This was published 1 year ago
Levuka, Fiji things to do: Pacific nation's former capital is like a trip back in time
In 2013, UNESCO declared Levuka a World Heritage site because it's the best remaining colonial port town in the South Pacific.Credit: Alamy
Jamie the taxi driver is driving his beaten-up Toyota Prius today; yesterday his dad was behind the wheel. In Levuka, the taxi service is an inter-generational affair; if I stayed longer, Jamie's grandpa might still put in the odd day of service between stints on the family's vegetable plantation.
Levuka's tourism numbers were once consistent enough to warrant a daily flight in and out of Suva. But the closing of Fiji's international borders due to COVID-19 changed that for a time.
"You're the first foreigner here we've seen since Fiji opened back up," Jamie the taxi driver tells me. That would be why I feel like a rock star as I walk Levuka's main street.
And yet, if it wasn't for the 500-metre-high mountains behind town, this might be Fiji's capital. It was… till 1877, but when the Government decided there was no room for expansion, Suva became Fiji's new capital.
Now Levuka exists as some kind of time bubble, my chance to glimpse life as it was once in the South Seas. In 2013, UNESCO declared Levuka a World Heritage site because it's the best remaining colonial port town in the South Pacific.
Even without the plane, it's not difficult to get here. I take a shuttle from Suva to a tiny port town 90 minutes north, then climb aboard a ferry for the 60 minute journey to the island of Ovalau.
From the water, Levuka looks like an illusion. Mid-19th Century Catholic and Methodist missions, churches and schools stand along a coastline covered in coconut trees, backed by kilometre-high rock escarpments where waterfalls flow. Town is one main street of frontier-style shops painted in every colour of paint ever mixed in Fiji.
There's no resorts in town (though Fiji's oldest hotel still stands here: the Royal Hotel, built in the 1860s), I'm staying instead in a home-stay run by Levuka's only expats.
Australians John and Marilyn Malisi have been here since 1999. "We saw you on the ferry," John tells me when I arrive at his door. "We haven't been off the island for two years, watching the ferry is like TV." They fell for Fiji in 1984, then roamed the country for years looking for the best place to live.
"Everything good about Fiji is here," John says. "Mostly that's the people, there's no friendlier people in Fiji and they're so inquisitive. They'll invite you in for tea just to hear your stories."
For a small place, there is a lot to do. I take hikes behind town that take me deep into the mountains, and stop for swims in waterfalls along the way. From the highest peaks, I can see all the way to the island of Taveuni and Vanua Levu, in northern Fiji.
Though the Malisi's tell me the best thing about Levuka is slipping quickly into its slow pace of life. "A nap in the afternoon is essential here," John says.
"Don't feel guilty." When I wake from mine, Noa Vueti is there to drive me round town and to the historic churches built along the waterfront. Vueti – or Knox to his friends - is a budding historian whose real job is tending the gardens of where I'm staying.
"Levuka is famous for its firsts," he says.
"It has Fiji's first bank, first post office, first school, first private member's club, first hospital and first newspaper. A lot of our prime ministers went to school here."
Every building in Levuka has a story. They're built in every style: Baroque, Victorian, Edwardian. I walk between them, up and down dirt roads surrounded by paw-paw and mango trees, where lawns are meticiously mowed, and every hedge trimmed. Just beyond town I find Levuka's other place of worship - a rugby ground where almost the whole population of the island shows up on Saturday.
I don't find the perfect white-sand beaches I normally associate with Fiji. But for three days I get a glimpse into how Fiji used to be. And I like what I see. "There's no other town like Levuka in Fiji," John Malisi says. "There's no other town like Levuka in the Pacific."
THE DETAILS
FLY + SAIL
Travel to Levuka via Suva (fly there with Fiji Link, see fijiairways.com) then take a shuttle and ferry with Groundar Shipping, email groundarshipping@kidanet.com.fj or Patterson Brothers Shipping on fijisearoad1@gmail.com
STAY
Stay in a room overlooking town with breakfast included from $FJD190 ($129), see levukahomestay.com
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