Day 53 to 56 - completing the island 360° via Lautoka

Tuesday saw a local-bus trip to Pacific Harbour, stopping at all manner of village diversions and detours for collections and drop-offs. More entertaining for observation of our fellow travellers on the local bus (and, when the heavens opened, at the bus-stop back) than the destination but fun nonetheless.

So, by now we'd already travelled anticlockwise from Nadi (8pm on "the clock") round to Suva (at 4pm) when we arrived and bussed it that first morning, and up to Nananu-i-Ra (at 1pm) but that left a third of the northern coastline to see.  Sheila had meetings on Thursday in Fiji's 2nd biggest city, Lautoka (whose name is said to be derived from the Fijian for "spear hit"; in a duel between two chiefs over the settlement, one walloped the other, crying "Lau-toka!" to seal his victory). We bagged a lift with her on Wednesday (clockwise round Viti Levu via Pacific Harbour again and back along the beautiful Coral coast 

past Nadi and into unfamiliar territory).  

After a picnic lunch stop and a break at an Italian-run eco-cafe with a terrace view over the beach for affogata, 

we by-passed Nadi and headed into comfortable Lautoka. 

The city's nickname of "Sugar City" recognises its sugar-cane past; in fact, it was to here that the majority of the Indian workers were brought, so the heritage is very evident (probably THE place to have been for Diwali!) and the look of the inhabitants, cuisine and fashions 

are sometimes rather different from Suva.

While Sheila was gainfully employed, we took a short cruise round the Mamanuca Islands over which we'd flown from Nadi airport on the way to Vanuatu.  

All v v beautiful, so it wasn't altogether surprising to be accompanied by a good few honeymooning couples who were being ferried to their chosen island for two weeks of island paradise ("Castaway Island", "Treasure Island", "Robinson Crusoe Island" - you get the picture).  Our boat dropped us off for some snorkelling on teeny, walk-round-it-in-30-minutes South Seas Island (looking bewitchingly like a cracker covered in pesto...)

Next day, the route back to Suva via Raki-raki completed our circumnavigation of Viti Levu, and has without doubt the most gorgeous, gasp-as-you-come-round-the-bend panoramic vistas of the island.  

Sheila and I finished Friday with a massage each (hers much needed and entirely deserved; mine wholly wanton luxury) before a swift repack for Saturday morning's 8.15am hopper flight to Ovalau Island...