Mel Gibson island kingpin

HOLLYWOOD star Mel Gibson is shipping an eight-lane bowling alley to his private Pacific island in northern Fiji.

The alleys, machinery and equipment were being loaded on to a cargo ship at the port in Fiji's capital, Suva, for delivery to Mago Island, a shipping company official said.

The director of The Passion of the Christ and star of Lethal Weapon films bought the 2190ha Mago Island -- the largest privately owned island in the Fiji archipelago -- for more than $20 million in 2004.

The Fiji Government's Cabinet approved the sale last year.

The bowling alley came from premises operated by a Korean businessman. The first and only bowling alley set up in Fiji, it soon went out of business.