Tag Archives: Fiji

December 26, 2014 · 5:35 am

Fun Photo Friday — The Best of Viti Levu

Fiji is Tugging at My Heart

Hope you enjoyed this week’s travels to the Fiji’s Viti Levu. I promised on Wednesday to show you the charming school from the village we visited, and here it is:

Rainbow Schoolhouse

And here are the students:

Tourist Recess

Here are more of my favorite shots from our two ports of call here on the island:

Navua River

Race Ya’!

Navua River Transportation

Sunset in Fiji

Village Green

The Tree

Lautoku Panorama

Momma’s Helper

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Filed under Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, Television

Tagged as cruise, Fiji, Fun Photo Friday, Lautoka, MS Oosterdam, Navua River, photography, R. Doug Wicker, Suva, travel, travel photography, Viti Levu

December 24, 2014 · 5:35 am

Viti Levu, Fiji — Suva and Navua River Cruise

The village

Our next stop on the island of Viti Levu was the Fiji capital city of Suva. But we didn’t spend long here, as Ursula had us booked for a little adventure. After a short bus ride we boarded boats for a ride up the Navua River.

Navua River boat ride

Our first stop was to a charming traditional communal Fiji village where we were greeted by friendlies. That’s good, because only a few hundred years ago the Fijis were known by another name — The Cannibal Isles. Fortunately everyone we met was on the wagon, so to speak.

Village dancers

Fijian Bure

Still, you didn’t want to be the one who offended the villagers.

It wasn’t me. Honest.

Here we selected a “leader” for our “tribe” who represented us to the head of the village. After a detailed briefing on the dos and don’ts we were officially “greeted.”

The Villagers Welcome Us

Greeting ceremony — one wrong step and you’re on the menu!

Following the official greeting we were treated to a dance of the village warriors.

War Dance Ritual

There was a brief break while we waited for lunch. He hadn’t arrived yet. Just kidding. Anyway we toured the village and met with villagers before heading out to the barbeque.

Village Bure

Sing along

Our village guide

Then it was time to go out and dig up our Bob-eque . . . er, Barb-eque. What ever.

Guess who’s for dinner

In-ground oven

After lunch we visited the village school (you’ll see that on Fun Photo Friday), shopped some really nifty crafts, and boarded our boats to continue upstream.

Along the Navua River

Farther upstream we left the boats behind us and trekked into the dense jungle.

Trekking into the jungle

And what brought us into the jungle? A magnificent waterfall.

Navua River waterfall

Come back for this week’s Fun Photo Friday with my favorite shots of Viti Levu.

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Filed under Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel

Tagged as cruise, Fiji, MS Oosterdam, Navua River, photography, R. Doug Wicker, Suva, travel, travel photography, Viti Levu

December 22, 2014 · 5:35 am

Viti Levu, Fiji — First Stop Lautoku

Today I’m back to my normal Monday-Wednesday-Friday blog schedule, and I’ve returned to the topic of our Sydney-to-Seattle cruise earlier this year. But in keeping with this week’s holiday spirit I’m also running repeats on Tuesday and Thursday of my ever-popular holiday humor tales. Tuesday I’ll bring to you If Edgar Allan Poe had ‘Written A Christmas Carol.’ Thursday you’ll find here a repeat of the sequel to that tale with my follow-up A Spillane Christmas Carol.

Lautoka Sugar Mill

Our ship made two stops of the Fiji island of Viti Levu. The first was the sugar mill town of Lautoka, also known locally as “Sugar City.” The mill you see above was founded in 1903.

Lautoka

Ursula and I had been to Fiji before, but the previous time back in the 1990s we arrived into Nadi International Airport and spent most of our time at various resorts. The research on this previous trip formed the basis for the fictional island resort of Vai Kai in my mystery novel Decisions. But, I digress. Nearby our dock was this island, which I believe is Vio:

Vio Island . . . I think!

Once off the ship we made our way to the massive Lautoka Market. Here you can buy everything from fresh produce to souvenirs to local island crafts.

Lautoka Market

After the market it was time to snag a bus and head downtown. Lautoka is a very colorful little city with many neat little shops and other sights.