Tuesday 12th July - Silana and Arouvidi

Today we had "the best day yet" say the girls as we travelled by taxi out to the village of Arovudi, Silana and the hospitality of Seru, Sala and their family. The village is located on the northern tip of Ovalau and about 80 people live there.   We have to  remember our village etiquette  - and Tiegan, Rowan and Nicole have to wear sarongs and dress modestly, no hats or sunglasses and bags carried not over the shoulder. No touching of heads as Fijians regard the head as sacred - and should we meet the chief we have to remember to keep our head lower than his.
We are shown around the church built from stone and baked coral mixed with water (instead of cement)

the meeting house

and also the collection of ramshackle houses which are spread around the village.

Everyone welcomes us with a smile and a handshake. Some income is generated from vegetable and fruit growing and also from the sale of mats woven from pandanus leaves and we sit awhile and watch two ladies show us how.

We sit in the shade  in an open sided area, under a thatched roof with palm leaves covering the pillars. It has an earth floor which Seru covers with a large woven leaf mat. He then shows us how to play Vidi Vidi, a version of Caroum which is popular here - a cross between subbeteo, snooker and shove ha'penny.

We turn out to be "not very good"!

Sala teaches the girls how to make coconut lolly - a bit like coconut ice fudge. She shows them how to husk the coconut, then break it open and the how to grate the inside using a purpose built tool with a rasp at one end and a paddle at the other which one sits on.
                
Tiegan is in charge of the cooking as she is older and Rowan (much to her annoyance) mashes  the banana! Sugar is the only other ingredient - it is still a relative luxury here and these sweets are only cooked on a Sunday - we are privelleged to be shown this.

  The inside of the house is eye watering! 

The cooking facilities no more than a glorified camping stove open flame at knee height and the tiny area is sweltering!

 

There is a Fijian flag on the wall and a picture of the Queen as well as various bible verses and words and phrases of wisdom pinned up.

We head back outside with the finished plate of sweets and the shade.

A delicious traditional, but basic, Fijian lunch of Rou-Rou (boiled dalo leaf parcels in coconut cream stuffed with casava and tuna) and  boiled casava is consumed with gusto. Sadly I didnt have my camera with me to photograph it. But it looked a bit like this!


Migrating humpback whales are spotted in the far distance and we are invited to stand on the table to get a better look. Sadly we can only see the occasional water spout and the flick of a tail. The afternoon draws to a close, we sit together on the woven mat and talk, tell stories and laugh A LOT!

The time to say goodbye comes only too quickly! It is with real sadness that we leave the simplicity of Silana and this lovely family. We pledge to spread the word about this "resort" as they have very few bookings for overnight guests or day tours and they are struggling financially to support themselves.They currently are having to use a local agent for bookings and paying 20% commission and while they are building a website progress is slow. Access to e-mail, internet and computers is in Levuka and patchy at best. There is no electricity in the village as it is too far out - but there is talk this may come soon, maybe by the end of the year.

We board the carrier to make the return journey to Levuka.  It is much cheaper than the $30 FD we paid for the taxi - $2FD each - but not quite as comfortable.

 In essence it is an empty truck with bench seating on 2 sides under a tarpaulin. This is the local transport as the roads are not passable by anything other than 4 wheel drives and heavy duty vehicles. Buses dont run that far to the north of Levuka.

We eat (again) at Kim Paaks Kum Loong as we have done every night and receive local size portions tonight!

Monday 11th July - Levuka Town tour and Gun Rock

Today is Levuka tour day as we decide to follow the walking tour from the Lonely Planet guidebook which has become our bible and always with us.
Levuka is overflowing with history - the last cannibal king, Ratu Sera Cakobau, cemented his power base here and the islands were the centre of early British Colonial action. Levuka was Fiji's earliest European settlement and the country's first capital. Early European trade was in sandalwood, sea cucumber and whaling and settlements grew up in the 1830s.  The local Lovoni people burned these down on a regular basis until they gained protection from the Chief of Levuka - until he was killed in 1846.  By the 1850s Levuka had a reputation for drunkness, violence and immorality and attracted 3000 Europeans with 52 hotels for them to drink in.  Many men took several wives (they told locals that was the custom back at home) and disputes were settled with a musket! Cakobau tried to form a government in 1871 but failed and in 1874 acted on an earlier British offer and Fiji was ceded to the Crown. It became a British colony and Levuka proclaimed its' capital.

Cession Site 1874 and 1970

It remained under British rule until 1970 when it regained independence - Prince Charles made the now tatty Provinicial Bure his headquarters during this process.

Levuka is a town of "oldests" and "firsts"  -
The site of the first pigeon post providing a
postal link between here and Suva.







The original 1868 Morris Hedstrom (MH) is just down the street - a bit like Fijian Sainsburys!





