Bula! Bula!
Trip Start
Jul 18, 2011
1
26
33
Trip End
Aug 25, 2011
What I did
Rainforest trekking, waterfall jumping, swimming and sliding, and a boat ride
Navua, Central, Fiji
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
So we all piled back upon our bus, waiting the verdict for the day! No trek meant no waterfalls, and we all really wanted to go! Although I did suggest shopping if we couldn't go! :) But luckily they decided we could go, we had to sign a disclaimer but figured we'd fine...what's the worst that could happen..
We put on our attractive hiking outfits... mine consisted of leggings, a vest and a jumper with walking boots...such a good luck! Matt sported a fetching number, pairing swimming shorts with ski socks (pulled up obviously) walking boots, a skins top and a tee shirt... we were an attractive looking bunch this morning! We got off of our bus and into the back of a truck with a few young local lads who would join us on our hike... After an incredibly bumpy drive we got out and were told this was it...none of us could see a clear path..this being because there was not one... The hike lasted a good few hours and consisted of trekking through swamps, mud, grass, rocks, rivers and waterfalls... Within the first 5 minutes one guy had already stacked it in the mud! The mud was thick ooozzy mud, just like in bear hunt!! squelch sqerch indeed!! Mud covered our shoes, inside and out! I can't even begin to describe what it was like, and the photos don't do it justice... completely crazy and the best thing I have ever done!! Everything was so green all around us, and the make shift paths we were walking along were so narrow...
The local lads with us were hillarious...they had us all singing and chanting constantly, at one point one of them broke into song with "In the jungle...." good times! I also feel that I should add that they were doing the hike in bare foot, and pretty much running! Insane! The hike was one they would do in the morning to get to their plantations and farms... Madness! The hike went up and down hill, with many falling casualty to the mud below! Matt and I were doing pretty well, our trust boots were holding us up good! The mud was not the only obstacle of the day, knee high swamps and waist high rivers were just a few of the things we conquered! Pretty cool! Bear loved it!! In his element!!
Eventually we came to a bit of an opening with a little stream, we took off our jumpers and left them here, ready to climb higher to reach the top of the waterfall... A long climb up a very steep very slippy mud hill and eventually we were at the top! (with lots of help from Abu, Barry, Dave and Tam and an ideally placed rope!) The top was another open lake, this one 10m deep..possily deeper due to the excessive amounts of rain...(it was still raining) the water was freezing! We all took off our shoes and went swimming... Straight away the local boys quickly climbed to the top of the water fall, up the rock faces.. They would put spider man to shame! At the top of the water fall they would launch themselves into the stream below! We watched from the bottom for a while, Matt and Ed weren't far behind the locals in trying to climb to the top, although they didn't make it look as easy as Tam and his friends! They jumped and dived in and it looked pretty amazing! I decided to have a go, and eventually got to the top, when I realised that it was ridiculously high...Matt hadn't realised I had gone up and was like, what are you doing up there... He thought he was going to have to come and get me... somehow... After refusing to jump for a while I eventually did...I sort of jumped, sort of fell and was sort of pushed! I didn't realise heights were so scary!! But it was awesome!! Loved it! We watched the local boys climbing ridiculously high trees and swinging on a make shift rope swing..and we both had another go! Fun times! We played behind the waterfall and swam around! It really was amazing! We still looked pretty ridiculous in our anti-mosquito clothing but that was quickly forgotten!
After this it was time to head back, another hours trekk followed by a boat ride back to the beach and then onto the bus...we put our shoes back on, and one of the boys, Barry said jokingly that we could go back down the waterfalls instead of the path..So Ed, Matt Elwin..and for some strange reason I followed him.. We climbed down slippy rocks, where I repeatedly fell and slid into everyone :) and down waterfalls... The force of the water had made the rocks super smooth, like a natural slide! The difficult bit was just getting from one to the next! Then we came to the big one where Barry casually told us there was loads of rocks at the bottom and we had to jump out at least a meter... well I was unimpressed to say the least, but there was no other way down... After some minor protests from myself, Matt and I jumped! Oh god it was terrifying!! But amazing again!! More natural slides and we were eventually back where the group had walked to..although they were walking ahead whilst we were playing in the waterfalls... We continued with our trekk, our singing and our chanting... Just the 5 of us with Barry in the rainforest.. Pretty cool! Barry also made us authentic "Princess crowns" out of leaves, and the boys stuck leaves all over themselves...camoflauged! After more mud, swamps and rivers we were where we should meet the boat.. But despite us being late the boat wasn't there..it was clearly running on Fiji time! We got in, and spent a relaxing 30 minutes going down stream back to the beach... More singing and more chanting!
Then it was back to the bus, fresh coconuts..(a little pricey at 30p) and back to our resort to eat.. It had stopped raining now.. Although Dave had said the rain had definately been a blessing in discguise.. the waterfalls were more powerful, the lakes deeper and therefore much more fun! Plus it's authentic to rain in a rainforest!
We checked in at the resort and went to our bure... Oh god it was the most amazing room I have ever seen...photo's to follow eventually but it was like something off the tele...We even have a power shower in the open air...with hot water! Unbelievable!! We went for lunch, which was awesome and spent the afternoon doing not much.. The boy played volley ball with some local school girls... and lost.. they then had a very competitive match between themselves...before heading to the supermarket for more beer! The rest of the afternoon was spent with Matt, me, Ed, Julia, Dave and the 2 Spanish girls drinking beer on our balcony and talking about nothing in particular... Then dinner which again was awesome...and now we are in the bar, drinking and playing pool and chatting!
Fiji is unbelievable......absolutely amazing!!
lots of love
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