JHam asked how we kept track of where we were going on the trails. Many, if not most of the trails we have come across are very minimal until you get close to the village. The last two islands we hiked on the trails could not really be seen in many cases, it was more a matter of feeling your way. If you’re not on the trail, you can’t get through the underbrush/jungle. If you are on the trail, you move forward. Simple.

So…I have a machete and this also helps. Mostly it’s helpful for cutting coconuts to drink and eat, but sometimes it helps break trail and often I use it to mark a spot to use for coming back. A little cut on a tree that shows we were here. Sometimes when the trail forks, we just draw a line in the dirt.

A combination of things keeps us going the right direction. Also, we don’t walk late in the day because once the sun gets low you can’t see in the shade – a surefire way to spend the night in the bush.

We’ve spent the last 2 ½ months in the Lau Island Group on the East side of Fiji. More specifically the Southern and Southeastern Lau.

We left Oneata this morning on our way to Nairai. Planned arrival is tomorrow, perhaps late morning if the wind holds. For most of today (and now) the wind has been holding between 10 and 15 knots with somewhat confused seas. It’s a bit of a bumpy ride, but downwind at 5.5 knots average, so I can’t complain too much.

For anyone contemplating stopping at Oneata, we highly recommend it (particularly the village of Dakquiloa. The people there were really nice and if you are looking for really beautiful tapas Oneata and Namuaka-I-Lau, a little further south, both are excellent spots. We really wished we had more time to spend, particularly at Oneata but it’s getting late in the season and we still have some spots we would like to visit before heading back to NZ.

So for now it’s rockin’ and rollin’ threading our way out of the Lau and across the Koro Sea. Dinner was very simple: soup with some homemade bread that John from Orcinius gave us before we left. These 24 hour trips make it hard to get our sea legs, so we keep it as simple as possible and stay out of the cabin in these bumpy conditions.

Speaking of Orcinius, they are going north up the Lau via Lakemba and Vanua Balava and we’ll meet up again in Savusavu in a week or so. It will be fun to compare notes over a beer (or three).