Hula Loop Day 2: Coral Coast to Suva
The sun had finally come up this morning so I took a stroll along the beach before the bus set off. There were blue skies, towering palms, white sand and coral - more like the tropical paradise which I had expected!
We chose the Suva road and saw oxen, hens, goats, dogs and wild horses along the route which was lined with palms and pines. We stopped to buy a picnic lunch at a supermarket and I splashed out on a cotton bag with a mulberry-bark print - not quite the real thing! The bus finally parked on the banks of the Navua River and we transferred to a local taxi - a canvas covered utility vehicle - to reach the start of our trek, on the edge of land managed by the Department of Forestry.
We headed up a hill along a rough track to join the Matikimbal Trail, open to our group thanks to a local landowner. The path went up and down hill and dale - moderate to strenuous on the South West Coast Path scale. Eventually, a set of steps, cut into the earth, took us into the heart of the jungle. It was just like being in the Humid Tropics Biome at the Eden Project only it was natural and outdoors. There were palms and ferns and even a giant millipede, known locally as "mimimata" - the thing which pisses in your eye, so named because of its ability to blind a man with its waste product.
The mud was a rich orange colour and the path was often interrupted by deep gorges, cut by seasonal streams, which we crossed by tentatively stepping across log bridges. The streams were the colour of the Trent and Mersey Canal at the Harecastle Tunnel.
We soon reached a gorge which became our route down to the river. I was rather reluctant to get my feet wet but soon discovered that the water was cool and refreshing to my hot and tiring feet. It was tranquil, deep in the rainforest. My geography GCSE classes with Mr Jackson soon came flooding back to me. I remembered all the river cross-sections we had drawn for our fieldwork and knew which parts of the stream would see me up to my waist in water. It gave real meaning to the phrase "still waters run deep".
After half an hour walking through the stream, treading carefully, we moved on to a treacherous track down the hillside, hanging tightly on to the rope handrails, terrified of sliding all the way down to the river below.
We ate lunch on the river beach, with a waterfall opposite. We then transferred to rubber tyres to float downstream. It was wet and cold but peaceful. I was soon becalmed but paddled over to the current and found myself whisked down the rapids, bumping over rocks and tree trunks on my way. Fortunately, there was no sign of sea snakes although it had been the location for the filming of "Anaconda 2".
As the river widened, we moved into long boats to travel the rest of the way back to the bus. Up in the hills, the steep river banks were home to cows and birds but in the lowlands, there began to be signs of life: villages, women gathering wood, men excavating river gravel with JCBs and tipper trucks and children waving enthusiastically. The palm trees against the blue sky and the hills behind us made for an idyllic view.
After changing into dry clothes, we struck out for Suva, Fiji's capital and largest city. We passed one of the city's prisons along the route, where our guide, Monica, had been born, when her father worked as a prison guard. There are two prisons in Suva and ten others scattered around the islands. The institution looked low security but in fact housed low, medium and high security prisoners. Monica explained that there were two prisoners to each prison officer and so escapes were rare despite the lack of high walls and barbed wire. The maximum security prisoners are kept in solitary confinement and the prisoners due for release do their slopping out - some privilege!
The post-release prisoners' village was nearby and consisted of traditional bures - small houses constructed on stilts in the time honoured fashion from timber and thatch. There the released convicts would be able to grow crops to feed their family and raise money to send their children to school. Unfortunately, the settlement is next to the forthcoming rubbish tip.
Monica, who had served as a police officer for eight years, told us that the main crimes in Fiji were robbery and pickpocketing. There are two or three murders a year and the drug of choice through the islands is locally grown cannabis.
Immediately before entering Suva, we passed through Suvavoa - new Suva. The residents of the old Suva, now the capital, had been forced out by the British who realised that the then capital, on an outlying island, was too restricted in its potential for growth and so relocated to Viti Levu. As compensation, the displaced residents receive the ground rent from Suva every year.
We were to be sleeping at a homestay that evening - on Anand Road, across the way from the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses. It was a timber house, built on a hillside, and light and airy inside. Our dormitory was downstairs but we entered through the living room and it was interesting to be inside a real Fiji house. Our host, Suzi, worked in sustainable development and made us feel very welcome.
We headed into Suva for dinner at the Bad Dog Cafe, an expat hang-out opposite Greenpeace HQ. I was served a huge and very rare piece of yellowfin tuna. Delicious!
