Blogs from Lautoka, Viti Levu, Fiji, Oceania

Blog 31 Lautoka, Viti Levu, Fiji April 20, 2018 – Weather forecast: mostly sunny; temperature 32°C, wind 7kts (3 Beaufort) Today we visit Lautoka on Viti Levu, the second largest island in the Southern Pacific. Lautoka is this island nation’s second largest city with a population of 52,000 and is affectionately known as “Sugar City” due to the largest sugar mill in the Southern Hemisphere located near our pier. Fiji has over 300 islands under its control with approximately 106 of them inhabited. Fiji gained its independence from England in 1970 and became a republic in 1987. We selected another cultural experience in the form of a traditional Fijian meke, a performance that conveys the tales of love, legend and history through song and dance. The ceremony started off with the elaborate preparation of “kava”, a ... read more

Well, my welsh mate Mark was on his way to join me in Fiji. What did he want to do? I knew he wanted to buy his own yacht but had he any in mind and where were they. Did he want to go directly to Suva or the western division (Nadi and Lautoka)? Today is arrival day and I was sitting in the bar across the road from the Copra Shed keeping an eye out for the Welshman. Mark said he was flying into Labassa and then catching the bus south to Savusavu. I was expecting him from mid morning on and suspected that he would have a pile of gear. Yep that guy walking with lots of stuff busily talking to the other palangi was Mark. I was right about the gear, four bags ... read more

This instalment of our blog is dedicated to the memory of Edna Rosina Beaken who died this month and who's funeral is taking place in Sheffield today. She was nearly 90 and she was Carla's Gran. She was an intrepid traveller. Alex: On Tuesday morning I arrived at the offices of the Glacier Guides company wearing about 5 layers so that I wouldn’t be cold. Our guide was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and suggested that I might want to leave a couple of layers behind as it wasn’t going to be all that cold on there. I had been expecting to walk up onto the glacier, as that was the advertised trip on their website, so was happily surprised when I was told to walk around to the heliport to wait for the helicopter ride ... read more