Bula! Fiji!

The final stop on my 2011-2012 travelling adventure is the beautiful Islands of Fiji. I had been recommended the destination by many of my friends and so touched down in Nadi for a week of relaxing. A much needed break and a bit of R and R was just the thing for me after 6 and a half months of hopping between continents and countries. Coming from a wintery New Zealand the first thing that struck me was the heat and humidity as I stepped off the plane into what felt like a very pleasant butterfly house! I was greeted by many staff with a friendly Bula! And everyone was extremely helpful and friendly. I spent my first evening at Smugglers Cove Resort as the next day I would be off to the islands on the Yasawa Flyer Catamaran.

The Yasawa’s are the group of islands 2-4hrs North west of the mainland. The boat ride up boasted some spectacular views of the other islands including the Mamanuca group. My first stay was 2 nights at Blue Lagoon Beach Resort. Surrounded by amazing clear blue and turquoise waters and picture book islands filled with white sand, coconut trees and hammocks, It was definitely my own little slice of paradise! Our longboat was greeted by the staff singing us the traditional welcome song and then we were shown to our amazing dorm with single beds, towels (yes much excitement about being given a towel), and flowers. The resort had an incredible dinner service where I had an incredible risotto one day and pizza the next. The evening dinner was also a big hit with seafood platters the first night and a buffet with steak the next. When not eating we led on the loungers next to the glistening water and soaked up the rays with a good book (currently the girl with the dragon tattoo). As with all Fijian resorts entertainment is put on throughout the day and in the evening. The second day I was there happened to be Sunday so we took a boat around the headland to the village of Nacula and did as every Fijian does and went to church. It was all in Fijian but the singing was beautiful and the children all dressed up in their Sunday best looked fantastic. We also got the chance to have a look around the village at the thatched houses and the children and residents were all very welcoming. In the evening the choir came round to the resort and sang to us again before dinner. Unfortunately the next day I had to leave the beautiful resort and head south.

Nacula village

Girls in their Sunday best

Blue lagoon resort

Destination number 2 was Mantaray island, famous for its local mantarays, unfortunately they had decided to go awol and none were there for me to see. However, the island is beautiful and we did bracelet weaving from coconut palms, as well as games and the famous and very entertaining Fijian night. The staff get dressed up in grass skirts play ukeles and sing. They also did the traditional dancing and dragged us all up for the side by side dancing and a bizarre conga where you make a chain by holding hands between the person infront and behinds legs! All very hilarious and finished up with a bonfire.  Mantaray also boasts some amazing snorkelling right off the beach. As I swam I saw huge royal blue starfish, many tropical fish among the coral. I literally was surrounded by fish swimming along in the middle of schools of little irredescent ones and following parrotfish around. It was incredibly beautiful and I discovered that the crackling/fizzing noise you hear as you swim around is the fish eating the coral! Again unfortunately it came time to leave and off I went south again (in a torrential downpour, not what I was expecting in Fiji but the heat and scenery remained).

My last Island stop was on Wayalailai the first of the Yasawa group and a resort called Naqalia. This was a small community type resort and the first night I was 1 of 5 and the second night 1 of 2 guests! I was a little apprehensive at first but the staff welcomed me with a kava ceremony (an earthy tasting root that is used like a teabag in water and gives a relaxed and numbing feeling) we also did silly dancing games and played Fijian Uno which is an adaptation of the original card game, and much better might I add. The accommodation was a little dorm bure. In the morning I headed out, with the aptly named Fish, into the middle of the ocean to a reef where I donned a snorkel and jumped in to swim with sharks! The coral was really cool and the usual fish were cruising around. Our guide, Fish, soon found some reef sharks and had them following us and swimming very close around and under us. They were a metre plus in length and we managed to find 2. As they swam upto him to get his bait he grabbed them by the tail and dorsal fin (mentalist!) and thrust them at us saying “touch, touch!”.  It was a brilliant experience and something I never thought I would do, it also turned out to be a nice alternative what with the mantarays being M.I.A. By the end of my 2 days I felt like one of the family and was sad to leave, but it was back to the mainland.

