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# Low Budget One Week trip report. Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Fiji
waxinggibbous 04:00 UTC 15 Oct 2010 | I thought I'd provide a trip report from Fiji which might be useful for anyone heading to Fiji for a short time and who doesn't want to spend the whole time lying beside a hotel pool. I headed to Fiji flying in on Saturday Oct 2nd and out the following Saturday. The entire trip including return flight from Sydney came in under AU$1000. (F$1,800) I pre-booked all my accommodation using one or other of the hostel booking websites. (Hostelworld, Hostels.com, Hostelz, etc) My weeks accommodation totalled AU$163!! (My first two nights needed to be in a dorm but the others were my own single room) I also cooked most of my meals rather than eating out. (As a vegetarian it is often simpler for me to do this - and it saves a considerable amount of money) Briefly - arrived Nadi 2pm caught a local bus to Lautoka and then another bus to Rakiraki at the northern tip of Viti Levu. Thence by taxi (F$15) to Volivoli resort. Arrived about 6.45pm. Volivoli resort is very nice, clean and very friendly. I stayed here to go diving the next day. Dorm = F$35 a night. Two dives cost F$160. There is a kitchen and I cooked my dinners (which I brought from Sydney as I suspected i might not have time to get to a supermarket. There are no shops anywhere near the resort) Though I thought the resort restaurant meals were not too expensive and ended up buying breakfast there. The day after diving I caught the express bus from Rakiraki to Suva - a nice trip which takes you into the highland areas of East Viti Levu as well as providing some great coastal views. I spent two nights in Suva at the South Seas Private Hotel. A clean simple single room cost me F$35 p.n. Great location right behind Albert Park almost next to the Fiji Museum. The in-between day I took a local bus up to the Colo-i-Suva National park and spent about 5 hours walking through the rainforest. Local bus is less than a couple of dollars and Park entry is F$5. The afternoon was spent wandering around Suva and the Museum (F$7). Really liked the place too. My fifth day I took the morning Express bus (about F$9) along the Coral Coast to a small resort called Tubakula Beach Bungalows where I had a single room in a share bungalow (ie shared the bathroom and very well equipped kitchen with a British couple) for F$58 p.n. I stayed here for two nights (the woman running the place I found a little 'prickly' in nature) and spent the intervening day on the Adventures In Paradise Cave Tour (F$125 - includes lunch soft drinks/beer) The cave tour picks you up at your resort and takes you up the Sigitoka River into the highland areas where you stop at a village for a kava ceremony in a local house. There is a short bilibili (bamboo raft) ride across the river and a walk up the the cave entrance. The cave is a little sparse compared to the usual cave experiences, but it was a fun day. They also offer a different tour taking in some waterfalls. The day after I took the bus to Nadi arriving late morning. In hindsight if I could have avoided spending any time in Nadi I would have! But I ended up with the entire afternoon to kill. My flight out the next day was at 3pm. So I chose to head to the airport at 10am preferring to spend more time at the airport than in Nadi! It was a busy but interesting week, I managed to circumnavigate the island and managed to see a variety of natural environments, enjoy a variety of experiences and meet a lot of the locals. Well worth the 7 days! |
mandja 05:58 UTC 15 Oct 2010 | Excellent report - thanks . I suggest that you also place this in the FAQs | 1
peter_n_margaret 21:04 UTC 20 Oct 2010 | Great trip obviously and a very useful report for others too. Cheers, Peter | 2