Where the Hell Are We?

If you are like I was a few months ago you have at best only the vaguest notion of where Fiji is. I can now tell you that it lies about 18 degrees south of the equator near 180 degrees longitude (where the international dateline is located). This puts it somewhat in the center of the South Pacific, midway between Tahiti to the east and Australia to the west. It is about 1770 km (1100 miles) north of New Zealand.


Fiji consists of 322 islands. Most of those are tiny and uninhabited. The total land area is about 18000 sq km (7000 sq mi), about the size of the state of New Jersey or half the size of Vancouver Island, B.C. The largest island is Viti Levu, which is the most populous and home to the international airport at Nadi. That’s where we spent many frustrating hours last Tuesday waiting to catch a domestic flight onto Vanua Levu, the second largest island. We are staying in Savusavu on Vanua Levu’s south coast.

The South Pacific

(click to make bigger)

Fiji Islands - we are in Savusavu on the island of Vanua Levu