Yesterday I went on a fantastic day trip to the Namosi Highlands and the Luva river. Despite the fact that I had to get up at 5am to get to the other side of the island it was worth it.

We started off on the coast and boarded a bus to take us up to the highlands. It was a pretty hairy little dirt tract definitely not built for a bus (even a 4WD one) but the views were quiet spectacular - the hills and jungle on route into the highlands reminded me a lot of West Papua (just one third the scale. Interesting Fijian fact number one is that there is only one indiginous land animal on the island, the flying fox. This certainly puts the islolation of this and other pacific islands into context.

Our guide was from a village in the highlands which we reached with about two hours of driving up this goat track. Once we got there we walked through the village to the Chief's hut to go through the traditional cava ceremony which the Fijian's greating ritual. The Chief was a wisened old man who was paralised from the waist down by a rugby incident in his youth, however he was sharp as a tack, during the ceremony we each had to say our names and where we were from. When I said Lennox Head he immeadiately perked up and said "NSW Waratahs". Interesting Fijian fact number two, they are absolutely mad about rugby. Thinking about it as a Chief of a village that had embraced a small amount of tourism as an additional means of supporting and maintaining their lifestyle he was certainly an international statesman having visitors come to pay their respects from all corners of the world (yesterday there was Australians, Americans and Swedes).

Cava is the drink of the native Fijians it is made up from the root of a plant dried then mixed with water. Usually drunk in a ceremony such as this we could see how though steeped in tradition it could quickly digress into a drinking game. In actual fact it wasn't too bad tasting like muddy water, there is definitely a narcotic effect (apparently similar to THC) as after the first bowl my mouth was numb. The guide and his mates from the village thought this was great and we all had several round of cava before heading off to the river. The Chief in his wisdom had banned alcohol from the village (punishment for a villager turning up drunk is a sever beating). When you consider other indiginous cultures and the effect alcohol has on them and their society his statesmanship and wisdom went up further in my opinion. Saying this everyone gets pretty seriously on the cava with apparently no ill effects other than sleep deprivation.

Asking the villages questions we learnt a bit more about village life in the highlands. It was explained to us that the way the village worked was by every family farming food for themselves and a little bit extra to sell at market so they could pool some money to provide diesel for their genset that powered the village at night. They lived very simply off the land with the people helping each other out when needed, with a steadfast belief that they should help their neighbour as one day they might be in the position to need help in return. The Chief was primarily an abitor who ensured that everyone got on okay and no one did with out. What a wonderful society albiet a far cry from our modern world - simple and happy. This village visit had been the part of the tour that I had felt apprehensive about. Similar visits I've been on in places like Lesotho left me feeling extremely vouyeristic and explotive. What impressed me was the Fijian's didn't put on a show for us rather just included us in there daily way of doing things as they would a visit from the next village down the valley.

Before we left the village we were talking to one of our guides that was reputed to be the best hunter in the village. I asked him about how he hunted wild pigs. He explained he headed into the jungle with nothing but the clothes on his back, a machete and four or five of his hunting dogs (no shoes). Once his dogs got the scent of a boar they took off and he had to basically chase them to the pig. If it was a small pig the dogs would take him down on their own, however more often than not the boar was too large for the dogs to take and they'd corner it until he arrive with his machete. I further asked him if he gave it the chop or did he skewer it. He replied that basically he stood with his machete and the boar usually charged. He basically waited as long as possible in its path then got out of the way while dealing it a fatal blow. He said it took a lot of courage to stand your ground during a charge as it was quiet scarry. I pondered this for a few minutes and I was very impressed - its a far cry from the pig hunters in Australia that take out rifles.....

Another thing that struck me about the villages was that how fit they looked and how solid they were. There were not overweight men here where their daily chores involve manual labour in their fields and chase pigs through the jungles barehanded. They're stringy slight people whose arms and legs are bulging with muscle. I think these guys would even make some of the fighters from Sinbi look soft - I don't say this likely. I also got the feeling that if they wanted to leave there village life and train full time as a national rugby team they'd be the team to beat. Talking with one of the American's on the trip we both agreed that to live in the village for a few months would be an awesome experience - probably the hardest thing soft westerners like us would ever do but potentially the most rewarding. I'll store this thought away for when my travel gets boring.

After the village we headed to the Luva River, got kitted out and into one man inflatable kayaks. The river was running quiet well but most of the rapids were quiet easy being only a 2-3 rating. What was amazing was the scenery - since my camera is not waterproof it was stowed in a dry sac so I only have photos from when we stopped. Hopefully I'll get emailed some more when some of the travellers I met get home. The jungle and rock on either bank really encroached on the river making it a memorable experience. After around four hours of downstream paddling with rapids every few hundred meters, spectacular waterfalls and alot of fun we got to calmer water and swapped our kayaks for two motorised long boats. If we thought the journey was over we were very much mistaken. If anything coming out through the foot hills the scenary became even more spectacular with vines joining all the palm trees on the hills creating a solid, albiet evil looking, slope of green. The hills were also punctuated by cliffs and waterfalls around every bend. This was a magic place to which I'd hope to return one day.

Spent today chillin' around the backpacker at Nadi (starting to not be a complete pillick with a hacky sack). Hopefully I'm off sailing around some of the northern Fijian islands tomorrow.