Taveuni

Monday, August 10, 2009

Year Two
Date: 10/8/2009 16:30
Weather: Warm but with occasional showers
Location: Taveuni Island (16 41.15' S, 179 53.22' W)
Author: Peter and Kylie.

We have been anchored up off the northwest corner of Taveuni in Rabi Channel. It is easy to see why the area is world renowned for its scuba diving and although we have not done any we can comment about the snorkeling. We have two great snorkels in the area. We both agree it is by far the best coral we have seen. Today's snorkel we swum through an intricate maize of corals that you can swim through and around unlike the normal ones you just swim over. There was so much to explore and see with many new soft corals we have not seen before and a wide variety of colours and structures.

Taveuni is called the "garden island" and this is for good reason. During our explore ashore it was great to see the time and care people and resorts took with their gardens. There tropical plants abound in colour and texture. Between these gardens and the natural bush the whole island has the feel of one great luscious tropical paradise

We also got a phone call from Sue Ritchie today which was fantastic. It really brings home the one downside of this lifestyle. How much we miss our friends. Thanks Sue we do really appreciate it. Although it did cost us money, so if anyone else did want to talk to us just email.

Sorry for the interruption but at this exact moment whilst Peter was writing this blog and I was serving up dinner we had an electrical issue. Sparks, burning smell..... not good. It was a chafed wire connecting the instrument panel to the engine shorting out the instrument panel. As a result the engine could not be turned off at the normal switch! Whilst Peter went about trying to cut the fuel from the engine to stop it, I consulted the manual and after reading the troubleshooting section and getting no closer to finding a solution for the problem I flipped to a page where Eugene had written and highlighted "Emergency Stop". Well that soon solved the issue of turning the motor off. Now Peter had to cut and re connect the chafed wires, soldering them together and sealing up with heat shrink. After many hot sweaty minutes squashed up in the engine room the job was done and Peter redirected the wires and hung them from the roof so we would not have to go through this again. A couple of hours after the initial interruption dinner was reheated and we sat down to a very cold lemonade.

We have since had the most wonderful few days. The best of our trip so far. Being a little bit short on time we deliberated long and hard about starting to head west again. There were many places we wanted to see in the Taveuni area and lots of things to do. Since we honeymooned around here 3 years ago we had wanted to see the rain forests and spectacular waterfalls we had heard so much about. Not to mention the amazing diving this area is renowned for. So much to do and so little time to do it! So on Sunday still undecided if we should hang around for a few more days or start sailing we headed into the beach and walked to Beverlys Camp Ground where we asked some New Zealand guys staying there if they had been to the falls and was it worthwhile. (Just a quick side note: this camp ground looked great, it was right on the waters edge with a boat ramp and snorkeling off the beach. The grounds were clean and you pitched your tent amoungst huge poison-fish trees.) They told us the falls were good and to just walk along the road and hail a Taxi as it passed. So the following day we did just that. We were picked up by a nice Fijian man in a rattley old van. We quickly left the sealed road which only really runs from the town of Waiyevo to the airport. Then for the next 3/4hour we bumped and rattled down a dirt road to the Bouma National Heritage Park. We paid our admission fee and started the walk to the falls, leaving the taxi driver to wait for us to return. There were three waterfalls of which we walked to two. The first fall was only 10 minutes walk along a flat path.

The second fall is a further 30 minutes along and has many steps and a river crossing to navigate. Crossing the river you had the assistance of a rope strung across. Although it was an easy crossing in the conditions we had, one lady in the group in front of us made it look decidedly difficult.

Upon return to the first fall, all hot and sweaty we stripped down to our swimmers and with a little trepidation we entered the cool waters at the bottom of the waterfall. To our surprise it was not that cold and we swam, struggling against the current to swim up and under the waterfall. Peter even overcoming his fear of heights walked up in behind the falls and jumped back into the pool below. The whole area was a vibrant green. The tropical rain forest is cool dark and dense thanks to the high rainfall the area receives. The glimpses of the waterfalls peeking out through the thick green foliage are breathtaking. It is a place well worth a visit.

The taxi dropped us back at the dinghy (we have finally given our dinghy a name- everyones dinghy has a name! Our dinghy shall from here on be known as "Weedy").

That afternoon we slowly sailed south down Taveuni Island to the town of Waiyevo. Although the international Dateline officially doglegs Fiji, the 180 degree meridian cuts straight through where we anchored the boat. We anchored off the Garden Island Resort where we went ashore and inquired about doing a dive with them and also arranged to have dinner at the resort to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary. Peter ordered a much wanted vanilla milkshake and we relaxed by the pool. The dinner was beautiful; steak and baked vegetables. Probably the best steak either of us has ever had. Followed by a lime mouse dessert and then much to our surprise they produced a huge chocolate cake with "Happy 3rd Anniversary" and beautiful flowers decorating it.

We spoke with the owners of the resort, Nigel and Carol who coincidently have an apartment in Coffs Harbour. Nigel is also the son of the owners of Matangi Island Resort where we honeymooned. Its a small world. They informed us that a bypass of Coffs Harbour has finally been decided on (Dad- where is it going to pass?) and also of the tragic sinking of one of the ferries in Tonga. Having seen these ferries it came as no surprise that one was un-seaworthy. They had a list to one side and were in very poor condition, however with over 130 deaths it is quite tragic. The ferries transport everything from cars, food, livestock and people between the island groups and we imagine this will have a huge impact on the local Tongans.

Today we enjoyed a wonderful experience diving on a reef in the Somosomo Strait. The dive site is called the Fish Factory and we could see where this name came from as soon as we entered the dive. We went to 26 metres deep and viewed the most amazing fish and coral we have ever seen. Among those we saw were angelfish (not just a pair as usual but a whole school!)little purple and orange fish, half yellow half royal blue fish, a lion fish and nudibrach. It was amazing. We can't wait to come back and do more diving in this magical area.

We have now started our trip back to the west towards Nadi.

Pineapple farm

Taro plant - very popular root vegetable amoungst pacific islands