 My coconut flax bracelet

 the bure accomodation I stayed in

My final day was spent in Nadi, I went shopping in town and then chilled out before my long and no doubt jet lag inducing flight back to Heathrow. Its been a fantastic week and the perfect end to what has been a fantastic 6 and a half months. I would tell anyone that if you haven’t already you need to get yourself to the beautiful Fiji Islands and experience the sun, sea and sand in Fiji time! A stunning place full of beautiful people and a mental and physical escape from all your worries and trivia. I have loved my week, and loved my travels, met some fantastic people and made brilliant new friends and most of all unforgettable memories! I sign off now sat on a bench looking out at the beach and sea of picture perfect Fiji! Thanks for reading! 

The Kiwi Experience

The Kiwi Experience bus and crew

So I have been a bit slack these past few weeks whilst travelling in New Zealand. To be honest its been pretty nonstop. For my leg around NZ I have been travelling on the Kiwi Experience bus which is a hop on hop off service and also hooks us up with hostels and activities so has been really useful and stress free! So here is a little update of all that I have been upto lately!

The North Island

auckland sky tower

Cape Reinga sandboarding

Waitomo blackwater rafting

Rotorua maori village

I started my Kiwi adventure in Auckland. Here I stayed with a friend and explored all the city had to offer, the harbour is pretty stunning night and day. I also took a trip up the famous sky tower where you have spectacular 360 degree views of the city from 220m up. I managed to find a pocket in the otherwise rainy day to enjoy these. From here I hopped on my first bus upto the bay of islands and cape reinga. This is the furthest northern part of NZ and beautiful with idyllic islands, waterfalls, mangoves and beaches. At Cape Reinga we also enjoyed some sand boarding on the dunes and a drive up 90mile beach! Next stop Hot water beach, we had a rainy walk to cathedral cove and then in the evening we headed out in a thunderstorm to dig a pit in the sand which fills with amazing hot water, a very surreal experience.  The area of Waitomo is a very small but pretty one and is famous for its many miles of winding underground caves. Here we took full advantage of our setting with a blackwater rafting trip (more like tubing), this involved walking down into the caves and floating around on inner tubes occasionally hopping off waterfalls and admiring the caverns and glow worms that live there. No trip to NZ would be complete without a bit of Maori history and culture and a fair amount of geothermal activity thrown in too, Rotorua provides all these things as well as the best caramel slice I’ve ever had! We spent the evening at the Tanaki village experiencing Maori life and enjoying a full buffet and musical performance. It was an amazingly educational evening and great fun too. The next day we visited te puia to see the famous geysers and also a living kiwi. Our next stop was Taupo, set next to a huge lake that is actually the gigantic caldera of a volcano, and surrounded by mountains. I thought this a suitable setting for a skydive and so off I went upto 15,000ft strapped to a stranger and threw myself out of a pink plane! The feeling is hard to describe but awesome will have to do and the adrenaline rush was fantastic! The views were spectacular and it was a beautiful sunny and clear day! In contrast the walk the next day to the natural hot pools was very relaxing. So onwards to River Valley, literally in the middle of nowhere but one of the nicest accomodations of the trip with a large fire and sofas, and surrounded by rivers and grassy hills. The main activity here was an evening of fun and games and a bar all to ourselves and therefore everyone had a brilliant night including our driver Lauren! Our final stop on the North Island is the capital, aptly named `Windy Wellington`. A nice city to be in and home to the national museum Te Papa which amongst other things houses a pickled giant squid of 4m! The waterfront and shopping is also worth a walk. I also walked up Mt.Victoria a steep but short walk and with rewarding views of the city and harbour.

Skydiving Taupo

River Valley

A plesant ferry ride takes you from Wellington over to Picton on the South Island and passes through the stunning Marlborough sounds along the way. We hit this journey in the morning and the clouds settled around the hills of the sounds proved both beautiful and eerie.

