17.32S 178.50E Friday 3rd July We sailed to Levuka town,
once the capital of Fiji, on
Ovalau Island. This was the journey taken
by an open boat from Makongai just three days earlier, with the loss of one
child’s life, when it capsized…… we had a great sail across
but the seas were choppy and totally unsuitable for a small open craft. We
arrived at 13.30, anchored and hurried to the jetty, a huge industrial concrete
dock, to check in, and out as we would be leaving within 24 hours, in
time to join a guided walk around the town.
Founded as a whaling station in 1830, Levuka then had over 50 hotels
and taverns along Beach Street.
The cotton boom of the 1860’s swelled the numbers and escaped convicts
and debtors fleeing Australia
joined the new settlers and revelry until Fiji
was annexed by Great Britain
in 1874, at which time a semblance of decorum was introduced. The first
463 indentured Indian labourers arrived in Fiji from the ship Leonidas on 14th
May 1879.
The checking in procedure was painfully slow and involved so many
similar forms and so many pieces of carbon paper we wondered if we were going
to manage the walk before dark!
The weather had turned for the worse when we eventually completed our
paperwork and so we all trudged off in the rain to see the points of interest:
the museum with some great relics of the past (including cannibal forks and war
clubs) and photos of former chiefs
Chief of the past
Note the whale’s teeth necklace – a badge of chiefdom
past a decrepit abandoned tuna canning factory built by the Japanese and
the new modern one beside it – 80 tons of tuna are processed here each
day and night; ships full of fish come in from all over the world including
America and Malaysia – some frozen in containers. There is no waste
as residual bones and skin are ground up and used for pet food. The smell
was nauseating – and that was on a cool damp day! We saw the little
traditional house built for the Prince Charles to stay in when he visited eons
ago –
Prince Charles’ residence on the left, dwarfed by the new
Government building
and the little jetty built for the occasion of his
visit, since unused but lovingly cherished, as are all the memorabilia of
British Royalty –
and the monument for the European war dead –
there is a separate monument for Fijians – (why?)
And the memorial stone commemorating Queen Victoria’s
sovereignty of Fiji
in 1874
The post office where pigeon post used to operate when the capital
moved to Suva
in 1881
Busy Beach Street
with its ‘wild west’ facades of the past
The first Masonic lodge 1875 – the brothers need to dig deep to get
this one back on its toes
The ‘members only’ Ovalau Club where everyone is welcome!
Their Rules and Regs pinned to the wall…………as
we all enjoyed a pint or two…….!
And on we walked past the hospital (!)
Church of the Sacred Heart erected by the French Marist Fathers in 1858
with its square stone clock tower (with working clock) – note the leading
light stuck to the top!!
Up the Mission Steps……..
A view of our yachts at anchor before heading back………
By the time we returned, Stargazer’s dinghy had slipped under the
concrete dock – the tide was rising rapidly and had trapped it so he and
Ian off Paramour swam underneath with the help of one of the locals, dismantled
the outboard engine, deflated the dinghy and got themselves out just in time
– pretty nerve-racking experience!! Luckily there was help on hand
and between us we managed to ferry engine, boat and bedraggled people back
safely to their boat.
5.00am start in the morning with our little flotilla of the four who
have decided to go the ‘northern’ or ‘middle’ route
together – Moonshadow, Rascal, Stargazer and us!
