Spanky & The Zookeeper go to Fiji!

One count down over, another starting.

Its been two weeks since The Zookeeper and I returned home from our Fiji trip. We had such a good time. We did everything we wanted to do (rest, read, swim, rest, eat, rest).

This was about my 8^th time to Fiji, while it was The Zookeepers first.

We took the Saturday midnight flight out of Melbourne, which left about an hour late, so we where both very tired by the time we boarded the plane, and promptly slept the whole flight (4hrs).

We arrived in Nadi somewhat refreshed and happy to be in warm weather (25deg at 7am rather than the chilly 5deg it was back in Melbourne!). We took a taxi to the marina, had breakfast, looked around at the shops and brought a few food things from the small supermarket. Then it was a 45min boat trip out to Musket Cove Island Resort.

Beach at Musket Cove Island Resort

Sitting by the pool

 It was so nice to arrive at the island, you instantly felt like “this is real, we are really on holidays”. We where shown around the resort and taken to our room. We where in a ‘Hotel room’ which is the top floor of a house (bottom floor is now office space), and there is only 6 ‘Hotel rooms’. The rooms where large with plenty of space for the two of us (even if there had been 3 people it would have been fine). We had deck space as well with table and chairs. It was a short walk to the restaurant and pool area and for the price we paid we where happy with it.

Musket Cove Island Resort, Hotel Room - Ours was the corner right one

Inside the Hotel Room

 We really did spend our days doing very little.

We walked a lot of the island.    

  Kayaked.

 Snorkelled out at the sand bar.

Resting after snorkelling

Enjoying the 'Snorkel' trip

Did a dolphin trip, saw dolphins & snorkelled/ swam some more.

The Zookeeper snorkelling

 Swam in the pool.

Enjoying cooling off while having an internal heater of a baby

 

 Ate at each of the restaurant/café options the resort offers.  

Swam in the ocean. 

Sat by the pool. 

Sat by the ocean.

Doing a good whale impersonation

The Zookeeper also made a very good dent in the cocktail bar drinks menu.

Not all cocktail drinks that where drunk where captured in photo......

After 8 nights at Musket Cove Resort, we packed our bags, enjoyed a last dip in the ocean and took the boat back to the main land.

We spent the next 3 nights at the Terrace Apartments on Denarau.  I chose this place to stay at because it was a short walk across the car park at the marina which gave us lots of option for meals and would be a bit quieter than some of the larger resorts nearby.

Pool area at the Terrace Apartments 

After hopping off the boat and collecting our bags, we just walked over to the apartments. Check in was easy and although our room wasn’t ready yet, we where fine with that as we where happy just heading back over to the marina to get some lunch.

Our room was a nice one bedroom apartment, on the ground floor and at the end of the complex. The pool was a nice size, and there was generally enough lounge chairs around it for everyone.

On one of our days, we took the Bula bus ($8Fjd) around Denarau to check out all the resorts. It was nice to get an idea of what they all look like, checking out their pools and restaurants and shops. It was a good way to spend a couple of hours.

We really enjoyed having the marina such a short walk away. We went over for lunch and dinner every day. For our lunches we ate them all at Lulus, as there was a nice variety and the price was good. For dinners we ate at Indigo’s (Indian) twice as it was just so yummy! We also had a dinner meal at Condos, which offered typical bistro type meals.

While staying at the apartments, we made use of the Spa facilities. We got pedicures and on the travel home day we got shoulder, neck & head massages after checking out of our room – just to keep us in the relaxed mode as long as possible!

We enjoyed a few hours in the warmth of Nadi International Airport before boarding our flight home, where The Zookeeper realised that although our flight over was a lovely 4hrs, it was going to be 5.5hrs going back home.......