Transit along Viti Levu's East Coast

Ever crowded bus stop in Suva
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Our goal for the day was to move all the way from Korotogo on the Coral Coast to Ellington Wharf in Northern Viti Levu by using local buses. After consulting several people we thought we would be able to do the whole trip in nearly five hours. We started in the early morning to allow us enough time for an extended stop over in Fiji's capital Suva.We learned one thing right away. Whatever you are doing in Fiji, you always have to incorporate the highly cited Fiji Time in your plans. Eventhough there are scheduled buses, that does not mean that they are departing at the expected time. 

Typical landscape in Viti Levu's northern part
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After a short wait we caught the Express Bus, which should take us to Suva directly. The journey took us nearly three hours along the main coastal road. The Coral Coast is a mixture of modern hotel and resort developments as well as very basic and traditionell local villages. Suva in contrast is a relatively modern and bustling city. There are shops, restaurants and offices all over the place. The streets are crowded and cars are honking like in every other major city around the world. Suva is mainly a Indo-Fijian city. Nearly fivty percent of Fiji's inhabitants are of an Indian descent.

Whatever you are doing in Fiji, you always have to incorporate the highly cited Fiji Time in your plans

Bustling city of Suva
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After spending a couple of hours in Suva we had to change buses. The upcoming bus, which regularly seats around 60 people, was packed with at least twice that number, and people were transporting all sorts of things like Kava roots, vegetables and big bags of hardware. But the best part was still to come. After leaving the suburbs of Suva there was a rapid change in scenery. The landscape changed to greener colours and the houses became fewer. After a while the asphaltic road came to an end and the following two hours of driving took us along small, sandy tracks that might be appropriate for small vehicle usage but definitely not for buses with 120 laughing Fijian passengers on board. The bus passed through countryside that rather reminded us of good old Germany with wide fields and cattle ranches. After three hours, two toilet stops at local villages and several nearby heart attacks while crossing little timber bridges over small creeks we arrived at a turnoff that should take us to Ellington Wharf. After almost nine hours of traveling we have just arrived on time to be picked up at the Wharf to be taken to a small island just offshore called Nananu-i-Ra.