We reluctantly said goodbye to Arif and headed once again to Labasa. This time we stayed on the main road and had an uneventful trip back. Kudos to Ned who drove like a local, except for the rookie mistake of turning on the windshield wipers instead of the blinkers everytime we made a turn. (Darn things on the wrong side of the steering wheel!). Sure made us laugh every single time tho. Now that we had time to enjoy the journey we especially appreciated the breathtaking scenery.
We needed to get from one side of the island to the other. The rental car company didn’t allow us to drop off the car at another location so we drove back to Labasa and then went in search of local transportation. After being told different times for the bus we needed to take we finally decided to just hang at the terminal. It’s a bustling, diesel choking place with 10 or 15 buses constantly idling, coming and going. Cough, cough. Peenie, had packed us a lunch (too sweet right?!) so at least we had a yummy snack to munch on while we waited it out for two hours or so.
Vanua Levu is known as “The Friendly Northern Island”. So true! While hanging out at the bus terminal, which was located at the central marketplace in town, many people came up to us to shake our hand, call out a friendly “Bula”, or to ask us where we were from. There didn’t seem to be a lot of tourists in this part of the island. One woman who had a sweet little boy with her, sat down next to me and started chatting up a conversation. She invited us with her family and friends to a picnic on the coast. “There will be a lot of good food and surfing. Come, you should come. Please join us.” Sweetest, warmest most friendly people on the earth! After sitting in the sweltering diesel fumed heat I momentarily considered her offer. We did have fun taking turns perusing the local marketplace marveling at the stacks of dried kava, tied up taro roots, heaps of spices and lots of fresh produce.
We were so happy to finally see the bus saying “Savusavu” that we didn’t care that it was the local bus and not the express. It was about a 3 hour drive over the mountain and onto the western side of the island. At every stop hawkers would come up to the bus window and sell everything from dried pea snacks, sandwiches almost identical to what Peenie had made for us, and many things we didn’t recognize. Almost every village had a small “mini-mart” where people gathered on the porch eating ice cream and chatting. Loved the children lining up to go home at the end of a school day. So glad we opted for the local bus and got to experience this first hand...and SO glad to finally get to our final destination. Just one more taxi ride from the town of Savusavu to our resort. Wahoo!
When we finally arrived at Koro Sun Resort we were immediately treated to foot massages. Dang, after the long hot day traveling across the island it felt amazing. I think we’re going to like this place!
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