Upper Navua River Rafting

Nothing like trying to get your partner out of bed at 5am... It was not a pretty sight! But we managed to get to the bus by 5:45am in time to head of to Pacific Harbor to get to the Rivers Fiji base where there was tea and coffee waiting! A brief wait for the rest of our group to turn up and we all piled into the buses to head up to the river!! The aim was to get on the water by 10:30...

 

 

No pot holes? Whats going on!?!?

A quick stop on the way for some amazing banana cake (the amount of this stuff I eat is ridiculous, but its everywhere and sooooooo gooooooood) and then onwards with our something like and hour and a half drive up the trail.

Not a bad view on the bus on the way up really....

While the trail up to the river is a logging road, the rafting itself takes place in a conservation area which is awesome! The guides are all locals that grew up in nearby villages and are sticklers for take only photos and leave only footprints (which is a massive change to the normal Fiji way of doing things....) So its great to see the value of the area has been recognised by the locals and is now fiercely protected!

Once we get to the end of the trail we leave most of our gear in the bus apart from the essentials (sun block and sunnies), we're all suited up in super sexy life jackets, helmets and given potentially deadly weapons in the form of paddles....

Its a quick ten minute walk from there down to the river from the bus, a quick quiz previously of the G.M. about the water flow showed that they don't really worry about such frivolous things as measuring Cumecs... Once the water hits the bridge they call it and cancel the trips. Simple enough really! The water level was pretty low when we did the trip so its was only grade 1-2 rapids... More of a pleasure cruise that white water rafting but the locals assured me during the rainy season there are some pretty respectable grade 5 and 6 rapids for anyone who is keen enough. I think I might be coming back in a few months...

If the water hits this bridge, the trip is cancelled! Safety first!

We were quite a large group of 49 people, so we all buddied up into groups of 5ish people. We immediately dubbed out raft 'The Love Boat' to give people a false sense of security about our ferocity during the water fights that were to come later!

Potentially the coolest cats to grace the Navua River ever.

The river and canyon are absolutely spectacular... One of the prettiest spots I have been to! While the rapids were lacking I was more than happy to float through and check out the scenery... Oh and pull people of rafts, steal paddles and splash everyone! (maturity is totally over rated...)

Its a shame the water wasn't deeper, there were some good climbing spots to get up to a high spot to jump in!

Christmas Rock... Day before Xmas it wasn't there... 

Around lunch time we stopped in on a nice beach for lunch, a pretty simple make your own sandwich deal (with more banana bread!) but after paddling for a few hours it was delicious! The small fish in the river knew what was up, as soon as the rafts pulled in they started hanging around.. Clever buggers!

The lunch spot!!

A good few water falls, some potentially epic rapids and a bunch of good mates. Good times on the water once again :) We were home by around 6, straight in for some take out from our favourite place and asleep on the couch shortly after!

'White Water'!

Love Boat Crew

Waterfall no. 9078

Gorgeous...

There were highs...

There were lows...

I actually tore a seam in the raft doing this flip.... Whoopsie

 

Waterfall no. 3071

Aww guys group photo!

Most of the guides! They rock at what they do.

Just you know, doing the shopping

Took the boats out here!

If you are ever over this way, I recommend rafting the upper Navua River! The guides are awesome and make the trip. The scenery is spectacular. And if you MAKE SURE YOU GO DURING THE RAINY SEASON the rapids should be excellent!