Fiji (South Pacific Islands)

Advantages: “Things that happen here would seem….”
Disadvantages: “….Paradox in Paradise.” (Flecker)

...for the Day in the Fiji Times. This at least gave me something to think about as my wife and I lounged by the pool at the Tanoa International Hotel just outside Nadi. Having travelled half-way around the world in just two days to be there, I was inclined to think that we had indeed taken a short cut. The first visitors to these shores from Europe took years over the journey, and suffered on the way. Surely the earth was never meant to be so small ...
...Our choice of Fiji was not quite made at random. Having claimed on the basis of no personal experience whatsoever in my F-review that “Fiji is also among the world’s more agreeable places,” I felt the time had come to put it to the test, and also to put to the test the mixed reports we had heard, ranging from “pure paradise” to “already spoiled”. Finally, straddling as it does the 180th meridian. Fiji has the merit of being exactly halfway round ... Read review

Advantages: Paradise
Disadvantages: Cant find any

The island of Kiritimati (pronounced Ki-ris-mas’, or Christmas) is the largest of the 33 islands in the Pacific Ocean that make up the nation of Kiribati. The island has some 388 square kilometres of land area, which equals that all the other 32 islands of Kiribati combined. About 5,000 people live on Christmas Island, while the total population of all the islands of Kiribati is about 92,000. All but one of the islands of Kiribati are coral atolls. ...
...nation but also in terms of land area, the largest coral atoll in the world! In addition, Christmas Island is notable because of its proximity to the International Date Line. People there are among the first to experience the beginning of new calendar day, a new year and other annual observances, such as that of the death of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, this remote coral atoll is one of the mostly important breeding grounds for seabirds in the Tropics. ... Read review

Advantages: close to NZ and AUS
Disadvantages: very humid in summer months, only serviced by Air Pacific

...to earth nature about them. Fiji is a culturally diverse country although a good majority of the population is Indian and their cultural influences are ever present in the small town of Nadi (pronounced “nan-dee”), which is a short distance from the International airport. Nadi is a bustling little town bursting with people, arts and crafts and food at the markets, which are held on a regular basis. The main industry in Nadi is tourism where there ...
...sell exactly the same products. Fiji in the warmer months is overwhelming with heat and humidity especially in the crowded streets of Nadi where the middle class family on holiday will be smothered by Indians selling their wares and sometimes even themselves as guides and others just blatantly asking for money. Nadi is worth about a half-day of walking around the streets and will get very boring very quickly and can be very stressful. A small cab ... Read review

Advantages: Warm weather, sun and fun
Disadvantages: Mozzies (dengue fever season)

...a 10 day trip to Fiji and stayed at the Sheraton Fiji Resort which is located on Denaru Island just outside of Nadi. It is actually part of the main island but entering the Sheraton resort is like entering a different world. It si one of those places that you could spend your entire holiday in without venturing outside. The rooms are spacious and have air con (a must in Fiji) and tiled floors. Huge bathrooms and most rooms have a balcony. The buffet ...
...(as is the view from the breakfast room). It also has pool facilities, sailing and windsurfing, volleyball and a private beach, 3 bars, lunchtime BBQ’s, Fijian singers, good cafes and restaurants and a shopping arcade. It also has a great child minding service where the kids learn to wave baskets etc.. For the active person it has top rate tennis courts, racquet club and gold course. For those who wish to venture outside the resort walls there ... Read review

Advantages: tropical paradise, fantastic diving
Disadvantages: 2 days of flying to get there

fiji is everything you would imagine tropical paradise to be, lush palm fringed beaches surrounded by turquoise waters...... i arrived in fiji in the early hours of the morning, so my first impression was the sudden hot, humid environment that hit me as i left the air conditioned airport buildings, quite a change from the wintery weather i had left behind. I gradually started to build up a picture of the country on a 2 hour long coach ride from ...
...sky. i travelled to fiji to take part in a marine conservation holiday programme, with the company greenforce, so our stop in suva was only going to be a short one as all we were there to do was pick up essentials such as sulus (sarong type things) and bula dresses (the traditional dresses worn by fijian women for chruch). the journey to our island yadua, which is situated about an hour/hour and a half away from vanua levu and getting there involved ... Read review