travel;nadi & port denarau

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

We probably went to bed around midnight the night before and by 5:30AM we found ourselves on the beach hoping to catch sunrise… which was a disappointment that morning. There weren’t any beautiful colours as we hoped for, but it was nice being able to see what the resort was like at this hour. We weren’t the only ones awake as we saw several guests coming out onto the beach with their cameras too. We wanted to have an early start to our second day in Fiji so we can fit in some sight seeing before work that night (documenting Mehndi (henna) night before the big day!)

Only several hours into our stay at First Landing Resort, we probably already visited the reception close to 10 times, mostly about what we can do in Fiji. As you can tell we didn’t spend much time researching on the touristy part of the trip. Visiting the local town is one thing that we all wanted to check out. They gave us two suggestions;

1. Nadi – 40min drive away

2. Lautoka – 10min drive away

We went for the first option, going to someone further incase we have time on the last day to visit the closer town.

Sights along the way;

One thing I did not capture were the massive sugarcane fields, big truck loads of sugar cane as well as back burning of fields.

To our surprise, there’s McDonalds in Fiji! Did not get the chance to step foot in one though. Curious if they have any funny items on their menu.

Nadi town

We were dropped off at one end of town and advised to walk to the other end, stopping by a few recommended spots for souvenirs, food etc as recommended by the resort manager. I was interested at what kind of shops they had along the main strip, a lot of clothing stores, barbers, video stores and Chinese restaurants.

Then we took a turn into this small handicraft market. We were warned by a sales assistant at the reputable souvenir chain ‘Jacks’ to be careful of stallowners at these markets. They have a way of starting conversations with tourists, and eventually pulling you into their stalls with a handshake. If you’re unlucky you might be forced to purchase something from there or they won’t let you leave. Their sneaky tactic is finding out your name in the beginning then immediately personalising a souvenir item with your name on it. Hard to say no to this one.

Yes, some of us fell for this trap but luckily did not spend a single cent.

They say that; while you think it might be cheaper to buy souvenirs from these handicraft markets there’s a chance that you will be forking out more. We ended up going back to Jack’s for our souvenirs anyway, just for a peace of mind.

Next stop; we checked out the local produce market, hoping to pick up some locally grown fruit. The prices were quite cheap compared to what you would buy it for in Sydney and when it comes to tropical fruits they are no doubt better.

The market was divided in two sections, a newer side and an older side. The newer side mainly sold fruits and vegetables while the older side, still selling these as well.. it sold mostly kava in its original form; roots.

Like a kid out of a candy store; we were all pretty obsessed with the pineapples there… super sweet!

One of the local buses.

Port Denerau

Port Denerau was one of the popular suggestion of places to check out and it was about a 20min bus ride from Nadi. Knowing that it was like a town on the waterfront it sounded like a fairly good lunch spot. As we got closer to the area, we can already see some major differences to Nadi, the place itself felt like a tourist town with familiar names like Hard Rock Cafe, several souvenir stores as well as tour companies.

We quickly chose a lunch spot at Lily’s and sat down beside the marina, this was our view;

How food photography is done | Shrimp Cocktail

Another ceviche style fish dish, this time with tuna. It wasn’t amazing like I hoped.. possibly because it was already a little warm and lacked that refreshing taste you would expect from this kind of dish.