Darren and Melanie had a slight altercation on Monday so we left Suva and got the ferry to Ovalau, home of the old capital of Fiji, Levuka. For this leg of our journey we were accompanied by Tamara, a fellow traveller that we met at our hostel from California.

After the ferry ride and a bumpy ride across the island at break neck speed, we arrived in Levuka late in the afternoon and it was like stepping into an old wild west town! We half expected a couple of cow boys and some tumble weed to come flying past at any time! All the buildings had wooden frontages and were painted in light hues and many of them even had old saloon style doors. The hotel we are staying at is a fantastic old building where every room is different and our bed has even got a mozzie net drape around it because the old windows don't keep them out.

Being on the eastern inside of mainland it rained the whole time we were there and this added to the contrast between the rest of Fiji and gave the place an almost eerie feel as the place seems deserted all the time as it is one of the few inhabited islands that hasn't been commercialised. We spent the evening having a bit of a look around the town before heading back to the hotel for a couple of games of snooker that took hours as we were unused to the full size table!

Yesterday we headed to one of the local villages for a day tour with our guide, Epi. The road to the village was along some very bumpy dirt roads and we rattled about in the back of the transporter (a pickup truck with a sheet over the top) doing our best not to fall out. When we got to the village we met Epi's wife who was from Sunderland and was responsible for introducing toothbrushes to the village to replace the pieces of plant that they had used before.

After that we went down into the centre of the village which was set in the crater of a volcano and played a massive part in the history of Fiji. Apparently it was this village that was the cause of the queen becoming the owner of Fiji for 100 years before Prince Charles handed it back in 1986! Our first stop was to Epi's mum's house where we sat around chatting and met a mini Macy Gray! She spent the whole time singing her head off until we actually spoke to her and then she went all shy!

After that we went to the chief's house. None of the villagers are allowed in the chief's house or even pronounce his name directly without putting Ratu in front of it as it is disrespectful, but because Epi is his advisor we were allowed inside, which was pretty cool. We presented him with some kava that we had bought from the village and as he blessed us in Fijian Epi began telling us the story of his village and the history of Fiji. We spent an hour or so in the chief's hut as he got himself ready to go to the seminar of the high chiefs of Fiji the next day and then made our way back to Epi's mum's house where she had cooked up a storm. All of the food was from the village apart from the tuna! We had all sorts of leaves cooked in coconut milk, which were really nice and we also had proper tapioca which just came in sticks!

By now the rain was pelting down outside but we weren't perturbed and we headed off on a trek through the village where we got our photo taken with a couple of the village kids on the official geographic centre of all of Fiji's 333 islands. From here we made our way to the village swimming pool (which was a very small lake) and then headed up into the hills where Epi showed us all of the plants we'd had for dinner and the plants that could be used for all kinds of medicines for various different illnesses. It was really interesting and when we got to the top we could see the whole village and across to the mountain range where Fijian warriors had once defended the island.

The tour ended around five o'clock and we headed back to the town and once again we bounced our way along the roads for about an hour which gave us a bit of a sore butt but was great fun. Every time we passed someone by they all shouted out 'Bula' (the Fijian greeting) and the little kids came out to wave and kept waving until we were out of sight, copying whatever stupid wave we did! By the time we got back to our hotel we were covered from head to toe in all kinds of filth, but a quick shower later and we headed out for some dinner to the Whale's Tale restaurant for a fantastic meal.

Today we went on another day trip, this time over to another one of the islands called Caquila, which is a gorgeous little place that can be walked around in just fifteen minutes. The journey over was a little out of the ordinary as our captain stopped at one island to wade through the waist deep water to deliver the weekly groceries! We spent the day lazing around on the sand just taking in the views until it was time to leave just after lunch. The journey back to Ovalau was pretty rocky even by Fijian standards as our little tin boat struggled against the waves and when the rain set in we had to use some tarpaulin to keep us from catching pneumonia!

Tomorrow we are heading back to the mainland and parting ways with Tamara for a while as we continue our trip with the Feejee Experience.