We see the ruins of the South Pacific;s first Masonic Lodge- sadly burned down in the 2000 coup by locals and the Levuka Public School - Fiji's first public school and the oldest hotel in Fiji The Royal Hotel which as we discovered last night is tatty, run down and in need of some serious investment. Unfortunately it continues to trade on its' status as the original Fiji place to stay.

David has developed an aversion to shaving but under pressure from the rest of us braved the local barbar for a cut throat razor wet shave - he splashed out and spent $2 FD (60p)!

In the late afternoon we walked out of town towards Gun Rock so named after a US exploration expedition on 1849 pounded it with canon fire from their ship in an attempt to impress the chief of Levuka. This happened again in 1874 and you can still see the scars left by this.

We had to find and ask the village of Vakaviti's chief for  permission to climb up to the top which he duly granted.

Fortunately two boys from the village accompanied us with their machete and acted as navigators, path clearers and historians. The climb was particularly tricky due to the fact that we were all wearing flip flops (doh!) but the views were well worth it.

                                   

 
 

View of Levuka from Gun Rock

David, Junior and his machete!

Sunday 10th July - Levuka and the Handleys go to church!

The complimentary breakfast of fruit, cereal, eggs, toast and tea at the New Mavida Lodge turns out to be the best so far in Fiji!  As we eat we can hear the most amazing hymn singing coming from the Fijian church along the street. Church is a big thing in Fiji and most Fijians seem to go once if not twice on a Sunday and we have noticed that a lot of churches are also in session on weekday evenings as well. We walk the short distance to the very simple stone Navoka Methodist Church built in 1864 and one of the first in Fiji.
 Sunday school is in full swing and a handful of children dressed in their best clothes (girls dressed in white dresses) are singing "Yes! Jesus loves me" - words written on a large opened out cardboard box. We are greeted warmly and shown in. The service is due to start at 10.15 - but in typical Fiji Time fashion people arrive throughout and the little church fills. We are given an official welcome by the Church Secretary after the first hymn and notices for the week - including details of the various duties of the four teams which form the basis of bible study groups and proceedings follow in a very traditional format. The choir leads the congregation with the singing, all unaccompanied and sounding beautiful. There are bible readings from Jude which the pastor uses as a basis for his sermon warning us of false gods and encouraging the gathering never to question the will of God or the Church. The final hymn is Guide me oh thy Great Redeemer - none of your modern versions sung here and all from the original Methodist Hymn books.
We spend the rest of the day exploring our new surroundings almost untroubled by locals calling "Bula" and asking if the girls are twins. There is very little open on a Sunday at all as it is seen as a day for church and family time only. The only people we see passing are those on their way to and from church in the afternoon - some of whom arrive by convoys of trucks from outlying villages.
 Levuka is small and the main high street resembles the set of a spaghetti western. We are joined by the only other European resident of New Mavida Lodge - a young Austrian who has been in town a while and he shows us the internet cafe which is located up a side street.

 It appears to be closed - however Andy (quite literally) knocks three times and a face appears from behind a hatch and allows us entry!

Saturday 9th July - Labasa to Ovalau

Journey to Ovalau Part 2 begins!
   
Another stupidly early start as we are collected from the Friendly North Inn at 4.30 a.m to wait on the pavement outside the shipping office which shut 10 minutes before we reached it yesterday. We pay the bargain rate of $17 FD (not $45) for our 5 year old twins (how many times have we been asked if the girls are twins?????!!!!!) and start another bus journey to Nabouwalu. Although Savusavu is closer there is no bus service or passable road so this is the only way. Some of our fellow passengers from yesterday were hitching or taking a "carrier" truck across country but said this was not  something we should attempt! We opt for the 4th bus of 4 - which is almost empty and unlike the sticky plastic seats of the previous day we travel in a modern(ish) coach. Our driver is obviously on a mission and drives quite quickly with no regard for potholes!

We reach Nabouwalu and wait for the ferry to arrive, along with hundreds of others.

 

 

There is nothing like a Fijian scramble to get on the bus/boat/ferry! Fijians do not queue! They just move forward en masse and wave their bits of paper at the checker and hope for the best!

We make it on board the ferry, which is a thousand time better than our previous experience when we travelled from Suva. It is clean (ish) and well maintained (ish) and the girls enjoy their first TV for 3 weeks.

We make it to Natovi Landing and remain on board. Some trucks,buses and passengers leave here to go to Suva but we stay on till the next stop - Ovalau and Levuka. It is 6pm and nearly dark by the time we arrive at the oldest hotel in Fiji - The Royal. However we do not stay long - we almost feel like we stumbled into a Fijian version of Fawlty Towers by mistake! Instead we change our arrangements and relocate to the warm welcome of Auntie Pa and the relative luxury of New Mavida Lodge just along the road.