Levuka: Fiji's Old Capital

Levuka - on the island of Ovalau, off the west coast of the main island Vita Levu is the former Fijian capital. In 2013 it became the country's first world heritage site. It's also the place where the cessation document ceding Fiji to Queen Victoria was signed and was also the place where it was given back to the Fijian people when they gained their independence in 1970.
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Levuka is a special place, frozen in time from the moment it was robbed of it's title as capital. Just getting there can be an adventure. That Levuka did not decline completely once it was dumped as the capital is partly due to the presence of a large fish cannery which employs most of the town.

Levuka's main road is called beach street, although there is no beach. Nosova just north of the cannery has a commemorative park with a brace of anchors and marks the spot where Fiji was ceded to Britain. The drinking fountain or whats left of it marks the old post office and where Levuka's old pigeon post was situated. It's weird to see British pigeons here and I wonder if they are descendents of the old carrier pigeons.

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The Royal Hotel, the oldest in Fiji (1860) was our abode for the night.

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The pillar is the memorial to those lost in the First world War. A bit dilapidated. I am not sure if the Royal British Legion has much sway here.

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Not quite an "English Country Churchyard" but trying hard.

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