Beachouse Fun & Rafting

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      After walking through downtown Nadi in the early morning heat we grabbed a van service to take us South along the Queen's Road to our second hostel The Beachouse on the Coral Coast.  The Beachouse is a wonderful compound on the Coral Coast tucked away from the main road surrounded by jungles.  The Beachouse's recent claim to fame is that is was the filming site of the new UK reality show Love Island.  Sometimes you left like you were on a TV set but mostly we were lucky to enjoy the newly renovated pool and bar area, and big screening room where we watched movies on rainy nights.       The Beachouse was my probably my favorite place that we stayed at while in Fiji.  A whole collection of little brightly colored buildings, including our very cute clean 6 person dorm with high thatched roofs.  The whole area with its beauitful tropical flowers and little dirt roads were very homey, as with a couple days you knew everyone at the Beachouse and all the staff knew your name.

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We enjoyed the inconsistent mix of sunshine and rain clouds for hours by the pool area on the coast. And dinner in a cozy hall with everyone at 7 everynight.  Besides enjoying the pool, hammocks and beach we went on an all day river rafting trip while staying at the Beachouse.

We were picked up on the main road where the tour service took us to Pacific Harbour, which is more of a country club than a town, with golf courses and private villas and shopping center.  After some very quick souvenir shopping we were on the tour bus again heading to the Navua River.  Once at the river's edge we boarded our river taxi, which ended up being a brightly painted wooden gondola with a motor.  So off we were 20k up the river (which they were enthusiatic to tell us was where Anaconda was filmed).  As the green river banks disappeared and were replaced with towering mountain cliffs of bamboo, palms, thousands of vines and the occasional red-orange blooms of the African Tulip.     We arrived at a remote village in the highlands that can only be reached my water.  We were ushered into the large meeting hall, which is an empty room with the floors, walls and ceilings made of weaved palms.  We sat on one end of the room while our guide some male villagers and the chief sat in the middle of the hall and made kava in the traditional large shallow basin.  Kava is the ceremonial drink that is drunk at almost every event in Fijian life.  Kava is made from a dried root and then ground into powder.  The powder is poured into a cloth bundle that is mixed with water in the basin, then poured in a coconut halve and presented to you by someone in the village where you clap once take the coconut say Bula! and then chug the muddy kava water given to you.  You give the empty coconut and everyone says Bula! and claps three times.  Kava tastes just as it looks like, murky water.  With a couple servings your tongue and lips begin to feel numb and you will feel really sleepy.        After delicious lunch, hosted by a family in the village, and a tour of the village we went back to the river bank and got ready for our rafting trip.  It was just me, my friend and our guide in the inflatable raft.  It was not exactly white river rafting as there not really any rapids, but the previous days of rain had many the dozens of surrounding waterfalls crash intensely into the now muddy river. Just as we departed, the skies opened and we rafted down the river in a monsoon, which made it even more of an adventure.  We stopped at a raging waterfall and climbed a little ways up the shore into the little gully that the constant flow of water had created.  Not needing a refreshing swim as we were already drenched, we just explored the area and beautiful setting.  After a chilly ride home to the Beachouse we warmed up and had a warm dinner.  The next morning was beautifully sunny and hot and unfortunately by afternoon we had to leave the poolside and begins our travels again.