sept_honeymoon

Hi all - my first post. We're currently planning our honeymoon for the 1st week of September and would love everyone's recommendations and thoughts around Fiji or an island off the Great Barrier Reef. We'll be using air miles to fly into Sydney and will spend a week exploring there. Then, we have the option to include a round trip to Cairns without extra charge with miles or pay out of pocket for a trip out to Fiji... we're thinking of Yasawa or Vatule in Fiji or Lizard Island off the GBR. We are looking for great beach experience, some solitude, great food, great diving/snorkling and really, a once in a lifetime experience but at the same time looking to maximize our money. Lizard Island is expensive but we wouldn't need to pay for the flight to Cairns. Our travel agent is recommedinging Fiji (she loves Qamea) but what do you think?

wlzmatilida

Hi there, Honeymooner!

Sounds like the ideal honeymoon! What options to choose from! While I don't want to contradict your travel agent, as I am one myself, here's my own opinion.

You're going to be SOOOOOOO tired after all the wedding planning leading up to the Big Day and then a long international flight.

If you can do a free leg to Cairns and plunk yourselves down on a beautiful island such as Lizard, (which, btw, fulfills all of your criteria I might add), then why tack on another costly flight, added time, etc?

To make an informed decision, have your agent cost out how much the extra flight is, the travel time involved, and the cost of Qamea accommodations. I think you'll be able to decide then.

Hope this is helpful!

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Aussie Specialist

sept_honeymoon

Thanks Melodie -- very helpful... i hand't even thought of the added time traveling to Fiji. So it sounds like you think the experience at the GBR is just as nice as Fiji... we may look at less expensive options at the reef as well so if you have any recommendations, I'd love to hear them! Thanks again!

Fish_Boy

G'day Honeymooners,
Ive been out with lots of people on the GBR who have also been to Fiji.. some of them just getting back from Fiji. Without exception, they all say that GBR is better... not MUCH better...but definately better - particularly numbers and sizes of giant clams and other big exciting reef species which have been severely hunted over in Fiji.
Lizard Island will blow your socks off.

lizF

GBR or Fiji! A bit like asking if Champagne is better than water. One is a World Heritage listed destination of some 2500 klms and the other is not. One has great food, no political unrest, a multitude of destinations, no third world status - the other has not all those things.

Sam_Salmon

When asking questions here always carefully check past posts for patterns of activity.

There exist here shills and touts from certain countries who post nothing but good news about their pumpkin patch-by their Chamber of Commerce cant ye shall know them

lizF

So if I asked you, Sam, "should I go go to the USA or Canada - what do you think" you would answer that the USA is the best option because its got a lot more going for it? I don't think so.
The writer asked for an opinion and seeing that I live in Australia but have travelled extensively thoughout the Pacific, the question is really chalk and cheese because as I posted, you cannot compare the GBR with Fiji because it is like comparing Long Island NY with Canada for instance.
Fiji is a cluster of islands in the middle of the Pacific with some coral atolls around them. The GBR is 2500 klms long with many, many islands of quite different geography situated on the biggest reef in the world beside the largest island in the world with unique flora and fauna. Therefore this makes for a much more diverse experience. I don't know anywhere in Fiji that you can be on the reef swimming at 10AM - be walking across a large ( we are talking here about Hinchinbrook Island) but geographically interesting island with lots of unique animals and birds at 11AM and then be in the outback looking at that area at afternoon tea.
I find it insulting that you should think that I either don't know what I am talking about or that I give information in a flippant manner without due regard to the question asked.
To further add to my answer if Sept were coming to Australia then she would be coming through Sydney and at the risk of sounding biased I really don't think there is much comparison between Nadi and Sydney.
There is, and has been, political unrest in Fiji, it is a developing nation and it is, whether you like it or not, a third world country.
The one difficulty in answering the question 100% is that I don't know if the Travel Agent who loved Qamea has been to many other places. It appears to me from the questions asked and some replies given that there is not a lot of knowledge about the 100's of islands on the GBR which offer everything that the poster wanted, without the cost of Lizard Island. There is usually only about 6 Islands that information is requested about and the rest are overlooked.
Finally, I like ( using something you know here) 7 Up, but I much prefer French Champagne and if the cost was the same 7 Up would not get a look in.

