little-ginge

There seems to be quite bunch of well seasoned travellers on SN.

After watching a..*whisper on* Clarkson *whisper off* ..programme on Jet engines tonight, I quite like the look of Tahiti....

Just looking into things atm, has anyone on SN been to the South Pacific? Is Tahiti preferable over, say the Cook Islands or Fiji?? It's quite a flight - any recommendations as to who is best to fly with? Or when to go, that sort of thing..

Thanks in advance..

Nicci

I have been to Fiji, I didn't leave the main island as I was only there for a week (as a long stop-over).

I have heard the other Fijian islands are really nice.

I thought the place was lovely, really relaxed. Having a long beach to myself was bliss (I didn't want to stay at a huge resort, so stayed in a small cottage), so it was nice and quiet.

Fresh coconuts and juice for brekkie was yummy.

The Fijians are really lovely people, go on a bus and they want to chat and they are always smiling.

As Fiji is at the edge of the barrier reef, the beaches are lots of dead coral and you can walk along the shallow part of the water looking at fish and other reef creatures, it is great.

I would love to explore the other south pacific islands. It is beautiful out there.

Frosty The Snowman

I went to Fiji last year for just over a week and spent most of my time on one of the islands in the Yasawas, it was absolutely perfect.

Nacula, the island I was on, is just opposite the island where they filmed the Blue Lagoon so that should give you an idea of how beautiful it is around there. I chose to stay on just one island for the whole time but a lot of people go for a Bula Pass that allows you to island hop on the Yasawas flyer which is operated by a company called Awesome Adventures.

I can most definitely recommend a place called Oarsman's Bay Lodge to stay at as the staff were very nice and the location was stunning. I saw a few other places and I would say that Oarman's had about the best beach, it could be used at low tide unlike some others, and there was a reef that you could snorkle on.

I got very used to using water taxis everywhere and it's a very pleasant way to travel, just as long as you have enough sun tan lotion

I flew into Nadi, pronounced Nandi, and stayed my first night there before catching the flyer to the Yasawas. One day in Nadi is too much as it's nothing more than a small market town that has far to many tourist shops.

davegtt

Some good info there snowman. Quality, looking at Fiji and the South Pacific myself at the mo, flights are so damn expensive though

Frosty The Snowman

It is such a nice place. I did my trip as part of a round the world month off work, the main reason for my trip was to visit a couple of friends who have emmigrated to Oz a few years ago. I also popped into NZ for a week, not nearly enough time will be going back, and then decided to finish with a weeks beach holiday in Fiji to relax a bit.

My flights were scheduled and cost about £1100 with tax included, I went in August. You could look into a round the world ticket, if your going to Fiji then thats half way to start with , which were going for around £800 without taxes but these have various restrictions.

Weather-wise August is a good month for Fiji as it's in the dry season. I got one night of rain, boy did it chuck it down, but other than that it was dry and clear every day.

Oh, and to add I also looked at the whole region including Tahiti but ruled it out as it's a little more expensive than Fiji. Check-out the forums on Lonely Planets website

little-ginge

Thanks for the great feedback!!

Brit_in_Japan

All I've seen of Fiji is the transfer lounge at the airport (en-route to NZ). Air New Zealand flies there and from memory had quite a generous seat pitch in economy, important for such a long flight.