The South Island

 Kaiteriteri

 Westport

 The poo pub

 Franz Josef Glacier

In the Abel Tasman national park lies the small town of Kiteriteri surrounded by temperate rainforest and translucent blue/green sea this is an amazing stop to just walk around and take in the scenery, which incidently is exactly what we did! In our next stop of Westport we had a BBQ and bonfire on the beach and also witnessed an amazing sunset. Here we all appreciated roasted marshmallows and BBQ-ed cookies, delicious! Just south of Westport is a short coastal walk that ends at a seal colony and it was great to see the seals in their natural environment going about their business. Further on still is the pancake rocks, so called due to the horizontal bedding planes and erosion causing stacks of what look like pancakes. There are also some querky natural features here such as the blow hole where the waves get pushed up through cracks and spurt out the top of the cliff in a whale like fashion. We had a brief overnight stop at Lake Mahinapua, more notoriously known as the poo pub by backpackers, here we were fed steak buffet and all dressed up in creative bin bag fancy dress. The place is pretty isolated so its perfect party territory and much dancing and frivolity later we eventually called it a night. Past the poo pub the temperature begins to drop and we soon found ourselves at Franz Josef, home to the famous Franz Josef Glacier, snowcapped mountains and also surrounded bizarrely by rainforest. This juxtaposed setting was one of the best we stayed at and our accommodation, rainforest retreat, was a lovely place full of little cabins and dorms as well as a lovely bar/restaurant area. Our first day in Franz was pretty cloudy but we walked the track to the terminal face of the glacier, a pretty impressive sight and also surrounded by mirror lakes which made for some fantastic photographic opportunities. The second day was clearer and so we headed off with the glacier guides for an ice exploration hike. This involved getting geared up with full winter outfits plus crampons. Owing to a recent shift in the ice causing a great chasm of a hole to appear we had to be flown up onto the glacier by helicopter which in itself was an incredible experience and one I had never really thought I would have. We landed on the ice and were led through ice caves and crevasses, sometimes so thin we had to squeeze through sideways, here the ice was beautifully blue and in places 50 years old!  We then headed further up into the folds where there were streams, pools and little waterfalls to navigate. All in all an incredibly worthwhile, and quite frankly overwhelming day. We had a brief overnight stop at Wanaka, home to another huge lake and also puzzling world where we tested our brains with various wooden puzzles. One of the most anticipated places on our list was Queenstown and it certainly lives upto the hype!  Located on the edge of a glacial lake, which I was stupid enough to go for a swim in!,and surrounded by peaks such as double cone and the remarkables it is incredibly scenic. Other highlights here included the fat badgers 20” pizza, the infamous Fergburger burgers that are as big as a dinner plate, Patagonia which had some ridiculously good ice cream, and nightlife of world bar (with its cocktails sold in teapots), altitude and buffalos. Queenstown also boasts a huge extreme sports scene and so off we went to the Shotover Canyon Swing. This involves the highest cliff jump in the world (109m), a 60m free fall and a 200m arc swing. I was crazy enough to do this twice! First go was backwards off the platform and then second time dangling out over the canyon in an upside down cruxifix pose before plummeting head first! Believe me if you will that it was a terrifying yet highly enjoyable experience and I would recommend anyone to do it! Below Queestown is the scenic beauty of Milford sound (actually a fjord) we headed on a day trip here and it was a truly amazing place. Our cruise took us all the way out to the sea and on the way we saw waterfalls, 700m high cliffs, dolphin, seals and a rainbow even showed up for us too. The photos Im afraid just don’t do it justice. Time to head back north and up to Christchurch, this was a bizarre place as still recovering from the earthquake of last year. The CBD is pretty much all destroyed and inaccessible but the botanic gardens are still worth a look as well as the container city, which is a new shopping district created from empty lorry containers. My final stop on the south island was Kaikoura, famous for its huge numbers of friendly dolphin, whale and seals. On our way there we passed views of Mt.Cook and also Lake Tekapo home to the chapel of the good shepherd. Being an overnight stop we spent most of our time here watching the rugby but on the morning we left we were able to see seals on the rocky shore to the right of the bus, and to the left snowcapped mountains!

fergburger queenstown

 Qtn swim

 Milford sound day trip

 Glacial lake and Mt.Cook

Following this it was back north to Auckland again via Wellington and Taupo. As everyone headed off there separate ways it was sad to say goodbye to so many new friends that I have shared unforgettable experiences with over the past month and a bit. The Kiwi Experience is something that I would certainly recommend to travellers 18-30 as provides an action packed and full itiniery to suit all tastes. New Zealand itself boasts spectacular and hugely diverse scenery and is a geographers and adrenaline junkies dream. Sweet as!

