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January 8, 2002
Bula, Teresa...
I can't express to you how perfect our honeymoon was. Everything was PERFECT!
Our flight on Air New Zealand from LAX left on time and besides plenty of excellent food and beverages, the movies were actually pretty good, too. Once in Nadi, we were greeted at the airport by a Rosie agent and from there, totally taken care of to what was to be the best week of our lives!
The Rosie van dropped us off at Tanoa for a nice night sleep, then we went into Nadi town center for breakfast the next morning and to get some supplies for our island getaway (which, by the way, we highly recommend anyone going to an island resort to buy some goods at a local market in town or better yet at the duty free shops in the airport for items like beer, soda, chocolate, water, etc. to enjoy in the room once on the island, since the bar at Matamanoa closes at 11pm and the kitchen is only open during certain hours).
We returned to Tanoa to find that our seaplane had taken off without us! This turned out to be the only flub during the entire trip. Our outgoing seaplane transfer to Matamanoa was incorrectly scheduled somehow - it had been scheduled for 12noon, but found out at about 11am that it had already taken off at 10am - but the nice and effective agents at Rosie quickly scheduled us a helicopter flight at 12:30p... so it turned out to be no problem at all! In fact, we reveled the chance to ride in a helicopter!
We were greeted by staff members at Matamanoa once we stepped off the helicopter and given fruity drinks and didn't have to lift a finger to do anything! The staff at Matamanoa was courteous, service driven, friendly, trustworthy and extremely good volleyball players. Our bure was clean, spacious and the view was beyond our expectations! We had the Kabote bure (we found out that all the bures are named after Fijian birds) which was #21... I tell you this because it was the last bure on that side of the island and it turned out to be the desireable side, because we got the sunset and moon view every night. (and also weren't bothered by the sunset in the early morning.) So, if you get the option to request certain bures, go with the higher numbered ones. We got a chance to see the garden view rooms - which were nice - but we would recommend anyone going to spend the extra $$$ and go for the bure... it's definately worth it.
My wife Jessica was not so hot on the food, but I was more agreeable to it - Ithink probably because I chose to order the daily specials every chance I could... and for whatever reason, the specials seemed to be fresher, tastier and maybe made with a little more love than the regular fare. One thing about the food, there was a good amount of western style fare on the menus - club sandwiches, burgers, etc., which was a little dissappointing, but it didn't get us down too much.
There were plenty of activities, but we were never pressured to do any of them... but chose to participate in the walk to the top of the hill, volleyball, fishing, snorkeling at bird island, dancing, kava and those
other semi-nightly activities like the Mr. and Mrs. Matamanoa contest. The beaches were clean and beautiful, with plenty of great coral snorkeling right off shore. We both also bought massages and a trip to a traditional fijian village for Christmas services. While there we also formed several fulfilling relationships with other guests and many of the staff, which made our vacation all the more enjoyable. (You were right about the mainly adult guest population - there were very few children or families - majority of the guests were couples.)
After seven days and nights, our time in paradise was up and we were sad to go, but isn't it the case with all good things when they come to an end? We had enough time to spare after the seaplane transfer that a Rosie driver took us into Nadi for a little handicraft shopping (which we almost missed out on because all the shops close early, starting to close in mid-day) and a cup of coffee before our flight to the US. We slept mostly during the flight home and Air New Zealand got us in to LA an hour early! We breezed through US Customs (and Fiji Customs when we arrived in Nadi) and was never given a hassle by either countries' goverment agencies.
I can honestly say that we made the most of our time at Matamanoa and took nothing for granted! We gave as generously as we could to the Christmas fund, but would have liked to given more. I would recommend (and already have) Matamanoa (and McCoy Travel) to anyone going on a vacation and hope you do, too.
Vinaka, Teresa, for doing such a fantastic job and spending the time and energy answering all my questions and calming my nerves. Please pass on this email to Melissa McCoy, too, for I appreciate the time and energy she spent with me, as well.
You'll hear from us again, Teresa, when we decide to book our next trip to Fiji. If my wife, Jessica, has her way, you'll be getting a call from us next week!
Sincerely,
Peter Nelson
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