What time is it there?!

After our second night in Savusavu we left early to fly to Levuka. Because of the infrequent flights we had to fly to Suva and then wait about 6 hours for our connecting flight of only 12 minutes!

Levuka is on the small island of Ovalau and was Fiji’s capital until 1882, when the British decided that lack of space for town expansion meant that Suva was a better location. At the edge of town is the cession site, where Fiji first became a British colony in 1874 and then gained its independence some 96 years later.

Much of Levuka is still as it was in the 1800’s, with old wooden buildings lining the main street. The town has been nominated to be a world heritage site, although it’s not clear how long it takes to agree these things. There have apparently been a number of fires in recent years that destroyed buildings of interest.

We stayed in the Royal Hotel which proudly claims to be Fiji’s oldest. The prices don’t seem to have changed much over the years as this turns out to be our best bargain so far at £12 for a double room.

This would be another town with no mains electricity supply if it weren’t for the tuna canning plant at the end of the road. I’d never really considered what such a place would look like, and the sight and smell of this one doesn’t encourage me to go looking for any others!