To the Fiji

Friday 26th February 2010:

Destination: Fiji. So we got on our Air Pacific flight to the Fiji. And might I just add: great service, friendly staff and far better than the Australian airlines we flew. Oh the controversy. Only a three-hour flight to Nadi, Fiji, which I later realised was pronounced 'Nandi' rather than Nadi. Just in case you find yourself in Fiji one day and wish to perfect the pronunciation.

The following day our island-hopping tour began. Early start, got to the port and signed up to our 'Ultimate Lei' package; yes all the tours have sexual connotations, which is somewhat awkward when thrown into conversation. Hmm. Those cheeky Fijians. Onto the ferry and to the islands we went! It took about five hours to get to our island, making stops at numerous islands along the way, like a little bus service, but far more exciting and a bit more rocky. We arrived at Coral View Island and were transferred along with our backpacks onto a small boat to get us across the waters, as the ferry stops a little further out. What a lovely way of life! I heard my name being called from one of the neighbouring boats which was coming off the island, and it turned out to be a friend of ours from New Zealand! Small small world. No tiny in fact. I mean, what are the odds that you come across someone you know, when drifting in a small boat just off the island of Coral View in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? Madness. We were then greeted by our Fijian hosts: "BULA!" is the greeting here and the people are incredibly warm and welcoming; what a fantastic reception. And we are on an island in the middle of the Pacific- yeah not too bad is it. It is literally a postcard picture; azul seas, white sands, hammocks draped lazily amongst the palms. Yep cliched and i love it. So let's work on that tan please.

Sunday 28th February 2010:

Woke up this morning to a text from my mum, telling me that there was a tsunami warning acorss the Pacific, following a massive earthquake in Chile. Mothers being as they are, I decided that this may be slightly hyperbolic, so I chose not to panic. Went outside and the first thing we were greeted with was: "Have you heard about the tsunami. It's going to hit the island at about 9am." Oh goody mother was right. So a little more worried by this point; turns out the people in the dorm next door to us had heard the news earlier and had already climbed up the hill to safety, leaving the rest of us to perish on the island. Charming. The locals were more concerned about serving breakfast on time, so that was reassuring? Not so sure that it was. People were getting texts from home about the size and magnitude of the wave, what time to expect it, etc etc. It made it worse that we were receiving all this information, but we could do nothing about it. Well, except to climb the hill.

Anyway, a few uncomfortable hours later, the warning was called off, not that I believed the man, as I now had it in my head that we were to expect a rather large wave today. Not too happy about this one.

PM: A massive rainstorm pelted down that night; I continued to be terrified as I expected this to spark the tsunami that had not occured earlier in the day. I was proved wrong: it did not hit. Yay!

Monday 1st March 2010:

Next stop: Korovou Island. Back on the ferry to a new island. We bumped into our German journalist friend, whom we met on the previous island. Dream job: getting paid to travel the world and write about it. Fancy swapping lives? The island was yet again beautiful, good food, nice people. Amazing sunset.

Tuesday 2nd March 2010:

Isobel and I arrived at Kuata Island this afternoon. This was the only island we had heard bad things about, strange stories actually. Anyway, it turned out to be the most beautiful of the lot and my favourite island of the bunch! That evening we had a traditional Cava ceremony. Cava is the local drink; they make it out of a particular tree root and mix it with water. It is their 'alcohol' if you like; it has a sort of analgesic effect, making the drinker a bit woozy after a few. It tasted like muddy water if I am honest, (no disrespect) so I would not be getting 'woozy' on that by any means. This ceremony was followed by the Bula boys doing the Bula dance. Wow. Absolutely fantastic. These Fijian guys came out in their sarongs, tops off, all oiled up and performed the best dance I think I have ever seen! Ha ha, more for the attention of the ladies I expect. Then we all learned the Bula dance and had a great laugh in the process! We spent the rest of the evening chatting to the locals, just enjoying the atmosphere on Kuata.

