A PICK and shovel and a paintbrush are not the usual items you use on a holiday.
But at Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort many guests choose to vacate the swimming pools and sun lounges for the most part of a day to work alongside the resort’s engineering team on a community project.
Last year, in a community tourism project sponsored by the resort, more than 2000 guests, mostly Australians and New Zealanders, donated some of their holiday time to help build a kindergarten at the Conua Primary School in the Sigatoka Valley.
Among them was AFL footballer Eddie Betts who, along with a number of other Adelaide Crows players holidaying at the resort, rolled up his sleeves and went to work on the project.
Resort activities manager Kini Sarai said the kindergarten, which opened late last year, was a dream come true for the community.
“For ordinary villagers, raising funds to send their kids to school is already a struggle. Raising funds to build a building like the kindergarten would take years,” she said.
So what prompts holidaymakers to turn their back on sun, sea and sand and trade a day of their holidays? According to Betts, the project made him feel connected to the community.
Resort general manager Peter Hopgood said Outrigger strived to provide guests with not just unique experiences but experiences that were deeply engaging.
“Connecting to the place and people when visiting another land is what inspires people to travel and what creates those lasting memories,” he said.
The resort’s achievements with the help of its guests – they have also built a meeting hall – has been applauded by Fiji’s Tourism Minister Faiyaz Koya who described the resort as a pioneer in voluntourism and an outstanding example of how the tourism industry could assist community development.
The next community tourism project will be the construction of a trade training workshop at the Sigatoka Special Needs School.
Volunteers make a contribution of FJD$100 adults (about A$63) and FJD$60 for children, which includes lunch, refreshments and a visit to the historic Tavuni Hill Fort. Most of that money goes on building materials.
If you go...
TRADITIONAL Fijian bure in lush tropical gardens or a modern hotel room with sweeping ocean views? That’s the choice for guests booking into the five-star Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort at Sigatoka on the Coral Coast of Fiji’s largest island Vitu Levu.
For me, the choice was easy. I like accommodation to reflect something of the country I’m visiting and my traditional plantation bure with its thatched roof, vaulted ceiling and intricate detailing, set among other bures in a tropical garden, is the closest thing to a traditional Fijian village.
The fact that it comes with a butler who arrives each evening with a plate of canapes and my preferred tipple (an unlikely scenario in a Fijian village) is something I am prepared to overlook. This is a resort, after all, and we are on holidays.
The Fijian people have a relaxed easy style, which makes staying in a resort like this especially pleasurable. Multi-generational families are popular and many parents take advantage of the mei mei nanny service. Fijians’ love for children is legendary and a team of more than 30 specially trained local nannies are there to look after children aged from six months to 12 years.
There’s also a kids club and a teens program so grown-ups can happily scoot off to one of the adult-only venues which include the Vahavu Pool, Bar and Bistro with its swim-up bar, the Ivi restaurant and the amazing Bebe Spa Sanctuary on a ridge flanked by a hilltop bar just made for sunset cocktails.
Like most resorts you can be as active or idle as you choose. Power walking, snorkelling, sarong painting, guided reef walks, frog races and kava ceremonies – it’s all there. Or you can simply slip intoFiji time, the most relaxed time in the world.
* Sue Preston was a guest of the Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort.
