Our Travel Stories

A new day and a new country 😊. We took early morning flight from Nadi to Christchurch. While the plane was cruising over the north island, imagine our surprise to see this.

We had time today only for an easy stroll along the Avon river. It is very picturesque and lively with people walking, biking, boating, and in general enjoying the beauty.

We wish we had more time to do some boating, but did enjoy our walk.

Christchurch has many sculptures around the area we stayed in. Here are a few that we found interesting.

There is also a remembrance bridge and its arch that commemorates servicemen in world wars.

That was our day. We finished off the day with Mexican food for dinner and crashed in early.

Bula from beautiful Fijj. We landed very early and got picked up by the resort (Sofitel). However, early morning check-in means we would not get a room till much later.

Instead of waiting around, we booked a tour at the hotel for 6 hours to cover some attractions around Nadi.

Viseisei (Vuda) Village

The early settlers from Tanzania settled on this west point of Fiji island, now called as Viseisei village (Vuda, pronounced as Vunda). Guided visit to this village a good way to understand Fijian history.

The village was established in 1500 AD and has two tribes and five clans. This village has so far provided two prime ministers for Fiji. The chief of the village who lives here is 96 years old.

Our guide to the village was Una.

Garden of the sleeping giant

This beautiful tropical garden sits at the base of a mountain that looks like a sleeping giant. However, the star here are orchids and palms.

Also some of our pictures

Sri Siva Subramaniya Temple

We also visited the famous Hindu temple in Nadi. This is the Lord Murugan temple.

After Murugan darshan and his blessings, we had a lunch in Sarvanabharan outside the temple.

Went to local market and had the Kava juice, sampled local seasonal fruits like pineapple, bananas and watermelon.

We also did a quick souvenir shopping and bought traditional drum and Kava cup as souvenirs.

We later booked snorkeling trip for the next day. Came back to the hotel around 3pm. The room was ready.

After quick shower and a nap, we had a wonderful Fijian celebration on the hotel property with traditional Fijian music and delicacies like Lovo.

As sun was setting, we had a short stroll on the beach and retired for the day.

Day 2 Nadi: Mamanuca Island

We dedicated this day exclusively for snorkeling activities. We brought our own snorkeling gear for this. We took Captain Cook Cruise to the Mamanuca island and had lot of fun.

The crew was energetic and encouraged us to participate. That’s how we ended up with another round of kava on the ship.

Initially the weather was great and you can see Mayuresh taking it easy in the cabana.

However, that did not last and as soon as we started to snorkel, it started to rain so heavily that our guide suspended the snorkeling activity. We can say that we did snorkel in the rain albeit for just a few minutes. After lunch, the rain dropped to a drizzle, but Mayuresh decided not to go for snorkel and decided just to enjoy a swim. Shraddha did go snorkeling. It was interesting to snorkel in windy weather, and though there were many colorful fish and variety of corals, it was tiring swimming in strong waves and the guide opted to limit the snorkel trip to the outer corals. We need to return again sometime to truly experience Fiji snorkeling.

We returned back to our hotel at 5.30pm. We had dinner at 6.45pm. After dinner, we packed our bags for next day’s flight for Christchurch, New Zealand. Overall, it was a fun day.

We love the outdoors and to travel. This our attempt to share our experiences with you and make you dear reader part of our journey