After leaving Caqalai we had planned to head back to Nadi via the Queen’s Road to the south of the Fiji mainland, spending a couple of nights near Suva.
Instead, when we arrived back on the mainland we followed a recommendation and headed north on the King’s Road by public bus to Rakiraki, staying at a resort called Volivoli. The King’s and Queen’s Roads are the two major roads in Fiji, but are still unsealed in parts and some of the bridges looked really quite dodgy - especially for such big buses!
The Volivoli resort was good, dorm beds were relatively cheap, its on the beach and there’s a swimming pool. We did a bit of Kayaking and did the relaxing we had stolen from us by dive books!
We stayed there two nights then took the bus to Nadi, staying there a night before taking the Yasawa Flyer boat the following morning. The Yasawa Islands are the main tourist hotspot of Fiji (along with the Mamanuca group) and it’s easy to see why - they are mostly volcanic islands, fringed with white sandy beaches and covered in palm trees! Because of this though our first impression was a bit of a let down - after spending time on Caqalai where there were only four of us on the island, and traveling by public buses, we felt like we had joined the herd.
Our first stop was Wayalailai (aka Wayasewa) where we stayed for two nights. The first day it drizzled a lot, and the first night there was a massive storm! We were beginning to wonder if it was worth going here, but after that things brightened up and the second day was gorgeous - clear blue skies. Becky made some weaved jewelry and we laid about in hammocks and on the beach most of the time. There was also some cheesy Fijian dancing entertainment in the evening. The food here was OK, but not a patch on that at Caqalai which we were comparing everything to at this point. The second morning we got up at 5am to walk up the hill on the island to watch the sun rise - it was stunning.
The next day we got back on the boat and headed further north to Nacula, staying at Safe Landing. Again we stayed two nights, and this resort was a lot quieter and the food was great too. We did more hammock laying and swimming, and were serenaded by some singing while we ate and afterwards while we drank kava.
The morning before we left the island we took a trip to the Sawa-i-Lau caves north of Nacula. The cave we went in is open to the sea, with one main chamber, and another passage that you had to swim underwater to get into (so Becky gave that a miss!). On the way back the guide dropped us on a beach to do a bit of snorkeling on what was some of the best coral we saw in Fiji.
We headed back south to our next stop, Naviti, where we stayed at the cunningly named White Sandy Beach. We were greeted there by some more singing and they gave us fresh coconuts with straws in! There was quite a lot of evening entertainment here, mostly singing and dancing and one evening they lit a bonfire on the beach. The food was OK - on the second evening they cooked traditional Fijian food in an earth oven some of which was nice, some more questionable.
After 6 nights on the Yasawas we arrived back in Nadi to catch our flight the following morning to Christchurch. The islands are a bit busy with tourists, but the weather was fantastic (after the first night!), the beaches nice and the people were friendly too. I wouldn’t like to go to Fiji and only go to the Yasawas (like a lot of people do) but they are certainly worth a visit.
Overall we really loved our time in Fiji and would definitely like to go back. We would recommend heading a bit more off the beaten track - we’re so glad we went to places like Levuka and Caqalai, we feel like we really saw and experienced the country rather than what the country wants to look like to tourists! More photos of Fiji to come at a later date hopefully!
