Our Arrival

On landing in Nadi we were serenaded by a group of Fijians whilst waiting to get through immigration. After locating a local bus we set off on our way towards the countries Capital, Suva. After a bumpy drive across the length of Fijis largest island Viti Levu we finally arrived in Suva 5 hours later and spent the night in a lovely homestay/hostel. 

We began our first full day in Fiji by heading into the Chaotic town of Suva, which was much bigger than expected, we hadn’t realised it was the biggest city in the South Pacific. It  consisted mostly however  of hundreds of shops all seemingly selling the same things; clothes, food, clothes, food. We also explored a huge fruit market... again all stalls seeming to sell the same things. Huge competition! 
We eventually managed to find a Vodafone ( biggest phone provider in Fiji and also sponsers of the Flying Fijians!) and bought our Fiji simcards.

 

Our Suva stay was cut short as we had to catch a bus at 1pm and then a ferry to head over to the small island of Ovalau, home to the countries old Capital Levuka. Wandering round the bus station, obviously looking quite lost we were helped by a friendly Fijian pointing us in the right direction. It is very different here, you don’t really get clear instructions from anyone. Everyone is very blasé and relaxed. We now know what they mean by Fiji time , nothing is rushed and they never stick to schedule! There is absolutely no point asking how long a trip will take as it is bound to be totally different, or they wonder why you even care enough to ask! 

We met a Swiss guy on the bus , whom was in the midst of a round the world trip, and  heading to Levuka for a couple of days.

Once on the ferry we followed the crowd of Fijian school kids inside to a floor sitting area where everyone lies/sits and passed the time watching an Adam Sandler film... which the Fijian boys all found hysterical, screaming with laughter !! More amusing than the film for us.

After a scenic drive across the island of Ovalau, we finally arrived in Levuka ! Our new home for 4 weeks! We had rang ahead early that day to arrange getting our house keys, and in true fiji fashion were told no meeting place, or time, and not to worry as "Luisa will find you". About as vague as they could be! However as soon as we left the bus. We were greeted by  alovely fijian lady called Luisa and her children, the cutest of which is a small boy called Demsey who enjoyed shouting RACHAEEELLLLLL at any opportunity ( and still does). It was soon clear why she would just find us, it is a very small town, and we certainly stand out. 

Oniviro cottage with Gorgeous backdrop Gunrock

Tucked away at the back of a lovely little garden was our cottage. It has a bedroom and equipped kitchen and best of all a hot water shower! A luxury in Fiji.

Kitchen was well stocked with fresh fruit from the garden courtesy of our new lovely caretaker Katherin, a mixture of passionfruit, papaya, cumquat, banana and we were told we can pick as much fruit as we want from our exotic backyard !!

We headed into town for tea, walking along the dirt track coast road in the pitch black using a phone torch for light (As of course Levuka is not equipt with such luxuries as street lights) Kindly we were picked up by a friendly bus driver called Tom, who wouldn’t let us leave the bus until we ‘agreed’ to come and stay at his house in Suva one weekend. We headed into The Whale’s Tale restaurant, one of the two resturants in Levuka. And it really did operate on not only “Fiji time” but “Levuka time”!!!. Which wasn’t helped by the staff having to leave to go and buy the ingredients prior to making the meals !

The wait was worthwhile however as the food was great, especially the Laksa Soup... and our worries about starving in Fiji were eliminated.

After a long day we arrived back for our first night at the cottage, clambering under the mosquito net we fell asleep to the sound of crickets and waves. 

Levuka day 1

Woke up hot! Under our mosquito net tent. And couldn’t belive the view when we looked out the window. With it being night time when we arrived we hadn’t been able to fully appreciate the view, at the end of our garden stretched the ocean, a mere 20m from out front door.

A happy tom

Although within half an hour of waking up we had already locked ourselves out of the house! We had to break in by Rach climbing through a window (much too easy to do tbh)!!

The rest of the day we just enjoyed finally getting some sunshine and explored the Town with our swiss friend Phillip. It is a lovely little sleepy town that was the old capital ( ...especially sleepy on a Sunday as EVERYONE is in one of the numerous churches in the town) full of character, the buildings an old colonial style like something from a western film, much nicer than the corrugated iron and wood buildings that fill the rest of Fiji.

We made sure we both got a good look at the hospital and Levuka Public School where we will be spending most of our time, both excited and also a little apprehensive about what will be in store for us.

It was hard to know where we were allowed to walk outside of the main strip however as the island is owned by the villages and you have to ask the permission of a chief before entering a village. Fortunately it was Sunday though with not too many Fijians walking around to tell us off and we got by by walking the outskirts of the main divisions of town. We ll have to ask more about where we can go tomorrow and explore further!

This is the cession site where Fiji was signed over to the British and eventually back again to become its own independent country.

Ivans hot bread which does indeed sell lots of fresh hot  bread which we have taken advantage of.... yet to meet 'Ivan' however.

Everyone is very open and friendly here and people love to ask us questions and hear about why we are in Levuka. I suppose because there are hardly any tourists here.

Every morning on our walk to work along the winding coastal road, every 2 seconds we are being greeted by another Fijian with “Bula” ( Hi) or “Yandra" (Morning). It actually started to get quite tiresome as everyone you pass wanted to speak to you, Such a friendly place , but you cant help but worry about the over use of the word “Bula” over the next 8 weeks.

A particularly friendly Fijian is our house keeper Katherine. She is a lovely old lady who lives in the house alongside our cottage. Not only does she do our washing by hand, point out the numerous herbs available for our use in the garden ( basil, coriander,lemongrass, ginger, chillis) but keeps bringing us smoothies and plenty of treats! 

With the history of cannabilism mixed with the gestures of food and cannibal fork in our cottage we were a little worried they are trying to fatten us up for their benefit !!! 

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As expected we have got far to relaxed, encapsualted in "fiji time" and as a result have been pretty awful at keeping up with writing a blog... so instead from now on it will just be a highlights reel which will probably be more entertaining for you all anyway!

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