On the buses, Fiji style

Fiji's Viti Levu 'big island' has a big fleet of colourful and mainly comfortable buses, plying the routes between and within its main population centres. It wasn't difficult (or expensive) getting around.

Our day trip from Nadi to Suva and back went quite smoothly. It's about four hours each way along the Queen's Rd, and the buses were fine. Even the driving in Fiji is relaxed and sensible - there's none of the prolonged passenger terror you experience in India or Indonesia, say. (Maybe it's the kava, we thought.)

There was one thing that was decidedly wrong about our evening ride back though: the driver's choice of video to screen. In other places at other times I've been subjected to noisy kung fu, Bollywoods, silly slapstick comedies. You name it, somebody will make you watch it on a bus journey somewhere. This one though was totally new to me. It was a rather horrible ultra-violent junk prison 'drama'. I doubt there was much of a story line, just endless scenes of the prisoners, male and female, beating each other almost to a pulp. I was making a point of trying to look out the window, though it was soon too dark to see anything out there. Many of the other passengers were riveted to the screen however. Including small children. My companion, being a teacher, had to suppress her urge to march to the front and order the driver to take it off.

It was quite a revelation to encounter this unexpected facet of Fiji culture. They're generally so calm and gentle and friendly. Maybe it's all the rugby union they play, and the violence porn they watch, that keeps them so outwardly calm? As well as the kava.

Fiji's first village furphy?

The village of  Viseisei, just north of Nadi, is said to be near the place where the first people landed a few thousand years ago.

It's all a bit muddled actually. We were told by our guide that it was people from Tanzania in Africa that came. Before that there were 'only a few cannibals'.

This was all a bit new to me. Reading up on it later, it's looking like the majority view is that it was Melanesians that arrived, from islands far closer than Africa, and they largely took over from the Polynesians who were there before. It was probably only 500 years ago rather than thousands. While the current inhabitants are genetically now more Melanesian than Polynesian, it's accepted that culturally they're more Polynesian.

I haven't forgotten that 40% of the population are actually of Indian descent. That's a whole different story though.

Anyway, Viseisei is a rather lovely little place. Very neat and clean and orderly. There's a Methodist church, and a memorial ground where important Fiji Day commemorations happen each year. What's not disputed is that Christian missionaries of all flavours arrived in force in the 1850s, and the Methodists had the most success.

Birds of Fiji

Here's a Fiji parrotfinch, and below is a spectacular maroon shining parrot. There are many very colourful birds in Fiji.

But frankly, most of the birds we saw were dreaded Indian mynah birds. By one account, 83% of all the birds in Fiji are now of this species! It's been quite a mynah apocalypse.

Australia may be headed that way too, and there are fightback campaigns underway!

Kava karma

Kava is everywhere in Fiji, and the diligent tourist obviously has to take an appropriate interest in it. It's a mild narcotic, made from the ground-up roots of a particular tree.



I observed this tourist admiring the tangled stack of  kava roots in Nadi market.

She was soon whisked off to another stall where they had some ready-mixed drink on hand, and were more than ready to share it. She doesn't look that enthusiatic.

Actually it doesn't taste that bad. Just like muddy water, which is what it looks like too. And the effects aren't that dramatic, so long as you just drink these sorts of quantities.




Mind you, I understand that many Fijians drink all evening every evening. It makes them very relaxed. And looking around Nadi market, where business was rather slow that day, it seemed like many of the market traders were sipping away the day too.

Treasure Island

Treasure Island resort is actually on the island of Elevuka, a member of  the Mamanuca group, a few kilometres west of Nadi. It's only about 200m by 100m in size, which worried us a bit when we were booking our Fiji trip. It was smaller than the Sydney shopping centre we were making the booking in.



It's fine for a couple of days though. They serenade you with song and music as you arrive and depart, and they provide good food, nice accommodation, and an excellent combination of relaxing or adventurous activities. They ought to really, as we seem to have been paying about $A400 a day.

You can swim in the swimming pool or go snorkelling, paddleboarding, diving or whatever on the coral reef that surrounds the place. (Unfortunately the 'whatever' included noisy jet skiing.)  Or you can lie in hammocks or deck chairs.

We dined in the general restaurant, but there were super-luxury exclusive dining options available for the likes of honeymoon couples. They even had a special wedding chapel on the island.

One of the nearby islands I think you can see on the horizon is Monuriki, the one where Tom Hanks got Cast Away on.

Lots of photo opportunities for scenic sunsets.

The island next door is Beachcomber Island. It has a resort on it too, and Beachcomber's even smaller than Treasure.

Suva

Fiji's capital Suva was a four-hour bus ride from Nadi. While it's probably not one of the world's greatest capitals, it's worth a visit, and seems a pleasant and moderately busy sort of place.

There are some fine old colonial buildings, as well as a handful of modern new ones. There are nice parks and Fiji's national museum too.

Denarau luxury

Denarau Island, attached to Fiji's main island Viti Levu, is where most of the luxury hotel chains have their resorts. It's close to Nadi and the international airport, and life for the visitor is comfortable and easy, if somewhat expensive.


We stayed at the Hilton resort, and were well looked after.





We used the 'Dollar Bus' to get around, to places like the Denarau Marina and retail centre (with its affordable cafes and the like), to Nadi, with its main bus station and market, and to other resorts. As the name suggests, it cost one Fijian dollar for a ride. There's also the 'Bula Bus', which costs $7 for a day's worth of travel, but just between the resorts.

It's sometimes suggested you should stay at the cheaper places at the start of a trip, and graduate to the big splurge place at the end. We did it the other way round, but not to worry. It was nice while it lasted.

Fiji cyclones? What Fiji cyclones?

We booked our Fiji holiday a few weeks after Cyclone Winston tore through the place. That was reported to have been the country's strongest tropical cyclone ever. They were rebuilding, we read, and they were very keen that tourists keep coming, to keep the economy moving.

Most of the damage from Winston was in outer regions, such as the Yasawa Islands in the north west. Our travel agent found us places to stay that were operating OK, near Nadi,and on Elevuka (aka Treasure Island), which is south of, but within sight of, the Yasawas.

Then a few days before our trip, another cyclone came along. Zena threatened to wreck it all for us, but at the last minute it got downgraded into 'just' a massive rainfall event. Nadi was flooded, roads, resorts and the airport were briefly closed, but reopened again just in time.

So what were the visible effects of all this? Not all that much, for us. The Nadi market was a bit of a lonely place though, with a notable shortage of fresh goods for sale.



On the other hand, the markets in Suva (Fiji's biggest town), and Lautoka (2nd biggest), seemed pretty busy still, and were very colourful, lively places to visit.

The Treasure Island Resort was thriving, except that there was damage to some of the accommodation cabins, with much rebuilding going on.





On the subject of colourful markets, I particularly like the picture of Pudding and Pie, my new friends in Lautoka market.

Anyway, Fiji's clearly open for business. I'm sure there's large scale devastation though in those outer regions - tens of thousands homeless in fact - and I'll be making an appropriate donation through one of the reputable charities shortly.