Bula! Recently Michael and I enjoyed five nights in Fiji covering the Regal Salmon Denarau Women's Golf Classic. A hole-in-one escape from a very soggy New Zealand winter.

It's four years since we last visited the Fijian Islands. Hotel and house construction around Nadi and on Denarau Island has boomed. One boundary of the Denarau Golf & Racquet Club (www.denaraugolf.com.fj) looks like a replica of an Australian suburban canal housing development with giant holiday homes, owned by locals and overseas investors, marching shoulder to shoulder along a meandering waterway. Not quite what you'd expect in a tropical paradise.

But nothing can seriously detract from the easy-going ambience of Fiji and the friendliness of the locals who genuinely want to help visitors. For example, staff at the Sheraton (www.sheratonfiji.com) insisted on giving us a lift to the adjacent golf course because they thought we looked hot and frazzled. A little embarrassing as it was only eight o'clock in the morning. Our excuse was that we hadn't acclimatized — we'd escaped from a miserable New Zealand winter less than twenty-four hours earlier.

The Regal Salmon Denarau Women's Golf Classic attracted a group of mainly Kiwi women — 88 in fact — escaping any or all of the following: a miserable winter, husbands, children and work. For many, it was a break they saved for every year. Their enjoyment of the four-day event — organised by two entertaining ladies, Denise and Kim from PaR NZ (www.parnz.co.nz) — was contagious. And there was certainly plenty to enjoy including beautifully prepared lunches at the golf club (it's open to the public also) featuring, of course, Regal Salmon; five o'clock high jinks at the swimming pool; plus a hilarious Topp Twins theme night for the Golf Awards' dinner.

The Icelandic volcanic eruption earlier this year was a disaster for northern Europe but a positive for our local farmed salmon industry. Supplies of north Atlantic salmon to international markets were disrupted and chefs looked elsewhere for a replacement. The colour, firm texture, flavour and naturally-high Omega-3 content of Regal's King salmon (www.regalsalmon.co.nz) caught the attention of international chefs and has remained a favourite. Australian chef Ambrose Andrews from the Sheraton Fiji appreciates salmon's versatility and says his Kiwi salmon dishes are favourites. Salmon also featured in nicoise at the Denarau Golf & Racquet's Clubhouse Bar & Grill, in Caesar salad at the Hard Rock Café, on pizzas at the Marina Village plus in panini from the Sheraton's trendy Pantry.

Fiji's menus have always been an Island/Indian pot-pourri including marinated fish, kokada (pronounced kokonda) and spicy curries, with eggplant, sweet potato, snake beans, coconut, papaya and bananas being popular. But this visit we noted a trend toward Thai and Vietnamese components (the kokoda included lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves and coriander) plus traditional dishes from Europe.