Hiapo Cockett's 2009 Fiji Trip
Taveuni Island Resort

There are some people that want to go to an exotic locale and “live local”, and then there are those of us that like to have familiar contemporary designs in a local tropical garden setting. If there were a contest for most beautiful resort, Taveuni Island Resort would have to be the top contender. Taveuni is known as the Garden Island. It earns this name by being one of the lushest places in Fiji. It is also know for its amazing bird watching opportunities: multicolored parrots, mynas, boobies, and songbirds of every assortment.

In the midst of this tropical splendor, atop a cliff overlooking the most amazing view of the ocean and islands of Fiji in all of Fiji sits Taveuni Island Resort. There are less than a dozen bures, most near the cliff’s edge (Deluxe Ocean Front), with a few sitting elevated behind them (Deluxe Ocean View). A dining area affords the same amazing view over the ocean and to the surrounding islands in the distance. Even the cliff-side horizon edge saltwater swimming pool does not skimp on the vistas. If you are one to sit and absorb the majesty of an amazing sunset, you have found your Nirvana.

The rooms differ from most of the Fijian resorts in several ways: natural colored and lacquered wood poles, slightly flattened, give the visage of being in a wood cabin, albeit a very luxurious one. In Fiji, it is common to use very dark polished wood. Where typically you find a lot of florescent lighting, here you find soft decorative sconces influenced by the native fauna. An opaque bed canopy, with a Balinese design, covers the bedding, making you feel like you are in an Arabian Nights based movie. The bathroom continues the elegance with large, hand-blown glass bowls with concentric ocean wave patterns in the ridges of glass. The shower has a glass door that opens to a tiled outdoor shower with a giant showerhead. The crime would be to use the indoor shower at all, because the privacy and view from the shower is as amazing as the view from anywhere else in the resort. All of the rooms are suites with the living area enclosed by two sets of sliding, accordion glass doors, each designed to afford you the best possible view.

The whole resort is intimate in size and feel, with a quiet you will find nowhere else. In fact, you are likely to notice nothing but the sounds of the birds and the breezes lofting their flights. Add to all of this a beach that, while small in length, is so beautiful and soft as to make most other Fijian resorts green with envy.

Taveuni Island Resorts defines the phrase “little slice of paradise”.

Hiapo Cockett

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