Fiji Off the Beaten Path Tips by bjmd22

If you want to go somewhere not many travelers go, try Ovalau. I fly from Suva for $F80RT. When you arrive you take a carrier into Levuka. From Levuka you can go even further off the beaten track to one of the small islands. This is arranged at the dive shop in town. The dive shop is also one of the only places to use the internet on the island. You should also know that the Cafe levuka that the guide books talk about has been replaced by the dive shop as the jumping off point for excursions. You can also go to a guest house called BOBOS farm, in a small village on the other side of the island.

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While staying on Tavewa in the Yasawas, we got to know the locals pretty well. It turned out that Joe, one of the fijians, was actually from Nacula. While we were there the village on Nacula was having a village day to raise money for a water tank. Joe hauled about 12 of us with him to the island. We asked permission from the chief and it was on. There we sat in the middle of 300 fijian women, with afros. The people had returned home from all over Fiji for this. We got to see the opening cheifly Kava ceremony which was very elaborate. Then we got to eat with the locals. It was nice to know we were seeing the real thing and not a show. I knew this because we were the only tourists there!

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The Kaka parrot is one of the birds found only on Kadavu. It is bright green with a red head and breast. They are pretty large, and can be heard all over the island. They are not however, fond of being photographed. They only seem to get close when the camera battery is dead, or when you are out of film.

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While I was on Kadvu, I decided to do some hikng while the guy I was staying with was at work. I had already hiked all the beaten trails, so I decided to stike out down the side of what appeared to be a nice grassy hill. After 2 hours of tough barefooted hiking ( my fault) I was at the point of no return and realized that the hill I hoped to go back down to the water on was layed out at angles from 75 to 90 degrees, and was covered with 6 foot tall razor grass. It was so steep that I had to climb down several trees to get to the bottom. I was exhausted cut up, but proud of my hike. So if you see an inviting hill be prepared.

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