Fiji - Coral Coast Railroad

21 Fiji - Coral Coast Railroad (Sun. Feb. 22)

According to our "paper" itinerary we received with our original trip information, we are scheduled for the Coral Coast Railroad ride on Monday. The information we received with the phone call this morning confirmed what we heard last night from the others on our tour. The call this morning indicated the train does not ride on Monday, but on Sunday or Tuesday. Since we are leaving Tuesday, today which is Sunday, sounds like a good bet. Beside that is when the others in our tour group are going therefore so will we.

It is sunny this morning and we get to see the ocean and the beach area in front of the resort, but not from our room. We are at the tree top level, but cannot see over the trees to the ocean. We have to go up to the top floor to get a good view. This is a view from the top floor. The grass roof tops are various buildings including the cafe we ate at last night (the big one in the upper left corner. You can see where the "shelf" ends by the breakers.

A van comes to pick us up; much better then the individual cars to get here. The ride to the train takes us back the way we came last night, only now it is daylight. We get to see the country side. And yes there are horses and cows along the side of the road. I mean right on the side of the road. Some are tied with a rope around their necks others are free, because the rope broke.

The train we are going to take is a narrow gage train which during the sugar cane harvesting time (July to December), brings sugar cane to the processing plant. The "passenger" car is used during tourist season (January to June). The track is only about 24 inches wide and I'm not sure what the size of a regular narrow gage track is. In any case that is pretty narrow. The engine looks to be a diesel engine that will be turning the wheels. The car we are in is open, no windows, and not much for good seats either. Our destination is the Coral Coast Beach and a resort where we will have lunch.

As we go along our way we have to slow down or stop for horses and cows to get off the track. They are literally on the tracks. Besides the animals, dirt from the crossing roads piles up on the tracks and in one place the conductor had to stop the train and take a shovel to clear the track of dirt in order for us to continue.

We pass a number of small villages. Some of the houses still have the grass bundled roof coverings. There are also small children that come out to the train saying "Boula" and expecting lollys (candy) thrown to them from the passengers (which we bought from the train tour guide at $2.00 for a small bag). We throw candy to the little children, some of them are so cute. (Of course later when we are out of candy one older boy flips us the bird when we do not throw him any candy. Ah, I guess it even happen here.)

Our first "scheduled" stop is a cave. We head up into the woods a short distance and come to the cave. The cave is supposedly a sanctuary for local villagers during bad hurricanes. The cave was also reportedly used for years and was at one time used by cannibals. (way inside the cave was a beheading rock, if the rumor told to us by the train tour guide is true.) After looking around, we head back to the train to continue our trip to the beach and lunch.

The train passes villages and schools as we continue to the resort where we will have lunch and of course the beach. Like New Zealand and Australia, some of these schools have a uniform for students to wear.

We pass more horses and cows that are on the track and we pass them slowly so they will get off and out of our way. And we get glimpses of the ocean along the way. Besides all of that, we pass fields of sugar cane and as we near the resort; a golf course.

At the resort we go inside for a drink, a bathroom break, and then lunch. Lunch today is a barbecue with potato salad, hamburgers, chicken breasts, and lamb sausages. I try them all. Not so fond of the lamb sausage.

After lunch, Carmen and I head down to the beach along with some of the others. This is a very nice beach. The beach is maybe one mile long, maybe longer, with a nice curve so you can see the whole beach. Some of the resort "rooms" are individual huts complete with grass roofs. In any case the resort is very nice, at least what we can see of it.

There is a man at the beach with a horse. If you wanted you can buy time (10 minutes at a time) and ride the horse up and down the beach. One of our group goes for a horse back ride and she says it way really great.

Before to long we make our way back to the resort to clean the sand off and get ready for the train ride back to the station. The beach here is really nice and wish we could stay longer. The train has turned around and the engine is back in the front for the ride back. Shortly we are all back on board and heading on our way.

During our trip back we stop at one of the houses along the track for coconut milk. $2.00 for each coconut. A couple of men came down to the train, after we stop to see if any want a coconut. The coconuts are already cut down and are leaning up against a palm, and begin to cut up a couple of coconuts for the milk inside. (We are a little disappointed that they did not climb up to cut them down.) A couple of us get one, so do I even though I do not like the flavor, and everyone tastes the liquid. Well, not everyone. Carmen will not try it, she already saw my face when I tasted the milk. Anyway, afterwards, they chop up the coconut to get at the white fruit inside. We taste both the milk and the coconut and help with the local economy. Be a traveler, not a tourist as the saying goes. (I'll explain later.)

We continue on our way back to the "train station" taking in the scenery and still dodging the horses and cows. We were going along fine, when the diesel engine running the train throws a fan belt. One of the two drivers had to go back about 100 feet and retrieve the belt; then both drivers worked to put it back on. It takes about 15 minutes for the two of them to get the belt back on before we are back on our way. Everyone gets a good chuckle about the incident.

So we are back on the road, so to speak, still taking in the scenery, when we are within 100 yards of the station, the train car we are in derails. It was easy to tell, boom, boom, boom ... The ride becomes jarring like riding on a washboard road. Good thing we are only going about as fast than as running speed! No one is hurt.

Everyone gets out, check out the derailed car and when we find out it will take some effort and time to get the train back on track, begin to walk the rest of the way on foot. We have to cross a trestle bridge, on foot, that is about 15 feet over a stream. Everyone makes it okay, I didn't even trip, twist my ankle or fall through the beams; and some say I'm a such a klutz. Everyone agrees, this has been a very interesting trip back.

We get back to the "train station" and wait for the van to take a couple, not with our group, back to their resort. We check out the station and the other engines and cars. Interesting.

The van gets back and we pile in. When we get back to the Outrigger Resort, Carmen and I decide to walk down to road to another restaurant. Since it was drizzling out just a little while ago, we bring our umbrellas. As we are walking down the road and almost at the restaurant it starts to rain. Good thing we brought the umbrellas. We order a pizza, the same kind as last night, only this one costs $12.00 Fijian; half the cost as the one from the Resort. The restaurant is very clean and the pizza really good. And the soda was only $1.80 compared to the $4.00 at the resort, making it even more sweet.

After dinner we head back to the Resort. It has stopped raining, but we keep Carmen's opened because it is yellow, we are walking on the side of the road with no sidewalks and it is very, very dark.

When we get back to the room, it is pretty late and I start to download our pictures. Tomorrow, we have nothing planned except to sit by the pool and relax. Become a beach, or pool if you prefer, bum all day long.