Fiji

Fiji - is located within the South Pacific, 3000km (1875 miles) east of Australia and about 1930km (1200 miles) south with the Equator. It comprises 322 islands. The 2 largest are the extinct volcanoes of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.

There is significantly of scenic and historic worth in Fiji, including its sugar cane and cocoa plantations. The capital, Suva, has numerous old shops and markets selling artefacts and handicrafts. Places of interest include the National Museum, situated inside the lush surrounds of Thurston Gardens, as well as the old Parliament Buildings. Other attractions include the acres of orchids and flowering plants during the Garden on the Sleeping Giant at the foot in the Sabeto Mountains.

Tourists can pay to see fire walking ceremonies, whilst the ritual does remain a religious penance. Yacht cruises on the islands can be arranged.

Local dishes include kakoda (marinated local fish steamed in coconut cream and lime) and duruka (an unusual asparagus-like vegetable).

Most social workout occurs in private clubs. Targeted visitors can purchase temporary membership through hotels.

Most who visit Fiji want modest more than a white-sand beach, a cloudless sky as well as the opportunity to fall into a sun-induced coma under a palm tree. On this score, Fiji does not disappoint. The Mamanuca and Yasawa islands arc north being a stingray's tail inside the human body of Viti Levu and are Fiji's movie stars, dangled in front on the globe as idyllic South Sea Edens – their reefs and cobalt blue waters providing cinematic eye candy for films such as Tom Hanks' Cast Away and Brooke Shields' vehicle to stardom, The Blue Lagoon.

Fiji has been from the tourism business for decades and also the Nadi and Denarau island-hopping-escape itinerary has proven to become a winning formula. People that occur with notions of cocktails on alabaster beaches are seldom disappointed. The underwater scenery is spectacular and some of the finest, and most accessible, dives in the Pacific can also be discovered here. Its status as the 'soft coral capital with the world' is well justified and from the opening of the country's very first overwater bungalow resort on Malolo, Fiji remains flushed with sunburnt tourists despite the 2006 coup.

Northwest of Fiji's largest island, Viti Levu, stands out as the Yasawa Group, a chain of volcanic islands set to rival the better-known Mamanucas during the popularity stakes. A daily catamaran threads its way from 1 bay for the next, dropping off and picking up travellers because it goes. The Yasawas are sparsely populated and the rainless dry spells that once created life so hard for villagers is proving to become their finest asset now. Local communities, inspired by the successes achieved further down the line, have opened budget 'resorts' and tout their coral gardens and laid-back charm as 'the actual Fiji'.

But the Yasawas and Mamanucas – as lovely as they are – are only component on the equation and there’s a lot more to Fiji than can ever be observed from a beach towel.

To get to grips on the national psyche you need to spend time on either in the two main islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. Two-thirds in the population live in urban centres and it's on Viti Levu that you’ll find the country’s 2 cities: Suva, the capital and Lautoka, a port town reliant over a sugar-cane farms that surround it.