The Old Capital

I decided that it was finally time to take my second week of leave, and get out and see some more of Fiji, so on Friday I left Lautoka, headed for Levuka.  I have gotten very comfortable in Lautoka now – I really feel that it is home, and I was almost tempted just to stay there during my leave (or not take my leave at all!) – but I knew that it would be a shame not to take the oppertunity to visit somewhere else.  So I phoned Jenny (link to her blog in the panel on the right) and asked if I could come to Levuka and visit her here.  Levuka is the old capital of Fiji, and is on a smaller island called Ovalau, east of the main island Viti Levu (which is Lautoka and Suva are).  To get there, you have to get a bus, then a boat, then a bus again.  When I bought my ticket, I was told that the bus would leave Suva at 1.30pm, so I got up early, and came down from Lautoka in plenty of time.  There were one or two things I had to buy, so off I went, and returned to the bus stand just after 1pm.  The bus was already gone.  I panicked.  Luckily Bill (my host brother) suggested that I get a taxi to Nausori, a town which the bus passes through).  If he hadn’t, I’d probably just have stood crying in the Suva bus stand.  So we jumped in a taxi to Nausori, while i tried to phone the shipping company.  When we reached Nausori, the bus had already left!  So we had to continue to Kororvou, another town further along.  We caught up with the bus there, and I had to pay 40 dollars in taxi fares, which the shipping company has said they will refund.  All is well that ends well!

When I arrived in Levuka it was already dark.  Jenny met me from the bus and we went to have our dinner in the Whale’s Tale, and very cute little restaurant which I would definatley recommend.  I had the beef burger (not very fijian I know), and it must be one of the best burgers I’ve ever tasted.  The dressing on the salad reminded me of the dressing that my mum makes at home.  Delicious!  I couldn’t resisit having a banana split for dessert.  Afterwards we went to one of the two local clubs, the Koro Makawa, for a drink, and met some of the locals.

On Sarurday I got the chance to see Levuka by daylight.  It really is something special; not like any town I’ve seen before.  Dotted all around are old churches, colonial buildings and wooden building-fronts.  The main drag, Beach Street, is like a cross between the set of an old Western movie and a quaint british sea-side town.  Wherever you look, there’s a building with a story.  The people too are very friendly.  I’ve only been here for three days, but already I’ve met many people twice over and stopped to have a chat!  I’ve been incited for lunch, dinner, grog, walks…. people are friendly and generous!  Saturday afternoon we went to watch the rugby – Ovalau against Suva.  The match was good, but I was distracted by the scenery.  Just beyond the pitch, you could huge steep, green hills towering over the town, dotted with palm trees and small houses.  The hills are the reason that Levuka is no longer the capital – town planners realised many years ago that these hills meant that the town would never be able to expand much, and so the government offices were moved to Suva.