Taveuni Play Time
20 October 2021
Diane Brown
11 Sept 2021
Taveuni Tourist Time
Spent several days provisioning and had dinner with Ashni and Jass and their son in their new cyclone proof home up a dirt road on the Matei side. She fixed so many tasty Indian dishes and did ll the Naan and cracker breads from scratch. We had a relaxed time talking about each of our lives. Their son is so smart and personable and was part of the entire nights discussions. I am really impressed how they are doing homework and checking in with teacher's here. Soon they will have a new cell tower up by their home with 4g network up and running. It will be easier for their son as now Jass needs his phone for the taxi business all day so homework and assignments can only be accessed with his hotspot when he is home.
One afternoon we went up to the falls and signed into their logbook that have been kept for decades. The trail was a bit rough with the lack of recent tourists; but the caretaker and his kids were just ahead of whacking away at the intruding brush with a machete. Jass had warned us it would take about two hours up to the second set of falls so we were pleased when we made it in less time even after stopping a each switchback and river crossing to catch our breath. Not getting a lot of cardio on the boat. We never found the loop back around so came back over the same way and still had trouble holding onto the rope river crossing gracefully. I took a couple dunks between the slippery river stones but no sprained ankles gratefully. It was much faster on the way back down as the rain came in buckets and we moved quickly once off the slippery switchbacks.
Next time we provision at Taveuni we plan to try the rock slides.