Fiji

At 8:00 am we docked in Suva, Fiji, which is located on the southeastern coast of Viti Levu Island. This is Fiji's chief seaport. Fiji is part of Melanesia and the population is made up of Fijans of Melanesian descent and Indians whose ancestors were brought over in the late 1800s to work on British plantations. The culture, however, tends to be more Polynesian based. People settled here around 1000 BC. Dutch explorers came in the 17th century. Europeans developed coconut, cotton and sugar plantations on the islands and Britain annexed them in 1874. The Mutiny on the Bounty took place here in 1789 when Captian Bligh and his officers were sent off in a small boat. Bligh knew of Fiji's existence from an earlier voyage and guided his crew in to the islands. Suva is the capital and the largest city.

To experience Fiji, we were told one had to get out of Suva and into the countryside. We took a tour called the Navua River Awesome Foursome. Our first 'awesome' was to take a river cruise up the beautiful Navua River, past villages, farm lands, tropical rainforest, deep gourges/canyons, meandering rapids and numerous waterfalls. Our river boat driver sure knew the river as he zigzagged around rocks and shallow areas.

About 1 hour up the river we stopped at the Magic Waterfall where we hiked just a few minutes back to a spectacular waterfall and pool. We were able to get in the water and swim right beneath the falls. Our tour guide climbed up the wall of the falls and dove into the pool below. The falls was "awesome #2".

Next we climbed aboard a bamboo raft called a bilibili and leisurely floated down the river. The river is full of rocks and one caught our guide off guard as the bamboo raft high centered on the raft. It couldn't be that we were a little bit too heavy as we have been on a cruise ship for 20 days.... We did hear bamboo cracking under the strain so to be safe, we all were transferred back to the river boat for the remainder of the ride. This was definitely fun and something we had never done before....so it was "awesome #3".

The bilibili raft we are about to board

The last stop was in a Fijan village for "awesome #4". A Fijan warrior met us at the river's edge and escorted us to the village. We enjoyed a traditional Fijian meal and then attended the customary welcome kava ceremony, which was performed for us. This sacred ceremony is only performed to visiting high chiefs or very important visitors (us! LOL). The kava liquid is made from pepper plant root, which is ground into a pulp or powder and mixed with water. It is then strained through hibiscus roots and passed about in a coconut shell, first offered to the chief or guest of honor. (we had 2 volunteers to
represent all of us). With a clap, the bowl is emptied in one gulp. While not alcoholic, the liquid is known to cause a sort of euphoria.....as I think this tribal member was experiencing! It tastes like muddy water.

Kava ceremony

This was definitely one of the best tours we have been on so far. Next we have 2 days at sea before our next port...Auckland, New Zealand, and the weather will now start to get cooler.