Day 4 - 8th March

Hi all back home- we need some lovin!!!! Where are all the comments to keep us going while we are away from good old NZ??

We had arranged to go up to the Cascade waterfalls today with John and Sherlie. Other tripadvisor reviews online for this resort had talked about the costs for getting over there. The taxi's and buses are identical, just vans with a
'B'or a 'T' on them as Ive said earlier and we had been told the bus takes you right to the falls as well.

Basically anywhere inside the town limits is 100 vatu pp ($1.40) each way- outside this its 200 vatu. So it only cost the 2 of us around $12 return, whereas the taxi costs approx. $40-45. It is so easy to use these 'buses' as they do exactly the same route with only a few quick stops. It seems that most of the tourist population do the same thing so the bus vans are constantly dropping off at the resorts and pick up the next ones- all very casual and unplanned compared to our bus services, but it works well.

The cascade falls were amazing, they have a strong lime content, so the water is a azure blue/green and there were probably 20 pools you can swim in. The surroundings where you walk up are like a garden of eden, with huge bright
flowers everywhere in the dense bush. One warning we would have liked to have known before was that there are masses of mosquitos up there, query if its just now that they are so bad. Asked the man on the gate, but they dont
sell any repellant- could have made a killing!!

The mozzies are pretty big, about the size of a smaller fly and when you stand still they cover your legs. The one way out is to get in the water and after the walk up to the top of the falls, Graeme and I were only too happy to get in. They
have carved steps into the rock and slung ropes to hang on to as you climb through the waters. At the top you can stand in the top waterfall which felt like a pins and needles shower! Apparantly there was a huge amount of water there at present- at other times it can be just a trickle.

We swam around in various pools, being careful as some of the currents can pin you up against the rocks and going back down was a bit exciting as the current on your legs was rather strong. Went down to the bottom pool and were shown a 12 foot rock where you can leap off into the water. We did this together and was exhilerating - once I got my legs to stop physically shaking !! Must have been the adrenaline?!

We went down to wait for our pick up, only problem was that the bus driver who had arranged to come back for us later, didnt appear. Luckily a tour van operator was at the falls and was happy to take us all back to the resort for the bus fares, so it was no big deal.

We all came back ravenous, so sat outside and had a beer and hot chips for lunch!! Then watched a wedding down on the beach. The bride arrives on a canoe with a chair strapped on, then once on the beach the native guys all rush her and do some kind of challenge that scares the pants off some! They then have the ceremony and follow up with a marque meal for the wedding party, looking out over the lagoon. Very hot and humid time of year to marry but no-one has passed out yet!

Went back to our lovely air cond. room for a nana nap! then decided to just have crackers and dip for dinner. Think there is karaoke on tonight so might go have a look, but not to sing- enough aussies here who are more than confident to do it instead!!! Not many kiwi's here at present, we note.