Continuing along the Queen's Highway we drove through Pacific Harbour where the vegetation became denser as we approached rainy Suva. A variety of venders situated along the road were selling everything from bananas to taro to flowers.

We passed some very interesting villages, this one perched on the side of a hill beside the highway.

Suva

Our first stop was Cost-U-Less, a large retail grocery outlet, where I took the opportunity to buy coffee (only place I could find to buy it reasonably priced).

We checked into the Tradewinds Hotel, just outside of Suva and got a great deal on the rooms at $60F/night.

The following day we drove into Suva for a few hours of shopping while Gord went to the optometrist.
Downtown Suva is always an adventure and Mom caught this photo of a fellow taking his nap in the middle of a busy intersection!

A Fijian woman with a traditional earthenware potWe visited the Fiji Museum in Suva. It was full of artifacts about the history and culture, language, animal life, pottery and accounts of warfare and cannibalism.

We visited the Municipal Market and the Handicrafts Centre where Mom picked up some souvenirs.
Left- a woman making grass skirts at the Market.

Coral Coast...
The road along the southern coast of Viti Levu revealed the apparent split in cultures with separate schools and churches for the indigenous-Fijian and Indo-Fijian. Pictured left is an Indian school.

We stopped for lunch at Naviti Resort, where Mom & Dad had spent their vacation over 20 years ago. A lot had changed and much of the resort had been rebuilt after Hurricane Oscar left its mark on the area in 1983.