Fiji - Part 1

I don't believe I haven't mentioned it before, but I did all my booking online using Kayak.com initially.  I had no idea what the hotels/motels were really like but read the comments religiously and made my decisions based on gut instinct in most cases.  I really lucked out in most cases as many of the hotels were small independently owned places (in the US, you could get a "no-tell motel" but not in New Zealand).  My luck held out for Fiji as well as this was easily the nicest hotel on Denarau island.  It was the Sofitel which is a chain based in France (according to my daughter).  The rooms were wonderful and the grounds were incredibly beautiful with gorgeous landscaping throughout.  This is the view to our room which was on the first floor with a nice patio outside the sliding glass doors.

The pool was stunning and was a meandering shape probably 100 feet long and winding through the landscape.  Amazingly the water was always a refreshing temperature -- nice enough to cool you off after being in the sun but not too cool.  Chairs and umbrellas surrounded it with gardens interspersed.  The gardens even had labels identifying the vegetation!

Warren was enjoying the pool in his signature hat and tshirt.  I was afraid of sunburn but neither of us really got any at all.  It must be further from the equator than I thought!

Adjacent to the main part of the hotel was a water  lily garden with lilies of every color!

Here is a more inclusive view of the water lily garden.

 This was the view toward the beach.  We didn't take advantage of the beach as the pool was so nice!  You could see islands off in the distance and there were ferries to take you there.  If only we had more time, we would have seen more of Fiji.

There were beautiful flowering trees and bushes everywhere -- a regular tropical paradise!

At the end of the day, there were of course sunsets to view from our patio!  Unfortunately we only spent four nights and three days in this island paradise!