Travelling Fiji: Matamanoa - Island in the Sun.

“Island in the Sun,” as the famous Harry Belafonte song goes, evokes romantic images of sun, water, and “shining sand.” The island could be Matamanoa.

A tiny tropical island in the Mamanuca group of Fijian Islands, award-winning Matamanoa provides all the joys and expectations of a lazy island holiday in the sun. This beautiful little dot in the Pacific Ocean answered our prayers.

We had reached a level of stress in our lives that signalled it was time to take a break. Step off the treadmill for a time and take stock.

Enter left stage – Chelsea, at House of Travel Mt Maunganui. Armed with a list of our must-haves, she came back with 5 Island getaway choices.

Our list included:

No children – we desperately needed some peace and quiet.
Good food – we wanted to feel spoiled.
A Bure with a sea view and easy walking distance to the sea.

Matamanoa certainly ticked all those boxes.

The island has a superb restaurant with a different dinner menu every night and a complimentary breakfast every day. The food is fresh, varied, beautifully cooked, and presented. To add to the dreamlike atmosphere of the resort, there is an outdoor wrap-around dining area where you can enjoy a relaxing meal. Gaze across the blue as blue sea and white sands towards the wafting tropical palms and the beautiful smiles of locals, and you’ll soon get the picture.

Also on tap for guests’ enjoyment is a fabulous poolside bar, seemingly open all hours. The bar offers an array of cocktails, mocktails, and other drinks served with great aplomb by the lovely Gerry. Wine is an expensive drink in Fiji, but other drinks are reasonably priced, and of course, you can’t not have a daily fresh fruit cocktail while relaxing on a pool lounger.

We were booked into a large Bure complete with a plunge pool, a canopied day bed, and lounger chairs on the grass. The reef beach below us was only a few sandy, easy steps away.

Secluded, yet only a slow stroll under the coconut palms to the restaurant, bar, infinity pool, and other amenities. We couldn’t have asked for more.

Six nights of complete bliss followed. We were utterly spoiled from the time we disembarked from the ferry into shin-deep tropical water and walked onto a soft white sand beach. We were warmly greeted by ukulele-playing, singing locals as they placed a delicate shell necklace over our heads.

The staff were gorgeous, gentle, smiling, gracious, caring, humourous, attentive, entertaining, and totally “there” for us. Serving cocktails at the side of the pristine infinity pool at sunset, smiling and greeting us with a gentle “Bula”, laughing and sharing jokes about rugby and life. They enjoyed telling us about their lives and homes. We loved hearing about them.

Apart from doing nothing very very well, activities on the island included scuba diving, snorkelling, fishing trips, and day trips to neighbouring islands to enjoy local markets and see where most of the staff live.

An organised crab racing evening, to raise funds for the local school on a neighbouring island added a sense of fun for guests and staff alike. Each team had a name related to their country and of course, being Kiwis, ours was “The ABs”.

The resort offers lots of alternative options too. Including a walk around the island. Which is a must. An approximate 20-25 minutes stroll through flowering bougainvillea, hibiscus and beautifully scented frangipani, across wooden bridges, along sandy pathways. Viewing wide vistas of sea, coconut palms and if you’re lucky you’ll spot a skink or two sunning on the garden rocks.

And then there is the day spa, situated halfway up the island’s hill. Take a walk up the wooden staircase through a subtropical forest, where the outdoor massage table sits atop a platform overlooking the aquamarine sea while coconut palm trees sway in the tropical breeze.

And, of course, there are the beautiful lagoon waters. Warm as a bath and safe. When the tide is full, the water is flat, calm, and very peaceful. It was bliss.

For an ideal getaway in the sun, think of Matamanoa Island, Fiji.

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