Thank You Fiji

Thank you to those who have answered my questions. Got back from FIJI yesterday and thought I would post my experiences etc to assist those who may do something similar.

Due to a seriously low price package price ($900 AUD per person, including flights) we decided to jump at the opportunity to visit Fiji for 8 days over the Easter break.

Our package was for 5 nights at the Sheraton Fiji Resort Denarau Island Nadi.......then our remaining 3 nights were at the Coral Coast - Tubakula Beach Bungalows.

Firstly, Denarau Island... Beautiful?? yes indeed it is however it is very expensive for anything and super sterile tourist environment designed for those who have $$$ and are not wanting to experience the real Fiji..... Now if thats your sort of holiday then you will love it. Go for it have a lovely time and enjoy but for us it was a bit too touristy and a tad disappointing, especially when we have traveled to a few third world countries and have never experienced any sort of food poisoning and my daughter got it at the Sheraton and spent 2 days in the bathroom...
We worked out that it only cost us $90 per day on our package for two of us to stay there and this included transfers and all you can eat breakfast. So if it wasn't for this deal we would not have ended up here.
So here is the tip.... For those of you who have a day to kill in Nadi town and dont like hanging around you can spend the day at Denarau and pool hop from one resort to the other, costing you nothing. Here is how. Catch the "Westbus" from out the front of "Jacks" that says "Denarau". For 70 cents you will get to Denarau Island. Once on the island, pick which resort you want to get off and the bus will stop for you. Once you are on the island you can catch the "Denarau Bula Bus" (blue bus) and this will transfer you all around the island for free. It goes from one resort to the other all the way down to the "Port Denarau Marina". Pool hopping is acceptable and done by all who are there. When it comes to lunch time, don't spend big bucks at the resorts, catch the bula bus down to the Port Denarau Marina and grab a sandwich or pie from the bakery for a few FJD's. Make sure you bring your own towel, you wont get one from the resorts unless you have a room number and name to match. Make sure you catch the bus back before the last one leaves, (ask any hotel for the time table) otherwise you will be up for a $15 taxi fare back to town...

For those who are catching transfers at the marina...use the above information as well. Plus if you stand on the side of the road at the round about corner turn off to Denarau island, locals pick you up and take you there... I paid only 50 cents each for us to be returned back to Denarau because I missed the bus (fiji time) and a local showed me how to do this..

Our package included transfers to the hotel, however I just want to encourage anyone who is on a budget to walk out to the main road from the International arrival point at the airport and cross the road and catch a local bus into town. Its very easy to do and now that I have been there and seen it I wont be using cabs or transfers next time I arrive. You will know where to stand because the locals will be there too. Catch any bus thats says Nadi and you will get to town... Just remember that they are not coaches and there is no air conditioning but its fun and you will be mixing with locals :-)

Which brings me to my next tip.....

If you are heading to Coral Coast catch the local bus... yes it will take you longer but its cheap cheap compared to taxi's and transfers etc. Ask any local where to catch the bus and they will show you but if you head towards the "Queens Highway" stand there long enough, you will see bus's and they will stop if you hail them.... Tell them where you want to go and they will let you know if that is the bus.... Our bus stated "Suva" but make sure its via the coral coast.

We hired a car to visit the "Sleeping Giant" gardens and I am glad we did. The Latoka bus goes right past the turn off but the trip from there to the gardens would be a fair walk if you didn't get a cab or lift etc. Getting a lift off the main road down to the gardens might be easy enough but getting a lift back to the main road would be hard. There was no traffic on the dirt road the day we were there so I am super glad we had a car. Just my experience

In my opinion the Coral Coast was far better than Denarau. We stayed at the Tubakula Beach Bungalows and were kicking ourselves that we didn't stay here the whole week. The coral Coast bus will stop right out front if asked. Keep any eye out for the Outrigger as the bungalows are just past that.
There is dorms available on request however we rented out a beach front bungalow and were literally a few metres from the water. They hold million dollar views on budget prices. Its a real gem. We liked the fact that you can cook your own food or you can purchase meals from their restaurant. We paid no more than $30 FJD for the two of us for our night meal, and only $10 for breakfast for the two of us. www.fiji4less.com is the site for more information.

Coral Coast gave us the opportunity to mix with locals and see more village life. We were only here for 3 days but loved every minute. Where we were staying was only about 15 mins out of Sigatoka town. All your supplies can be picked up here and if you are looking for day trips etc it can be all booked from Tubakula, they will organise it for you. Ohh another thing you might be interested in is you can book a 30 min massage at Tubakula for only $20 FJD. The resorts were charging $180 FJD for 45 mins.

We did do one tour while in Fiji. We decided on the Captain Cook island day trip. Reason being they had specials where a child goes free with one paying adult.... The deal was perfect for me so for $97 FJD we had a day out at Mystery Island and it was worth every cent. There are lots of options so have a good look at all of them before you choose.

I found that for souvenirs "Baravi Handicrafts" on the Queens Highway Coral Coast was cheaper and had nicer staff than Jacks in town or any of the other stores at the Airport. If you are on the coral coast, its worth a stop.

Thanks again to those who helped us with our questions. We loved Fiji and are looking around for cheap flights to return in November.

Have fun :-)

Great report!

Thanks for the great report . I was wondering if I could ask you who you got that great deal through.
Also, do you think my late teens/early 20s daughters would like those places - I don't want them to find drunken parties, but they need to mix with other young adults.
Thanks in advance

Viv

viviannev@gmail.com

HI Vivianne

I have sent you a email regarding your questions

For everyone els, we got the deal through "Best Flights". www.bestflights.com.au

I played off Flight Centre and Best Flights till I got the deal I wanted.

I believe I got the cheap deal due to the fact that Sheraton are closing for a 22 million dollar refurbish on the 1st of May and wont reopen till 1 November.

I was in a conversation with one of the receptionists one day and I told her the package price and she said they do have these super cheap deals occasionally, so it seems I was in the right place at the right time.