Viti Levu, Nadi and Lautoka Back in Nadi, Julian anchored the Gallivant at our starting point, the Sheraton Hotel's Marina on Denarau Island (now closed due to lack of visitors from the coup). The sea and wind have calmed. The weather is warming up.
VITI LEVU
"Viti Levu (Great Fiji) is Fiji's largest island, with an area approximately 10,400 sq. km. It has about 75% of Fiji's total population and is the political and administrative center of the whole archipelago. The principal industries are located here, and it has the most extensive transport and communication system.
The island is roughly oval in shape, and measures 146 km from east to west and 106 km from north to south. The main geographical feature is the mountain range, which runs north south. The highest Fijian peak, Tomanivi (Mt. Victoria) at 1323m, is near the northern end of the range. On either side of this backbone there are rugged ranges and hills sloping steeply towards the lowland coastal areas. Different areas of the highlands have their own drainage systems.
The central highlands lie in the path of the prevailing southeast Trade Winds, resulting in higher rainfall on the eastern side of the range. On this side of the island the slopes are predominantly covered by greener vegetation and rain forest. In contrast, the western slopes have mostly open grasslands, which turn light yellow to brown according to the season."
NADI
"Nadi Airport is 9 km from Nadi town. Nadi is Fiji's third-largest city, with a population of 15,220 within the urban area. This rapidly expanding town relies almost totally on tourism, and while not a particularly appealing place, it is a convenient base to organize your trip around Viti Levu, to the interior or to offshore islands. Nadi has an abundance of places to stay, from budget dorms to luxury resort hotels such as the Sheraton and Regent. It's Main Street, which is little more than a seven-block strip of the Queen's Road lined with a plethora of restaurants, duty-free, handicraft, souvenir, and clothes shops. 'Much of Nadi's local shopping is quickly moving to new shopping centers north of town in the areas known as Martintar and Namaka. The Swami Temple at the southern end of the main street is worth a visit, as is the produce market. To the east lie the beautiful Nausori Highlands and to the north the Sebeto Range."
"Pancake flat Denarau Island is home to a huge, Japanese-financed real estate project that includes the Sheraton Fiji and The Regent of Fiji, an 18-hole golf course, a marina, and room for five more hotels and numerous residential lots. Denarau is only technically an island, for a narrow, winding creek through a mangrove forest is all that separates it from the mainland."
After breakfast, everyone including Julian and Laisa went ashore and took a cab into Nadi. Laisa had some shopping to do for herself, so we followed her. Julian accompanied us and both he and Laisa stopped and said hi every block to chat with someone they knew.
Nadi streets are filled with mostly Indian owned shops. Indians have a strong work ethic and are hard workers. Some Fijian's clerk in the stores. One Indian store had a permanent weathered "Going Out of Business" sign, so we avoided that shop even when the salespeople outside tried to get us to come in. "The main annoyance in Nadi is pestering by souvenir and duty-free vendors downtown."
The Fijian's are typical islanders who take everything in slow motion, preferring to think about things, go fishing or drink kava. Julian is different being a mixture from his German great grandfather. He was raised with European and Fijian ethics. He takes his responsibilities very seriously, making sure the Gallivant is well tended and passengers' needs met before he wanders off with friends for kava or alcohol soirees.
Laisa recommended Jack's Handicrafts and Prouds handicraft stores. Daniel and Jenn, always on the lookout for quality bargains, wheedled the salespeople down to rock bottom prices. We bought some "brain forks", carved 4 prong wooden replicas of forks the pre-1800 Fiji cannibals used to eat the brains out of their victims attempting to get wisdom. Jim bought two polished coconut bilo bowls since he likes kava. I bought a hand painted tapa (a paperlike cloth made from the pounded bark of the paper mulberry {masi} tree and decorated with intricate stenciled designs) and a mallet used to club enemies on the back of the neck. The V shaped notch on the top curve squashed the victim's Adam's apple; a twist and the victim was finished off. Jenn and Dan bought a bigger club and brain picker. We also bought some coconut soap, vanilla beans, and woven place mats.
Laisa took us to the farmer's market pavilion. Vendors have their own stalls selling "heaps" of luscious cucumbers, tomatoes, kava root, breadfruit, pineapple, taro root, tapioca root, ginger and a similar root for medicine, and lots of different hot tiny chilies. On the sidelines were local hill farmers, mostly Fijian, who come down on Thursdays through Saturday to sell their own crops. Laisa tries to buy from the hill farmers. The produce was healthy and plump.
After a delicious Chinese lunch at Sentai Seafood Restaurant, we walked a block to catch the bus to Lautoka. The bus area was a cross between Kathmandu and Slovenia, active and alive with families coming and going. An Indian peddler with a limp pushed an ice cream cart. A wooden permanent stand sold Indian candies and pineapple.
One-way to Lautoka cost $1.55 US for the hour scenic ride. The bus wove in and out of the coast past sugar cane fields ready for harvesting but not harvested due to a protest by Indian land lease's (land owned by Fijians).
