Tahina left early morning to move to the marina at Denerau, we took a leisurely breakfast and dinghied ashore to catch the 10.30am bus. Instead of the bus we found a local with a people carrier who gave us a lift for the same 30p fare. With more time today we were able to stroll and have a look at the second largest town in Fiji. The main industry is sugar cane with a flour mill and a wood mill. There was a mountain of pine chips port side destined for Japan to turn into cardboard.
The roads are wide like boulevards and all the shops seem to be owned by Indians, descendants of the first Indians the British plantation owners persuaded to come here to harvest their sugar crops when the local Fijian s refused to. The Indians dislike the British for leaving them without land or legal right, the Fijians dislike the Indians for their ability as business men and the Indians dislike the Fijians for their laziness. And ne'er the twain shall meet – no mixed marriages between Fijian and Indian and the expats keep to themseves.
Walking along te dusty street past numerous foreign exchange shops and banks indicated the number of tour operators who work out of this town like the Blue Lagoon Cruise ships. The sun was bright and hot. We found a nice cafe for an unashamedly western lunch – lasagne for David, quiche for me – and then went t war in the fruit and vegetable market and then found a helpful taxi driver to take us back to Saweni via the Fiji Meat Company shop which does great sausages, danish bacon and other cuts of meat of the kind we are familiar with. No scraggy chicken legs or feet though there was a full cows head and a pig's ahead available.
Back in the anchorage we found Callisto, another Amel, parked next to us and were invited over for sunset drinks. It was great to catch up with Anne and Mike who we haven't seen since arriving in Savusavu and a fun evening was had by all. They are ready to leave for Vanuatu tomorrow morning so sadly not sure when our paths will cross again, or if ever.
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