Taveuni Island, Eastern Fiji

We’ve just spent a week in the remote eastern Fijian island of Taveuni. We traveled here by twin prop 12 seater plane, on a beautifully clear day giving some extraordinary views. The plane was hilariously administered and as expected ran to Fiji Time (45mins late take off despite no apparent reason for delay other than a pilot with coffee to finish).

Leaving the airport was a breeze, no carousels as we grabbed our bags straight out of the planes hold. Matei airport (code TVU) is one of those delightfully small airfields which I adore, affording private aviation to every man.

So Matei is meant to be the hub of enterprise on Taveuni. Interesting, since there is not a shop in sight on first arrival. We hiked 500m down the road to Jim Bibi’s 20-acre copra plantation where we would hire a cottage for the week. Jim is a delightful old gentleman (ex Fijian government) who is full of stories and wisdom. His personal cottage is an Aladdin’s cave of things which may at some stage come in useful. It looked like Grandad’s garage.

Day One

Jim Bibi, owner of Bibi's Hideaway, Matei

Spent chatting to Jim and then wandering down to ‘downtown’ Matei to Bhula Bhai & Sons general store; think pound store circa 1986. We bought a few carbohydrates, desperately hunted in vain for vegetables and then gave up and walked home stopping only to buy roti from an incredibly polite but simple chap called Kumar. He has since thanked us on a daily basis for spending 60p at his stall and tells us daily how wonderful our country and Queen are. Jingoism is not dead.

We went to Tramonto restaurant and it was shut so we ate corned beef bolognese cooked on the gas camping stove. Mmmm

Day Two

Wairiki Catholic Mission (click to see inside)

Taveuni is wet and windy, these are serious pacific island storms which conjure up visions of Captain Cook battling through the shark filled waters. Anyway, we took a taxi to Wairiki village and decided to visit the Catholic mission. Gilly now understands the term mission, since these places are a mission to get to. First we took a wrong road and walked up the mountain side to a village, it was only when he pointed out the cross on the hilltop about 2-miles right we turned back. I don’t think the villagers here had ever seen vulagi before.

A pitstop at the delicious Taveuni bakery restaurant later and we were back on track, soon to be lost again. The church is magnificent inside, as are most catholic churches. We couldn’t find the track to the cross on the mountain top, Lonely Planet is totally wrong in its instructions here. A boy from the village ended up giving us a guided tour (we gave him $FJ 3 as a reward) and showed us a shortcut which was a little hairy; a 45 degree muddy jungle incline. Needless to say, he motored up it barefooted without blinking. He wants to join the British Army when he finishes school, and good luck to him – we need characters like him.

International Date Line, Waiyevo, Taveuni

Next, we walked a few kilometers down the road to Waiyevo to visit The International Date Line to get those all important Today-Yesterday photos and see how many crap puns we could come up with. The International Date Line is a wooden signpost at the far corner of a rugby pitch with a bench on either side of the line, what a great tourist attraction and well worth travelling so far for! We also visited the Taveuni Hospital up in Waiyevo which was rather cute and remarkably well equipped, although the nurses were waiting until 6pm for the electrical generator to start up so they could administer medicines. During the night, they operate with Florence Nightingale style kerosene lanterns.

We went to Tramonto restaurant again, and again it was closed so we once again ate pasta and this time chilli, tomato and tuna cooked on the gas stove. Gilly seems to really enjoy this muck.

Day Three

Tavoro Waterfall 1, Bouma National Park

Another taxi ride, this time to Bouma national park, The road is just unbelievable, African dirt tracks would have them green with envy! When we got there, the park was lovely. Green and lush like you would expect on The Garden Island. We climbed up to the second of three waterfalls, not the easiest of ascents along a muddy narrow path. The Fijians really overestimate their visitors expedition skills I think. We had lunch at a viewpoint, corned beef sandwiches, bombay mix and a packet of Bongos, washed down with waterfall water.

On descent we had a good swim in the lower waterfall plunge pool. Lovely fresh clear water and I went free diving for prawns and fish.

Finally we made it to the fabled Tramonto restaurant, payed 10 quid for a pizza and it was crap.

Day Four

Tramonto restaurant at sunset

Stormy weather prevents play, and in any case we’ve done everything there is to do on this island. Went to Audrey’s tea house for a prolonged afternoon tea and met a nice English couple who we went for dinner with later and who were also staying at our place. Tramonto provided a better fayre tonight with fish and chips which were rather good and only cost $10, a third of the price of a crap pizza.

I probably sound unfairly negative in my recount of Taveuni, and in reality it will be an experience I look back upon with great fondness. This is real Fiji, no big yellow boats and flashpacker hostel with wifi. This is how rural Fijians live, and staying in a place like this allowed us to rub noses with the delightful chirpy locals and understand the difficulties of daily living in a developing Pacific community. You have to bear in mind, we visited during the dry season and I just cannot imagine how difficult life is here during the cyclone season.

Interesting note, petrol prices are leaving us all out of pocket recently, it’s nothing compared to the hardship they’re going through here. They need petrol for everything, from powering the fishing boat so the island can eat, through to powering the hospital’s generator so the surgeon can operate.

Taveuni Travel Tips

Not many make it to Taveuni and there are a number of pitfalls to watch out for which can make travelling around there frustrating so I’ve assembled together a few travel tips on this page.

Taveuni Travel Tips

Tags: bouma, fiji, international date line, pacific, remote, taveuni, tavoro, wairiki, waiyevo