 Wellington and Marlborough sounds

A very belated tale of Australia

For my trip down Australia’s east coast (Cairns to Melbourne) I took along Alex and we hired a campervan after deciding to make our own route. Jucy provided us with our van and we created our route as we went along. We spent 5 weeks travelling from place to place so heres a bit of an epic blog broken into states.

Queensland

1. We arrived in Cairns early April to temperatures of 30 degrees! This was a welcome change from the snowy mountains of Japan. We spent the day in cairns and bathed in the artificial beach there.

2. We camped at a little spot by a creek called Babinda and the next morning headed to the nearby boulders where we had a short walk through the rainforest and also a swim in the creek pool which was beautiful. We had a few stops that day including Josephine falls, Innisfail (a small river town) and onto the Atherton tablelands which is full of rainforest scenery. We stayed the night amongst the trees with a small creek for swimming and washing. We also did the 3.5km walk through the forest to the Nandroya falls which is one of the most impressive waterfalls ive seen plunging 100m into a rainforest clearing.

3. The following day was spent at the stunning Mission Beach here we lead under a palm tree and enjoyed the sunshine, the beach itself stretches for miles and the water is beautifully blue. This was mainly a relaxing day and in the evening at our roadside stop we saw some enormous butterflies.

4. Further south we headed back inland to Pauloma where a series of waterfalls and plunge pools provided brilliant opportunity for jumping off rocks and lounging in the sunshine. We headed on after this to Townsville and then Saunders beach where we had a beautiful campsite literally on the edge of the beach and wandered along it at night looking at the stars including the famous southern cross as well as Mars and Venus.

5. Magnetic island is a short distance by ferry from Townsville and we had a day here beach hopping. The island offers a variety of settings from the more commercial horseshoe bay to secluded beaches and rainforest. We decided to head off the main tourist route and walked around the NE corner of the island to Balding, Radical and Florence bays. These beaches we had almost entirely to ourselves which was fantastic and they were beautiful, the rocks around the edges almost created a wild-west sort of feel. After sunbathing and swimming in the amazing warm waters we headed back to be picked up by the bus and whilst walking saw both Echidna and Koala in their natural habitat.

6. From Townsville we headed to Airlie via Bowen where we had a swim and saw a lot of little fish.

7. Airlie is a good base to head out to The Whitsunday Islands and I booked myself onto a day trip with Ocean Rafting. The boat is a pretty big lifeboat style one and we sped out across the waves bouncing around which was a lot of fun. We had a stop where we all put on stinger suits and snorkels and swam among the coral reef and fish. It was amazing to see the coral and the variety of colours. There were also tonnes of fish ranging from a few cm to a couple of feet in length. The parrot fish being the most striking of these with its variety of colours, we also saw a sea turtle whilst cruising along in the boat. We carried on around the islands and walked up hills inlet to the lookout there. It provides amazing views of Whitehaven beach and the amazing blue waters contrasted with the pure white silica sand. We also saw a golden orb spider in the forest there. We stopped on Whitehaven beach for a buffet lunch and fed the fish bread from our hands, and saw a goanna in the bushes! We had a pretty wet ride back bumping over the waves but it was brilliant fun and a very memorable day.

7. The next day was mainly spent travelling although we had a stop in Mackay and then overnight at a lovely little beach, where the trees grow out of the sea, called Clairview.

8. We spent another day travelling through to Rockhampton and then a little riverside stop called Calloupie where we walked along the river.

