We flew from Auckland to Nadi (prounced Nandi) and stayed 2 nights at Horizon Backpackers by the beach. This was a fine place to stop over (beer, pizza, very helpful travel adviser called Ase). On Ase's advice we took the big yellow catamaran ferry to Mololo Island - Walu Beach Resort. Think about your South Sea tropical island paradise; that is what it is like. They very kindly upgraded us from a lodge room to a luxury beach front bure. This is a wee thatched house with high roof beams held together with decorative string lashing. It really was luxurious; en-suite, comfy lounge area, beautifully decorated and only a few steps from the palm-fringed beach. There were hammocks to laze in, which we'd been wanting to do for months. There is a large reef a few miles further out so the sea surrounding the island is shallow, calm and, although tidal, shows barely a ripple of waves.
We went out in little plastic kayaks which was great fun and very easy. The sea was so calm and clear that we could sit in the canoe and look at the fish a few inches below us on the inshore coral reefs.Fish would chase one another out of the water -I loved having a shoal of tiny silver fish leap right passed me, closely followed by something a bit bigger and toothier. Fairy terns would wheel around and dive for fish close to the canoes too. There was a shipwreck to paddle around, home to blue starfishes. We also snorkelled around the reefs and saw lots of gorgeous fish, including striped angelfish with long tendril-like fins who hung around in groups pretending to be seeweed -they only gave themselves away when they moved. We also saw stingrays, schools of barracuda, some silvery fish (they looked like they were made of shiny metal) with big square jaws which they seemed to dislocate as they swam along open-mouthed, presumably gulping down plankton or krill. I saw a shark which gave me the fright of my life as it was as big as me and very close. Luckily it was a black-tip reef shark and they are not supposed to be interested in humans. It looked at me with a cold eye and moved off; to say "swam" would imply that you could see some evidence of effort, like a fin or tail moving -which you couldn't. The picture of this sleek, grey and very.... well...sharky creature gliding by comes unbidden to my mind several times a day. I am just glad it was not gliding towards me, accompanied by all its friends and relations, whether harmless or not.
The food at the resort was included in the (very reasonable) price and was much better than we had expected. They have an ambitious young Australian chef and new Fijian management who are working very hard to get the resort up a notch or two. This probably means we wouldn't be able to afford to go there in a year's time, so we felt very lucky. So, the menus were not very veggie-orientated and we ate a lot of grilled wahu fish (like marlin) and tropical fruit; no great hardship. One night we had a very special private dinner down on the jetty with just the jumping fish, some fine wine and the musicians for company. Ilie and Koroi were always there to welcome and bid farewell to guests coming and going on wee boats with their lovely Fijian songs.
It was very peaceful and after a month in the van in NZ, moving every day and heating up tinned soup, this was exactly what we needed. We lazed around, read a lot, played in the warm sea and got very brown. The staff were wonderful - so happy and friendly; always with a frangipani or hibiscus flower behind their ear and they made us feel very welcome and looked-after. We returned 8 days later, regretfully, to Nadi for one night to get ready for the next phase: California.
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