Fiji
During the 2019-2020 holiday break, we went to Fiji, a common tourist destination for Australians. We took a 6 am flight to the South Pacific country which is an archipelago of more than 300 islands. The Republic of Fiji is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean about 2,000 km northeast of New Zealand's North Island. We arrived in Nadi on the main island, Viti Levu. We then flew further to Savusavu, located on the smaller island of Vanua Levu.
We were picked up and brought to the Savasi Island Resort, where we stayed in the Seabreeze Villa with a pool about 20 metres away from the beach. Here the drive into the resort.
We were greeted with a tropical fruit drink on our arrival and brought to our beach villa.
We ended the day with dinner, enjoying the delicious food and the beautiful sunset view.
In the morning of our second day, after a nice breakfast overlooking the ocean, we were driven to a waterfall by one of the guides.
We first had to buy a Kava plant, also known by its Fijian name yaqona, as an offering for the local villagers allowing us to visit their waterfall. The waterfall was only a 5 min walk, enough at the blazing heat, away from the parking spot. On our way, we passed what could count as a small vegetable farm with Kava plants, bananas, pineapples, wild chilly, wild ginger and even some sugar cane.
Here the flower of wild ginger.
We were swimming in the small lagoon underneath the fall and observed the many spiders and birds around the waterhole.
Shortly before lunch, we drove back, stopping at a beautiful scenic overview.
For lunch, we enjoyed rice paper rolls and a glass of wine. In the afternoon, I took pictures of insects around the villa.
When stepping on the paths, we had to watch out for not crushing the thousands of hermit crabs (Coenobita rugosus) that crawled around the property and near the beach. I took pictures and a time-lapse video of them.
They did not like to be held in a hand and vigorously attack my fingers.
Before dinner, I discovered a small jumping spider in our bathroom that I caught and then photographed on a napkin and then on a leaf.
Dinner during sunset was excellent with a concluding barbecued pineapple as a dessert.
After dinner, Sophia and I, equipped with a strong LED panel and a flashlight, continued on hunting animals in the dark. We saw large Golden Orb spiders, a Huntsman spider, mating stick insects, small lizards, a mouse, huge hermit crabs, fruit bats and many mosquitoes on our skin.
The next morning, Sophia and I explored the beach and coral area uncovered by the low tide. We saw many sea cucumbers, an amazing amount of crabs and of course countless small fish. We also disturbed three sea snakes or eels that quickly slithered away from us. We poked the little sea stars until their body including tentacles retreated into their coral niches.
After a good lunch and a short nap, we went to Split Rock for a snorkelling trip. The 30-minute drive brought us to an area from where we started to snorkel from the beach. While we saw a lot of bleached corals near the shore, the actual split rock was colonised by hundreds of colourful fish and corals. We took some picture and video with the new GoPro Hero Black 8.
In the evening, we packed our belongings for the next morning’s boat-snorkel trip. While at dinner, we learned that a cyclone was threatening to hit Fiji on the 29th of December.
On December 25th, we started early in the morning with a 6:45 am departure for the boat tour. We drove 40 min to the Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of the famous ocean explorer Jacque Cousteau. We took a bumpy 50-minute boat ride to the Namena Marine Reserve of Fiji where we snorkelled in very choppy waters. It is "known to be one of the best diving spots in all of Fiji, this exclusive site is home to many endemic and rare species. Surrounding the tiny island of Namenalala, the approximately 70 square kilometre Namena Marine Reserve was established in 1997, stretching between the two main Fijian islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.”
We saw bigger fish than the day before and also a small white-tipped reef shark (1.2 metres long) and a turtle. As the waves were too large for good snorkelling, we went to a more secluded place far away from the big waves. Unfortunately, the corals were all bleached there and only few fish and colourful corals remained.
We returned to our lodge by lunch and used the time after lunch to re-book Return flights to 27th of December. In the afternoon, I took pictures of a jumping spider that was very jumpy.
On our way to the dinner, we saw many fruitbats landing on trees in the resort. The size of these Fijian flying foxes (Mirimiri acrodonta) was not unlike the ones we see each evening in Sydney.
Before dinner, the local church group performed Christmas songs in the resort dining area.
Afterwards, we had a lovely dinner at sunset.
The next morning, after a delicious breakfast, we enjoyed another walk on the low tide beach. We saw many small colourful fish and dark sea cucumbers. We also discovered near the villa a huge Golden Orb Spider and her egg sacks.
In the afternoon, we were driven to a “river” that connects a lagoon lake with the ocean. The approaching high tide supported our sea kayaking towards the lake. The stream, as well as the lake, were surrounded by Mangroves. We learned that the area around our resort and this lake (650 acres) was owned by Paul Savasi.
A stop on a hilltop on our way back allowed us to see the largest bay in Fiji.
After a shower, we had our last dinner in a cave—a special table facing the ocean on one side a meter above high tide and embedded in rocks carved out during ages. The staff had decorated the cave with fresh flowers.
Early breakfast on the next morning ended our trip on Fiji—the first rain that we experienced on the island foreshadowed the incoming cyclone.
Here more pictures.