Zipping through New Zealand with a Fiji Finish
Aug 23rd, 2016, 05:58 PM
#21
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,822
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Our first full day at <b> Navotua Homestay</b> on Nacular Island in the Yasawas http://navotuavillage.com/ we spent just wandering a bit, reading in the sun, lying in the amazing hammock (there are levels of hammocks, and this one is right at the top) and just generally lazing about. It was great. That night the sleep was a wee bit disturbed,though: remember the chocolate muffin? Evidently it was quite attractive to something large and rodenty, as we heard it or them clacking about on their little rodent toenails and found the evidence the next day in both gnawed-through shoelaces and droppings. (No, it wasn't white crabs.) That wasn't a particularly restful night: one lies under the mosquito net in the dark, deciding whether it's best to try to find a light and confirm, or lie there protected by that mosquito net and <i>pretend it's not happening!!!</i> I chose the latter, myself.
Thursday we hired the village boat and driver to go across to "Honeymoon Island" ($92) which was lovely and decadent, with coconut palms and a wide beach and great swimming. We did a little tentative snorkeling, but didn't want to go too deep without anyone around. We had lunch over there, then returned to the "shell market" where the village ladies sold their wares and the evening entertainment, a quite genuine performance of singing and dancing by a lot more villagers than there was audience. The singing is wonderful, probably due to the frequent group singing in the church (Methodist, mostly; there are two Catholic families there, as well, who worship in their homes.)
Fiji had of course won their first gold medal in rugby by defeating the UK, and everyone everywhere seemed quite ecstatic about that!
Friday was another brilliantly sunny day, and we left at noon to catch the Yasawa Flyer back again to the main island. I got a bit extra-crispy in the sun but it was nice to be outside this time, anyway.
We got into the Denarau Marina about 7PM and onto the buses (a bit of a misunderstanding at first as we were going to the Ratsun, not Radisson; it helps to have stuff written) and got delivered to our lovely big modern apartment at <b> Ratsun Nadi Airport Hotel Apartments </b> which had a full size washer and dryer, hooray! and a supermarket just a hop and a skip away. We made pasta with shrimp and had the aforementioned Cadbury ice cream (triple chocolate, come to think of it) and spent a glorious night doing laundry. (No, seriously, it was great.)
The lovely people at Ratsun let us stay until noon, and then we went to the very pretty Garden of the Sleeping Giant, followed by an afternoon visit to the stores at Denarau Marina as the girls needed to finish some souvenir shopping. Our flight out wasn't until 9:40PM, and check-in was pretty painless. The 7 hour layover in LAX was made much nicer by a long leisurely meal at Gladstone's Fish Restaurant: it was that or Burger King, so I'm really glad it was there. (Parmesan pink snapper: oh yes.)
A terrific trip altogether!
Thursday we hired the village boat and driver to go across to "Honeymoon Island" ($92) which was lovely and decadent, with coconut palms and a wide beach and great swimming. We did a little tentative snorkeling, but didn't want to go too deep without anyone around. We had lunch over there, then returned to the "shell market" where the village ladies sold their wares and the evening entertainment, a quite genuine performance of singing and dancing by a lot more villagers than there was audience. The singing is wonderful, probably due to the frequent group singing in the church (Methodist, mostly; there are two Catholic families there, as well, who worship in their homes.)
Fiji had of course won their first gold medal in rugby by defeating the UK, and everyone everywhere seemed quite ecstatic about that!
Friday was another brilliantly sunny day, and we left at noon to catch the Yasawa Flyer back again to the main island. I got a bit extra-crispy in the sun but it was nice to be outside this time, anyway.
We got into the Denarau Marina about 7PM and onto the buses (a bit of a misunderstanding at first as we were going to the Ratsun, not Radisson; it helps to have stuff written) and got delivered to our lovely big modern apartment at <b> Ratsun Nadi Airport Hotel Apartments </b> which had a full size washer and dryer, hooray! and a supermarket just a hop and a skip away. We made pasta with shrimp and had the aforementioned Cadbury ice cream (triple chocolate, come to think of it) and spent a glorious night doing laundry. (No, seriously, it was great.)
The lovely people at Ratsun let us stay until noon, and then we went to the very pretty Garden of the Sleeping Giant, followed by an afternoon visit to the stores at Denarau Marina as the girls needed to finish some souvenir shopping. Our flight out wasn't until 9:40PM, and check-in was pretty painless. The 7 hour layover in LAX was made much nicer by a long leisurely meal at Gladstone's Fish Restaurant: it was that or Burger King, so I'm really glad it was there. (Parmesan pink snapper: oh yes.)
A terrific trip altogether!
Aug 25th, 2016, 02:03 AM
#22
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,822
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
rarmalb
Australia & the Pacific
7
Jun 16th, 2005 06:31 PM
