Lavena Coastal Walk

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What a day. I woke up with a running start - it was gorgeous outside! Finally! I saw those blue skies through the corner of my eyes and I was out and ready to go at like 7am! Had a nice leisurely morning - breakfast, walk on the beach (found the coolest shell!), played with the Jimbo (he loves coconuts), and packed our stuff for our day out.

This time we drove down the eastern coast of the island. The road was only paved for a short bit of it, so it was quite a bumpy ride. There is basically one ride on the island that goes around the perimeter - so it’s hard to get lost. But Babu is a wonderful driver and a great tour guide so we were set to go.

Drove through another bunch of villages and along beautiful coastal views. We were on our way to Lavena to do the coastal walk.
Lavena is about midway down the eastern side of the island - the road ends there. It starts at the lavena village - and then there is about a 4.5 km walk down the coast - past some beautiful beaches, remote villages, over a stream, a suspension bridge, and then up the side of a small mountain - then you reach a beautiful waterfall. The path ends with a sign that says waterfall 1m upstream. So over the rocks and through the water we went. The last bit we had to swim into this hidden cove to two awesome waterfalls (no camera back there, was too wet). One big one and one smaller one that you can slide down. We got back there with 3 other tourists and a Fijian guide - so Dan and I sat idly watching them as they jumped off and slide down the small waterfall. It was quite amazing.

But a short aside - on the way there Babu was telling me about Fijian beer - there is Fiji Bitter and Fiji Gold. The men like the bitter and the women prefer the gold. So you can go up to a bar, and order one lady and one man, and they know what you mean. But in this case, I, Rebecca, would be the Bitter because I carried the bag full of food and water all the way out to the waterfall while Dan was in charge of the camera. The Golden boy did carry the bag back though, light as a feather - what a man!

But then the long walk back - but the trip was worth it, but we were certainly done for the day after that.

Although, we did manage to stop at Audrey's - an American ex-pat who runs a little coffee shop on her deck - with Babu our guide for some homemade Kahlua and homemade chocolate cake. We deserved it!

Dinner was yummy as always - an Indo-Fijian curry night. Yum.

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Photos

My Dream Life
On the beach, full with a delicious breakfast, in the sun, with my faithful dog.

Ocean View
Jealous yet?

Another great shot
Dan is such an artist.

On the Drive
Check how green and lush it is, with the pretty coconut trees.

Kiddies
The kids love the camera

Ocean View
Views along the coastal walk

Starfish
Look what I found.

Rock Pedestals
Isn't nature amazing

Rock Pedestals again
I loved these things

Crossing the stream
Going there we used the rope, on the way back we were pros.

Fijian Kid
The boys were so excited to show us what they collected.

More kids
They love the camera.

Crossing the bridge
Yea, that thing was a bit wobbley

The waterfall
We had to swim from where we were standing...the current got rough around the corner, but there was another smaller waterfall off to the left. IT was pretty cool, the water was freezing, but so nice during that hot day.

The other end
What we had to climb through to get to the waterfall.

Collecting coconuts
Little boy climbing the tree to get a coconut.

Lavena Village
It's amazing how these people live. Totally self sustaining - grow or catch all their own food.

Comments

[bari]

i think there is something missing in the "my dream life" description... dont you?

[rachel]

a cocktail in her hand perhaps? ;)

[rachel]

actually . . .
when I first saw the picture, I thought she was referring to Dan as her "faithful dog" because I couldn't see there was a real dog in the shadows.