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.
I love visiting places where I'm the only tourist. My overnight stay in Parepare was a great such stopover experience. It's a port city about half way up the south western leg of Sulawesi, and a good place to break a journey between Torajaland and capital city Makassar. I stayed at the well-located Lotus Hotel (pictured above right).
