Goodbye New Zealand, Hello Fiji

December 24, 2011

Goodbye New Zealand, Hello Fiji

Sunday, November 27 – Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Got up very early and left our motel at 5:30 AM to catch a 7 AM flight to Auckland, and then after a layover, a three-hour flight to Nadi (Nandi), and then a 1.5 hour taxi ride to our first Fiji destination, the Bedarra Beach Inn. We found both of our lodgings through Trip Advisor, which we found to generally be a good source when planning a trip (we really liked the Lonely Planet guide, too, which seemed to be the guide of choice by the NZ travelers we met).

So, this begins the relaxation phase of the trip. We finally both read several books over the course of our Fiji time, while I didn’t read one page of a book in NZ. The Bedarra Beach Inn is more a fancy motel setting, but for some reason they gave us the primo room in the whole place (I must have sent nice e-mails when making our reservations – more likely dumb luck). Great view of swaying palm trees and the ocean. The fancy motel perhaps isn’t the best moniker, more like a boutique hotel. We also now eat every meal out, as opposed to fixing every meal in our campervan, and the food was excellent. All of the food was great, but the highlight for food was a traditional “Lovo” dinner – where they dig a pit, and cook the meats in banana leaves in baskets woven from palm leaves. It was a delicious 4-course meal all for only $40 FJD (about $24 USD) per person (and this was the most expensive dinner we had). We met some Brits who had wandered over from the Outrigger, an expensive 5 star resort about a few blocks away (we had wandered over on our first evening at Bedarra and took in “for free” a bit of the “fire dance” that they put on for the tourists.) in search of more reasonable food (the Outrigger is very expensive – we had read on-line that a number of the Outrigger guests end up eating at Bedarra because the food is so good and yet reasonably priced). We walked the beach on our first full day at Bedarra and even though Donna really put on the sunscreen (me not so much – so no excuse for me) managed to get a bit burned – the tops of my feet were particularly lobster red – a typical beach rookie mistake. Every night Bedarra had a happy hour from 5-6 and 3 Fiji men who sang all evening – starting out with 60’s – 70’s music (all in Fiji lilted rythyms), moving on to more traditional Fiji songs. These guys were very good. At dinner, when a guest was leaving the next day, they would sing a traditional farewell song. We also took a taxi ride with two Brits who were on a round the world trip (I think Jim was smoking and drinking his way around the world) into the local town of Sigatoa. I have several pictures of the town, and local area and as you can see, it’s very poor. Our taxi ride out to Bedarra was on the main road on the main island, and it was a bit rough. Basically most everyone lives in shacks, contrasted by the luxurious resorts. We felt a bit guilty, but it is a bit of a catch -22, since the resorts are a major source of employment and revenue. Fiji is currently ruled by the military, as there was a coup a few years ago, but we never felt threatened. The beaches here are marginal (way more impressive beaches to come though), and we never snorkeled, as it was fairly windy and choppy (great snorkeling is also ahead).

Here are some pictures from our stay at Bedarra Beach Inn.