Thursday 4th March 2010:

Back on the Yasawa Flyer ferry today. Last stop: South Sea Island. This is the tiniest island I have ever seen; it is half the size of a football pitch, and it is beautiful! We stayed here for a night and that rounded up our Fijian experience! Time to head home..

Saturday 6th March 2010:

And here we are. Nadi airport. The travels are over. I can't believe this is it!

Our flight to LA took ten hours, then we pottered around there for about six hours. And by pottered I mean, conked out on the chairs in the departure lounge. Then from LA to Heathrow took another ten hours. And I can't sleep on planes! So I was extremely tired, but very impressed with British Airways. And pleased that our flight was not a week later as they are going on strike once again. Oooh but then we would have been conveniently stuck in LA. Hmm..not so bad. Ha ha.

So I am home and just about over my jet-lag. Has been fantastic to catch up with people, not so great feeling cold, but at least I missed that winter from hell and had the experience of a lifetime over the past four months. Thank you to Isobel for being the most fantastic travel buddy in the world! A friend for life indeed.
I may be glad to take the weight of the backpack off my shoulders, but I can't wait for the next opportunity to get back out there and see more of the world! The travel bug is highly contagious, don't be afraid to catch it. It's a fantastic bug to have! (And it doesn't bring you out in a rash which is a plus).

Rotorua and the rest...

Sunday 21st February 2010:

Having woken up to Abba, I was keen to leave and onto the bus we went! Next stop Rotorua for our white water rafting adventure. We got ourselves kitted up- loved the water booties. And we were soon off into the rapids. It was slightly disconcerting when the guides constantly prayed to the gods to keep us safe in the water; don't get me wrong, I'm glad they did, but it is slightly daunting! Anyway, very interesting to hear their Maori prayers, and great to see how much they all respect mother nature and their beautiful surroundings, instead of taking everything for granted, as people often do. We had a fantastic time in our teams, flew down a seven metre waterfall which was exciting! Again, lots of prayers to precede that, hmm. Are we safe? They probably want to instil as much fear in us as possible to make it all the more thrilling. Woop. was great fun anyway!

Busy day out on the water, and on to Taupo. Beautiful Lake Taupo. There is a long-winded story behind it's existence but 1. It is too long and 2. I can't actually remember it. But yeah, pretty. And we were knackered and happy to have a comfortable bed for the night.

Tuesday 23rd February 2010:

We have by this time made our way back up to Auckland, and continued further up the road to Paihia and the beautiful Bay of Islands. Wow what a place. I also decided at this point that I wanted to do a sky dive before leaving New Zealand, so this would be the place to do it! I booked myself in and got up early the next morning to jump out of a plane! Got all psyched up and nervous in the waiting room and then after all that anticipation, it was cancelled due to poor weather conditions. Bummer. When you're rearing to go and then they turn around and say you can't jump, well it sucks. So that was a disappointing day. Maybe tomorrow?

Got up early again the following morning, looking pretty glum outside, do I bother going to the sky dive centre again? Hmm. Anyway off I went in the little silver bus. Nerves had dissipated by this point, probably best. And despite the clouds, there were a few patches of blue sky that apparantly we were about to go and jump through! Ha ha sounds crazy. Got into our highly unflattering and uncomfortable outfits. Probably the largest wedgie I have ever encountered. Lovely. Anyway we got into the world's smallest plane and up we went, into those clouds. Beautiful views from up there; I didn't even think about my fear of flying. I think the fear of jumping out had taken over. But I was strangely calm, which was nice. So I got strapped to my instructor- Carl. And we hit 12,000 feet, door opened and there I was dangling my feet out of a plane, looking out over the clouds. Took us a bit longer than usual to find our spot to jump and then we were gone. Weirdest feeling in the world. You fall, but it doesn't feel like falling; it really does feel like flying. Freefall was the best part, 45 seconds at this height. And then the chute opened (thank god) and we were gliding down to the ground. We brushed through the edge of a cloud which felt so strange, very fluffy! And then for the landing, got our legs up high and down we were, feet on the ground again! Nice feeling. And that was the day I did a sky dive over the Bay of Islands! fantastic. Would recommend it to anyone.

