Fiji
Solomon Islands
Vanuatu

Samoa
New Zealand

We decided that we would take the 4x4 and head off towards the crater of the dormant volcano Mt. Matavanu. We drove north along the coast and turned of the coast road towards the village Paia along a tar sealed road. Shortly after passing through the village the road turned into a track, with the odd stone hidden in the grass growing along the middle. At the end of this track we turned right and headed along a bumpy plantation track. Most of the way along this track we were behind to riders on the horses. Because the road is so rough it took us about 10 minutes to catch up and pass them. Five minutes or so further down the track it joined with another rough track passing through the plantation and we turned left onto this track. We drove through the plantation passing the occaissonal Samoan either working on their plot of land or heading back home with coconut leaf baskets full of produce on poles slung across their shoulders. We continued to drive for half an hour or so before we hit a patch of mud and grass on a rise that the 4x4 refused to cope with. The more I tried to get up the small rise the worse our situation became, until we could neither move forwards nor backwards. I took up my position at the rear of the 4x4 and Lucy got into the drivers seat, and with much effort and a few small lacerations to the hands I managed to bounce it out of the rapidly enlarging mudpan. We found a widening of the verge and left the car sitting on the side of the track.

Taking a bottle of water with us we headed off along the track. After about 10 minutes we were out of the cooling cover of the plantations and starting to walk through a lava field. It was, by this time, about 11:30 and the sun was beating down on us mercilessly. At first Lucy found the going very tough and although she did not admit it at the time, wanted to turn around. However she quickly found her second wind and it was my turn to have problems in the heat. After walking across the lava field for over an hour and having to stop frequently to rest and drink water, it was not really possible to cool down because the only trees were low growing acacias which offered no shade, we came to an area of upland forest. Within ten minutes of entering the forest the sky had clouded over and it had started raining. We walked for a further twenty minutes before we encountered a dry waterfall, in a streambed, that we could not cross with the footwear we had on. At this point we knew we had to admit defeat, certain in the knowledge that we had missed some turning off the track. The return walk, all downhill, was much more pleasant and seemed to be over shortly after it had begun.

When we returned to the hotel we found out where we had gone wrong. Just before we reached the dry stream bed the track had come to an abrupt end and a largish area of grass had been flattened. There should have been a track heading off up the crater, but it was obviously so long since anyone had been there, all sign of the track had disappeared.

We were so tired after our exersions of the morning and early afternoon that we did nothing other than sit in the sea for the remainder of the day, and then at bar in the evening. What a perfect way to relax!