Outside the towns, the landscape is rural and tropical green. Many Fijians do not drive and take the bus. Julian and Laisa do not now how to drive. Taxis and vans for hire are plentiful. Cows and bulls are tied to stakes with long ropes and let to graze on the roadside grass. There were no cows left to wander the streets like Kathmandu. The small towns had schools and churches. Bus stops were covered in grass roofs mimicking bures.
Nadi is 80 % Indian. The rural landscape had a lot of Indians. The bus probably was 1/2 and 1/2 Fijian and Indian. Everyone seemed to get along and were polite to one another.
LAUTOKA
"Nadi town and Lautoka are 33 km apart, on the western coast of Viti Levu and set against a mountain backdrop. Sugar cane, well suited to the hot and relatively dry climate of western Viti Levu, is grown extensively. There is a high proportion of Fiji Indians in the area, who are mostly fourth-generation descendants of indentured laborers brought to Fiji to work in the cane fields.
Lautoka, the administrative center of the Western Division, is Fiji's second port and the largest city after Suva, with a population of about 40,000. As a backdrop it has the beautiful Mt. Evans Range. While not an especially interesting city, if you want to avoid the tourist hype of Nadi, it is a much simpler place to get around on foot and a good place for taking trips to the Mamanucas and the Yasawas. The town has a large produce and handicraft market and a reasonably organized bus stations, where buses leave for the Kings Road to the north and the Queens Road to the south. Towering royal palms march in a long orderly row down the middle of Vitogo Parade, the broad main street that runs from the harbor into the heart of Lautoka.
The local economy revolves around cane growing and the large Lautoka Sugar Mill has been operating since 1903. Cutting and crushing season is in the latter half of the year, when you will see lots of little sugar trains transporting the cane to the mill. The high proportion of Fiji Indians, mostly descendants of indentured laborers, work in business or farm leased land. Wood-chip export is another major industry." Julian pointed out the tuffs of ripe seeds above the sugar cane, an indication that harvesting was too late now. The cane would rot in the field.
Outside of Lautoka, very well armed police had the road narrowed to check traffic passing by. Several other police were sitting under a "Coca Cola" awning. When we took their pictures, they all smiled and posed. The burly policemen were well-muscled and tall, close to 6 feet and looked fit.
The bus route followed a small gauge RR line for the cane harvesting cars. Piled near some of the permanent RR tracks were portable tracks to temporarily lay down inside different cane fields for easier harvesting.
Outside Lautoka were cane-processing plants, idle from the work stoppage, a whiskey manufacturer, and a pine tree processor with a huge pile of aromatic pine chips.
Lautoka looked similar to Nadi but cleaner, more of an industrial town. We shopped with Laisa at a general store selling school supplies, dishes, clothing and towels, books, music, fresh food and appliances. Jim said there were no computers. Jim pointed out treadle sewing machines for use in villages without electricity. These were not antiques but new machines. I remember learning to sew on a White treadle sewing machine given to my mother by Aunt Kate Carter. Jenn also remembers using a treadle sewing machine. Very few stoves and oven combinations were for sale, but mostly propane powered gas burners that could set on a table.
Jenn bought Fijian hot sauce for a friend and us at a small grocery store. In the back freezer case were bags of cleaned plump chicken feet, for $.99 Fiji. After stopping at an outdoor buffet, we got ice cream to cool us from the hot day.
Across the street Lautoka Market is similar to the one in Nadi but doubles as the bus station. Handicraft stalls at the front of the market offer a variety of goods. Jim bargained for a hand woven tissue box holder, $20 Fiji. Daniel bought carved fresh pineapple on a stick and shared the delicious sweet treat. Fruits and vegetables again were sold in "heaps". A separate glassed off cement room sold fresh fish with clear eyes and firm flesh and wreaked of fish guts and blood. Just outside the market fish hawkers sold fish on a string. One stand had fresh octopus. There is plenty of kava root and powdered kava. Because of the possibility of getting caught with produce, I bought Jim an approved more costly supply of kava at the airport.
It was almost dark when we headed for the bus station. Julian haggled for a van so we would not be squashed with our purchases on the long bus ride. He walked away from his Fijian friend who, undeterred, came to me to see if I would OK his van for everyone. I directed him back to Julian and finally they made a deal, $20 Fiji. It only cost a few dollars more than the crowded bus ride. We rode in comfort back to McDonald's in Nadi for dinner -- we treated Julian, Laisa and the van driver. Then on to the Marina.
We had carried three hand held radios for contact if anyone got lost. Daniel discovered he did not have his back at the boat. We searched everywhere with no luck and felt the radio was gone for good. Julian dingyed Laisa to the dock to call a cab to return to Lautoka to be with her husband for the night. Lo and behold, the van from Lautoka was back at the marina. When the driver returned home to clean his van, he found the radio so drove 1/2 hour back to Nadi. Julian gave him $20 Fiji, which I repaid to him. The guy not only got a good tip, but also took Laisa back with him. |
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