Ovalau is the third largest island in Fiji's Lomaiviti archipelago, the island is about 13 kilometers long and 10 kilometers wide and it has a population of around 9,000 people.
We found here what we were looking for coming to Fiji: Beautiful tropic place, welcoming and kind people, simple way of living in small villages, not many tourists, this was really good opportunity for us to explore the Fijian routine life, culture and history.
Levuka:
Levuka is famous for many of Fiji's "firsts." It was the site of Fiji's first capital city, bank, post office, school, private members club, hospital, town hall, and municipal government.
At our first day here we walked around this small town and visited the many heritage sites scattered around.
When we came to see Fiji's first Parliament building it was strange to see it abundant, anyone could come inside with out any problems, he just needed to pick up the key under the mat at the front door.
Musi - the owner of our hotel, turned out to be a funny and interesting guy, we had some few nice chats and after 5 days spending there, we felt like home (his daughter's Fijian cooking was delicious), we got to know his whole family which were also living there. That was definitely the best accommodation in Fiji so far for us.
Rukuruku:
Rukuruku is a wonderful place to visit. Located near the beautiful Reefs, this village offers some stunning views of the ocean as you drive by. Located near a lovely black sand beach, you can even see the neighbor Islands from here. There is also a small waterfall found nearby as well, some 20 minutes away, for these reasons we didn't want to miss this place.
We were lucky that Musi helped us with the transportation to get there with school pupils on their truck instead of paying loads for a travel agency.
We liked the Black sand beach and the waterfall, but liked better the local people which shared with us nice conversations and introduced to us the breadfruit - A fruit which grows up on a tree but taste the same as potatoes.
We arrived to the village at their "village week" - one week in a month which everybody leaves his day by day farming job and serve the village and other people needs, like cleaning the place's perimeter, wave mats to those who needs it and can't do it by their owns, etc. We really like the idea of sharing and helping in the community of the village. At that day we definitely learned a lot about the villagers lifestyle in Fiji.
Drinking Coconut Milk
The Peak:
After getting lost at the first day, we returned to the track with gained power to conquer the peak uprising Levuka and the area. At the beginning of the unmarked track we met Jim - a nice 16 years old local kid which was working on the plantations near by, he was kind enough to offer us his help and to guide us all the way to the peak and back.
After 1.5 hours of very steep climbing while Jim clearing shrubs on the way for us with his big knife, we succeeded to reach to the top. The views of Levuka, the outer reefs and the other islands near by were absolutely overwhelming. During this walk, we felt like in a jungle, Jim like Tarzan climbed like it is a nice stroll in the park for him, while explaining us the fauna and flora of this area. We found out this nice-shy-kind kid is going to be the next Chief of this island, his grandfather is the current Chief at the moment and this "job" goes in heritage.
At the end, after we got invited to Jim's home, he climbed to a coconut tree and cut us a fresh piece of this tasty fruit.
Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.
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