Fiji
Artists and Firewalkers
These spectacularly beautiful islands 2,700 km (1,700 miles) northeast of Sydney have come a long way since Captain William Bligh and his skeleton crew (the rest had already mutinied on the Bounty) were pursued in 1789 by a fleet of canoes filled with cannibals.
In some ways the 320-odd islands that make up the Fiji archipelago are much as Bligh must have seen them, with tropical growth adorning eroded volcanic cones, sandy shorelines and translucent aquamarine water. But today tourist amenities are updated with excellent sailing, snorkelling, golf and tennis facilities.
Although the famed Fijian barbaric practices lasted well into the last century, the people also had a highly developed culture and technical knowledge. They only ate people to absorb their qualities, after all. Their double-hulled outrigger canoes were sometimes over 30 m (114 ft) long, carried 200 men and were marvelled at by European sailors. The islanders also built impressive thatched temples with roofs of woven pandanus leaves; mastered the art of making copra cordage, elaborate weapons, wooden bowls and pottery, and excelled at making tapa cloth from bark. Today they still perform their uncanny ability to walk on hot stones-called fire-walking.
The population of around 750,000 lives largely on the two main islands, Viti Levu (Great Fiji) and Vanua Levu. Nowadays the islands are an ethnic melting pot ranging from Melanesians to Polynesians and Indians, who came as indentured labourers in the last century and now run many businesses. There is also a smattering of Europeans and some Chinese.
Fiji's capital on Viti Levu is Suva but, at the northwest end of the island, Nadi-to be pronounced Nandi-boasts the international airport and access to many of the loveliest stretches of sand and small paradise islands.
