From Suva to Denerau Island

Today we have to say goodbye to Grand Pacific Hotel with a heavy heart, its people and its familiar atmosphere. Not without taking a few lonely laps in the pool and enjoying the obligatory neck massage 😊.

We drive on Queens Road, the southern route from the east of the island to the west, towards Nadi. Shortly after the small town of Sigakota there is a cultural center where the typical crafts are shown and there is a typical Fiji village. What is a typical village here? It no longer has much in common with the pretty little bush huts on stilts where the whole family lived under one roof. Today's villages have electricity and telephone, the houses are made of wood, corrugated iron, sometimes also stone, and are built on stilts or at least a small platform. But the climate in the bush huts with bamboo lattice walls is said to have been much more pleasant. Progress apparently comes at a price. In the village there is actually only one road that leads through it (speeders are quickly taught a lesson by concrete speed bumps 😂👍🏻). There is green space between the houses, footpaths. Saturday is laundry day! Clotheslines everywhere 😊. Fresh fruits, pineapples, papayas, mangos and coconuts as well as vegetables (yams, pumpkins, onions, sweet potatoes and others I don't know), cooked corn cobs, kava and beautiful brooms made of rice straw (I've already thought about how to take them home, they would make nice bush hurdles 😂), all of this can be bought at small roadside stands. Or at one of the markets, which are really still very original and beautiful. Buses run between the villages, but there are no timetables, they just run when they run 😁 time has a different meaning here, or rather, the clocks tick differently. No one is in a hurry, "take your time". And then there's "Fiji Time", where a half-hour delay is completely normal 😊.

Back to the Kalevu Culture Centre. It was not signposted and we promptly drove past it. So turn around and search. It turned out that the centre is part of a smaller resort. We were allowed in because the key to some of the huts could not be found. So we can wander through the pretty village without paying an entrance fee. Some of the huts were open and stocked with exhibits. We use the resort for a small lunch with fresh, cool juice before we set off again.

We still want to go to Natadola Beach, where you can supposedly swim in the sea. The journey is difficult because the beach itself is not signposted. And there are many dirt roads that branch off from the main road. But which one is the right one??? So we see the super chic Natadola Golf Club, a holiday resort and a village of the locals, beautifully located on the beach. We ask two young people in the village, who immediately introduce themselves with a handshake, describe the way to us and are just super nice and friendly! Finally, we find the beach, which is firmly in the hands of the locals. We are allowed to park in the shade, change in one of the tents, which is normally used for massages, and then enjoy ourselves 😁🏝.

There are also horses that can be rented for a beach ride. They doze or sleep on the white sand, the stallion next to the mare, the foal next to them. Completely calm and natural.

When we leave, I give the woman who owns the tent a tip and ask if I can take some photos of her beautiful ponies. She is so delighted that she immediately embraces me! The friendliness of the Fijians is truly extraordinary!

Speaking of ponies: the livestock, cattle, goats, chickens, peafowl, actually roam freely through the countryside. Every now and then a horse or a cow is tied to a shrub or tree, but most of them run free. There are also fences, but they have no apparent connection to the animals 😳😉.

We continue to our hotel. I thought that Grand Pacific couldn't be topped. But this Westin here is incredible. Everything is stylish with lots of wood, water features everywhere, ponds, and when we arrive in the evening twilight, the paths are illuminated with torches. There are several restaurants, also right on the water, everything is spacious and very relaxed. After dinner, we end the day in the bar with a cocktail, enjoying the atmosphere and listening to the sound of the waves 🌊