the shapes of bigger things swimming along the wall below. After we got into the boat, Tom confirmed my suspicions that one of those bigger things was indeed a shark lying on the sand at the base of the drop-off. Good thing I didn’t believe my eyes while I was in the water.
The highlight of our time on Castaway (second only to the Banana Boat) was our passage from the island to the next resort on the mainland. We got a helicopter transfer which was absolutely spectacular as we flew low over all the cruising sailboats and coral reefs dotting the turquoise water. We touched down at the airport to refuel (both the helicopter and ourselves with yet another Fiji Bitter) and then continued the flight over the mountains. I wish I could have taken a video of this amazing and captivating flight, but I’m sure that I would not have been able to do the scenery justice.
So that wraps up the first half of our trip, which was truly made even more special by the amazing experiences that I watched the girls take on with gusto. From getting thrown from the Banana Boat and screaming for more, to singing and dancing in front of 200 people, to kayaking in turquoise waters, to jumping fearlessly from the boat in the middle of nowhere to explore the underwater world. You can’t put a price on those experiences and this is just the beginning of the trip. I am so proud of my girls – their excitement, wonder and fearless attitudes – we should all be so brave.
The next installment of our trip will be posted soon.
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