Trip to Levuka

At the end of our third week in Fiji we went on a trip to the old capital, Levuka. I was particularly excited about this visit as I had learnt about this site last week at the National Trust Workshop from the Levuka Community Centre site managers. It is currently on the World Tentative List earmarked to be a World Heritage Site. Most recently it was rejected from the listing due to the large space that was proposed to be protected, therefore the current work on this project is reducing the protected areas to four or five key sites including the MH building (now the Community centre), the Sacred Heart Church, the old Marist College school and two of the shops. I initially thought that the request to reduce the size of the protected area was illogical, as I thought it would reduce the ability for conservation, however the impetus behind this is to ensure that it is a manageable project for the available staff.

On Friday morning I met up with the two park rangers who I had met last week- Tombassi (my apologises for the spelling!) and Lydia at the MH Community Centre. Despite being quite out- dated in terms of displays and books, it is well- looked after and very interesting. It includes a small museum, a large space for events such as Library Week Book Parades, a library and a reading corner. It is primarily targeted at school- aged children for after- school activities and holiday programs, however when I was visiting there was also a group of businessmen having a meeting in the centre illustrating that it is a central point for all Levuka people.

The rest of the trip was spent exploring the streets and swimming in the ocean. I found that there was a very stark difference between Levuka and Suva- it is much smaller, safer and even more friendly, if that was possible! The town is very small, consisting of one main street and a huge fish factory. It felt like stepping back in time with the colonial influence clear in the old shop fronts. We were staying at Mary's Lodge, which is run by Suzie's sister. It was great to see Mossi again- we have missed him!



Apart from the time we spent in Levuka, the bus and boat trip was fascinating. Watching out the window during the bus rides through villages provided so many examples of the initiative and resourcefulness of Fijians- houses decorated with shells, gardens made out of old tyres, beach volley ball courts made out of bamboo.

I was also fascinated by the endless amounts of trucks and buses exiting what looked like a tiny ship. At one point there was chaos with four buses reversing at the same point, yet magically they ended up in a line of four perfect reverse parks. I feel like this has been my entire experience in Fiji- an appearance of chaos and disorganization yet the final product has order.

Watching the sunrise on Saturday on the ship returning to Suva was a moment that I was will never forget. We were all exhausted with a busy weekend ahead of us- but it was just so beautiful!