Family holiday in Fiji

Bula!!! We have just returned from a blissful week in Fiji, truly the essence of a tropical island paradise set in the South Pacific. We stayed on the Coral Coast on the main island at the Outrigger on the Lagoon, and travelled on a V-Australia flight from Sydney Airport. With its touch screens TVs and delicious food, the flight was a pleasure, and three hours later we landed in balmy Fiji, delighted with the warmth after the Sydney winter.

A coach took us to our hotel - a beautiful resort set in acres and acres of lush tropical gardens. We were greeted with traditional shell necklaces and by singing, smiling Fijians with flowers in their hair and introduced to our butlers who showed us to our accommodation. Yes, Butlers!!! These butlers looked after us throughout our stay, bringing us champagne and canapes every afternoon, further drinks and snacks in the evening, and offering to press our clothes and polish our shoes!! How lovely. We had a beautiful suite with views of the pool, connected to a further room where the kids shared themselves among the two double beds and enjoyed their own bathroom and balcony.

The resort was amazing, with plentiful restaurants, cafes, bars and a huge big pool where the kids spent hours and hours of fun - all landscaped beautifully with huge palm trees, exotic flowers and thatched walkways. We were right on the beach where we were able to use the complimentary snorkelling equipment and kayaks to explore the reef - the kids adored doing this and were thrilled with the amazing fish (and, apparently sea snakes) they saw (we have taken lots of water based piccies with an underwater camera but haven't got them developed yet...)

Our first kayaking experience saw us in two kayaks, the kids shared out amongst us so that there was an adult in each boat, but soon confidence grew and we sent the three childen off by themselves into the ocean.

The kids also joined in on kids' club activities - they could go as little or often as they wished as it was all included in the price, and they did all sorts of things - fishing, traditional crafting, learning Fijian language, crab and frog racing, coconut husking, volleyball, tennis, swimming and boogie board racing, the list was endless!

Katy and William made the fish (above) from palm leaves, and Katy got her hair braided and tie-dyed a tshirt

and William was able to take part in a traditional 'Kava' ceremony with the locals, lighting the flames around the resort at dusk.

Ally and I did lots of lounging in the sun, a bit of shopping, I had a massage at the beautiful clifftop spa and Ally ventured into the gym, and we all did LOTS of eating. The food was plentiful and delicious - huge buffets with every type of food imaginable - the breakfasts were out of this world! All the kids were crazy for the smoothies but also the fresh fruit - William could not get enough pineapple which formed the staple for his every meal!

It was a fabulous family holiday and one we will certainly remember for a long, long time to come!