Fiji’s old Colonial Headquarters of Levuka
Saturday 10 September – Before the British took over Fiji as a colony, the Fijian government was headquartered at the village of Levuka, on the island of Ovalau.
The reason for this choice was that the large Fijian sailing canoes could sail into the harbour on a beam reach from either north or south making it the ideal location to handle the commerce and interisland travels by sail. Many colonial and pre-colonial buildings still exist in Levuka and the Fijian government intends to keep them as a living museum of the past. I was really looking forward to seeing this little corner of history as Geoff had been here 12 years ago and had very fond memories of it.
We pulled into the harbour just before sunset, the only boat anchored, and we could see right along the waterfront – sadly I have to say our first impressions weren’t great. Most shopfronts were abandoned and decayed with no signs of any life amongst them. We tied up and took the dinghy in, the sea was pretty choppy, and we moored by the Customs office on the small vessel wharf. Apparently this is not a good place to be in the South Pacific tropical cyclone season where Levuka experiences 50 – 55 knot winds creating havoc for the small craft in the harbour.
To get onto the main road we had to walk past the supermarket, there were loads of people hanging around outside, it seems that this was the place to be on a Saturday night! Around the waterfront we walked, it was quite depressing, nothing was open, no restaurants, just shuttered shops or abandoned shops. Every time we asked about restaurants we were told about the barbecue on the waterfront.
Geoff was keen to take me to the Ovalau Club where he had some happy memories of a lovely evening back in 2012, we asked for directions, only to be told it was closed but that the Levuka Club was open, but if we went, should be mindful not to stay in there too late to avoid the drunks and fights!
This was located at the end of the waterfront, so we thought we would give it a go as there was nothing else open, even the little hotels had nowhere to eat or drink. Following a coconut bowl of kava, in we went – what a place, loud beat music, strobing colour lights and the patrons consisted of about 50 local Fijian men, Geoff and I. It was a shocker and it was only 7.15pm!!! You could just envisage what it would be like around midnight!!! One drink and we were out of there.
Geoff was keen to see what the barbecue place on the front had on offer. Turned out it was a dilapidated wooden shack, with three dogs lying around in front of the counter, and a woman dishing out warmed, precooked lamp chops, sausages and chicken in a three for one dinner, coleslaw on the top, and no knife and fork or napkin!. I abstained from ordering anything, Geoff tried to eat his with his fingers, sensibly ignoring the chicken – who knows how long that had been lying around, and then we went back to the boat for some cheese and crackers and a glass of wine, by far the best option.
Sunday 12 September – I thought I may have woken to the sounds of the locals singing hymns in the church directly in front of us (and looking a little like a grey mini Big Ben) but there was nothing, and no-one around. Last night we thought we would go back in and have a walk around the town in more daylight, but when we looked at it, so tired and abandoned, we decided to up-anchor and sail on. To be honest, I have only taken a few photographs, there was nothing really worth photographing to remember.
Levuka is very isolated, mountains and no roads behind it, just a small community that far from being maintained by the government as a living museum of its colonial past, has just been left to deteriorate and decay. The population is small and it seems to be a real dead-end place with no signs of investment forthcoming. Interestingly, we saw no Indian Fijians, they are possibly the shopkeepers of the shuttered up shops who have left to live and work in a more thriving community.