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.

Carry on up the Colo #2

Colo River excursions are almost always big and unpredictable events. Over the years my bushwalking companions and I have been exploring some of the multitude of ways down to it and up again. Sometimes none of us have done the particular route before, and we tend to come across unexpected obstacles, like hard-to-negotiate cliffs, very thick scrub, or running out of daylight. Here's the link to a previous such adventure: http://www.sydneysapiential.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/carry-on-up-colo.html 

Last Sunday's trip was an excellent example of the genre. We  took the Grassy Hill Trail to Canoe Creek and hit the Colo River at a sharp and scenic bend.  Then it was about two kilometres down the river, to an escape route known as Pass 18, followed by a somewhat complex ridge-top return to the cars.

There hasn't been much rainfall of late, so progression down the river works best if you just wade down it. Mostly the sand is firm and makes for easy walking.

But what's this? Quicksand!

Suddenly progress wasn't so easy at all. Fortunately we've all watched 'Mythbusters', so we know we probably won't die. You avoid panicking, and to extract yourself you go onto all fours, and maybe crawl or slither out.

This lady lost her shoe. It stubbornly refused to get found again, and has been retained by the river as a memento of our visit.

This chap went in almost to his waist. He'd foolishly had his pockets full of things that didn't take kindly to getting wet - like his mobile phone.





                         (Photo credit: J Joseph)








By the time we'd climbed out the shadows were lengthening, and we still had many kilometres of unknown ridge-top bushbashing.

Somehow we didn't take too many false leads, and fortunately the maybe-there fire trail was in fact there. It was on an old map but not the new one. So we were able to complete the walk in the darkness.

More fire trails

This time I explored the fire trails that circumnavigate the suburb of Cherrybrook. In particular, the Kentia Trail, the Carmen Trail, and the Daphne Trail. There are, as ever, some quite scenic sights to behold.

There are colourful cliff faces, and sunlit vistas across valleys.

There are a couple of recent man-made additions: bioretention filters, which capture pollution from stormwater run-off, using sand and appropriate plants.

And speaking of man-made additions, the fire trails themselves are here to protect the houses above from bushfires, by acting as a barrier, and by providing access for firefighters to fight fires, and to start them (as in hazard reduction burning). The Daphne Trail was used for a burn a few weeks ago.

There's a kind of beauty in the stark imagery and colours after a bushfire. And the bush does grow back, but the weeds tend to grow first, and the ecology is probably not really adapted to fires coming as frequently as they do these days.