Bula Vinaka…. A Warm Welcome From Fiji!

And much emphasis on the warm!

I just met  with the tourism people here who are going to kindly provide me with a support vehicle for my 4 road days in Fiji, also hotel nights for my 8 nights.

Vinaka! Vinaka! Thank You! Thank You!

I start running Oceania from Suva on Wednesday morning I will run back to Nadi traversing the island from east to west. This will be almost a year to the day when I started running South America…. I think we have come a long way together.

Older readers to the blog will know that Fiji was not on my original world run route but as I have heard so much about this glorious country over the years I decided to try to squeeze it in as country number 17 of  the run. Just a reminder 25,143km have been run in 596 road days.

The Fiji plan is for my support driver to pick me up at the hotel at 4am  and drive the 3 hour plus drive to Suva. They are working on some publicity/press conference  before my planned 8am (prob …ish! ) departure. Fiji is currently +13 hours ahead of GMT.

Fiji is made up of 333 islands.  Viti Levu being the main island, so much so that many people refer to it as ‘ the mainland. ‘ Suva, the capital city and home to some 200,000  inhabitants  is situated on the east coast. Viti Levu is also the main international hub for Fiji tourism, their main industry.

My arrival in Fiji was pretty straightforward. Visas are issued on arrival with validity of up to four months, very generous when you consider the landmass of Russia which has a standard 30 day visa! Speaking about this, Russia also expects the traveler to return to their own country to apply for a Russian tourist visa. That’s not all, as you then have to give an exact date and location  of entry. So a  late arrival means time out of your 30 days… As one person said to me a few weeks ago… ” There are enough countries in the world so why bother with the difficult to visit countries? ”

For me the very first thing a country can do to promote its tourism sector is to scrap visas or issue a visa on arrival which is basically the same as no visa required for visa hassled me!

A well wrapped up Nirvana …   Vinaka ( Fijian for thanks! ) to my hosts and great friends Roger and Cindy in San Diego –  arrived in the airport here with me. Nirvana will be left wrapped up for my flight to Auckland, New Zealand on the 15th.

Thanks to my great friends Cindy and Roger from El Cajon near San Diego.

As I will be returning to the wonderful Tanoa Hotel for my last couple of nights here in Nadi, Aggie the friendly duty manager will take care of Nirvana, also my heavy bag while I am off enjoying myself running along the Coral Coast.

My meeting with Kiniviliame Raicebe the marketing officer for Tourism Fiji  and James Sowane  the managing director of Pacific Destinationz who are Fiji’s main travel operators went really well.

Among the great tips I got ( this probably dreary January day  back in Dublin ) is if it gets too hot to run along the beach. Life is so tough for this globetrotter    :(

From closely questioning James and  Kini, as Kinivilame thankfully prefers to be known as, I could see that Fiji is going through a major re branding of  the country at the moment. For a country of 830,000 population with a total landmass of roughly the same size as Northern Ireland tourism is very important. Or rather repeat tourism. Kini spoke of how Australians keep coming back here to holiday and as James spoke of how loyal the Aussies and Kiwi’s have been despite a couple of bad floodings  in recent years, not to mention Cyclone Tropical Evan.

The Fiji Logistics meeting with James and Kini.

The Fiji tourism re branding continues. If you click on their website above you will see the strangely named ‘ Fiji Me ‘ tagline.

The new branding will have the new tagline ” Fiji: Where Happiness Finds You ” Fiji’s tourism campaigns will focus on the warmth and friendliness of it’s people. The new campaign is obviously designed to encourage tourists from around the world to make Fiji their number one holiday and conference destination.

” Us Fijians are a very resolute people , we work hard to promote our country to the outside world.

” Tony you will see how friendly our people are when you start running here tomorrow. ” I was assured by the lads. ”

Everyone I have met so far greets me with ” Bula ” meaning Hello. After a year and a half in Latin America it will take me a while to stop responding with Hola!  

James wearing a traditional Fijian ' Sulu '

Hard work is indeed needed due to Fiji’s remoteness being 3,100 kilometers northeast of Sydney, 2,100 kilometers north of Auckland. 5,100 kilometers southwest of Honolulu and 7,100 kilometers southeast of Tokyo. Once you arrive you soon forget about all that effort and enjoy the beauties and smiling faces of the people on these paradise islands.

A multi racial, multi-cultural country comprised of indigenous Fijians, Indians, Europeans and Chinese.

