Fiji - October 2002

Excursions on Taveuni

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In addition to relaxing at the Taveuni Island Resort, we also had the opportunity to see different aspects of the island of Taveuni.

We had always heard that Taveuni was very famous for its waterfalls. So, we booked an excursion with Tomasi to see some waterfalls. We really love waterfalls, but an essential element of a waterfall is water, which tends to come from rain. Unfortunately, the island of Taveuni is not large and therefore requires lots of rain for its waterfalls. So, on a rainy day, we set out to see the waterfalls. In the days prior, we also had rain, but the weather kept changing all the time, so we were hopeful that the rain would pass during our excursion. We were prepared for getting wet, but we were not prepared for this torrential downpour, which lasted during our entire day, soaked us to the bone, and caused small streams to turn into rivers . We ended up crossing this "river" in Tomasi's minivan, after about 15 minutes of serious contemplation, and only after the man crossing the river in the picture had made it across the road.

But we arrived safe and sound, and set out to explore the waterfalls. We walked by the beach, where Blue Lagoon 2 was filmed , but then our walk turned into a 2-hour one-way hike. We did see some the waterfalls , but others were not accessible due to the amount of rain that had fallen in the past 48 hours. We could only admire them from afar. However, it was an adventure, actually a "goddamn adventure".

Another unique possibility on Taveuni is that you can actually spend your day in the present and the future all at the same time. The 180^o meridian runs straight through Taveuni. After spending some time in town, Tomasi took us to this attraction as well. Although the practical dateline has been moved (so that people on the same island do not have to adjust their clocks every time they drive from one side to the other), the official international dateline is on the Eastern side of Taveuni. Jana is already spending time on tomorrow, where as Marc is still behind in the day .

On our last evening in Taveuni we were able to attend another "meke" at the neighboring hotel. It was an all-out event with the ladies singing beautifully, and the men performing the traditional dances. Even the boys were dressed up in traditional outfits and were very much into the show.

We were very sad to leave Taveuni, but unfortunately we had to get back to the United States. But we had one more stop before flying out.