Photos from my trip to Fiji, Jan. 2006. Each thumbnail is linked to a larger photograph. A note on pronunciation: "c" is pronounced as "th", "d" as "n-d", "g" as "ng" (like "sing"), q as "n-g" (like "Bangalore" - sorry, I couldn't thing of anything else). Other than that it's similar to Hawaiian, with stress on the penultimate syllable.

Tavewa and the Yasawas

The Coralview, where I stayed on Tavewa, in the Yasawa Islands.	The Tavewa "dive shop".	Sawa i Lau pool, in a limestone cave. One is incessantly reminded that a scene from Blue Lagoon was filmed here.	This, on the other hand, actually is the blue lagoon. Again, you hear about it a lot. Looking toward Nacula from Tavewa.
I went snorkelling at night once and these things were all over. They're cylindrical in the water but collapse when you take them out. I think they're salps, but email me if you know what it really is.	Kuata. The Yasawas are a mix of limestone and basalt islands, and some have interesting geology.	Beachcomber Island. Basically a sandbar with a hostel aimed at kids who want nonstop partying. There are several of these in the Mamanuca group.	South Sea Island. Same kind of thing.
I couldn't pass this up. Nadi (pronounced "NAN-di") has the main airport but other than that...	Downtown in the jet-set town.	Flood markers just outside Nadi. Wouldn't want to be here during one.

Taveuni

I kept being struck by incongruities, like Bugs Bunny (in a Chicago Bulls shirt) on a theater in this incredibly remote part of Fiji.	These things were everywhere. Apparently they started in Australia but now are only made here and in the Solomon Islands. Taste more like cheesy poofs than burgers.	180th meridian marker. Taveuni is the supposedly the easiest place to cross it on land (hence the theater name).	Most people in rural Taveuni are subsistence farmers, growing (from the bottom) cassava, bananas, dryland taro, kava (yaqona), and breadfruit.
Des Voeux peak trail. Above the fields, you get cloud forest. No band of introduced plants like in Hawaii.	The orange dove was one of the things I went up Des Voeux to see, but never got up early enough. Even this one in captivity was hard to get a picture of.	The red-breasted musk parrot is found on all the main islands except Viti Levu (which has the yellow-breasted parrot). It was common at Des Voeux but I could never get a picture there.	The barking pigeons were all over the place here, though they're hard to spot. It sounds like you're surrounded by dogs. Listen to them.
Bio, a villager from Wairiki who led me up to see the tagimaucia (tang-ee-mow-THEE-a), and his son. When I first met him he was wearing a Red Sox hat, I wish I'd gotten a picture.	Manuka lake, where the tagimaucia grows. Unfortunately it was pouring rain that day, not the best hiking weather.	We did get to see the tagimaucia, although it was fruiting rather than flowering.	A closer look at a fallen branch. It's the subject of a lot of hype that "all attempts to transplant it to other locations have failed", which seem to stem from to the inability of someone to get it to grow in LA.
A picture of tagimaucia from a book, just so you know how it looks. It's actually a melastome, so it would probably be invasive in Hawaii.	Some of the tree ferns grow remarkably tall, over 10 m. The ones here are Cyatheaceae rather than Dicksoniaceae as in Hawaii.	The tree fern trunks are remarkably strong. Aside from being horizontal, this one has a Freycinetia growing on it.	Probably the reason they're so strong is that they're solid, not filled with starchy material like hapuu are.
I was never able to find the unusual endemic Metrosideros, but I did find M. collina.	Many Hawaiian groups are also found here. This is a Scaevola.	Cyrtandra, another Hawaiian group that's diverse in Fiji.	The Taveuni longhorn beetle, one of the longest in the world. From the Kula Eco-Park, near Korotogo.
There were dozens of fruit bats nesting in a tree on the hotel grounds.	Fruit bat in flight. These are either Samoan or Tongan flying foxes (both occur here, and they're very similar).	I found these beautiful purple land crabs at Bouma.	They weren't too happy with me though, although this one never backed down.
The southeast coast of Vanua Levu. The reefs here are beautiful.	The famous Rainbow Reef, off Vanua Levu. Unfortunately they weren't taking snorkellers out due to the seas, so I never got to see it.

Korotogo and Sigatoka

The resort/hostel I stayed at in Korotogo didn't have the best kitchen facilities. You can move the faucet, but it'll never hit the sink.	The place fronted a beach with a close barrier reef. In the shallows these bizarre, 6-foot-long sea cucumbers poked around in the sand.	Sigatoka kava market. Kava is big business here; people drink a lot and Fiji is a major exporter.	I just thought it was hilarious to see this train full of tourists parked in the median of a major street, like something for the locals on the sidewalks to gawk at.
A display from the museum at the Tongan fort near Sigatoka. I love the hair on the Tongan warriors, but wouldn't want to be fighting them.	Partly because this was what happened when you lost. Cannibalism was big business in those days.	When the Tongans occupied the fort they seem to have lived mostly on clams from the nearby river.	Shell middens are all over the place on it.
Looking down on the Sigatoka River from the fort, you can see people still collecting clams from the river.	Looking across the bridge at Sigatoka town. The ostentatious mansion belongs to Bal Krishna Naidu, a local businessman.	Sadly, I missed this.	Memphis Meltdown!

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