An eventful week

An eventful week here on Vanua Levu is coming to an end. We have explored the island by car, visited a sailor we met in the Marquesas who has settled down here, visited the Nawi Marina and rescued a drifting catamaran.

In the east of Venua Levu, Fiji

The weather is mixed at the moment, but our fingertips are tingling with eagerness. We rent a car and want to explore the island. To the east lies the island of Kioa off Vanua Levu. Kioa was settled by Tuvaluans between 1947 and 1962 due to overpopulation. We have heard about this island and want to visit it if we can. So we head east on the first day of our exploration and try our luck. As there are a lot of unpaved roads in Vanua Levu, we rented a four-wheel drive truck. After a good ten kilometers from Savusavu, we find ourselves on a gravel road. There is supposed to be a ferry pier in Loa from where we can cross over to Kioa. We find the pier, but there is not a soul to be found anywhere in the area. A few kilometers further on, the road now leads steeply uphill and inland, we meet a lonely local man walking along the road with his machete. He stops us and asks if we can give him a lift. I say to him: “Hop on the back of the truck.” After about five kilometers we reach a village. He thanks us and asks where we're going. When we reply that we would like to cross over to the island of Kioa, he tells us that he will send someone to the jetty to pick us up. We are a little surprised, but don't want to miss the opportunity. So we drive back to the ferry pier and wait. I think we would be waiting today, but after an hour over the agreed time, we continue our exploration of the island. We drive to the eastern tip to Napuka, where the road, if you can still call it a road, ends. The coastal landscape in Buca Bay and east of it is varied. Sections with mangroves alternate with black and white sandy beaches. You pass small villages, people wave to you in a friendly manner and you hear the familiar “Bula!” again and again.

In addition to white beaches, there are also black beaches, Fiji

The next day we drive to the northwest. Our first destination is the Nakawaga waterfall. Half an hour's walk through the dense green of the rainforest, you can hear the waterfall rushing for quite some time beforehand. It then plunges into a small pool in a rocky niche, where you can also take a dip. The island has a different character on the north side. The rainforest with its dense greenery gives way to agricultural land. 

Nakawaga Waterfall, Vanua Levu Fiji

In Lekutu, we turn off onto a gravel road again and reach Galoa Bay. Two wrecked freighters lie on the equally dilapidated jetty, slowly rotting away. They have not been in service for a long time and their best days were a while ago. We are starting to get hungry, but can't find a restaurant in the sparsely populated area. Only in Seaqaqa do we have any luck. 

Shipwreck in Galoa Bay, Vanua Levu Fiji

And then we have to get back, because we are invited to stay with a sailing couple we met in the Marquesas and who have settled in Fiji in the late afternoon. The house is in a remote location on a mountain and we are glad to have a four-wheeler. The view is fantastic. The house is stylishly furnished and there is a lot of space around it. It's going to be a long evening because there's a lot to talk about.

Roads on Venua Levu, Fiji

The wheels don't grip the gravel and the snout of the truck is pointing almost vertically upwards, so I can't see the road. We turn left in Nagigi and follow the coast of Natewa Bay. In Korotasere, we leave the bay and drive into the mountains. Steep ascents and descents alternate with winding passages. Sometimes you feel like you're on a washboard. I try out different speeds in order to achieve the most comfortable ride possible. However, we then have a slight oversteer, which is more unpleasant for the passengers than being really shaken up. Who can blame them? On a two-meter-wide road, there's not much room for manoeuvre if the vehicle starts to slide towards the ditch. So I take it a little slower. We stop at a village and once again hand out a few lollipops to the children.

Children on Venua Levu, Fiji

Not far from the village, we pick up another hitchhiker. At some point the truck starts to rattle. Perhaps the exhaust suspension has come loose or, worse still, the suspension is broken. We stop, but can't detect anything. At some point, the rattling stops again. We reach a plain in the north where sugar cane is grown. What is striking is that the rivers here are very wide. This is astonishing as the island is only 40 kilometers wide. So there is a lot of water flowing down the mountains. The sugar cane seems to like it. In Labasa, the trucks loaded with sugar cane pile up in front of the factory. Labasa itself is a very busy town and the largest on Vanua Levu. 

Sugar cane trucks on Venua Levu, Fiji

The market is large and worth seeing. In addition to the Fijians, there is a large Indian population. There are numerous restaurants. There is one thing you should definitely bear in mind when you go to an Indian restaurant. If it says “spicy”, it is spicy. It's so spicy that it brings tears to your eyes like torrents, and when you come up for air, you regret it in the same breath because you feel like Elliott the dragon breathing fire. However, the food is very tasty. We look around Labasa for a while and then continue our round trip back to Savusavu. We enjoy the view of the bay off Savusavu in a lovely café on the Urata Pass. The specialty here is banana splits, which Gaby of course doesn't miss out on.

View from Urata Pass towards Savusavu, Fiji

In the evening, we drop in on Roswitha and Gottfried, who are moored in the luxurious Nawi Marina. The marina offers new moorings on floating pontoons. The pool is large and the restaurants and bars create a lovely ambience. If you want to pay the price, you certainly get a lot for it. We prefer simplicity and moor off Savusavu at a buoy in the Waitui marina.

Buoy field off Savusavu, Fiji

In the morning, just as I am about to return the rental car, an abandoned catamaran suddenly drifts past us. I'm amazed when I see the remains of the buoy still floating alongside the boat. A dinghy is on its way and the driver waves for me to follow it. As we reach the catamaran, a third boat approaches us. I tie the two boats to port and starboard and we push the catamaran to the next buoy to tie it up. The boat is now safely moored to a buoy again. I'm now a household name in the bay and people call out to me: “Ah, the rescueman!”. These are the kind of things that nobody needs, but they happen all the time. You can only hope that you don't get caught out yourself and, if you do, that you are at least on board and can react appropriately. Fair winds and keep a stiff upper lip.