Fiji Day 6: Tavoro Water Falls

 On day 6 we visited the Tavoro water falls. We took a taxi to the falls, and most of the ride was on a dirt road. It was quite bumpy and rocky. At times we wondered if our taxi was even going to make it up the hills in the road, the wheels spun out a few times. 

We first visited the visitor center and then set out for the first waterfall out of the three. It was the easiest waterfall to get to.

 There was a deck off the side of the visitor center. When we arrived the tide was in, and the water water was so calm. After hiking up to the falls the tide had gone out and all this water was gone.

 I loved this sign. With all the coconut trees around you really had to be careful when walking around, you definitely didn't want one to fall on your head.

 The first waterfall. On the way back down from the other two water falls, we jumped in and went for a swim. Cris even jumped in off the rocks in the back of the falls.

After the first waterfall we hiked up the mountain. The views were breathtaking! On one side of us you had the rain forest, and the other side the view of the ocean.

Once we had a rest at the ocean lookout, we started up to the second waterfall. Patrick came with us and told us that the waterfall looked angry. They had gotten some rain the day before so it was running pretty fast. We crossed the river twice to get to the fall. It was pretty slick and I didn't get any picture because I didn't dare get my camera out. I was afraid I would drop it.

Me in front of the second water fall.

 The second waterfall peaking out from the rain forest.

 Cris hiking in the rain forest. Funny story. If you were the first one in line you ended up walking into all the spider webs. And if you know Cris he's not a fan of spiders. Well, he almost walked right into a silver dollar sized spider on it's web in the middle of the trail. He was much more paranoid after that, and walked much slower. After talking to my mom and dad they said that they always carry a stick and who ever is in front has destroying the webs duty.

 The third fall was my favorite. We sat down and ate our lunch. Patrick had brought some freshly picked oranges. They were the best oranges I've ever had. Man, I really miss all the fresh fruit we had! Cris and Patrick jumped in and swam in the pools here. Cris also climbed up and jumped off one of the rocks into the pool of water. He's much more adventurous than me, I opted to stay dry.

 The next set of pictures are just random pictures of hiking to the waterfalls.

 We decided to ride the bus back to the house from the waterfalls. It was such a neat experience. We ended up waiting for about a hour for the bus so we relaxed at the bus stop, and on the beach.

 Cris loved the third world bus stop.

 The tide was out and all the villagers were out fishing off the reef, and collecting fresh muscles for their dinner.

 Waiting in the bus, by the time we got close the the house the bus was packed to the brim! Most of the locals use the bus since it's much cheaper than the taxi's. The taxi to get to the water falls was $30 Fijian dollars, and the bus was only about $2 Fijian dollars. They would pack their crops onto the bus to go sell them in the open air marked on the other side of the island.

 This next picture just makes me laugh every time I see it. This naked little boy was probably only 2 years old, and was playing with a machete! I couldn't believe it! But apparently they start 'em while they are young. We just hoped he wouldn't cut off his little parts while whacking way at the bush next to him.

 This cute little girl kept eying us down while we were waiting to pull out of her village.

 It was so much fun to ride the bus, and we will be doing it next time we go for sure!

Day 5 in Fiji: Deep Sea Fishing

My parents had talked to a few locals on who does deep sea fishing trips on the island. They suggested John, and he did not disappoint! It was a beautiful day, and we were on the boat for 4 hours. Cris was like a kid in a candy store! He had always wanted to go deep sea fishing.

 Getting ready to push off

 It was so neat to see a different view of island from the boat. You could truly see why it is called the "Garden Island". The views were breathtaking!

 Check out the video at the bottom of this post for a video of the pod of dolphins that played in the wake of our boat. Just don't mind how funny I sound.

 We caught a few different types of fish. First was the baby "uncle Barry" aka Barracuda that I caught. Or should I say snagged. I have such skill that I don't catch fish I snag them. The Barracuda was snagged on it's side, and this Mackerel tuna was snagged on it's tail.

Cris was in the middle of reeling in a Wahoo, when it was caught, eaten by a reef shark. So Cris ended up reeling in a 120lb reef shark. It was really cool, and before we even went out Cris said he'd hope he'd catch a shark. They wouldn't go near the sharks mouth to let him free and couldn't get the lure out, so they ended up doing surgery, cutting the shark free. Poor little shark is missing a little bit of his bottom lip.

After the shark was let go Cris finally caught what we were waiting for. DINNER IS SERVED!!!

This Wahoo is probably around 60lbs. And according to our captain, this fish is very coveted and goes for $12-$15 a pound.

