The 3 hour flight from Rarotonga to Fiji over the beautiful blue waters of the South Pacific was uneventful, except for the crossing of the international dateline, when Saturday turned into Sunday.
When we arrived in Nadi on the main island of Viti Levu it was raining and very hot and humid. Unfortunately our ATM cards didn't work the entire time we were in Fiji, so we exchanged some travellers checks. The exchange rate was quite favourable and we got 2 Fiji dollars for one US dollar. We found a small, cheap hotel (with air-conditioned rooms) not far from the airport where we went to relax, since Alexis wasn't feeling so well. From there we called some Servas hosts and found one in Suva, on the other side of Viti Levu, who invited us to stay with her.

We took an express bus from Nadi to Suva (about 4 hours) which was very crowded but air-conditioned, thank God!! The bus drove along the southern shore, via the Coral Coast. The scenery was varied with jungle like vegetation, ocean views, rice plantations and small, native villages. It sometimes felt like we were in South East Asia.

Our host in Suva is an U.S. expatriate who teaches at the local university and lives on campus with her 6 year old daughter who she adopted locally. We had a very enjoyable time with them, relaxing and exploring the campus and the town. I was able to her by writing and setting up a database application for her. In turn I was able to use her computer and internet access, which was great. We also enjoyed meeting some of her friends and neighbors. We went to the local vegetable market with one of the house workers, who also took us to church with her. This was very inspiring with incredible choir singing and powerful preaching.

We also had lots of excellent Indian food. In Fiji about half the population is Indian, from a large influx of Indian workers that had been brought here to work in the plantations during the 1870's. Suva otherwise was not a very attractive place but we liked the local markets, the University, the Fiji museum and the large variety of shops and restaurants.

We were exploring our options of going to some of the smaller outer islands and decided on the Yasawa group after hearing a lot of good things about it. Unfortunately it turned out to be difficult and frustrating to make arrangements directly with one of the budget resorts on the islands. In Fiji in general there were mainly low budget places or top of the line (way out of our price range) resorts, but very little middle of the road places, which we preferred.

We went for a few days to stay at the Beachhouse, a backpackers resort on the Coral Coast only 2 hours from Suva. There the staff helped us to make a reservation for Otto & Fanny's budget resort on Tavewa island.

We took the bus to Lautoka and spent the night in a small hotel by the harbor. At the tourist office we inquired about the different possibilities to get to Tavewa island. We had heard scary reports of some of the resorts small boats, which can be frightening during a 3 hour open ocean crossing. Last year some tourists had lost all their stuff and got stranded for several hours when a small boat capsized in heavy weather. We booked our passage on a larger ferry that was more expensive but felt safe.
The next morning was beautiful and the sea thankfully very calm. It took 4 hours to get to Tavewa island with several stops at other island resorts along the way.

Tavewa is a fairly small island that's only 3km (2 miles) around. It's next to Turtle island, where the movie "The Blue Lagoon" was shot. We stayed for 3 nights in a traditional Fiji bure, a primitive, thatch-roofed hut. Most of the islands in the Yasawa group don't have a lot of freshwater, so all running water for the sink and shower came from a rainwater tank. Electricity was provided by generator between 8am and 10pm. Nights were incredibly hot and it was very difficult sleeping under the mosquito net, especially for Alexis after she saw a rat in the kitchen.

The best part of our stay on the island was the incredible snorkeling on the coral formations at the south side of the island, only a 5 minute walk from our bure. There were coral gardens and tropical fish in hundreds of varieties in all the colors of the rainbow. The snorkeling was the best we've ever done, the water was a balmy 30 C (or about 86 F) and crystal clear. Also most of the vast and intricate coral formations were only a few feet below the surface. We also enjoyed some of the nicest beaches on the island, even though they almost disappeared at high tide.

We enjoyed the hospitality of our resort hosts Otto and Fanny and their staff and a real treat were the gourmet meals, prepared by the son Harry, a former chef for one of the major cruise lines. Meal times, especially dinner were a good time to talk and exchange travel stories with the other guests, an older couple and 2 young guys from England and a woman from Canada.

On our last day on the island a large family (mostly German) came to stay at Otto and Fanny's. They had chartered a small seaplane for the ride to the island. Since the plane was going back to Nadi empty we were able to hitch a ride back for free which was a great blessing. It also saved us a 4 hour long boat ride and an hour long bus ride and we were able to make it back to Suva the same day.
Our last 3 days in Fiji we spent with our Servas host in Suva, whose hospitality and friendship we really enjoyed. But we were really looking forward to going to New Zealand.