My Fiji Break

Oh, it is so good to be back home and sleeping in my own bed. Don't get me wrong, I loved my little break in Fiji but home is where my heart is and as much as I love to travel and see the world, every time I go away, I am reminded of how much I love Sydney.

My last post about Fiji, "Bula from Fiji", I wrote about my first three days there, so click on the link and have a read, if you haven't already. In that same post I mentioned that we had booked a day trip to a private island, Schooner Island to be exact, through Rosie Holiday with a company called Whale's Tale Cruise. It was a full day trip where a bus came and picked us up at 9am sharp (no Bula time) from our resort and drove us to Port Denarau where the sail boat awaited us.

Looking up at the ship

Initially we were advised that the day trip could take a maximum of 60 people (way too many in my mind), but as luck would have it, we had about 25 people, including two kids, on this day trip. It made for a good number of people and everyone on board were really lovely and friendly with most of us getting along by the end of the day and having a good laugh and a dance on the sail boat.

The great thing about booking our day trip with Whale's Tale Cruise is that they are the only boat going to Schooner Island and the staff on the boat provide personal service for each customer throughout the whole day. We aboard the sail boat to a lovely continental champagne breakfast as the staff prepared the boat to head off. It takes approximately an hour and a half to get to Schooner Island so we enjoyed our breakfast and champagne, the company of the other people on the boat and the scenery of clear blue ocean waters and the surrounding Fijian islands. 

We arrived at Schooner Island with options to chill out on the island or take part in some activities. I chose the guided snorkel; we head out into the water with our guide, Antone, who takes us through some amazing parts where the corals are glistening, the fish are aplenty and very colourful (yes, we found nemo!) and there are many things to see and touch such as star fish and sea cucumbers. Antone, had some bread with him (that he kept in a bag) and put some in my hand and the next thing I knew, I had all these amazing fish eating out of my hand and swimming around me……it was awesome!  

We had a nice BBQ lunch on the island all together and had the option of spending the rest of the afternoon chilling on the island, more snorkelling or hand line fishing. I ended going back out snorkelling to another section and another crew member had joined us; with a long metal rod! During the whole time I thought that he was in search for a particular fish for their dinner, but to my surprise when I got back to land, he was in search of an octopus! Yes, an octopus! I'm glad they told me when we reached land as I believe I would have freaked and swam in the opposite direction faster than Ian Thorpe!

Schooner Island from the sail boat

On Schooner Island

Washed up coral

The time in Fiji was spent relaxing, recharging, swimming in the pool, little tanning, taking part in the trivia and bingo (I won a game!) and reading. I managed to get through two books and by the last day there, I had no book to read. Lucky for my iPad and the internet, I spent my day surfing the internet working out my next holiday destination and when in the year is the perfect time to go. Oh, I love to travel and it's been a while so back on the travel wagon to explore places I haven't been, seen or experienced. So exciting!

One of the books I read….totally recommend reading it.

My overall summary of Fiji….. It's a great place to go visit for a short break, 5 days or so and that's it; especially if you're just there with a friend as there isn't much to do in Fiji. Getting to Fiji is relatively cheap but once you're there it can get expensive with food and day trips. Suggest to eat at Port Denauar as there are more variety and the cost is so much cheaper. However, I would say that Fiji is a perfect place for families to go to as they really do cater for kids and there is so much to do with kids during the day.

It was a perfect little trip to recharge, relax and refocus what I want to do next year with regards to travel. It was amazing to get away from the hectic life of everyday work and to not think about the reality and just enjoy the slower pace of life where time and day doesn't matter. 

Sunsets here are amazing!

Thank you Fiji! 

Jo xo

PS - Yes, as mentioned in my previous post "Bula from Fiji", China's President, Xi Jinping, was staying at our resort. It was hectic, there were scanner machines, lots of local and Chinese security, local police and his entire entourage including his cook and butler!