Funny story when Cris got the fish reeled in John got a club and started beating the crap out of the fish(although he chose a different word) I was startled and he said you have to beat them since they have sharp teeth, and you don't want 60lb of fish with sharp teeth flopping around on the boat. I have video of it on Cris' phone but can't figure out how to get it uploaded to the blog.

 After Cris' catch Patrick one upped him with his Wahoo that was around 80lbs. This was the first time Patrick had ever caught a fish this big, and on a actual fishing rod. The locals always just use fishing line and their hands, and they fish on mostly the reef so they only catch smaller fish.

 This is the lure that Cris caught the shark with. John was unhappy to catch a shark since they ruin the lures. He said that this particular lure cost him around $80.

This is just a little bit about Wahoo from Wikipedia:

Wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri) is a scombrid fish found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas. It is best known to sports fishermen, as its speed and high-quality flesh make it a prize game fish. In Hawaii, the wahoo is known as ono. Many Hispanic areas of the Caribbean and Central America refer to this fish as peto.
The flesh of the wahoo is white to grey, delicate to dense, and highly regarded by many gourmets. The taste is similar to mackerel, though arguably less pronounced. This has created some demand for the wahoo as a premium-priced commercial food fish. In many areas of its range, such as Hawaii, Bermuda and many parts of the Caribbean, local demand for wahoo is met by artisanal commercial fishermen, who take them primarily by trolling, as well as by recreational sports fishermen who sell their catch.

Cris was pretty happy with his catch of the day. I was really hoping on of us would catch a Yellow Fin Tuna, I guess we'll have to try for that fish next time.

They gut the fish for us right on the boat. It was pretty gross. The locals don't waste anything, so Patrick took the heads and tail fins home to his sister and a friend.

Later that afternoon Patrick came over and cooked us up the Wahoo, Fiji style. He first made a fresh coconut cream sauce. He brought up two coconuts from the tree, and harvested the coconut out of it with a special grater. I tried it and it took me 10 times longer to do just one side of the coconut. He then added water to the coconut and let it set, then strained it to make coconut milk. Once I figure out how to get the videos from Cris' phone I have video of it.

I am not a fan of seafood at all. I was brave and tried the Wahoo, and oh my gosh was it good!!!! It was not fishy tasting and didn't even smell fishy. Cris was shocked when I asked for him to pass me the plate of fish because I wanted more. We had so much fish that we froze more that half of it and Patrick will go get it anytime he pleases when he checks on my parents home. He was pretty happy to have it!

Cris' reef shark, Patrick's Wahoo, and the pod of dolphins that played in the boats wake.

Sunday in Fiji

 We were able to go to church while we were in Fiji. It was such a neat experience, and we can't wait to go again. Cris was such a good sport and wore a sulu to church. Most of the men in Fiji wear them to church services or on special days. We saw several men with multicolored, and floral ones. Cris said he didn't mind it, it gave him a nice breeze. :)

 This was the church building we visited. It was dedicated in the 80's sometime. It's not very big, it had a kitchen in it, bathroom, a small room that was the branch Presidents office and also doubled as the primary room, and the chapel that also was used for the Sunday school room. We had a great time. My parents had warned us before had that we may be called out in the middle of sacrament to give a talk. I went somewhat prepared, but luckily we were only asked to bear our testimonies. We decided that we should do our sacrament meetings "Fiji style". There were 3 speakers and they only spoke for about 2-5 minutes each. Which made for a really quick sacrament meeting. :)

 These are the kids that I taught Primary to. My mom hard also warned me that I may be handed the Primary manual, which I was. They were great bunch of kids. They usually have more kids in their primary but it was a rainy day which made it so not many people were there.

 After church was over we were invited to eat lunch at the church with the Branch President's family and friends. I will fully admit, it was hard to eat what they feed us. We had a ramen noodle with muscles type food, whole crabs, fresh muscles, and dalo. Dalo was the hardest for me to swallow. It's a root type vegetable, like a potato, but it was very dry, thick,and had no flavor. It would have been much easier to eat if it had some kind of sauce to eat with it.

After we ate Cris had some gum that we passed around to all the kids. They were in heaven!! The kids also liked watching all the movies we had on our phones of our kids. I pulled out my Ipad and started the movie Frozen for them while we visited with the adults. Those kids sat still for the whole movie and didn't budge for anything! If we would have had any other movies downloaded we would have been there all day, and night!

 I loved the spirit we felt when we were there and hope to be able to go back soon! These people are awesome, and hold a special place in my heart, I wanted to take all these kids home with us.