Jun 27 - Early drive out from Suva, retracing our route back to the west end of the island. Less traffic today. Stop in a public beach park at Maui Bay, where there is a pier out over the shallow reef. The beach is clean and the water crystal clear. Many fish are visible, including some very small eels.
Carry on west from here, to a pull-out at Baravi Beach. Here there is nobody, except a man playing with his infant son. The beach is large-grained sand and pebble, with a small river flowing out nearby. Even the sides of the river are relatively free of trash. This area just doesn’t have much population.
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On to the town of Sigatoka. Here is the main objective of the day, to see the Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park. In trying to find the visitor center, we go down some small roads and are directed to a small parking area under the wall of dunes. We are supposed to report to the center before walking here, but decide to just go and find out where it is later. This is a partly unvegetated portion of the park with active dune movement.
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Go back to car and eventually find the visitor center. Entry charge to the park is F$5/adult. Pottery has been found here, and tools made of whalebone.
Another giant legend:
Long ago, a giant lived on the island of Kadavu (this island is south and can just be seen offshore from some places). He wanted an island just to himself, and could fly, so gathered up rocks from Kadavu and flew out over the ocean looking for a place to make his own island. However, the giant who did own Kadavu saw him and chased him around, since he had stolen the rock. The bag he used had a hole in it, so rock kept dribbling out as he tried to evade capture. The fallen rock created many of the small islands of Fiji around Viti Levu. He eventually lost the pursuer but was too tired to fly anymore and alighted in Sigatoka, dumping the remaining contents of his bag on the coast. All that was left was sand, and this material made the Sigatoka dunes.
Go hiking to a view over the coast (Yataga Lookout) and down through the thick growth of the vegetated, paleodunes.
It is late enough in the afternoon that we decide to head back to Nadi. Drive back to the area we stayed a few days ago and hang out on the beach before finding our last meal in Fiji.
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Go on a crab-hunting expedition with Odette until 19:30. Drive the ten minutes to Nadi Airport to turn the car back in. The car rental representative is standing at the airport entrance, ready to flag me down. We go into the terminal unloading area and it is a quick, simple handoff of the keys.
Normally, I would dread going into the terminal so early, knowing that the flight was leaving at midnight. However, Nadi airport is a simple, quiet place, with one big flight leaving now for San Francisco and little else going on. Most of the people here are family members, gathering to say goodbye. Have a bit of a migraine from the long day in the sun, so take the rare step of seeking out a coffee. I ran out of migraine medicine long ago, and have learned how to cope without it out of necessity. During this entire trip, the occasional migraine has been the only annoying health issue I’ve faced.
Book into our flight. I have that feeling that we are heading out to somewhere very remote.
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