Fiji's five star resorts are 'Burr-fect hideaways'
by James Shrimpton February 26, 2009 - 10:54AM
For a restaurant that's been the subject of rave reviews, it was somewhat disconcerting to find a dessert on the Fiji Orchid's lunch menu called Impossible Pie.
What could this mean? Impossible to cook or impossible to eat? In either case, why bother to list it at all?
Such cynicism turned out to be totally misplaced.
"It's a simple old Fiji recipe and the name means that it's so easy to make that it's impossible for things to go wrong," explains Jenny Leewai Bourke with a laugh.
She adds that Impossible Pie - not unknown in Australia - is a scrumptious combination of pastry, eggs and "lolo" (cream).
Fiji-born Jenny and her Australian husband Peter run two five-star properties: the Fiji Orchid hideaway resort and restaurant at Saweni, 20km north of Nadi International Airport, and the exclusive Nukubati Resort on an islet near Labasa on the north coast of Vanua Levu, Fiji's second largest island - a 245km flight north from Nadi.
The Fiji Orchid, opened last September, is within 2.5 hectares of tropical gardens once owned by the late Canadian-born TV megastar Raymond Burr, who played the title role of lawyer Perry Mason from 1957 to 1966, then the wheelchair-bound detective in Ironside from 1967-1975.
Burr won two Emmy awards as best actor in a drama series as the invincible Perry Mason, while his notable movie roles included that of the murderer watched and photographed by invalid cameraman James Stewart and his girlfriend Grace Kelly in 1954's Rear Window.
Burr, who died in 1993 aged 76, had a long love affair with Fiji.
He owned not only what's now the Fiji Orchid operated by Jenny and Peter Bourke but also the remote, 1,215-hectare island of Naitauba, 165km northwest of the Fiji capital Suva, on which most of the population of 175 worked in his coconut plantation and cattle fields - and dubbed him "King Raymond the First".
(More recently, Hollywood star Mel Gibson paid a reported $US15 million ($A23.35 million) in 2005 for the island of Mago in the northern Lau group, 265km east-northeast of Suva.)
Burr's property north of Nadi included a guest house for his many visitors, where they relaxed after their long flight from the United States before proceeding by plane and boat to Naitauba.
Nowadays, the Bourkes are promoting the Fiji Orchid for similar reasons: as a luxury transit hotel for their overseas guests en route to or from Nukubati (or any other resort a domestic flight away), staying for anything from a half-day to several days here rather than use one of the regular chain hotels near the airport.
Jennie says her customers, whisked to the resort by limo from the airport, form a luxury and discrete market who like to relax after each part of their holiday, enjoying each new experience rather than immediately catching another plane.
Accommodation comprises two day-rooms with en-suite in the Main Lodge, and six traditional-style yet modern Fijian "bures" (bungalows) of teak and glass.
There's a swimming pool, a spa and a plantation of orchids and other aromatic tropical plants that go back to the days when Raymond Burr ran it as South Seas Orchids.
The Bourkes bought what they later renamed the Fiji Orchid in 2005; they "gutted" and redesigned the Burr guesthouse into the Main Lodge which also has a large lounge and bar-restaurant that has proved popular with both locals and visitors, with enthusiastic reviews from overseas and loal critics.
The restaurant's menus feature much mouth-watering fresh seafood, although alternatives are available.
A typical dinner: the Fiji delicacy kokoda (diced walu, or Spanish mackerel, marinated in lemon juice and served with coconut milk, tomato and onions); urau tavu, or grilled lobster with lemon butters; then, naturally, Impossible Pie.
Burr in 1977 also founded what is still one of western Fiji's most-visited tourist attractions, the Garden of the Sleeping Giant (the latter seen as the shape of surrounding peaks) containing 2,000 types of orchid over 20 hectares, described as the largest such display in the world.
Included is one orchid the actor named after Barbara Hale, the actress who played his secretary in Perry Mason.
As for the Bourkes' Nukubati resort, it's the ultimate luxury tropical getaway.
And it's virtually self-sufficient, powered by electricity from its own 300 solar panels and four wind generators, and its water supply comes from rains.
Its seven bures are immaculately furnished and the menus, like that of the Fiji Orchid, are heavy on the fish that abound in the surrounding waters.
Guests can enjoy beachcombing, boating, swimming, fishing, sailing or diving and snorkelling.
With the latter two activities, the great attraction is the nearby Cakaulevu or Great Sea Reef, the world's third largest barrier reef system covering more than 200,000 square kilometres - Australia's Great Barrier Reef of 344,400 square kilometres is the largest.
Nukubati has grown since your correspondent's visit in the early-1990s not long after it opened, when one outstanding memory is that of a local boy in his early teens asking each guest in mid-afternoon what kind of fish they would like for dinner.
Then this complete angler set out in his small boat - and filled the orders precisely, and in good time.
Fijian pronunciations: Nadi (Nan-dee), Saweti (Sa-wee-tee), Nukubati (Noo-kum-bah-tee), Vanua Levu (Van-oo-a Lev-oo), Mago (Man-go), Naitauba (Nai-towm-ba) , Cakaulevu (Tha-kau-lev-oo), bure (boo-ray), kakoda (kak-onda), urua tavu (oo-roo-a tav-oo).
IF YOU GO:
Details of the Fiji Orchid: call (from Australia 0011-676) 664-099, email infofijiorchid.com or visit http://www.fijiorchid.com.
Accommodation rates are $F550 ($A457) per night per bure, single or double occupancy.
Day rooms available between 6am and 1pm or from 2pm to 10pm, cost $F275 ($A228) in the Main Lodge or $F300 ($A249) in a bure.
Rates include return transfers between Nadi International Airport and the resort.
Details of Nukubati: visit http://www.nukubati.com.
The writer visited Fiji as a guest of Tourism Fiji, (02-9264-3399, http://www.bulafiji.com) flying Air Pacific (1800-230-150 or http://www.airpacific.com).
AAP
The Fiji Orchid - Fiji Tel: 679 664 0099 USA: 888 345 4669 EMail: info@fijiorchid.com
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