Fiji Worldmark now Wyndham

Bula (welcome) and Vinaka (thank you) sign

Fiji Nadi Airport ATM tries to get you to withdraw in USD

New Wyndham reception area

It was 6am when we got into Fiji and I had not gotten much sleep on the plane since we left at 4pm and it was now only 2am Singapore time. By the time I deplaned and went through customs I was exhausted and barely conscious for my taxi ride to Denarau Island. Worldmark, now called Club Wyndham, had changed more than just its name since the last time I was there 10 years ago. The construction they had been doing was complete, and they now had a brand new (now 8 years old) reception building complete with convenience store and coffee place. Ani at the front desk was wonderful, greeting me warmly and getting me checked in. The friendliness of the native Fijians has not changed at all! My condo was great, just as I expected and I soon showered, put in a load of laundry, then went to sleep for hours.

Welcome gift

Living room

Kitchen

Bedroom

balcony

Bathroom

All Worldmarks have washer dryer and full kitchen

My first night it was pouring rain so thank God
they had an umbrella in the room

I had a nice relaxing day of sleeping, doing laundry, and blogging. For dinner I tried to go to the restaurant’s Mongolian BBQ Night, but when my 7pm reservation time came around, it was pouring down rain. I found myself wishing they had an umbrella in the room like they did in the Maldives. Just in case I opened up the broom closet where the cleaning supplies are and lo and behold there was an umbrella! I love World Mark. However when I got there they had canceled the dinner since most of the tables were wet and the handful of customers already there had claimed the dry ones. Instead I ordered some gnocchi takeout and went back to my room.

Broom closet with umbrella!

The Mongolian BBQ was a bit damp

Cute shopping cart that holds your hand basket

The next day I got a massage at Island Surf and Beauty Spa in Nadi. It was good, but not great. I paid extra for a “deep tissue massage” and it was really more of a general massage. It was only $36 US so much cheaper than Singapore, but four times more expensive than the really great Thailand massages. I think Thailand is the capital of amazing cheap massages. The best part of the whole massage was the free ride there and back, because I had him drop me off at Fresh Choice, the grocery at the opposite end of Denarau Ialand so I could buy groceries and walk home. The grocery store had nifty carts that you could put your hand basket on.

Delicious mince meat pie

The grocery store had a pretty decent selection. I got the basics: some beef for stir fry, frozen chicken thighs, veggies, eggs, noodles, enough water for 2 days since I couldn’t carry more, and of course smoothie ingredients since that is the most important food item on a tropical vacation. If you can’t sit on your balcony and sip a frozen drink then it’s not a tropical vacation! They also had frozen meat pies so I got one of those to check it out. Unfortunately I took so long to decide what to get that it was now dark as I trudged down the 1.25 mi walk home. Luckily a resort van driver took pity on me and gave me a ride. For those of you worried about my hopping into a random tour van, there is a guard at the entrance to Denarau Island so only approved vehicles are allowed in and the authorized tour vans have special plates.

Panorama from balcony

They beat the drums every evening before lighting all the torches around the property

Simple dinner with fabulous smoothie shake

For lunch I had made my remaining ramen noodle from India and for dinner I decided to go with eggs over toast since I had broken an egg taking it putting it in the fridge. Definitely one of the saddest meals I've had this trip but it actually tasted pretty good. And the smoothie was awesome! I had frozen mango, boysenberry swirl ice cream, fruit juice and ice. The ice cream had melted a bit so I also had some ice cream for dessert. I realized I'm eating quite a bit of ice cream, but who cares I'm on vacation! The next day I heated up the frozen precooked minced meat pie, which was wonderful. Definitely getting more of those!

Nothing better than a frozen drink on your balcony

Metallic gold medal on the 7 dollar bill

The next day I relaxed and did very little. I justified my down time with the knowledge that when Amy arrived I would go outside and enjoy Fiji. I caught up on my blog and watched some Australian football on tv. Like most things in Australia, they make things bigger, more challenging, and more dangerous. The fields are huge ovals and you can fit an American football field across its middle (the short side, see pics). There is a lot of physical tackling with no pads or safety equipment so when someone goes up to catch a kicked ball they can get slammed with a tackle. They also watch a lot of rugby sevens here (7-a-side rugby which is also played on a field larger than an American football field) and Fiji has had a strong national team for decades. Fiji even came out with a $7 bill to commemorate the Olympic Gold medal they won in 2016, which was the first year they had 7’s in the Olympics. They came out with a new $7 bill in 2020 when the men won Gold again and the women won Bronze.

