Levuka - the forgotten first capital

Spring is arriving in the northern hemisphere. And as I planned my journey along the sunny side of life - following for a year the warm seasons around the globe - my time in the South Sea comes to an end. Almost three months of island hopping: Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Huahine, Tikehau, Rangiroa, Vana Levu, Taveuni, Tongatapu, Fungamisi, Ofu, Lifuka. So what place I might select to say "good bye" before departing from Nadi towards North America?

Just back from Tonga, I decided to stay only one night in Suva - watching the new SciFi-movie Oblivion - just to go back in time again: Levuka - the first colonial settlement and capital of Fiji back in 1874. And yes, visiting this world heritage nominee site, located on Ovalau island, rewards my efforts with another trip on a ferry boat - the M.V. Spirit of Harmony.

  

Indeed, Levuka - though a sleepy little frontier town - retains even today many of its pre-colonial and immediately post-colonial buildings. In similarity to the story in "Oblivion", flashbacks of my first visit back in 1991 came into my mind, while walking along the sea promenade, only with the lively difference (to Tom Cruise's intergalactic post-war movie settings), that Levuka is considered the most intact remaining example of colonial influence and life-style in the South Pacific.

Eventually, it was that year ... 1991 ... arriving by boat at the quay of Levuka ... just beside the Cafe Levuka ... having a nice coffee and cake ... praising the place ... and Kathy, a young American, who turned the cafė into a small oasis for globetrotters ... saying during our conversation: "If you pay me twenty thousand dollars, you may take over ...". Obviously I wasn't ready at that time to go along with the very relaxed life-style in such a remote place. Could I travel back in time, would I give it a second thought? Well, she sold it afterwards. The lovely Cafe was turned by two Germans into a dive shop, only to run out of customers ... and shut it down. As mentioned earlier on: Levuka remains a sleepy little frontier town, but - nevertheless - always worth a visit! Or even better - a right place for me to say "good bye".

My days in Levuka passed quickly. A last time boarding a ferry connecting the tropical islands of the South Pacific. What a nice morning red over the calm sea; and how nicely the breeze feels in my face and hairs. The coming weekend I'm already following the track of Karl Malden and Michael Douglas - on the "Streets of SanFrancisco".