We got up at 5:30 am to get ready for rafting. The report from Rea's tent was that a tent on a packed dirt floor with no pads is not comfortable.
When we got to the Pearl, which was where the Rivers Fiji offices were located, we were told that there was no room on the rafting trip because they had already sent out the food for the day. We sulked and ended up speaking with the head river guide, Moses. He spoke to the manager and we were allowed to bring our own food and go!
At that point we discovered that there were some scheduling issues (the manager had taken a reservation while at the bar the night before and forgotten to write it down) and we had an hour to kill before we headed out. We took the time to go buy some food to take with us.
Eventualy we climbed on the bus and headed down the coast. We hit our turn off and waited a bit to collect the almost forgotten people who were coming from the other direction. I got a great picture of Todd and Chris under a HUGE banyon tree.
Todd and Chris are a good 50ft in front of the tree so it's even bigger than it looks!
The road through the rain-forest covered mountians was amazing. The views and the forrest were beautiful. We went through Mahogany groves (well not so much groves as jungle infested with mahogany trees). They are not native and cause problems with some of the local food plants. That is they kill the taro root and other traditional staples because they make the soil too acidic. But on the other hand they are a good source om income, the guides were conflicted about it. We gave a ride to a half a dozen local guys to the village that was near the head of the river. They bounced around in the back of the buss but were somehow unhurt. We arrived at the put in point and then hiked around the first rapid while the guides went down it alont, it was a class 4.
Our Guides took the boats through that alone
We got in in the pool below the rapids and were off. Chris and a woman from the Soloman Islands (who had shared our dorm the previous night) were in front and Todd and I were in the back. Moses was our guide. Rae and Meadow skiped the rafting due to money and fear of death, though as we would find out their day was at least as exciting as ours.
Our Entry: Less Excitement AND Less Death!
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves but... we went through canyons and waterfalls with mild rapids and eventualy we got to a swimming hole. We had lunch there then swam in the poole where a tributary joined the river. I hiked up half a dozen falls and explored. I came back in sight of the rest of the party just as people were prepairing to leave, one of the guides gestured to me, motioning for me to come back. I gave the OK sign a half a second before remembering that that is the sign for 'ass hole' in fijian. The guide looked shocked and then another guide gestured furiously to him giving the thumbs up signal and explaining that I was a stupid tourist. The other guide was mullified and the international peace was maintained.
What the rapids lacked in thrills they made up for in beauty.
A bit further down the river was the 'free massage waterfall' which you could either lay or stand under...wonderfull! Todd, Chris and I all ended up laying under it. The water was coming down so hard you could bearly force yourself back up to your knees to crawl out from under it.
Ooh, the first waterfall that we passed fell onto jagged rocks and was called the 'Push Each other" waterfall. The story was that in pre-western Fiji a man's two wives went up to do laundry and after a long argumentended up pushing each other off. Moses insisted that he had been up to the top hunting boar and had seen the remains of their washing pottery.
Thanks to Moses for the photo.
On the flat water there was a lot of horse play, Moses kept trying to knock one of the other guides into the water. He had me try to hook him with the T of my paddle but he hung on. A few minutes later we came up behind his boat again and I grabed him by his lifejacket. I pulled and he fell backwards flailing in the ier for a few seconds before loosing his balance and falling into the river. It was funny but Moses completely lost it, laughing so hard he had tears running down his face.
And this is Moses!
Chris: "Are you fresh and full of life?"
Meadow: "Yes...except when I'm not...then I'm stale and full of dead."
We took out at a small interior village, some cynder block buildings but a lot of traditional burries too. Just north of the village there was a guy in a loin cloth with a cane knife and all his clothes held above his head wadeing and then swimming across the river. We used the rafts to ferry a few people across the river.
Oh, further up the river we passed a guy building a bili bili, a traditional bamboo raft. Although he was making it out of the larger imported bamboo rather than the smaller native bamboo.
Two more shots of the canyon
The ride back was breathtaking and spine jarring but uneventful. We dropped our things at the dorm and walked down to the beach to find Rae and Meadow.
They came galloping, or at least cantering, down the beach just as we arived. I'll leave the story of their cyninatic and equine adventures for one of them to detail:
Rae's horse was named 'Treason'!
We went to the uprising bar for dinner. By the end of the meal I had a splitting headache. The rest of the crew drove down to the Perl for drinks while I turned in early. It was raining. Again I'll leave their adventure or lack there of for them to describe:
Meadow: "I have a tan and two dollars Fijian.
Another sunset, because every day ended like that!
LINKS:
Rivers Fiji
Profesional Video of Rafting on the Upper Nevaru
Amature video, but it has Moses
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