Highlands Walk

Off we go on another Ruck Sack Club adventure! This time into the highlands up towards the north of Viti Levu! It was a three day trip, during which we traveled the entire way around the island which was pretty cool! The first night we stayed at the Stonebowl Lodge again, which featured in an earlier post and then we had a short day hike from there into the first village where we stayed.

 Visiting a village always includes a Sevu Sevu or welcome ceremony, which is based around the sharing of a few bowls of Kava...

 The younger generation learning the customs from the elders....

 

After which we got to partake in the famous Fijian hospitality... Unfortunately I cannot name much of what they included in the spread but as always, it was a pretty good feed!

 

Pretty leaves!

 It was pretty hot going, with no cover what so ever for large sections of the trip! We had to carry a fair amount of water each and we took advantage of most of the rivers we saw to stop for a quick swim... 

Some parts of the walks were under the canopy, which was blessedly cool after being out in the open. We were sweating so much it was impossible to get the sun block to stay in place it sort of oozed off with your sweat... Lovely!

Local boys enjoying a swim with us! Standing up on the bilibili (raft made of lashed together bamboo) can be quite a mission!

One of the swimming holes that were some of the highlights of the walk... A better showing of the bilibili!

Growing up on the west coast of the south island of New Zealand I thought I had seen some rain... It went from clear to absolutely torrential rain in the space of a minute! It was definitely refreshing!

Eventually we arrived at the next village we stayed at... I give you, the leaning bure of Fiji!

Nature decides to reclaim a bure...

More walking... Right up in the hills this time, something like a 4 hour walk before we get to our first swimming hole... It was inhumane! Luckily it wasn't as hot as it could have been :)

Finally we got to the river, stopped for lunch and a swim! From there on it was a nice easy walk down the river... But not after a serious paddle in the river!

Awesome lunch spot!

Matt being truly excited with the mini rapids at the head of the pool!

Walking down beside the river... It was a bit cooler with the water near us and it was really easy going! 

 Some people were quite excited when we started getting close to the end of the walk! As usual in Fiji, it started pouring 5 minutes before we got to our accommodation, and we were all dripping wet by the time we got there!

We spent the night in an eco lodge type hostel. As mosquito's are my mortal enemy I usually sleep in my tent, well that and it doesn't stink of anyone's feet apart from my own! After some fireworks, an awesome sleep and a few more swims in a nearby river it was time to jump back in a carrier and head back to Suva.

It was a long trip home! We were all a little sun burnt, bitten and smelly but it was a awesome trip!