TRAVERSE 27
TRAVEL- FIJI
LEIGH WILKINS
BULA AND BRUISES
There’ s a moment, just before the handlebars wrench sideways and the bike decides it wants to mate with a tree root, where you question all your life choices. For me, that moment came somewhere between Narewa and Bukuta, on a goat track, although calling it a track seems a little far too generous, that was last maintained around the time of the Lapita people. I was astride a grumbling, mud-spattered enduro motorcycle, sweat dripping from every part of me, thighs cramping like I’ d just done leg day with a personal trainer named Pain, and the forest was alive with the sound of me yelling something entirely unprintable.
And I was loving every damn minute of it.
Welcome to the wild west of Fiji, not the postcard version with coconut cocktails and gently swaying hammocks, but the raw, rutted, rainslick spine of Viti Levu’ s interior, where a motorcycle isn’ t just a way to get around, it’ s a passport to places few visitors ever see. This wasn’ t a ride for the faint of heart, or those who don’ t enjoy sweating through their boots before morning tea.
The blame for this madness falls squarely at the boots of one Jason Shugg, founder of Mai Island Ride, and part-time wrangler of underskilled motorcycle travellers like me. A long-time expat, Jason’ s got a laconic charm, seasoned with a touch of island time, and a terrifyingly optimistic belief that you’ ll“ be right” no matter what the trail throws at you. He runs these off-road motorcycle tours through parts of Fiji that Google Maps still marks as“ Here Be Dragons,” and when I signed up, I thought, how bad could it be?
Jason, his wife Michelle, and a couple of other riders had all congregated at their base in Momi, where I was already sweating
TRAVERSE 27