Tourist and Local sides of Fiji

Some of the beauties of Fiji

As an Australian born Fiji-Indian, I've had variety of cultural influences throughout my upbringing. Although this being true, I've lived in Australia for most of my life and some aspects of my Fiji-Indian cultural heritage were lacking. In essence, I’d like to revisit elements of my past to get a feel for some aspects of life that I have been missing out on in Fiji.

In the summer of 2010, my family and I took a trip to Fiji that entailed the usual visits to friends and family. To my surprise, my dad had said that we would also be doing some of the touristy things that we haven’t done in any of the trips before. One bonus of this style of trip was that we didn't have to sleep like backpackers at friends’ places who for me seemed like strangers. Instead we were accommodated at the wonderful beach side accommodation at Denaru that has frequent boat trips to and fro small neighbouring tropical islands.

Hotel accommodation at Denaru

The day after arriving, we set out on a small sized passenger ship to one of the small islands for the day. As we cruised along the ocean we passed many islands, and they were what you would see on brochures and magazines, picture perfect shots of golden sand surrounded by clear blue water that stretched far past the shore line. There were many interesting activities on the island that kept us entertained including para-sailing, jet skiing, snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking, feeding turtles and just straight up relaxing under a palm tree being served cuts of meat and fresh fruit.

Snorkeling in some of the clearest waters

During the day

All the activities were great but the best part of that day is probably when we were leaving the island and my dad decided to tip one of the locals so that I could get a ride back on a small dingy sized boat where small supplies would usually be carried. The day started off sunny but mid-way through the boat trip, a storm had quickly formed and I had found myself on a boat with a local that didn’t know much English, nor I know any Fijian. 

Right before the storm

To make matters worse, the boat had broken down 4 or 5 times and we had been stuck there for over an hour more than we should have. But something about being in a boat in a middle of a storm made me realise some of the real tropical beauty of Fiji.

Mud crab that my uncle speared

The second half of our trip actually did encompass us staying with close family, where surprisingly I had more of a liking to in comparison to staying in hotels. It was this part of my trip to Fiji where I actually had the most fun. The idea of me living as a local attempting to catch mud crabs, haggle for items and climb coconut trees seemed most fulfilling. 

Rope swing over the waterfall pool

This was reconfirmed when my uncle who we had stayed with took us to a local rain-forest that tourists had not visited much. Following a forty minute trail spiraling down the forest we had come to a small waterfall and natural pool that had an over swinging rope swing allowing us to jump off into the pool, that the locals had kindly shown us how to do. Learning to live like one of the locals, sure did embrace my cultural attachment to Fiji.