October 20 - Birding with Varun

October 20 (Day 9 – Bird watching with Varun, Satish Foodmart, Suncity Supermarket): We got up pretty early and had breakfast. Then we went shopping... walked up to Sun City. Usual supply run. They did not have booze, but we had walked past another store on our way (Satish Kumar Foodmart) That had a “liquor” sign, So stopped there on the way back. Wine, beer, gin, tonic. Jim and Pam’s potty wasn't working well so Robert the caretaker came to fix it. While he was working, Varun dropped by. He is the bird watching guide. We set up a tour for 10:30. He drove us in our truck. We went way up the mountain into the cloud forest. Very rainy! Saw birds but many were elusive. I got good views of parrots and a goshawk. We walked through the forest in the rain trying to find an orange dove. Got wet, muddy and cold... no dove ☹. We searched for the doves, but never found them. When we got back, we cleaned up and rested. At the store a man had been selling samosas (roti Curry) so I bought some. We had those for dinner. Varun is going to try to do another dove search before we go home.

Rod’s Thoughts: The bird watching, in my opinion, was a bust. It rained the entire time and I got cold. I guess I am getting old, or the birds just don’t interest me that much. But I would recommend Varun to anyone wanting to do birdwatching and is really into it. He is determined to find birds, even in heavy rain.

Have I said it before? Ilovetaveuni.com is a great website if you plan on visiting Taveuni.