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Saturday, June 17, 2017

I'm big in the South Pacific

Fiji came by the other day, a first-time visitor to the blog from that island nation. Here's what you need to know:
Fiji, . . . officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,100 nautical miles (2,000 km; 1,300 mi) northeast of New Zealand's North Island. Its closest neighbours are Vanuatu to the west, New Caledonia to the southwest, New Zealand's Kermadec Islands to the southeast, Tonga to the east, the Samoas and France's Wallis and Futuna to the northeast, and Tuvalu to the north.
Fiji is an archipelago of more than 330 islands, of which 110 are permanently inhabited, and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The farthest island is Ono-i-Lau. The two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the population of almost 860,000. The capital, Suva on Viti Levu, serves as Fiji's principal cruise port.[12] About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in Suva or in smaller urban centres like Nadi (tourism)[12] or Lautoka (sugar cane industry). Viti Levu's interior is sparsely inhabited due to its terrain.[13]
Mostly they do tourism and sugar, but Fiji is pretty well off as South Pacific island nations go. Lots of natural resources, plus the tourism thing is huge. A former British colony, the island nation was given independence in 1970. There were some rough spots between now and then, with a couple military coups and shit, but nothing that made the country anything less than a tropical paradise. All in all, not bad. Got to like this:


So, let's all give Fiji a big Eff You welcome. Come back soon, and bring your friends.

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