Sam_Salmon

Thank You 'LizF' for living up to the near universal image of the humourless thin skinned Ocker-quite well done!

For the curious http://www.turtlefiji.com/

lizF

Sam, if you are going to use big words like Ocker then may I suggest that you look up the meaning of it first before you make a fool of yourself.
If though, you are referring to all Australians as Ockers then we shall stand proud and firm with that name because for what its worth it makes not a bit of difference what you call us because we all feel smug and happy that we do live in the best country in the world and have a standard of living and a lifestyle that none of us would change but many in the world yearns for.
We welcome visitors to our shores, we are happy to share the bounty that we have and we open our hearts and homes to them so jibes from a snotty little shit like yourself makes not an ounce of difference.

Neil_Oz

I'm sure sept_honeymoon (remember her?) is finding this interdominion spat tremendously informative.

LizF - you're biting pretty hard, and I don't think the decision is quite so black-and-white as you suggest - in promoting your own favourite you only damage your own case by putting other destinations down. It's a bit like a salesman who tries to sell his product by bagging the competition - never a good look.

And Sam_Salmon, if you're going to expend energy on threads like this perhaps you could give some thought to how you might proffer useful advice, or at the least, insightful irrelevancies. I have nothing against lurking Canadians or anyone else who occasionally leap out of the bushes to attack regular contributors - it's all part of the fun - but if you can't make it useful for the enquirer, at least try to make it entertaining.

sept_honeymoon, given what you want to do I think you'd probably have a great time at either place. I'd be listening to Melodie and Fish_Boy - it's been many a long year since I visited Fiji, and resorts not being my thing I've never been to Lizard Island. If you have the time and the interest, maybe the main distinguishing factor may be the non-resort/non-acquatic activities that North Queensland offers (plenty of posts on this forum about the Daintree rain forest, Atherton Tablelands etc.) I'll defer to other posters on the relative merits of clams, coral and suchlike things.

pat_woolford

Do you need to say anything more than GBR meets all criteria for World Heritage Listing (no, not issued by local Chambers of Commerce) and Fiji Islands don't? If stating this also makes me a "humourless,thin skinned Ocker" then so be it. GBR comprises 2800 coral reefs, 300 coral islands and 600 continental islands and taste and budget depends on whether you choose an upmarket resort or camp on a uninhabited (by humans anyway) island in splendid isolation. If this idea appeals to anyone, you'll need a camping permit issued by Queensland Parks and Wildlife for some islands. I have nothing against Fiji, used to take my kids there a lot when they were little but I don't feel the need to return as I now live in a similar climate and have GBR on my doorstep.

Sam_Salmon

By their cheerless Chamber of Commerce boosterism/cant ye shall know them-as mentioned.

lizF

Ozzy Neil, I did not "put other destinations down" I merely stated facts which are not my own making but which are just "facts". It is a fact that Fiji is a third World country and it is a fact that they have had political unrest, it is a fact that Nadi has not a lot going for it and it is a fact that it is a group of islands in the middle of the pacific.....sorry, but where is the down-putting?
The question posed was -
.............. Lizard Island is expensive but we wouldn't need to pay for the flight to Cairns. Our travel agent is recommedinging Fiji (she loves Qamea) but what do you think? ..............
If what I think is what is backed by fact and is offensive or down-putting then too bad. I was asked my opinion just as you and everyone else was. I promote what I think it best. It so happens that the GBR is all that I said and more BUT I was not the one who gave it its World Heritage rating nor was I the one that gave it its beauty,bounty and its diversity. Someone once said "I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it" and I will say what I think whenever I am asked and if someone does not like it it will not be me who will lose any sleep over it.
We don't know if Sam has even ever been to Australia, known any Australians or, even though he may live in wet and cold Vancouver (oops here I go again stating a fact ) this does not give him the right to try and turn this forum into something resembling other travel forums where people who have had little input other than snipes at others, take out their frustrations of one kind or another on those who do try and impart information.

Neil_Oz

My goodness.