Travel Photo of the Week – Sunset at Sunset Strip, Fiji
Sunsets – one of nature’s best display of lights! It’s my favourite time of the day to take photos, and everywhere I go, I always try and find a great spot to take a sunset photo.
I took this photo on April 2009 on my last trip to Fiji. This is from the Coral Coast, by the Sunset Strip, as the locals called it. This place was the best spot on the main island of Viti Levu to view a sunset. Though the sun hid behind the clouds, I still love this photo. I love the hues of the sky and the water.
Further north to the Mamanuca Islands is the Yasawa group of islands. When I was reading up on my 
When you land into Fiji from overseas, you will most likely land into Nadi International Airport (pronounced as “Nandi”). This is the biggest airport in the country and is located on the western side of the island of Viti Levu. The airport is near the town of Nadi, the third biggest city in Fiji. This is where you’ll find a lot of shops catered primarily to tourists, and where you’ll find this very colourful Hindu temple at the end of the Main Street. There are a number of hotels and resorts around Nadi town and many tourists would opt for one of these resorts upon arrival. If you’re after some shopping, the most popular shops/department stores you will find in Nadi (and the rest of the major towns in Fiji) are Jack’s, Tappoo, and Prouds. It is also one of the few places in Fiji that has fastfood chains like McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut.
My friend Pete and I drove down the island from Denarau along Queen’s Road (the only fully-sealed road going around Viti Levu) to the Sigatoka area (pronounced Sing-a-toka). This area is where you will find the Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park, which has a few walking tracks to the sand dunes leading to the beach. It’s quite a sight to see, and it’s worth a visit. We took a walk that takes 1 hour return and goes by the sand dunes and along the beach, and then through the mahogany forest back into the car park. In the mahogany forest, we found some ingenious artwork done by the caretaker of the park. It’s called Treehuggers, and basically it is made of branches that got swept away from the nearby Sigatoka river onto the shores of the sand dunes area, and they have collected them as part of the cleanup program of the coastline. They then turned it into an artwork! Another piece they did is called The Tree of Lost Soles, and basically it is a collection of worn-out soles and flip-flops/slippers that got washed into the sand dunes and are hung onto this huge banyan tree. Well worth checking out!
Further from Sigatoka, roughly 20kms from the town is an area called the Coral Coast. It has a few resorts scattered along this strip of beach. The beach isn’t great for swimming, but is good for snorkelling. My friend Pete and I stayed at The Crow’s Nest resort, which is along this area called the Sunset Strip. It’s a small road that offshoots from the main Queen’s Road, and has a few small resorts lined up. It’s a great small resort with self-contained units and balconies overlooking the sea. It’s a much reasonably priced one among all the resorts in the area, with the Outrigger on the Lagoon being the most expensive. We had some other friends staying at the Outrigger, so we managed to check out their facilities. I must say that they have 5-star facilities, and they even organise activities for kids and adults alike to keep them entertained. There are no towns or places to go nearby, hence they want to entertain some of their guests through organising activities. The snorkelling was ok. I saw some colourful fish, but the corals were not as beautiful as in the other parts of Fiji.
Despite the slightly patchy weather, I managed to see a nice sunset on the Sunset strip. It’s worth waiting for it and hanging out on the beach while it sets.. After the Coral Coast, the next place we visited along Queen’s Road is Pacific Harbour. It’s a nice area with a lot of private residence and some nearby resorts. There is an Arts Village, which has shops selling indigenous Fijian craft and has cafes, supermarket, and a bank. It also has a golf course, for those golfing enthusiasts. Right across the road is a camp site run by the Seventh Day Adventists. It’s a nice campsite with A-frame units to hire, and the beach looks great to hang out on. It has a view of the other islands off the main island of Viti Levu.
The frenetic capital and biggest city of Fiji was our next destination. This is where the Queen’s Road ends and the King’s Road starts going up to the northern part of the island. Unfortunately, since we didn’t have a 4WD vehicle, we were not able to travel this piece of road. The people at the car rental company told us that because of the massive rains they’ve had, the roads have become too rough to drive on, and not the entire stretch of it is sealed as well. So, on our way to Suva, we were welcomed by this torrential rain that just poured like a huge waterfall! We could hardly see a thing on the road, and our windscreen wipers were going full blast! I had heard that it often rains in Suva, so I wasn’t surprised of the weather. When we got to the city itself, Pete and I asked a local if there was a storm or cyclone coming through. He then said, “Nah, this is normal rain here”. So, having said that, we made sure to take our umbrellas to get around. There are heaps of Indian shops around, selling anything from clothing to food to general merchandise. Near the harbour itself, we found the new shopping mall of Suva called MHCC. The waterfront by the harbour was so tempting to us, but we were warned that it’s a dangerous area, as a lot of people get mugged. If you have seen how big the Fijians are, you would be cautious about these dangerous pockets. Having said that, I went around the government buildings and near the Fiji Museum, and it was a pleasant place to get around, with Albert Park between Fiji Museum and the government buildings. I took care on which ones I photograph because the military presence is quite obvious in the area. Suva looks like another buzzing city. Something I’m glad to have seen, but not too sure if I’ll go back. Fiji’s biggest city is not really a place to lounge in the sun and chill. If you’re after the beach and sun, head back to the western side of the island, or better yet, to the other outer islands!
From Suva, we head back along Queen’s Road to head to Lautoka, the second biggest city in Fiji, which is a 30-minute drive from Nadi. Our friend was getting married in Lautoka, as that was his hometown. However, we still had a day before any of the activities started, so we decided to stay the night at Momi Bay, which is also 30 minutes away from Nadi, but on the other direction from Lautoka. It took us a good 4 hours to drive that way.
From Momi Bay, our final stop was Lautoka for our friend’s wedding. Lautoka is a pleasant town that is not packed with tourists. Lautoka is a great reprieve from the constant pulling by the locals in Nadi and Suva into their shops for people to buy their wares. There is a market at one end of town, and the shops run along the main street and the next block from it. We stayed at the Tanoa Waterfront Hotel. It’s perhaps Lautoka’s best hotel, and the location by the waterfront is nice! One of the best sunsets I’ve seen on my trip was from this place, so well worth checking out the sunset from the walkway in front of this hotel. If you are looking for a good place to have breakfast, check out the Chilli Tree Cafe. It has a good selection of breakfast menu items and good coffee as well.
After the great wedding celebrations, we had a day left to ourselves. Pete and I decided to go up to a national park just behind Lautoka called the Koroyanitu National Park. To get there, we had to get to the village of Abaca (pronounced Am-ba-tha). We had to find a 4WD pickup to take us there, as the road was quite rough, and the vehicle had to do 2 river crossings, which was quite exciting. It’s a 10km journey but took 30 minutes to get to the village of Abaca because of the rough roads. When we got there, we had to pay F$10 for entry to the national park. There are a few walks around the area, and the one we managed to get to was to the Savuione Falls, which is a 2-hour walk return through the rainforest. It is considered an easy walk, but it is nowhere as easy as the Sigatoka Sand Dunes walk. Nevertheless, if you want to explore the different side of Fiji, this is definitely worth checking out. Just be careful of the spiders and caterpillars around, but otherwise, there are no predators in the jungle. The odd cow or horse may sound out, but nothing that you should be worried about.