Taveuni, the Garden Island and One Version of Paradise

This morning I got up and took a swim. The lodge is just at the edge of the beach and the water is lovely. There is a shallow area that extends for about 200 meters or so out into the ocean/sea and it's very inviting. And there is nobody there to tell you no or wait or ask what I think I'm doing. I really like it here.

Then I waited for the arrival of a woman from in town near the airport. Anna told me yesterday that there would be someone coming today to go on the kayak trip to a waterfall with a walk back along the coastal walk. Anna is one of the women who run the lodge here. She is very nice and really helpful. She is helped by Lemba and Maretta. Then there are the guides who take people on the walks and kayaking in the area. Our guide this morning was Beo. Another guide who came with another couple was named Simoni. They are all from this village of Lavena here where the lodge is. So far, they are all very, very friendly. I don't think I could have made a better decision than to come here directly from Nadi instead of staying there for a day or two. This has been a real delight to me.

Anyway, this morning a woman from Alaska arrived with a driver from the Aroha Lodge in Matei, where the airport is. She is from Alaska and has been here almost a month on this island, just taking it easy. But she is fairly clumsy in a kayak. I suppose it's rather harsh of me to think so, but is it so hard to figure out that if you keep paddling on one side of a kayak or canoe, it will turn and keep turning and you won't get where you are trying to go? I took the back of the kayak (it was a two-person kayak), and I had lots of work keeping us going in the right direction. At least when we were going past the big rock and heading into the river with the waterfall, we were going all right and didn't end up flipping the kayak.

Enough complaining. We headed off into a beautiful morning, sunny and warm. We headed out past the edge of the break to get out beyond the waves that could cause trouble. But the sea swells were quite large anyway and we rolled around quite a bit. It was fun. Now, we were on the open water and I didn't want to try taking too many photos for fear that we would tip somehow or otherwise bring mishap to my camera, so it stayed mostly in its little Ziplock bag (the guy who invented the Ziplock bag should be presented some kind of traveller's award), but I did get a few shots from on the ocean.

Then, as I mentioned we headed past a rock that brought big swells and the threat of tipping over, as we headed into a cove and up a river to the Triple Waterfall. We went swimming and drank some fresh clean water fed by springs on the volcano at the center of Taveuni. I wish I could have Beo's job. I know he must have some difficult tourist customers at times, but he still gets to take people to these fantastic places for a living.

After swimming for a while, it was back into the kayak's for a return down the river. We had to wait for the right moment to head out past the rock again. We also had to be careful not to get turned broadside to the incoming waves. Should the waves have hit us on the side of the kayak, we likely would have tipped and gone for another swim. But so would the Ziplock bag with my camera and wallet and stuff. That wouldn't be cool. So we worked hard to keep the nose into the waves. We still almost sideswiped the big rock as we went by, which could have been a bigger problem. Had we tipped and then been knocked around by the waves, we might have been banged up pretty good by the rock. But all went well and we stayed afloat and then headed around the point and to the end of the coastal walk. We rested for a few minutes and chatted and I took some photos of the waves crashing on the point. Some even turned out all right.

Then we headed up the trail to the very end and another waterfall. This one was not accessible by walking up to it, so I had to content myself with a photo from far away before we swam up to it to play for a while. To the left of the waterfall is another smaller one that is lower, but also smooth. It made for a great waterslide and I had a couple of go's at that. It was loads of fun. Simoni and his guests caught up with us as we reached the waterfall and he climbed up to the top of the big one and then jumped into the pool. It looked too treacherous to climb up there, so I didn't, but it looked like fun.

When we finished having tons of fun there, we headed back down the trail and back to the lodge. Beo showed us lots of things that are in the forest. At one point he indicated a tree and pointed out a ripe papaya. He asked if anyone wanted it. I said sure and he went and got it down and gave it to me. There were two bites out of it. He said that bats eat them, too. I just have to cut the bites out of the papaya and enjoy. I will eat it later for a snack. The walk back was really nice, except for the rain that drenched us as we walked. But there were interesting trees, including a pair that had grown into each other.

There were also these interesting rocks that are at the edge of the ocean.

The last thing we saw before we returned to the lodge was a view of the beach where it is located. In 1990, the beach was used for filming the movie Return to the Blue Lagoon. Nearby, is the waterfall that was also in the movie. I will go to see it in a couple of days. It should be interesting.

After we returned to the lodge, we had some lemongrass tea and some doughnuts. It was a nice way to finish off the trip.

Then I got to learn a bit of the Fijian language from Anna and Maretta. I really like “no problem.” It rolls off the tongue.

Senga nalenga = No problem

Bula = Hello

Moithe = Goodbye

Eo = Yes

Sotatalay ni mataka = See you tomorrow

Vinaka = Thank you

(These are probably not spelled properly, but they are how I think they sounded.)