Back in Auckland that afternoon. Flight to Fiji tomorrow!

Franz Josef to.. Makhetu

Saturday 30th January 2010:

We arrived in Franz Josef this afternoon and booked ourselves onto the hike for the following morning. We woke up the next day ready for our eight-hour glacier hike. Got all suited and booted and were on our way to the glacier. Matheus (our guide) led the way, and what a pretty thing he was to look at for eight hours. We got our crampons on and climbed on up. Despite being on a glacier it was surprisingly warm up there! And the most spectacular views: New Zealand has got to be one of the places with the most diverse weather conditions in the world; you move from beaches, to glaciers, to volcanoes. And the place isn't that big! Incredible. The walk was great, climbing up the glacier, manouvering round crevasses- it was fantastic! We stopped for a spot of lunch and set ourselves on the ice. A word of warning: sit on your bag otherwise it can get a bit too chilly! Was an amazing day and I would love to do it all over again!

Tuesday 2nd February 2010:

Stray bus to Wanaka. Beautiful Lake Wanaka, this place just gets prettier and prettier! Very relaxed part of New Zealand; we went on a walk to the Rippon vineyard and took in the most stunning views. It's a really popular place for weddings which is pretty handy! A couple of days relaxing in Wanaka, nice to be off the bus for a day or so- gets pretty tedious moving around so much! And then on to Queenstown! Notorious for being a party town, Queenstown certainly lives up to its expectations. It is also a stunning place with a great bustling vibe and lots to do! We stayed a good few days here, met a great group of people off the bus and enjoyed their company for a few days! We all chilled out by the riverside in the evenings and then headed out into town! What a brilliant routine. Oh and don't forget, enjoying the sunshine in the daytime! We were very lucky to get such good weather, as the people on the previous buses had nothing but rain when they were there! Really enjoyed Queenstown.

Tuesday 9th February 2010:

Making our way up to Wellington. Not a fan of all these bus journeys, but has to be done. A rather pleasant three hour ferry ride over to the north island; Isobel and I fell alseep on the deck. Not too bad at all! We spent the next day having a look round Wellington. Nice city. We visited the Te Papa museum, was great to see all the Maori history which has a bigger influence on the North Island than on the South. Will be nice to see more of the Maori culture when we go to the cutural show at Makhetu.

The next journey was a twelve-hour bus ride up to Auckland. Oh what a day. And to make things just a bit worse, Auckland was such a let-down, no atmosphere at all. Our dorm room was also situated above the hostel bar which played music until about 7am when we had to get up! So not a great deal of sleep and so we were a couple of grumpy ladies on the next bus. Do not stay at Nomads Fat Camel in Auckland.

Saturday 13th February:

We hopped back onto the Stray bus this morning and found ourselves back on Metro's bus! (Metro is our favourite Stray driver) So that was a great surprise! Next stop: Hahei. We spent the afternoon kayaking to Cathedral Cove: beautiful. And great fun! Good work-out for the old biceps too! Haha was a really good way to spend the afternoon, perfect weather for it. We made our way back to camp and had a big BBQ with the group on the bus. Great turnover rate on these buses, constantly meeting a new group of people- it's great! And the food was yummy.

Monday 15th February 2010:

Raglan Backpackers. Raglan is the surf place in New Zealand, well one of them. So Isobel and I were excited to get back into the surfing! We moved to Raglan Backpackers, the most laid-back hostel you will ever come across. I even asked if I could work there, but they had no more vacancies for the summer season. Gutted, would have been amazing working there a few hours a day and surfing for the rest of the afternoon! Oh well, you can't have it all. Isobel and I managed to bag ourselves a double bed each, no idea how. This is not the sort of thing one expects when travelling, so when it happens, it is amazing! We ended up extending our stay in Raglan, making the most of the surfing every day! And I am beginning to see a slight improvement in my 'technique.' Ha ha well it is bloody good fun anyway! I did spend a good portion of my time getting pounded by waves though! The people we met at the Backpackers were great, really friendly bunch. All far too laid-back for their own good, but a good laugh! We felt so at home in this place, can't believe I can't stay!