Fiji is represented by the major religions of the world. I am told that I can expect to see Christian Churches, Mosques, Sikh and Hindu Temples in the countryside as well as in the cities.

Fiji is an English speaking country although the two major races Fijians and Indians speak in their vernacular. I am also told that the people that live along the short 187 km route of the so called Queens Highway where I will be running speak over 300 dialects.

Air Pacific  the national airline is also involved in this national re branding. On Fiji Day, October 10th 2012, the 42nd anniversary of Fiji’s Independence from the United Kingdom, they announced they would soon become Fiji Airways. A very obvious improvement as even I had wondered if Air Pacific was a low cost US airline.

Currently there is also a debate going on about the national flag and although a Commonwealth member many people feel they should drop the Union Jack from their flag.

Many thanks to my Aussie friend Ash who runs the Runways running store  in Parnell St. in Dublin. Ash took the trouble to make contact with Tourism Fiji for me. I have tried contacting tourism offices in the various countries I have run through but invariably I am just ignored. Thanks Ash for your persistence and for sorting me with some vital equipment for China and Central Asia.

While on this subject I have sent on a large boxes of supplies to Australia, Michael Gillan my support driver tells me it arrived safely today, all 17kgs of it! A 13 kg parcel is also expected in Bangkok, Thailand any day now. Also smaller packages to Singapore and Indonesia are en route. I am still trying to source a contact along my route (China route details in New Asia Route blog posting of a few weeks ago. I see Urumqi,  China as a vital location in which to find a contact. Anyone know anyone there!

Also thanks to Stafford Bagot and Fergus Owens for sponsoring some days on the road!

So for me the timeout is over, back on the road tomorrow and not running a step since I ran into the South Pacific ocean nearly a month ago makes me as nervous as Hell, what with that support vehicle watching every step.. ” Are you sure he is a runner running around the world! ” I can hear them say as I attempt to run off my Christmas belly!

My Fiji route press HERE

For more information about Fiji press HERE

Ni Sa Moce!   = Goodbye For now.

Then I found this…  Mai Kana  = Lets eat

I arrived in Fiji this morning. Many thanks to Tourism Fiji and the Tanoa Hotel group here in Nadi for putting me up in a wonderful resort hotel. Please click  HERE   to see photos and their website.

It’s very hot!I hope to start running Oceania on Tuesday. Thanks to everyone for their best wishes.

Hi Everyone. I just had a lovely Christmas and New Year with my family in Dublin. I hope this was the same for all the readers to this blog.

I leave Dublin on Thursday morning bound for San Diego where I will make a two day stop with my friends Roger and Cindy.  I pick up Nirvana there and prepare for my flight to Nadi, Fiji on Saturday evening.

I will be leaving leave Dublin with the fear of being charged excess baggage as the last time I stepped on a weighing scales I checked in at 75 kilos, the heaviest weight of my life. Before Christmas  I arrived in Dublin weighing only 70 kgs!  By contrast  I arrived in Dublin weighing a scary 62 kgs last summer on my previous timeout. Everyone,  told me I looked like death warmed up then. I think that speaks volumes about the food in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia and all their skimpy bits of meat and very little else. I promise if I ever return to those countries I will do my own cooking. Yes compare that to the wonderful steaks in Argentina!

Another interesting factor to take into account was just before I returned this time I was pushing Nirvana through Patagonia. On my previous timeout I had sent her on ahead to Buenos Aires running most of central Americas and the Andes with just a backpack. What that meant in Patagonia was that I could visit a supermarket whenever I hit a town and load her up with so many goodies that I was eating all kinds of delicious stuff like chocolate logs after I cooked my dinner at the end of the day. I was still eating plenty even five days after those rare supermarket visits. Also on average I ate about 600 gm of biscuits every day My doctor says there is no such thing as ‘ junk food ‘ all food is good for me, some just has more calories than others! Yes doc, that’s the kind of motivating talk I love so much  :)

Anyway, enough talking about food, I really am worse than a dog for talking about food.

I will be arriving in Nadi, Fiji early, very early, really early, like rarely seen before on the run, 5.15am!! Monday. Hopefully I will run that belly off quickly!

I have heard so much about Fiji a hidden pearl, almost unknown on our side of the world. Most visitors come from New Zealand, Australia and the USA. I am very excited bringing my world run there and kicking off Oceania, my third continent there I look forward to informing the readers about this South Pacific wonderland. Please stay tuned.