Fiji Photos (56K Beware - 15 images)

[victor_alpha_charlie]

Well I'm back from a week in Fiji, so as usual I'll put up a few pics, mostly aviation related.

Quick trip report:
Flew to AKL from WLG. We were booked on the '11am' Qantas flight, delayed by 2 hours as usual. We decided to not risk anymore delays due to our connecting flight in AKL so transferred to the 1pm ANZ flight. Flew up (on time) on -SJB.
View From -SJB


Had ages to kill at AKL airport in the end before our 5pm Air Pacific Flight to Nadi. Finally boarded on time and departed in their sole 737-700, DQ-FJF. Took no photos that flight as the camera battery died..

Stayed at a hotel on the mainland for one night before some shopping in Nadi the next morning. Here's a few pics from Nadi:

The 'Fijian Institute of Technology'


Main Street:




That afternoon we headed out to Nadi Airport for our 3pm Sunair flight to Malololailai delayed until 5pm. We flew in two Islanders, DQ-FIN and DQ-FCX.
Here are some shots from the short 12 minute hop: (Excuse the dirty window)






Malololailai Airstrip:






We checked in to our timeshare at Musket Cove that night. I'll post some shots of the holiday itself and the return leg if anyone wants to see them. Enjoy

[Alex]

Not bad eh, we've just come back from a week in Raro, did you get some nice weather over there?

Alex

[Njbb1995]

Thanks for sharing It reminds me of when i went There........

[Q300]

Great photos Tom! Definitely show the return one's

[victor_alpha_charlie]

QUOTE (Alex @ Oct 13 2008, 08:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not bad eh, we've just come back from a week in Raro, did you get some nice weather over there?

Alex

Yep, we had one windy day otherwise it was awesome. It must be something to do with the heat but for some reason I didn't get hangovers nearly as badly as at home. I think I need to go more often

QUOTE (njbb1995 @ Oct 13 2008, 08:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for sharing It reminds me of when i went There........

Cheers, how long ago were you there?

QUOTE (Q300 @ Oct 13 2008, 08:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Great photos Tom! Definitely show the return one's

Thanks Q! Will do!

[deeknow]

QUOTE (victor_alpha_charlie @ Oct 13 2008, 08:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It must be something to do with the heat but for some reason I didn't get hangovers nearly as badly as at home. I think I need to go more often

Heh, maybe it was coz you were drinking all day on the beach so you just paced yourself a little better

Is that island AKA Plantation Island? .. my folks took us there on a trip when we were kids, I remember how friendly the staff were where we stayed, awesome spot. Sorry VAC but I just couldnt help myself, downloaded the additional Fiji airport AFCAD set (fiji_airstrips.zip) and Marcel Kuhnt's Britten Norman and I've spent the last hour storming in and out of the airstrip. Tried getting in and out in a Saab340 too but kept running out of runway...

[Njbb1995]

Someone should make a decent malolailai airstrip. I might have a go one day.

@ VAC we were there for two weeks at plantation island in August last year.

[AlisterC]

QUOTE (deeknow @ Oct 13 2008, 09:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Heh, maybe it was coz you were drinking all day on the beach so you just paced yourself a little better

Is that island AKA Plantation Island? .. my folks took us there on a trip when we were kids, I remember how friendly the staff were where we stayed, awesome spot.

Yep, it's called Malololailai Island, and Plantation Island Resort is on it, it's a common mistake people make which annoys me a bit . It's definitely one of my favourite parts of the planet.

QUOTE

Sorry VAC but I just couldnt help myself, downloaded the additional Fiji airport AFCAD set (fiji_airstrips.zip) and Marcel Kuhnt's Britten Norman and I've spent the last hour storming in and out of the airstrip. Tried getting in and out in a Saab340 too but kept running out of runway...[/quote]

We've all done it . The RNZAF used to get Andovers in there! You're not trying hard enough! If I have a go at scenery design in the xmas holidays it'll be PTFF that I'll do.

QUOTE (njbb1995 @ Oct 13 2008, 09:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Someone should make a decent malolailai airstrip. I might have a go one day.

