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Sunday Mail (Brisbane), Brisbane 23 Sep 2018, by Craig Tansley

Escape, page 16 - 1,184.00 cm² Capital City Daily - circulation 289,888 (------S) Licensed by Copyright Agency. You may only copy or communicate this work with a licence. ID 1012656464 BRIEF OUTRIGGER INDEX 1 PAGE 1 of 4 THE FIJI TIME FORGOT Some of the South Pacific’s most pristine islands are just half an hour from bustling Nadi CRAIG TANSLEY

he tiny Cessna taking me to locals still live in traditional villages group; but the Yasawas are best for Yasawa Islands lands with a and there are no shops, banks or cafes travellers who prefer to leave the bounce onto a grassy runway (outside of the resorts). normal attractions behind. You won’t that angles downhill to the I’m staying at Yasawa Island Resort find the bustling bars of Fiji’s Coral sea. It’s not even close to flat and Spa, and while it’s five-star and I Coast here, or the restaurant scene of – though when I leave here, eat seafood cooked for me at a table Denarau. Most activities centre I’llT notice how pilots use the slope for on the beach, and am beautified at a around swimming, diving and extra speed to get up over the ocean day spa where the treatment rooms snorkelling. Surfing is rarely metres beyond the landing strip. are barely 5m from the sea – all but a attempted; though I find chest-high I’m bundled into a 4WD and driven handful of the workers here are from waves out in front of the resort, surfed along a muddy track that winds its the village five minutes’ drive away. by only a handful of surfers. way past a village and through a tract On Sunday, I join them at a church Blue Lagoon, the 1980 film starring of coastal forest by the owner of the service there, where they’re dressed a teenage Brooke Shields, was filmed Yasawa Island Resort and Spa in neatly pressed trousers, button-up at the Sawa-I-Lau Caves in the himself, then escorted to a villa built shirts and ties, their hair Bryl- northern Yasawas. Travelling by boat metres from its own white-sand bay. creamed sideways and their voices as here to the entrance of a deep Before I’ve had time to look around, rich as opera singers. chamber, I swim beneath the cavern I’m taken by speedboat past dozens of into tiny chambers of blue water lit up deserted beaches flanked by black WHO SHOULD VISIT THE by sunlight shining through holes in rock cliffs, rolling grass hills and YASAWAS? the limestone ceiling. coconut trees; for lunch to a beach Yasawa Islands have accommodation A hilly landscape is perfect for which disappears with the tide. to suit every type of traveller. In recent hiking, and there’s kayaking – from Since I flew out from Nadi, I’ve times, no-frills flashpacker and quick paddles to multiple-day-and- barely seen another person, except a backpacker resorts have been built for night tours lauded across the world. local bloke free-diving for lobsters for more intrepid (and younger) The water teems with sea creatures lunch. That’s typical in the Yasawas. travellers. But there are middle-of- and visitors can swim with sharks and Though Yasawa Islands start just a the-road three and four-star options manta rays. Backpacker resorts have few kilometres further north from the for couples and families. also given rise to night-time options at Mamanuca Islands (which are closest Then there are five-star offerings. resort bars – from crab racing to fire to Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu) being Despite their relative isolation, the dancing and sunset tube cruises. here is like travelling back in time. Yasawas have been home to some of Fiji’s finest luxury resorts for decades. THE MAMANUCAS: HOW ARE Only opened to land-based tourism The most famous of them is Turtle THEY DIFFERENT? since 1987, even cruise passengers Island, the first of Fiji’s luxury private After four days in the Yasawas, I take a permitted to travel through these island resorts; the vision of American flight back to Nadi and travel by ferry islands weren’t always allowed to set businessman Richard Evanson more to a private island resort in the foot on land. And so the Yasawas than 40 years ago. Today it’s still one Mamanucas, where the welcome is as remain some of the most unaffected of Fiji’s most exclusive resorts, with personal as it was in the Yasawas. of all the Fijian islands. They may be space for just 14 couples. just half an hour away from Nadi by There are numerous excursions plane, and two hours by ferry from and adventures for travellers Denarau (depending on where you’re throughout the 20 islands of the staying – the northern islands of the Yasawas take longer to get to), but Sunday Mail (Brisbane), Brisbane 23 Sep 2018, by Craig Tansley

Castaway Island is one of the smallest of the 20 islands (seven of THE WRITER TRAVELLED COURTESY OF TOURISM which sink with the tide) which make FIJI AND YASAWA ISLAND RESORT & SPA up the island group. Landing on the wide, sandy beach, I am greeted by LOCALS STILL LIVE IN Castaway Island Resort staff who’ve come out to sing to me. TRADITIONAL While the Mamanucas are home to islands with modern marinas VILLAGES AND THERE boasting fancy yacht clubs, bars, restaurants, cafes and grocery stores ARE NO SHOPS, – and there’s even a floating day bar – BANKS OR CAFES these islands are some of the most pristine in the entire South Pacific. ESCAPE ROUTE We may well be close to Nadi here (some islands are barely 20 minutes by ferry from Denarau), but this is MAMANUCAS where Hollywood comes to depict South Seas desolation. Castaway was AND YASAWAS filmed here on Monuriki, and Survivor has come to these islands more times than any other GETTING THERE destination in its 18-year history. Get to the Mamanucas via ferry service Castaway Island’s resort is on a tiny from Denarau Marina or water taxi. islet circled by tropical rainforest. My ssc.com.fj, mamanucaexpress.com villa is built on its own beach, and The Yasawas can be accessed by a daily each day at dawn I walk across the ferry service. ssc.com.fj/day-cruises/ sand to a speedboat which takes me to yasawa-islands-explorer/ some of the best surfing waves on Both islands can be accessed by plane. Earth. Big southerly swells push up to turtleairways.com, the reefs along the southern edge of pacificislandair.com the Mamanucas, then break perfectly across narrow, shallow reef passes. STAYING THERE Only discovered in the ’70s and Yasawa Island Resort and Spa is on the ’80s, breaks like Cloudbreak rate northern tip of the Yasawas and the among the world’s top 10 surf spots. only way in is by air. yasawa.com You’ll find famous surfers like Kelly Castaway Island is an hour away from Slater spend time here. There are surf Denarau Marina by ferry, resorts right beside the breaks, but I outrigger.com/hotels-resorts/fiji/ prefer Castaway Island and the 45- castaway-island/castaway-island-fiji minute boat ride across the clear water. MORE Some days I take a short speed boat ride to the floating bar and wood-fired fiji.travel pizzeria hangout, Cloud Nine, built out over the reef. Between rounds of beer and pizza, I jump from my place at the bar into the clear water. MAMANUCA SURFING There’s plenty of action in the Mamanucas if you want it – from jet ski safaris to fishing and sail boats that come right to your island. I prefer to loll in Mamanuca lagoon’s shallow waters, taking the odd trip to the outer edges of the reef where the water drops as much as 1000m straight down. There’s no better place for snorkelling or diving anywhere in the Pacific. Sunday Mail (Brisbane), Brisbane 23 Sep 2018, by Craig Tansley

CASTAWAY ISLAND Castaway Island is one of the smaller islands in the Mamanuca group, a place for some of the best waves on Earth. The relatively isolated Yasawas have pristine beaches perfect for secluded bliss.

PICTURES: MATT C. BAUER, YASAWA ISLAND RESORT & SPA, TOURISM FIJI

TRANQUIL BEACHES Sunday Mail (Brisbane), Brisbane 23 Sep 2018, by Craig Tansley

YASAWA SECLUSION