Jewel Of Fiji Daytrip

The driver of the Bamboo Raft
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Got up nice and early at 6:15 and got ready to go. I still didn't feel like eating and didn't know if I would have time to order anything so I just had an orange juice by the pool and waited for my bus.

A little past 7 the bus came and we were off to Navua on the Coral Coast. Viti Levu is such a beautiful island. I wasn't expecting to see pine trees but there are lots of them, right along with the coconut, banyan and bamboo. Very diverse. Also saw a dead horse on the side of the road. A sight I'm not really used to and I'm glad I don't see that often.

A day full of such beauty and fun!

Conch shell blower
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We drove on the Queens Hwy down the Coral Coast past Natadola Beach and The Sigatoka Sand Dunes. Two places I would have liked to stop but just didn't have time this trip. We finally got to Navua. A small, dirty looking town. Went to the Jewel of Fiji office, paid, got a life jacket and a plastic bag to put my backpack in. The boats we were in were really rickety-looking wooden motorboats. The driver of the second boat, Rio, kept throwing water at us. Rio just happened to have the best laugh ever. It was so infectious! It was quite a long boat trip but we did finally get to the village.

Fire walking by the band
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Everything was very clean and beautiful looking. It all looked very new. Not like the Fijian villages that I had seen before. The welcome and kava ceremony were the longest and most elaborate I had been to also. It was all still beautiful and intriguing to watch.

We took a tour around the village and got to see our lovo lunch being cooked. The lovo is cooked underground. They put hot rocks from the fire into a hole and wrap the food and then cover it all for a few hours to cook.

Preparing the stones for fire walking
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Our tour group was the first to get to see the fire walkers in many years. Beqa Island, not far from Pacific Harbour, is where the original fire walkers are from. One of the firewalking priests had come to this village and had given the people the the power to walk on the hot rocks. It was amazing stuff to watch. One of the guys grass skirts caught on fire briefly just to prove how hot the rocks were.

We then watched some handicrafts being made and had the basket weaving and tapa cloth making processes explained to us. Then it was onto the kindergarten and the children sang two songs for us. Very cute!

Village woman fire walking
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We had a huge buffet of traditional Fijian foods. Such a variety. I tried to have just a taste of everything though I must say I'm not a great fan of the taro root. It just tastes like nothing with a bit of cardboard. Very plain.

After lunch we had some more entertainment of traditional song and dance and I got to get up and dance again. It was lots of fun! At the shell market I bought a beautiful sarong for myself. After all that it was off to the waterfalls. The boat ride itself was amazing. We went through a gorge that was so lush and beautiful and had waterfalls everywhere. This is where the movie 'Anacondas' was filmed.

Kava ceremony
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The first waterfall was quite small and we had to climb up the side and walk arcoss the top then a climb up the rocks and through and water. Lots of fun! I got nominated to go first again. That meant that I got to see the big waterfall first. Magic Waterfall is 65m high. You could swim in really close and sit behind the waterfall and get a massage. We stayed long enough to have a swim and relax for a bit. Then it was time to hike, climb and swim back to the first waterfall. This time instead of climbing down the waterfall we just jumped off the ledge. It couldn't have been much more than 3m.

Kava Ceremony
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Once back on the boats we traveled a little ways through the rougher water but once to the calm water we switched to the bamboo rafts for a little bit, then back into the boats for the rest of the trip. I'm an expert at switching boats in the middle of the water now! A day full of such beauty and fun! Had some fresh guava picked right off the tree. yum!

I had the bus driver drop me off in Pacific Harbour at the Pacific Safari Club. The whole area is just stunning. There are no bunks here, just 16 beds in a huge open room with ceiling fans and tiled floor. It looked like an orphanage to me. I ended up with the whole dorm to myself while I was there. A huge room, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a closed verandah. I was loving it!

Navua River
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Sooner after I was starving and went to find the restaurant, only in the semi-dark everything looked really different and I was a bit lost. I asked a Fijian girl that was walking by and instead of just telling me which way to go she walked with me all the way to where the restaurant was. This is how nice and friendly most Fijian are. I had a ham, cheese and mushroom omelette with more orange juice. Everything was really nice, a little too greasy for my stomach at the time. On the walk back it was pitch black so I was hurrying a bit, but I got back safe to my dorm.