@ VAC we were there for two weeks at plantation island in August last year.

I'm guessing you lay on the beach under an approaching Islander/Twotter at least once then?

Last edited by victor_alpha_charlie on Mon Oct 13, 2008 8:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Njbb1995]

Not quite lay on the beach but we certainly got buzzed a bit

[PiperDriver]

Nice pictures VAC. Must get there myself

[victor_alpha_charlie]

Well here are the rest

This was as we were walking to our 'bure' from the airstrip, along the beach of course!


Looking back the other way (it was low tide which is why there was mudflats):


The late afternoon light from the beach:


I took this standing by the front door, we were fantastically close to the beach:


Sunset with my mate Tom in the way


This was beautiful. I forgot to take a decent photo of it- they took it away and put it in a hangar the next day.


Morning View from our bure:


I couldn't get over all the colours!


One afternoon we had a bit of a sailing race. My boat beat dad's of course


I took no more on the actual holiday, just some of the airstrip the morning we left (last Saturday). Excuse the quality of some of them. We'd had a good night the night before.
Looking down the airstrip:


We all flew in -FIN this time, they did two trips.


This is about the time my headache got a lot worse.


Enough room to swing a baby mouse in here!


Is that even a word?


Ugly little Harbin


We did end up flying in a UA 744 rather than an Air Pacific one. The UA one was called Bob..


SkyAirWorld Embraer 195- departing for Honiara then Port Moresby


Our 744 back in Auckland (I didn't have a window seat for the flight back)


At Least I got seat 2A in -JNB on the way home!


Cheers for looking!

[mavman]

Looked like a fantastic holiday.....great shots too by the way!!

[FlyingKiwi]

Interesting that the UA 747 has the old style livery on the nose cone.

[creator2003]

Nice pics VAC glad you had fun while we in hamz just got wet most of the time

[AlisterC]

Great shots Tom, thanks very much for sharing!

[victor_alpha_charlie]

QUOTE (FlyingKiwi @ Oct 15 2008, 11:49 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Interesting that the UA 747 has the old style livery on the nose cone.

Funny thing was it wasn't even straight- if you looked at the stripes from the front it looked like it had been turned anticlockwise quite a bit.

QUOTE (creator2003 @ Oct 15 2008, 04:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nice pics VAC glad you had fun while we in hamz just got wet most of the time

We heard it wasn't great back here in the motherland. At least it was sunny the day we got back, made it a bit easier

QUOTE (Albatross @ Oct 15 2008, 05:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Great shots Tom, thanks very much for sharing!

Cheers!

QUOTE (mavman @ Oct 15 2008, 10:49 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Looked like a fantastic holiday.....great shots too by the way!!

Thanks mavman!

[ardypilot]

Looks like heaven Tom- so completely different from the view of central Berlin I am looking at out my youth hostel window ... its crazy how varied different parts of the world are! Thanks for posting

[victor_alpha_charlie]

QUOTE (Trolly @ Oct 20 2008, 11:42 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Looks like heaven Tom- so completely different from the view of central Berlin I am looking at out my youth hostel window ... its crazy how varied different parts of the world are! Thanks for posting

Cheers- I'm sitting at home now while 'studying' for mock exams at school at the moment. I'd rather have your view from Berlin right now.. It's hard to think that the weather here is so cold and that right now in Fiji it's probably the same wether as in those pics..

[deaneb]

Is that even a word?


Yep Gascolator is a word:

A Gascolator (fuel filter) acts primarily as a fuel drain and is usually found in the lower regions of an aircraft's fuel system. This allows it to drain any water that may have found its way into the fuel (some fuel is lost when draining).

A gascolator is usually made from a high quality alloy and is of a relatively low cost compared to other aircraft components. It should be installed at a low point in the fuel system, below the fuel tank to trap any water that may accumulate so it can be drained. The gascolator has a micrometre sized fuel filter and approximately a 3 mm pipe thread outlet for a quick fuel drain valve.

Thanks Wikipedia

[PiperDriver]

I like the look of those pictures. Reminds me of when I was there last.