Saturday 20th February 2010:

Goodbye Raglan :(

And so the next stop is Waitomo. The place with all the caves. We did a caving trip called 'Tumu Tumu Toobing' which was a little caving adventure and black water rafting. I was expecting it to be really claustrophobic down in the caves, but only the intial climb down was a bit tight! The water down in the caves was absolutely freezing- very thankful for the thick wetsuits at this point. It was really good fun though. We turned our lights off and looked up to see glow worms covering the roof of the cave- beautiful! Absolutely love the glow worms.

That evening we landed in Makhetu for our cultural stop. The cultural show was a family-run performance and we all got involved in the dances and songs. I was really impressed. The lads in the group learned the Hakka and the ladies were taught the Poi. We had a good laugh learning the dances, nice to get everyone involved! An interesting sleeping arrangement that evening, with all thirty of us sleeping in a big hall on mattresses. Hmm. Was actually not too bad really. Won't be doing it every night though!

We were woken up at 7am the next morning to the sound of ABBA. That's right, I will not be staying here much longer. Ha.

Destination New Zealand

Saturday 23rd January 2010:

Isobel and I arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand. Checked into our hostel. I was surprised by the sheer number of Harley Davidson biker men that seem to reside here: a little unsettling. Looks like the hostels do it a bit differently here! Anyway, not a great deal to see in Christchurch, so we were glad to start our journey on the 'Stray' bus that would be taking us round New Zealand for the next five weeks!

Stop number one: Kaikoura. A quaint little place, cute little pebble beach, gorgeous scenery. We ended up falling asleep on the beach; oh dear Izzy, a little bit burnt are we? Hmm. Ooops.

Wednesday 27th January 2010:

We moved on to Abel Tasman National Park. The bus takes a lot of stops along the way, both to break up the journeys, but also because there is so much to see! Stunning mountain views, clear waters everywhere. Amazing. We made our way through the Marlborough region, many a vineyard in sight as this is New Zealand's wine capital. We arrived in Abel Tasman that afternoon, staying at Old MacDonald's Farm. Nice touch. And the great thing is, we got to stay within the National Park itself! So we were in the thick of it, the sound of cicadas was somewhat deafening, but you become quickly accustomed to it. The group got together in the evening, had a bit of a campfire going which was great. The good thing about the bus is that you meet a new group of people every time you hop on the next one! Or you can chose to stay on the bus the whole way round and stay with the same driver. Izzy and I have a few days to spare here and there, so we're staying in certain places a little bit longer than the 'necessary' stay time. Our driver- Metro is a good laugh. Going to be fun having him driving us round for the next few days!

We spent the next day doing a walk around the beaches of Abel Tasman; doing things on a budget is pretty easy in NZ, seeing as there is so much to see and you don't have to pay for it! Love NZ.

Friday 29th January 2010:

Next stop: Barrytown. So Stray basically stop off at a completely random spot called Barrytown; turns out it is an incredibly secluded beach and next to it is a pub/backpackers. And that was about it! Ha ha, we didn't know what to expect really. The beach was beautiful, and a little bit eerie simultaneously. You step out onto the beach and there's complete silence. It may sound completely cliched, but you really feel at ease; it it so peaceful and no matter what you are thinking at the time, this place completely clears your head, and you just appreciate everything as it is. Amazing. There is also a lot of Jade stone found on this beach; it is a precious stone to New Zealand and they make beautiful jewellery out of it, basing the designs on Maori culture and the meanings attributed to various shapes and symbols. Despite searching along the beach, none of us found any Jade. Hmm.

And for the evening section there is a traditional fancy dress party. Mostly because there is nothing else to do in Barrytown, but it was great fun, a good ice-breaker. What happens in Barrytown stays in Barrytown.

