Sunday, 27 September 2009

Fiji

So after our Kiwi adventures we were very excited to head for the sun, sea and sand of Fiji. After a 3 hour flight we landed at Nadi airport and were taken to our "resort", which we didn't really appreciate until after we returned from the other islands (read on to find out why). After a delicious dinner by the beach we headed to bed ready for our island hopping adventures the following day.

We had a prebooked trip organised called 'The Lazy Threesome', which meant that we would be visiting three of Fiji's 330 islands over the course of a week. We boarded our bright yellow catamaran and spent the 5 hour boat trip to the Yasawa Islands enjoying the sunshine, the beautiful turquoise waters and viewing the other islands enroute to the blue lagoon region. We arrived at our first resort - Coral View - very excited! The boat stops in the middle of the sea and then tiny speed boats from the islands come to collect you - carrying our very large heavy suitcases on thier heads was a very scary thing to watch! They asked us if we were carrying our kitchen and bathroom in them, we informed them that we were not and that we were JP's - they looked confused!

The boat can only go so far and then you have to paddle through the sea to get to land! We were greeted by a chorus of 'Bulas' which means welcome in Fijian - and a song! We were taken to our Bure (which is basically a fancy word for hut) and were pleaseantly surprised that not only did we have our own bathroom but we also had electricity (not all islands in Fiji have bathrooms or electricity!!) We spent the day exploring the island. Sam made friends with a dog and Emma collected sea shells! Meal times in Fiji were an interesting time of day. Upon hearing the drums all the guests would come to the dining room where a meal would be placed in front of you - and if u didnt like it then you would go hungry!! We were often quite hungry!!! - but don't worry M and D Whiteman, Sam ate plenty...of pringles.

The following day we took a trip to the blue lagoon http://images.travelpod.com/users/philandkatrina/1.1243219125.blue-lagoon.jpg we added the pic just to make u all jealous!!!!! We were literally the only people on this beautiful deserted beach - it was incredible! The following day we headed to our next island of Korovou. HUGE excitement when we saw it had a swimming pool!!! Sam went swimming with the mantarays http://www.communingwithdolphins.com/images/manta1.gif which are basically huge stingrays which are about three times the size of him and are incredibly rare. (Emma decided to stay at the beach bar!!) The following day we woke up to the sound of rain - no not a little drizzle but a full on monsoon!! The rain was so heavy we could not see out of the windows. When it rains in Fiji there is nothing to do. We played some cards, read our books and by 9am we were bored. So, as it was Sunday, we decided the best way to kill an hour would be to take a trip to the local church and listen to the gospel singing. The rest of the island had the same idea and us tourists outnumbered the locals about 10 to 1. We spent the rest of the day feeling a bit miserable and formukating a plan to sue the lonely planet which had informed us that September was 'the perfect time of year to visit Fiji' because of the beautiful weather!!!


Unfortunately, the weather did not much improve for the rest of our time in Fiji (neither did the food), and our tans started to turn dirty and we both started peeling!!

upon our return to the main island we were both so hungry, we popped into the Hard Rock Cafe for the biggest meal our stomachs could physically take - we weren't the only people who came off the boat with the same idea, and the restaurant was pretty packed of starving, peeling, people!!

But nevertheless we had a wicked time there, but both looked forward to getting to Oz and having the time of our lives - just having a good shower would be enough!!

Friday, 4 September 2009

New Zealand - North Island

So we decided to fly rather than ferry our way to the north Island first stop to the capital Wellington, which Emma regretted slightly as the flight was so turbulent due to strong winds. The flight crew never even left their seats because it was so bad - however it was just a 40 minute flight.


Having arrived at our first 5 star Hostel (yes hostels have star ratings - and yes emma and I decide upon which hostel to stay at by looking at their star ratings) we were happy to find that all the double bedrooms in the hostel had ensuite bathrooms/wetrooms/a little room on the side with a toilet and a shower.



As we arrived in Wellington relatively late on in the afternoon we decided to just walk around and get our barings - the city itself is only 2km wide, and far less populated than the likes of Auckland further north, so it wasn't too hard to navigate. Emma managed to find a hairdresser, which gave Sam a couple of hours to chill out.



On our second day we went to the National Museum (and we weren't even lost). There were a range of different things there like an earthquake simulator and an underwater simulator taking you to one of New Zealands many underwater volcanoes. New Zealand has a fault line running right underneath it, with around around 15,000 earthquakes every year in the country, one hitting 5 on the richter scale just last week. However, every building is earthquake proof here (so we are told), so lets not panic yet parents.



Next stop was Napier. A small coastal town with one shopping street. Our hostel was above a night club which at approx 9pm was completely dead - and we weren't going to wait till midnight when it was meant to get busier. What we hadn't counted on was the noise from the club which happened to be above our room. It was so loud we could acutally hear the words from the songs - Emma got woken up a few times and in her daze attempted to look for the phone in our room (which we didn't have) to call concierge (as if!) to complain - in the end the music stopped at around 3am, when all of 6 people left the club - what a cool place!!



The next day we headed to Rotorua! This is the most popular place for tourists in NZ and we defintely saw why.

On our first evening we went to an authentic Maori village, where we learnt all about their culture, heritage and history, as well as the dance which many of you will know the NZ rugby team do before every game - with they eyes popping out and tongues wagging. We then had an amazing dinner buffet laid out for us (the main reason we went!), with every kind of meat, potato, vegetable etc.

With some others from the bus we have been travelling on, we decided to go...white water rafting (sorry dad). This was a grade 5 rafting adventure, which means it is the roughest one allowed!! With 3 waterfalls, one of which is a 7m fall (the largest waterfall you can raft over in the world!), we were so excited given the disappointment over our failure to do all the exciting stuff in the south island. Emma was pretty scared (to say the least) about the thought of landing upside down in the raft.

The waters were rough but we managed the first 2 waterfalls with relative ease. The 2 guides on our boat prepared us for the 7m fall - hang on for your life; if u fall off do not try and swim up, wrap yourself in a ball and let your life jacket do its job. Before we did it, one of our guides got a silver leaf (a Maori tradition) and asked emma to throw it in the water. If it landed silver side, we would land safely, if it went green, then prepare to get cold. It landed Silver side up!! Phew!!


The leaf lied! We went over a little too far to the left, but managed to get over the waterfall ok. However when entering the water the raft tipped upside down throwing each of us in different directions. The water was very very cold. I (sam) ended up under the raft where I held on to the rope) Emma ended up out of the raft. It was a hell of an experience where two of us lost our rowing ors, but apart from being very cold, we were fine!

From rotorua we have finally headed to our final destination in NZ - Auckland. It is the most densley populated city in NZ with a little over 1.5 million people (NZ only has 4 million pop.) We didn't hear great things about Auckland from everyone, and there is a saying known as JAFA which is used frequently in the south island - Just Another F****** Aucklander; so we didn't expect much -lucky that, as for such a 'busy' city, there is very little do actually do - apart from being dragged round Pandaro shops for an afternoon and watch your gf get her nails done (we bring a new meaning to the word backpackers).

Today we leave for FIJI! We are so excited, though a little apprehensive about what we get for our 250 pounds for an entire weeks accomodation and food.

Hope all is well back home, miss u all

Sam and Em!

xxx