Radisson At Night

Every night at 6pm was the lighting of the torches (accompanied by several children dressed a mini Fijian warriors.






The torches were lit throughout the complex providing ambient lighting at night.








Each week they have a Fijian themed night with singing and fire dancing.

The fire dancing was pretty spectacular to watch

Most evenings we had sundowner cocktails on the deck, a great start to the evening! We tried different ones each time, this being the Fijian Warrior and my favourite.

Day Trip to Castaway Island

Today we took a boat trip out to Castaway Island, one of the islands in the Mamanuca island group. The trip called in at several islands on the way so we got to see most of the islands in this group. The nearest and most popular day trip is South Sea Island.





From there we stopped at Bounty Island, famous as the setting for the UK TV show Celebrity Love Island...






The next two islands were very close together, Beachcomber Island is more of a backpacker's island.




Whilst Treasure Island is more family orientated and famous for its coral reef just off the beach.






The next stop was Mana Island, one of the largest islands in the group. Along with a few beach resorts there is also a Fijian village with locals living here.







Finally we reached Castaway Island where we transported in on little motorised boats to a warm welcome from the singing staff.







Unfortunately the tide was out for the majority of the day so we couldn't go snorkling but managed to wade out to see some sea creatures including this fantastic clam.







And this weird creature, no idea what it is! We also got to see a reef shark, only a small one (couple of feet long) fortunately.






After 5 hours on the island it was time to head back to Denarau, a great day out exploring the island and seeing other islands in the group.

Around Denarau

Denarau Island is a man made structure, reclaimed land from mangrove swamp and home to luxury hotels and multi million dollar homes and equally impressive boats. It is an easy walk between all the resorts. Several of the resorts have hammocks on the beach.

A couple of the resorts also have their own wedding chapels, most facing west to make the most of the spectacular sunsets.

The pool complexes at the other resorts were quite different to the Radisson, mainly groups of much smaller pools. This is the Westin with the bures covering the spas.

The port or marina area of Denarau is a relatively new complex and home to numerous bars and restaurants as well as the departure point for boat trips to the islands. We ate here every night as we enjoyed the atmosphere and variety of food on offer, though lobster 3 times on holiday may have been a bit extravagent!!

The easy way to get around Denarau was on the Bula bus which calls into every resort and the marina.

Radisson Denarau, Fiji

As part of Royston's 40th birthday celebrations we decided to venture to the South Pacific Islands staying at the Radisson at Denarau Island in Fiji. This is the family pool with a swim up bar, and views to the sea in the background.






The adult pool with adjoining spa pools is where we spent most of our days, enjoying the sun and relaxing.







The sunset deck was where we spent our early evenings watching the most amazing sunsets (see separate post).







This is the view back up to the reception area and bar/restaurant.








And the waterfall feature as you walk into the complex. Overall a fantastic resort with beautiful grounds and pools.

Hahei Beach

After a short trip via foot ferry to Whitianga for lunch we then spent the afternoon on Hahei beach soaking up the sun whilst Royston went after those elusive fish.

It was so warm I was more than happy reading my book and enjoying the views. We pretty much had the beach to ourselves though a couple of other fishermen came along later in the day.

As the sun began to set we drove up to the Cathedral Cove carpark for the views back over the beach and out to sea, with the moon up and the pink sky it made for a nice end to the day.

The Yurt at Hahei

Being the middle of winter we thought it would be apt to stay in a tent...we did however choose a fancy Mongolian tent (yurt) set in amongst an orchard not far from Hahei beach on the Coromandel Peninsula.

The owners have done a fantastic job with the set up - inside a lounge area and two double beds with curtains for privacy, along with a dining table and electric kitchen appliances.

Whilst outside is the sink area and bbq for cooking, with the toilet and shower also accessed from the deck. Alistair cooking the steaks for dinner and Royston supervising.

We had such stunning weather that we were able to have breakfast on the deck both mornings and enjoying the views from the yurt.

The view from the back of the yurt down over the gardens.

Pre World Cup Warm Up

This afternoon we headed to North Harbour stadium to watch the final All Whites games on home soil before they head off to the football World Cup. They seem to have got confused with the colour of their shirt though...

The game against a NZ eleven from the local league was pretty dire and they will need to step up their game for the World Cup or there will be three heavy defeats. Fortunately they will have their European based "stars" available then.