MAGICAL MOMI
ALL THE RUMOURS ARE TRUE – FIJI REALLY IS ONE OF THE BEST DESTINATIONS TO HOLIDAY WITH KIDS
Fijians seem to have taken a secret pact to make you feel like you and your offspring are the most important, wonderful people to ever arrive on the island, and it starts from the minute you land.
Passing rolling green hills to arrive at Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay – ocean is on one side, lagoon on the other – we’re instantly on island time, forgetting the four-hour flight from Sydney with the kids. The lobby is an enormous open-air space, designed to provide the very best views of the water and sand surrounding it.
Dotted along the beach are the resort’s Ocean Bures, each with a deck that leads straight out to the sand. Almost every guest of this 250-room resort enjoys water views.
The beauty of being on an island as beautiful and remote as this is you’re encouraged to do very little. It’s the ultimate “flop and drop” getaway. Of course, there are plenty of water-sport activities to choose from, such as a trip to the Sabeto Hot Spring and Mud Bath, jet-ski tours and surfing at the famed Cloud 9 surf break. On-site activities are also available for booking, such as volleyball, tennis and even a game of footy against staff (they’re so lovely, I doubt it’d be competitive). But the pace is slow here, and even if you do decide to pop out to an island or try surfing out at famous cloud break, there will be plenty of sun-drenched day left over to watch it fall away from one of the two pools waterside by the white sand.
On the first day, we change in our Lagoon Bure and head to the main pool with the kids. The pool has a swim-up bar and a shallow kids’ section down one end. We blow up the floaties for the kids and relax in the warm water with a chilled drink in hand. The hours drift away and the kids nap on lounge chairs as we lie back to enjoy the sound of the ocean rolling into the bay. For lunch, we order pizzas from the Lagoon House & Bar, which serves up a variety of Mediterranean dishes.
After changing for dinner, we head to the Fish Bar for fresh local seafood and inventive cocktails. With its oversized lanterns and limestone walls juxtaposed against the cool blues of the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of Viti Levu, it’s impossible to resist kicking off our shoes to enjoy the sand between our toes.
On the second day, we try the Goji Kitchen and Bar for breakfast and enjoy an indulgent buffet breakfast. We let our meal settle while the kids play on the sand before exploring the tranquil swimming lagoon.
After lunch, the kids are excited to head off to the well-equipped all-day Turtle Kids’ Club.
The club offers supervised indoor and outdoor activities including movies, console games, fish feeding, sand sculpting, puzzles and books. The club also has a huge outdoor covered play area that you can access (and we did) outside operating hours. And the kids have such a great time they want to go back tomorrow.
Even when we have the kids with us, the staff are more than delighted to take them, telling us to relax while they entertain them. On our third day, the kids skip off to the kids’ club and we, equally as excited, head off for an adults’ day at Cloud 9 – a floating two-storey pontoon in the ocean with daybeds, hanging chairs, a fully stocked bar, pizzas and DJS – only a short boat ride from the mainland.
On our last day we vow to do as little as possible. We spend as much time as we can in the water and the kids ask if we can stay longer. We’d like to! Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay is a family must.