Holidays - Fiji


Fiji, the most prominent of Pacific Islands - is 1,100 nautical miles northeast of New Zealand's North Island. Its closest neighbours are Vanuatu to the west, France's New Caledonia to the southwest, New Zealand's Kermadec to the southeast, Tonga to the east, the Samoas, France's Wallis and Futuna to the northeast and Tuvalu to the north. Fiji's culture is a rich mosaic of indigenous, Indian, Chinese and European traditions, comprising social polity, language, food (based mainly from the sea, casava, dalo & other vegetables), costume, belief systems, architecture, arts, craft, music, dance and sports.

Fijian is an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian family spoken in Fiji. It has 350 000 first-language speakers, which is less than half the population of Fiji, but another 200,000 speak it as a second language. The 1997 Constitution established Fijian as an official language of Fiji, along with English and Fiji Hindi, and there is a discussion about establishing it as the "national language", though English and Hindustani would remain official. Fijian is a VOS language.

The majority of sightseeing tours in Fiji orginate from Nadi which lends itself as an excellent base for exploring the region. The most popular tours are to popular Mamanuca Islands which lie right off the Nadi coast. Fast Catamarans ply these waters visiting the resorts and taking day trippers for a day on the beach. There are sailing tours, uninhabited island tours, dolphin watching tours and snorkelling tours.