Saturday 30th January 2010:

Post-fancy dress, we got up nice and early to do some bone carving! Not only is Jade a Maori tradition, bone carving is also a really nice way to sample the culture and make your own souvenir! And so Isobel and I went off to the workshop with a few others off the bus and designed our own necklaces. I had to ask whose bones we were in fact carving. Turns out they are cow bones. Lovely. We spent the next few hours shaping the designs we had chosen, with a little aid from the experts. Having sanded until I could sand no more, we buffed up the bone and voila! We had our very own shiny necklaces!

Hello Bali

Monday 11th January 2010:

Isobel and I arrived in Denpasar, Bali. We made our way to the bustling backpacker area of Kuta- quite a lot to take in when you're tired and looking for somewhere to stay, but I got used to it in no time and loved it! We found ourselves some cheap acommodation to do us for the next ten days. Turns out our German friends were also in Bali; people we had met in Kuala Lumpur and then again in Singapore, were now in Kuta. So we met up with them for the evening, had a bit of catch up and then got ourselves some well-earned rest. Pretty sure I shared my next few 'restful' evenings with a cosy group of bedbugs, but it's all part of it. Ha.

Isobel and I soon got into the swing of things, making ourselves completely at home in Kuta, adopting a regular breakfast stop at a cafe across the street- the freshest fruit you will ever have for breakfast. I could get used to this, and so cheap! The plan to save money is certainly working. Well until I hit the markets that is. So it's currently the rainy season in Bali; you tend to get a bit of a downpour and then the sun shines for the rest of the day. We had a few rainy days to start with, but after that it cleared up and we had some beautiful weather! I do love Bali; it is such a fantastic place, a really 'easy' pace of life. By easy I probably mean lazy; everybody sinks into a sort of slumberous lethargy here, but in a good way. It's just a beach environment: surfers, bikins and board shorts. What's not to love! Isobel and I were determined to get our surf practice in, so we hit Kuta beach and hired ourselves a board each. We did barter for them, but apparantly we still got ripped off! Oh well, still pretty cheap! So it turns out the waves are much stronger and bigger out here- hence it being a great place for surfers, just maybe not so much for the beginners. So we ended up battling with the waves more often than riding them. But I will persevere with it! Got the bruises to prove the determination ha. It's a shame that Kuta beach is not very clean; a lot of rubbish finds it's way over when the tides shift, which makes it quite unpleasant to swim in the waters here. So we shall venture out to a neighbouring beach in the coming days..

Saturday 16th January 2010:

Isobel and I decided to hire a scooter today, so we could see some of the surrounding beaches. Everyone gets around by scooter over here, and in Southeast Asia more generally; seems a pretty good way to beat the congestion anyway! So Izzy drove, and I must admit I felt a bit uneasy because these bikes are more powerful than you expect them to be! After a close call with a van, we found ourselves on our way to 'Dreamland' beach. It was much prettier and cleaner than Kuta beach, which was nice. Turns out the waves were far too big that day, so no surfing for us! An 'interesting' turn of events ensued after our pleasant afternoon at the beach. I decided to have a go on the scooter, thought I'd drive us back. Anyway, I revved too hard on the damn thing, didn't realise it was quite so powerful, lost complete control and ended up falling off the bike and skinning my leg across the pavement! Lovely. I was gutted when I realised that I wouldn't be able to surf now. Was not worth the drama at all. Isobel got us back safely, and we made our way to the clinic to get my leg sorted out! I ended up on a course of antibiotics, with my leg bandaged for the remainder of our stay! Great conversation starter, but not so fun when you are on a beautiful island and you cannot enter the water! Don't even get me started on showers- awkward to say the least. A tad foolish on my part.

We met some great people in Bali, lots of surfers surprisingly enough! Turns out one of the lads we met was in our year at Sheffield uni with us! Love the coincidences. We spent an evening down at the beach watching the sunset, the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. I have never taken quite so many photos of a sunset either ha ha. Tourist. Also got completely hounded at the beach by women selling bracelets, and sarongs, and jewellery. And anything you can think of really! Extremely persistent people, to the point of annoyance actually. I understand that this is how they make a living, but what if I don't want any more bracelets?!



