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#4373 - 03/11/04 10:10 AM Activities and Things To Do in the Area - Fiji
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What's there to do on Denarau Island? We want to hear about what you did and saw while staying at this resort.

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#46903 - 12/22/11 06:53 PM Re: Activities and Things To Do in the Area - Fiji [Re: mejia89]
richardo21 Offline


Registered: 03/04/05
Posts: 6
Loc: Alaska
We went in Feb 2011, just missed a hurricane.
There are other buses that arrive at the resort, not just the bula bus. There is one the locals take to and from work, we rode that one into town ( NADI). It was fun mingling with the locals, it was only maybe a 1$FJ. you make a clicking noise when you want to get off, really, like calling a horse! We walked in town a bit before getting lured into a shop by a local. We had a great disscussion about Fiji while sitting on a mat in his shop. He explained history and culture and he talked about the importance of buying from local vendors, including the grocery stores. This was the best thing I could for Fiji was to buy local. You don't have to be afraid of getting lured into any shops, go along...explore enjoy the people, it was a great experiance, the shop keeper even preformed a Kava ceremony for us to welcome us to Fiji. I didn't make a huge purchase, just some necklaces etc... but he was thankfull, he explained the best places to buy groceries and even hooked us up with taxi driver. Had I been afraid we would not have had this great exchange and I really wanted to meet locals.
The most memorable tour was going up the Sigatoka River to a village and being welcomed and enjoying the feast they prepared for us, no electricity, all prepared traditionally. The price was high but well worth it, I feel it was a must go. After all we had traveled more than 8000 miles. We went up river close to 20 miles. We booked this tour at the WM resort front desk area. The other tour we did was a Zip Fiji tour which was also booked at the resort. This is fun for all ages, not scarey but there is some slightly strenuous walking. Any one in reasonable shape should be able to handle this on.
We also wanted to vist the presearve, I don't remember the name, We just walked out of the front desk, found a driver by asking and he quoted a price and off we went. He waited for us to get done with the tour, I invited him in to the refreshment shop and bought him a lemonade so that we would all be refreshed, then he took us back, I asked him stop in town and he did and then took us back to the resort, This is how we got around, just get a taxi, tell him what you want to do and how much is it, I wasn't going to haggle for prices, I spent so mugh to get there from Alaska that 5$ FJ wasn't going to break my bank. We met a family from HongKong who had yet to exchange money because they were looking around for the best rate...I mean come on, what are you going to save 10-50 dollars on your 10,000.00 vacation. If I were exchanging millions, I might shop around but several hundred...why bother. I did buy some FJD before leaving the states, but there was no need, the exchange counter is at the airport and ATMs all over Denarau and the other resort along with bank kiosks in the towns. If you buy local groceries in town, it is reasonable, like Rice, corn and tarot root,(prepared like mashed potatos) but when you buy tomatos and peppers which are importated, then you are forking over big bucks. I bought a large bag of sweet corn from a roadside stand for 3.00FJ and a bunch of fresh bananas for 2.00FJ. Take a taxi, tell him you want fresh food and he will help you, that is how nice these people are. If you like the driver, ask for his phone number and call him when you want to do something else, making relationships are what it is about.
We got all kinds of email addresses from folks inviting us to stay with them next time we come over.
We were there for 12 days, we ate what ever we wanted, wherever we wanted, did tours, scuba diving and shopping, I spent about 2700.00 AMD in total for three people, the exchage rate was about 1.80 to my 1.00 AMD. Great trip, great people and the coffee from the Fijian Coffee company was outstanding, and if anyone is going to Fiji I will pay handsomly for 5lbs or 2.5 Kilograms of beans from Fijian coffee Company. emai me at midnitesunrich-40@yahoo.com. Most homes make there own sugar and raw suger in coffee is great, it is brown, almost like brown suger. We woke up on a Sun and looked for a church in the phone book and found one, found a driver and we went to a local church and had a great time with local people, it was just so special not staying resort minded and getting out of Denarau. One of our drivers explained that he could not get into the resort because his car wasn't authorized. and just not anyone could get in. That made me feel bad so I wanted to get out and mingle more to see who the people are. I can't say enough and am looking to go back. The way we got to Fiji
was we booked a resort stay for 7 nights which included airfare, stayed at the WM resort then went off to the Malolo islands for 7 nights at a resort. The weather was nicer once we got off the mainland, we had nonstop sun and bathtup warm waters. I hope this post helps, and I am serious about the coffe. Oh, phone service, you can rent a phone at the airport or just rent a SD card if your phone is jailbroke, i just rented a phone from the VodaPhone kiosk, for 80 FJD for 12 days.
_________________________
Richard Buck

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