Levuka

Levuka is the old capital of Fiji which located on Ovalau Island. Levuka is founded by traders and settlers as early as 1830 and becomes the capital of Fiji in 1874. As Levuka is a small town and has problems to growth as a capital, the capital move to Suva in 1877, in this case, Levuka is  the capital of Fiji for only 3 years.Although I know that Levuka is a small town, I was still shocked by how tiny the town is. The town centre is only one street with several supermarkets and restaurants there and it only takes 10 minutes to walk along the street.

Waiting for the ferry,Levuka is on the other side of the island

Ovalau Island

Mosi is running a lodge in Levuka, it is a nice place called Mary's Lodge. We saw Mosi when we get off the bus. The amazing thing is that most of the people in the bus know Mosi, I think that might be  because Levuka   is so small that everyone knows each other.

Mary's Lodge

Levuka is the place that Fijian used to be. There are less tourism and commercial. It is pity that the weather was very hot on the second day we arrived Levuka. I was staying at the lodge for the whole day, sitting in front of the fan and go through the history of Levuka. Levuka is famous for many fiji's firsts,It was the site of Fiji's first bank, post office, school, private members club, hospital, town hall, and municipal government. Fiji's first newspaper, the Fiji Times, which is still in operation today, was founded in Levuka in 1869. Levuka's Royal Hotel is the oldest hotel in the South Pacific still operating. Historians have not ascertained its exact age, but records show that it was in existence by the early 1860s. Levuka Public School, opened in 1879, was the first public school in Fiji and many of Fiji's leaders in the years leading up to and following independence in 1970 were educated there.