Friday 22nd January 2010:

Having spent a heavily relaxed ten days in Bali, and completely fallen in love with the place, we said our reluctant goodbyes. Definitely going back to Bali, may give the scooter ride a miss next time.

The Finale: Sydney- Melbourne

Thursday 7th January 2010:

A lovely fourteen-hour bus journey behind us and we arrived in Sydney. Oh the buses. I think we should get some sleep and leave the exploration for tomorrow.

We had a nose around Sydney, nice day for it, sun shining. We had a walk along the Sydney Harbour Bridge, took some photos of the Opera House. It's a pretty cool structure, but I don't really see what all the fuss is about?! We sat in Hyde Park for a bit, just taking in the scenery. Not the most exciting of cities, but maybe you need to explore it further to appreciate it more? I will take your word for it. Was an interesting couple of days, but time to move on.

Saturday 9th January 2010:

Bus to Melbourne. Think it took about thirteen hours. A bit longer seeing as we broke down! Oh dear, are we nearly there yet? Ha ha. Wasn't too bad, the driver had us back on the road within an hour, so not much of a set-back. We arrived in Melbourne that night and Izzy's aunts met us at the bus station to take us back to their place for a couple of nights! So nice of them.

After a good night's sleep I'd like to say I was ready to explore Melbourne, but my body was struggling to get out of a seated position, having been on coaches for so long over the past few days. Ha ha. However, Izzy's aunts did a fantastic job of showing us round, great to have tour guides! I absolutely love Melbourne, beautiful architecture, lots of 'old-meets-new' in the buildings. I fell in love with the train station- a building from the 1800s (I think) and it is just stunning. Right next to it is a cathedral, which makes for a fantastic photo opportunity. Melbourne is a very arty city, as well as being known for its sports and I just love the atmosphere. Much more friendly than Sydney, and calmer. It would have been nice to have a bit longer in Melbourne, just to have more of a peek around. But we are off to Bali after all. We went up the Eureka tower- up to the 88th floor. Great view of the city! And what a great way to end our tour of East Coast Australia. Melbourne is well worth the visit.

I Love Byron Bay

Saturday 2nd January 2010:

Next stop: Byron Bay! I have been looking forward to this stop since we started our East Coast travels. Have heard such great things about the place: really chilled out, lots of surfing, more of a 'hippy' vibe to the place, which I like the sound of, being the hippy that I am? Hmm. We stayed at the Arts Factory, notorious for its chilled-out atmosphere. Really nice place- could do with some fans, but it works. Ari and Lucy were booked in at the same time as us- loving the coincidence, so lots of fun with the girls!

On Sunday the four of us had our very first surf lesson!! I absolutely love watersports and have wanted to have a go at surfing since we started travelling, but I had no idea what to expect. So our instructors Dan and Lance did a bit of practice on the beach with us to start with, and then, armed with our surf boards, we headed out into the sea. Pretty nippy water here, but after struggling to get past a few waves you soon warm up! It was great that all four of us managed to stand up on the first go! Woo. Can't say we all managed to stand for long, but Izzy was a natural and surfed out to shore. Nice. It took me a bit longer to get the hang of it, fell off numerous times and then it clicked and I was surfing! Well at its most basic, but surfing! Such a great feeling- can see that this will be an addictive one. Am looking forward to getting some more practice in when we go to Bali, as it will be much cheaper to hire out a board over there. Izzy and I have found ourselves a little hobby to work on!


We had to move hostels after a couple of nights because the Arts Factory was booked up. We moved on to the ultra-modern Nomads Odyssey and I loved it! Polar opposite to the laid-back hippy vibe, this place was equally great but just in a completely different way. I think we enjoyed this hotel so much due to the company; we met the most fantastic group of guys from Melbourne, really friendly, and really good fun! We all went out for an evening and instead of actually getting to any particular destination, we ended up getting caught up in the street music that was playing, everyone joining in and just having a great night dancing in the street! I loved it- steel drums, saxophones and great people. I love Byron Bay.