About Fiji
The Republic of Fiji is divided over more that 330 island of which about a 110 are inhabited. 87%of the 924,610 people live on the 2 major islands, Viti Levu and Van Levu. Most of the people live in the city Suva or close to Nadi or in the suburbs like Lautoka (well known for the sugar cane industry).
The Fiji Islands are located in the Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean.
The majority of the Fijian Islands were formed by volcanic activity about 150 million years ago, that's why on most islands the sand is dark grey or even black!
The official Languages of Fiji are Fijian, English and Fiji Hindi and their currency is the Fijian Dollar.
1FJD = $0.68AUD
Nadi
Nadi is the second biggest city in Vitu Levu the biggest island of Fiji, Suva is the capitol. Nadi is a bit more popular for travellers because its close to Port Denarau where all the boats to the Yasawa Islands depart from.
Nadi has a big local market with fresh fruits, vegetables and stuff like local hand made souvenirs.
Nadi is also home to the Sri Siva Subramaniya Temple, this is the largest Hindu temple in the Pacific located at the Southern end of the main road. It's a beautiful colourful temple, entree is 5FJD and you need to make sure if you visit that you're dressed appropriately and you have to take off your shoes. If your shoulders are not covered they can give you a colourful dupatta to cover up.
Yasawa Islands
Entering the Yasawa Island is like stepping into a movie, as soon as you enter the region of the islands you will be welcomed with a dance performed by a warrior on the big rock.
Yasawa in Fijian means 'heaven' and is divided over 2 islands that are mostly volcanic.
Sydney to Nadi
To celebrate my 25th birthday I decided to take a solo trip to Fiji with later my friend joining me for a few days, this beautiful country has been in my list for quite a while and now that live in Sydney its so ''close'' so I started planning my trip for end of May!
With activities as snorkelling with sharks, Cloud 9 floating bar, island hopping, waterfall hikes and much more!
In this blog I will share my tips and recommendations while planning to visit Fiji en while on your trip.
Where to start
I booked my roundtrip flight with Virgin Airlines for $270AUD (bought my flights in January) and looked into booking my hostel and homestay for my trip.
With Hostelworld.com I booked a hostel for my first 2 nights in Nadi before I started my Island ''hopping'' trip.
I paid $40FJD a night at Smugglers Cove. The hostel was ok, the hostel offered airport pick up for $15FJD and the staff was very nice but the rooms were in construction.
On Booking.com I found Sunrise Lagoon homestay on Nunaya Lailai Island for $70AUD for 3 nights and at the homestay we paid $10FJD a night for home cooked Fijian dinners and breakfast
For my last few nights back in Nadi I booked a different hostel named Bamboo beach (which I liked a bit better) for 2 nights I paid $39,60FJD ($26AUD).
The check in was easy, rooms very simple but clean, cool and still in good location.
Day trip from Vito Levu ( Port Denarau)
On Viator I booked a boat trip with some island hopping and snorkelling, it was run by locals and they told us a lot about the islands and their history.
We stopped at 3 different locations, 2 to snorkel en 1 to see the island.
All of these locations were part of the Mamanuca Islands.
Our first stop was Mana Island were went snorkelling and then we went to a sea cove at Monu Island were we jumped off the boat and did some more snorkelling! We weren't allowed on the island itself because its a protected area.
On our last stop we stopped at the island Modriki where the movie Castaway was filmed with Tom Hanks, our guide took us for a short walk to show us where the locations they filmed where. And when we got back they prepared us a delicious Fijian Lovo lunch!
I really enjoyed this day trip, the price was $137AUD and it was really worth it with the price and the time of the trip. We got hotel pick up at 8:00 AM and dropped back off at the boat around 6PM.
The Link for more information about this day trip is below.
Nadi markets, Suva Temple, and Koroyanitu hike
From the resort where we stayed we booked a taxi for 200FJD$ a person ( 82,84EURO, 136,85AUD and 88,28USD)
to drive us around the whole day. The driver took us to a coffee place in the morning and to a local bakery named The Hot Bread Kitchen with delicious pastries and bread before we visited the Sri Suva Subramaniya temple in the middle of Nadi. The temple was formed in 1926 and completely finished and restored in 1986.
The Hot Bread Kitchen
Sri Suva Subramaniya Temple
Nadi produce marktets
Koroyanitu Waterfall
Nunaya Lailai
After 3 days in Nadi we started our journey island hopping! I booked our ferry tickets with a local that was recommended by our host on the Island.
Our ferry trip started in Port Denarau and it took us 5,5 hours to reach our destination since the island we stayed at is one of the last ones in the Yasawa islands group.
The boat stopped at one of the islands close to the island we stayed at and we got picked up with a small motor boat that brought us to our homestay.
Sunrise Lagoon homestay
Sunrise lagoon is run by Lice and Jo and their family, you can only pay with cash, but there is an ATM at a resort on the other side of the island- its almost 2h walk through the ''jungle'' from the home stay.