Fiji money 7s

Fiji money part 1

Fiji money part 2

On the yellow bus that workers
take to get to and from Denarau with
someone photo bombing behind me

Amy arrived early the next morning and we took the yellow bus into Nadi for $1, what a deal! It’s the bus that most of the resort workers use to get to and from work. The fun part is when it peels around curves making everyone slide to the left or right. The first time I was unprepared and slid off my seat, grabbing the bar of the seat in front of me just in time to keep from hitting the floor. The bus starts at the market in Nadi then goes around Denarau and ends again at the market. The market is the same giant, open air place with stalls that I saw last time. We bought some fruit and veggies. They also have a fish market but I can’t cook fish so we did not go into that area. Sadly, I felt like Nadi had grown into more of a city and that people were not as friendly as last time. Sort of the difference between a small town and city.

Stands at the market

Veggie stand at the market

My delicious beef roti

Then we bought roti for lunch, which are like burritos and boy are they delicious! One improvement from 10 years ago is that with more tourists, they have changed the roti to remove the bones. My roti last time had a number of chicken bones I would discover and need to extract. The locals have stands outside the market selling homemade roti, sweets, and drinks. We picked up more water at a nearby grocery store. After that we got lucky and stumbled across a Hot Bread Kitchen store where we got delicious fresh buns and chicken pies. We had the pies for dinner, but the chicken was a bit bland. The next day we went to Port Denarau and tried their smoked chicken with egg and that was much tastier.

Roti booth outside the market

Buying water

Buying bread and pies

The Hot Bread Kitchen shop

Hot Bread Kitchen at Port Denarau

Smoked chicken and egg pie, yum!

View from Port Denarau

Having a drink on the balcony

Amy was a little jet lagged the first couple of nights

Me at the spa

At check-in they give everyone a ticket for a complimentary 10-minute foot massage so we scheduled ours. It was very good and the people at the spa desk convinced us to share a 5 hour for FJ$500 package. We scheduled 90 minute massages the next day and then 60 minutes on the morning before we checked out. I asked for the same person who did my foot massage as she had a really good touch, however, her full body massage skills were not as good. She definitely had some training as she knew the different strokes but did them not along the muscle and did not complete the stroke to the attachment points. It’s almost as if she had an 8 or 16 hour course to learn them but not really practice much with the instructor. Amy’s person was not much better. I tried to get a different person the next day, but didn’t. They weren’t my worst massages of the trip, but certainly in the bottom ¼. Next time I will do a 30 minute back massage first before committing to more.

My massuese was better at foot massage than full body

Welcome foot massages

Fire spinning family

We tried several of the free activities at Worldmark/Wyndham: paddle boarding, a kayak safari to try to see turtles (no turtles but we saw some pretty fish and a blue starfish), and aqua aerobics. Monday was their Owners appreciation night so they had a cocktail hour where we all got to mingle and talk with other owners, which is a great way to learn about other properties and pick up tips about booking. After that they had some fire dancing and also a frog jumping contest. We also did the tie-dyeing. I think last time we actually got to tie-dye, but this time we just purchased the item we wanted (we chose sorongs) and picked the design and color. Two of the activities staff did the folding and the dyeing. They turned out great and were only $12.50. Worldmark is great at giving people value for their money!

Frog racing

Tie-dyeing table

Expert at tie-dye folding

Amys tie dye creation

My tie dye sorong

Yes they do have a lot of Fiji water in Fiji

Friendly local vendors at Worldmark who always
greeted us with a cheerful Bula!

I think they also treat their employees fairly well as many have been there for a very long time. Ani has been there for 18 years and she showed me the temporary reception hall where we had checked in 10 years ago. It is now the exercise room (see pic of Ani and some others in front of it). Oni, one of the managers has been there 22 years and when they changed the name and were going to throw away the old Worldmark sign behind the reception desk, she kept it and had the employees all sign it. All the people working there always had a smile on their face and a cheerful “Bula!” to greet you.

Ani (center) in front of the old reception now a fitness room

Me on bridge

In front of Worldmark

One of the local vendors who sold me this dish towel and my bobbing head turtle

Adults only pool with swim up bar

Walking to the store

We made stir fry beef and wonderful roasted potatoes with butter