a distant shore
By Craig Tansley
A far-flung South Seas archipelago of empty beaches, turquoise lagoons and quiet villages, Fiji’s Yasawa Islands may well be one of the world’s last remaining Edens.
This is all mine,” says chief Etuate Roko proudly as he pushes his NRL football cap back from his eyes and surveys his property – a blue lagoon the colour of rare stones and a wide, white crescent the locals call Eight Months Beach because it takes that long to get the silica sand out of your hair after a visit. Children run past us and hurtle into the lagoon – they’re the only ones in a rush on the Yasawa Islands.
“They’ll learn,” chief Roko tut-tuts. “When there’s all this shade, who needs the water?” Beside Roko, under coconut trees heavy with fruit, four plump women sit, slowly making mats, their pace less than extraordinary. Roko rubs his big belly. “Once a month I go to the big island, but that’s all,” he tells me, referring to Fiji’s main landmass, Viti Levu. “We have it all here. We have food – too much food, as my belly here tells me. And we have football.”
In fact, in Roko’s tiny village at the northern tip of Yasawa Island – one of about 20 volcanic islets that comprise the remote Yasawa archipelago, stretching 80 kilometres along the western ridge of Fiji – the football pitch occupies the largest slice of land. It’s also mowed daily by an eager herd of goats and the odd cow.
In Roko’s village, “home” is a handful of bures (huts) made from coconut fronds and timber, built close together beside the beach. Elsewhere on the island, green and black volcanic mountains shrouded in cloud lead down to empty beaches and cobalt-coloured lagoons bristling with coral and fish.
There’s virtually no development here or on any of the other Yasawas – just a few low-key backpacker bures and a handful of high-end island resorts that favour eco-tourism over extravagance. Plus a scattering of traditional villages belonging to Fijians who – until very recently – were completely shut off from the outside world.
Until 1987, it was government policy that the Yasawas be closed to land-based tourism – although cruise ships have been passing through since the 1950s, passengers were obliged, until the late ’80s, to stay on board. Land ownership was, and still is, in the hands of local chiefs.
The people of the Yasawas have a history of resisting the outside world – the islands’ first European visitor was hardly welcomed with open arms. On his way to East Timor, Captain William Bligh drifted ashore here in 1789. After being cast adrift in Tahiti by history’s most publicised mutineers (led by Fletcher Christian), Bligh found himself in Fiji looking for drinking water and fresh food. He didn’t have much luck, and was chased away by Fijians in canoes (Fiji came to be called the Cannibal Isles, so it’s probably best he didn’t dawdle).
The locals I meet are much more inviting. While the hulking men look imposing, they giggle like schoolgirls at the slightest provocation and are more than willing to share their kava bowls with me in an ages-old tradition of recreation. They lead a largely subsistence life in the Yasawas, some working within the tourism industry guiding visitors around the islands or weaving mats and making jewellery to sell as souvenirs.
Once you make it here, there’s really not much to do other than hunker down and enjoy the majestic lagoons and beaches – off-shore coral makes the islands ideal for snorkelling and safe swimming. Hiking enthusiasts are also well catered for, with the islands’ undulating terrain offering some challenging ascents. This is the South Pacific idyll you see on postcards: a 30-minute seaplane ride from Viti Levu but far removed from the hubbub of life surrounding the main island’s ever-expanding cache of international resorts.
Hardly surprising, then, that the Yasawas have caught the eye of Hollywood film producers over the years. When movie moguls scouted the globe in the late 1970s looking for the epitome of tropical paradise to serve as the backdrop for Brooke Shields’ movie The Blue Lagoon, they found it in this small archipelago.
Much of the movie was shot at Turtle Island, or Nanuya Levu, at the time the private home of a reclusive American millionaire. Richard Evanson came to Fiji in 1970 and bought the island two years later, arriving with nothing but a fridge, a generator and a tent. He transformed Nanuya Levu into the Robinson Crusoe-esque paradise with which The Blue Lagoon producers fell in love. When the film crew finally left the island, Evanson decided to open his home to the public and the Yasawa’s tourism industry took its first steps.
Turtle Island today is, arguably, the Yasawas’ most prestigious property: a maximum of 14 couples can check in at any one time and are given free rein on the private 202-hectare island dotted with thatched Fijian bures. Fortunately, this model of low-impact tourism has been copied throughout the Yasawas; drift past on a catamaran and you’ll barely notice the archipelago’s isolated and, for the most part, eco-friendly resorts. Wherever you choose to stay, you’ll be guaranteed jagged limestone cliffs rising from the sea and empty beaches with no footprints in the sand at all. •
Photography by Craig Tansley.
Getting there
Air Pacific flies direct to Nadi, the Fijian capital, from Melbourne and Sydney. 1800-230-150; airpacific.com
Virgin Australia also flies daily from Sydney and Melbourne
to Nadi. 136-789; virginaustralia.com.au
Getting around
The Yasawa Flyer – a high-speed catamaran – departs daily from Denarau Marina (near Nadi) for Yasawa Island. awesomefiji.com
Alternatively, fly to your island resort from Turtle’s base at Nadi International Airport on a daily seaplane with Turtle Airways. 67-9/672-1888; turtleairways.com
Blue Lagoon Cruises offer two- to six-night cruises through the Yasawas. bluelagooncruises.com
When to go
The best months to visit the Yasawas are between May and October, though the islands are home to Fiji’s sunniest and most settled weather; only two months of the wet season – February and March – are best avoided.
Where to stay
• Fiji Beach Resort & Spa. 67-9/675-6800; fijibeachresortbyhilton.com
• Royal Davui. 61-2/9388-4488; royaldavui.com
• Sheraton Fiji Resort. 67-9/675-077; starwoodhotels.com
• Turtle Island. 1300-887-287; turtlefiji.com
• Yasawa Island Resort and Spa. 67-9/672-2266; yasawa.com
Further information
Fiji Tourism can provide additional information on travelling to and around the Yasawas. 61-2/9264-3399; fijime.com
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