deedle

My wife and I are planning to go to New Zealand for three weeks in October. Our initial plan was to spend 2.5 weeks on the south island, with about 4 days in Auckland and Rotorua on the way out.

We are now considering, however, taking 3-4 days away from the south island to go to Fiji. Is it worth it?

Any thoughts on this would be very helpful! Also, if you have recommendations for what we can/should do in our time on the south island, they would be welcomed!

ALF

We loved Fiji. The people are so friendly, and there is a huge range of accommodations/activities. The best parts of Fiji are off the main island of Viti Levu, so if you can afford it, it would be best to fly to one of the nearby islands, such as Taveuni, or the Yasawas.

kodi

I think if you are travelling a long way to get to New Zealand, you probably should at least spend a day or 2 in Fiji. I did this last year and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to see it. However, 2 days was enough to get a feel for it. I'd hate to take anymore time away from the south island.

Stevan

Fiji is wonderful is you like resting. I spent most of my time lyng down..on the bed, sand, water or on the deck of a yacht. Bliss.Go to an island such as Musket Cove. The mainland is not really woirth it for a couple of days but you might find that if you are only there for a couple of days there is no way of getting to an island. Also do not fly to the island, get the quick cat. I leaned on the door in the air and it opened. Really a week is not long enough in Fiji.

mjulius

If you are going all that way, you MUST stop in Fiji. My wife and I have travelled all over the South Pacific, and Fiji is our favorite. Beautiful scenery, charming, friendly people, and lots of interesting activities. Yasawa Island Resort -- a quick flight from the airport at Nadi -- is wonderful, with great food, spectacular accomodations, beatiful beach and incredible snorkeling. One morning after we finished our snorkeling, they dropped us off on a deserted island for a champagne picnic lunch, all already set up on the beach for us with umbrella, lounges, etc. This is one romantic place! Check it out.

deedle

All,
Thanks for your kind replies to my post! At this point, we have not planned a stop over in Fiji, but we are now strongly reconsidering (largely on the strength of your posts). Our concern is that New Zealand is supposed to be so great and vast that three weeks would not be enough to even scratch the surface. We were thinking that taking away three days from NZ would be a mistake.

Any more advice on what to do in Fiji would be greatly appreciated. That is, what island, what place? Also, will it require another long flight to get to any of these other islands?

Thanks again for your great advice!

MietteMeg

Hi,
Two years ago we went to New Zealand for just over 3 weeks and we stopped 5 nights in Navini on the way back, we absolutely loved it. We are going back to NZ this December and we can't wait to stop on Navini again on the way back.
http://www.navinifiji.com.fj/

Tim_and_Liz

We are staying at Matamanoa resort before a 3-night Blue Lagoon Cruise in January. The websites are
www.matamanoa.com and www.bluelagooncruises.com

Matamanoa is only a 10-minute helicopter flight from the airport.

Navini would be another good option. We chose Matamanoa because it also looks great and the cruise will pick us up from that island so we don't need to return to Nadi in between.

Good luck with your decisions! It is so hard to narrow everything down.

deedle

All,
Thanks again for you fantastic replies! Your perspectives are very helpful.

That said, after trying to figure out everything that we want to do in NZ, we realized that the three weeks we have is not enough to include Fiji. NZ just has so much to offer!

The good news, however, is that Fiji gives us yet another excuse to go down to the South Pacific again.

Thanks again for your insights! If you have any more about NZ, I will be posting our preliminary itinerary soon - your comments would be welcomed!
-Daniel