Garry and I have just finished a week unwinding in Fiji. After last year's phenomenal vacation at the Sofitel on Denarau Island we decided to give Fiji another try. This time Garry found us a deal with the Shangri-La Fijian Resort on Fiji Island's famous southern Coral Coast.
We flew with Qantas and made our way directly to the hotel. The airport transfer took more than an hour but only cost FJD90 (AUD60.00). I cannot imagine travelling that far, for that long, for anywhere near the same price in Australia!
The hotel itself proved to be a bit of a hit and miss affair. Overall, the food was better than last year. We thoroughly enjoyed the Thai inspired restaurant and some of the curries in the family buffet restaurant were delicious, to say the least. The evening canape service at the adult's only pool was also well organized with each table receiving its own tiered tray of canapes.
However, the facilities were rather disappointing. The adult's only pool didn't have enough foam beds for every sun lounge, the pool menu was rather uninspiring and the quality of service tended to fluctuate from day to day and from venue to venue. We also thought some of the resort's venues looked incredibly dated and their layouts were often rather incoherent.
The Fijian resort is a large and sprawling complex with plenty of activities on offer. As a result, Garry and I never left the resort's lagoon island. Instead, we enjoyed a couple of rounds of golf on the 9-hole course (don't ask how many balls we lost!) and ventured into the coral-fringed lagoon for the occasional swim. We even found time for a round at the resort's putt-putt mini golf course.
However, our enthusiasm for swimming was somewhat diminished after we encountered several snake sea cucumbers sliding along the lagoon floor (take a closer look at one in this creepy video). We spotted these exotic-looking creatures one evening while making our way home from dinner along the beachfront.
The weather was cooler than last year and we found that the southern coast was more exposed to the daily trade winds. Given this experience, I think we'll be back at the Sofitel next year to experience its $30 million beach club refurbishment.
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