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T&KonTour
Thursday 12 June, Day 18.
We have arrived in Savu Savu, which is a small town on the south coast of Vanua Levu, Fiji's second largest island. We sailed right past Suva, our next port of call last night, so we will back track once our visit to Savu Savu is complete at 8.00pm tonight. Vanua Levu has a population of 300,000 which is a third of the total for the Fiji Islands. It is very rural with much more of the native forest intact than the main island. The locals call it a "Hidden Paradise" but the jury is still out on that one.
The town is basically a single street with a post office, supermarket, 3 banks and the "Copra Shed" which is a little tourist trap at the wharf. As a cruise ship is in town there are also strings of little market stalls with the usual range of sulus (pareos or wraps), colourful clothing, bead wares etc.
We take the usual tender in to town and then a 10 minute bus ride to our tropical garden. On the way we see a marching band and lots of police. It seems that the Suva mob are in town for a crime provention rally. It's a bit difficult to believe that they have much crime in this sleepy backwater.
Our bus just manages to fit along the track to the garden which has big solid wooden gates and is open by appointment. The manager is a huge Fijian guy who locks the gates behind us. Then those who thought that it would be more comfortable to see the garden in the nude could undress. It was warm and humid so I dispensed with the clothes. We walked slowly along tracks and well made wooden walkways that led us though the garden, taking us ever higher up the hill. At the top we were offered some cold drinks, including a quite unusual herbal/spiced ice tea. Then an easy walk down to the gate where we cooled off in the shade.
Tony & Kathy had a relatively easy time of it at the garden. Alan & Jo had opted for a forest walk and waterfall swim. It was a tough 45 minute walk up to the falls with many people afterwards admitting that they had doubts about the wisdom of the treck on such a warm, humid day. Of course they felt much better about it after a lovely cool swim au naturel at the falls.
We have arrived in Savu Savu, which is a small town on the south coast of Vanua Levu, Fiji's second largest island. We sailed right past Suva, our next port of call last night, so we will back track once our visit to Savu Savu is complete at 8.00pm tonight. Vanua Levu has a population of 300,000 which is a third of the total for the Fiji Islands. It is very rural with much more of the native forest intact than the main island. The locals call it a "Hidden Paradise" but the jury is still out on that one.
The town is basically a single street with a post office, supermarket, 3 banks and the "Copra Shed" which is a little tourist trap at the wharf. As a cruise ship is in town there are also strings of little market stalls with the usual range of sulus (pareos or wraps), colourful clothing, bead wares etc.
We take the usual tender in to town and then a 10 minute bus ride to our tropical garden. On the way we see a marching band and lots of police. It seems that the Suva mob are in town for a crime provention rally. It's a bit difficult to believe that they have much crime in this sleepy backwater.
Our bus just manages to fit along the track to the garden which has big solid wooden gates and is open by appointment. The manager is a huge Fijian guy who locks the gates behind us. Then those who thought that it would be more comfortable to see the garden in the nude could undress. It was warm and humid so I dispensed with the clothes. We walked slowly along tracks and well made wooden walkways that led us though the garden, taking us ever higher up the hill. At the top we were offered some cold drinks, including a quite unusual herbal/spiced ice tea. Then an easy walk down to the gate where we cooled off in the shade.
Tony & Kathy had a relatively easy time of it at the garden. Alan & Jo had opted for a forest walk and waterfall swim. It was a tough 45 minute walk up to the falls with many people afterwards admitting that they had doubts about the wisdom of the treck on such a warm, humid day. Of course they felt much better about it after a lovely cool swim au naturel at the falls.
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