Kuata - Long Beach
Trip Start
Jan 22, 2006
1
54
156
Trip End
Aug 16, 2006
Long Beach,
Fiji
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Eventually he went on ahead with the other pacesetters, leaving three of us to wander at a more sedate pace
01) Summit Walk
. Although it was an absolutely nightmare climb, the views at the top (after I'd got some air back in my lungs) were absolutely stunning. We could see all of the surrounding islands and as far away as Modriki where we snorkeled the other day. There was another island nearby, which has the rock section on it that Tom Hanks climbs in Castaway to hang himself (see you're not going to find that out from the Internet Movie Database!).Sadly our time at the top was soon over, maybe that's why the guide set such a punishing pace to maximise our time at the top, but nevermind. We were soon trudging our way back down a path that had been made very slippery by all the rain that we'd been getting at night. It was not so much a track as a mudslide. The guide again disappeared into the distance, leaving me to lead Lynne back down again. Rather predictably I selected the wrong path and led us down a far steeper part that we hadn't gone up earlier. Luckily we realised this quickly enough and more by luck than judgement we found our way back on the correct path. This just left a 45 minute muddy walk back to the camp, which was spent muttering dark words about the guide.
One cold shower later, where we used our non power shower to try to get the mud off our legs, saw our spirits restored
02) The intrepid walkers
. It also left us just enough time to check out and leave our bags in the safety of the shelter whilst we drank so much needed water to replenish what we'd sweated off during our early morning exertion. We were shuttled out to the flyer about midday and although the sea looked as flat as glass (as per normal), once it started skimming across the water, it felt remarkably choppy. Several times I felt my stomach flip over, but this was nothing compared to some people, who were soon using sick bags (provided just in time by the crew, mind you even one of them was sat on the floor looking very pale).Fortunately the trip to our next resort (Long Beach) wasn't long and the boat was soon slowing enough for three of us to hop off and head for shore. The tide had gone out so far, that even the smaller boat we transferred to couldn't take us all the way in, the engine had to be cut and lifted out of the water and paddle power took over. Then we got and walked the remaining 500 yards to the beach. The low tide water had been so heated by the sun, it was like walking through a hot bath. Still at least that made sure that we covered that 500 yards very quickly indeed. The staff greeted us with a welcome song, and a coconut that had a straw stuck in the top of it, I did sample it later (absolutely vile!).
This particular island is tiny, it only holds 20 people when it is at full capacity, but today there was only eight of us on it
03) Rain's on the way
. With the tide is out, you can virtually walk to the island that is next door to it. Our hut was a beautiful traditional Fijian hut, that overlooked the beach and a beautiful blue lagoon that filled up as the afternoon passed. We were content to lie on our bed watching it and feeling the lovely cool breeze pass through our hut.There seem to be lots of cats and dogs on this island milling around, we're obviously having withdrawal symptoms from our two cats, because we were delighted to see a fairly young kitten fast asleep on our bed later in the day. We've nicknamed him "Ginge" and spent the afternoon trying to convince him to return with us to England. (Mind you he was dropped like a hot brick when we saw a very cute puppy later in the day).
This time we did successfully manage to get into the hammock together, although you have to give plenty of warning if you're going to move or get out of it, otherwise the other person gets sprung onto the floor! When the lagoon filled sufficiently we both went for a paddle and watched the fishermen swim back from the next door island, to our delight the dogs also jumped into the sea and swam back across too.
That evening we had another lovely meal and got chatting to the select crowd of people on the island. In the main we chatted to a woman called Aimee who lives in Cardiff. Like most of the people we've chatted to, she had gone the other way around the world and was therefore nearing the end of her trip. She seemed to have had such a great time in Australia and New Zealand that I know that we're going to have as many great experiences in those countries as we're having in Fiji.
Sadly Long Beach huts don't come with en-suite facilities, so you want to be sure that you have a very empty bladder before retiring for the evening, unless you want a torchlight walk to the toilet and shower block in the early hours.