9. We had an early start to reach 1770 where we walked along to the headland point and sunbathed on the beach watching the crabs scuttling around. We then headed around the corner to Workmans bay and also agnes water. We camped just outside of Bunderberg.

10. We had a brief explore of bunderberg, walking through town and down the river to Alexandra park where they have a lovely small but free zoo with emu, ostrich, goats and a variety of birds. We carried on to Hervey Bay where we parked up in a lovely campsite with a spa pool. Unfortunately here our van broke down as the key snapped off in the ignition! In the evening walking along the water front the noise was tremendous as all the parrots took up roost in the trees along the beach there were literally thousands of them which was quite impressive to see.

11. I had a day trip to Fraser Island with Unique Fraser, we were ferried across and explored in a jeep. We drove through the rainforest to Lake Mackenzie which is an amazingly blue, freshwater lake. Here we stopped for a swim and then had a traditional welcome dance and song from our aboriginy guide Travis. Along 75 mile beach (a registered highway and airstrip!) we stopped at the Maheno shipwreck which is very impressive and boasts some beautiful colours. We also passed the pinnacles which are cool columns of sand with different coloured layers. Further up Indian head is the only rock on the sand island, formed from an ancient volcanic eruption. After the walk up to the top we had views of the beaches and also the dunes inland. Whilst having our lunch Travis played us the didgeridoo. Our furthest northern point was the champagne pools where the waves splash over into the rock pool creating a crazy natural jakuzzi. Finally we finished up at Eli Creek where we firstly walked up the river and then were able to float back down in the current which was a lot of fun. Another incredible day topped off by seein 3 dingoes on the way back!

12. We were stranded at our campsite so sunbathing and swimming was the plan for the day.

13. Finally fixed we headed to rainbow beach and did the cooloolba great walk to the carlo sandblow.  It’s a huge dune like formation but like a valley and with great views of the ocean. We camped in the national park next to the beach with views of Fraser Island in the distance.

14. we had a morning sunbathing on rainbow beach and bobbing the waves. We then headed to Nambour where we found the big pinapple! (one of many oversized objects in Australia). We camped that night at a little place called obi obi creek.

15. This day was spent at Australia Zoo!! The zoo is amazing and home to many aussie species including crocs, alligators, wallaby and kangaroo, the later 2 you can walk around, feed and pet. The koalas you can also stroke and their fur is not unlike lambs wool. They also have an Asian area with a tiger show and elephants that we all fed by hand which was surreal but incredible. One of the highlights though is the daily show at the crocosseum where the very well trained birds fly around and crocs jump vertically out of the water for meat. We also saw various animals being taken for walks by the staff including a Tasmanian devil, a wombat and a dingo.

16. A morning spent in Brisbane and a lovely walk along the river, around the botanic gardens and markets. We then continued on to surfers paradise which contrasts the beautiful scenery with a cityscape. We stayed just down from here at burleigh heads and had a swim in the sea.

New South Wales

17. We finally crossed the border and headed to Nimbin a weird druggy town that is stuck in the 70’s. It’s a very vibrant place and the highlight of our visit was probably the candle factory which showed not only the creative process but a wide range of designs and colours. In the evening we arrived in Byron bay which is really cool.

18. in Byron we spent the day surfing and lying on the beach. It was awesome and we even managed to catch a few waves in despite being pounded by the breakers on the way out. In the evening I headed with an Irish couple we met to the bar Cheeky Monkeys famous for its dancing on tables and that alongside some frozen margheritas made for a brilliant night.

19. Above Byron stands the lighthouse and we headed up here and walked along to cape Byron, Australias most eastern point. We saw the big prawn as we passed through Ballina. After that we headed on south to Grafton a little historic town and did a bit of a driving tour, in the cathedral there I met a man who used to live in Gloucestershire.

20. We drove onto Coffs Harbour home to the big banana, and walked along the historic jetty in the bay there. We also walked up Muttonbird Island seeing many of the species on the way and also having great views at the top of the town and both the north and south coasts.

21. Port Macquarie is home to the koala sanctuary and here we had a tour seeing many rescued koalas with missing legs or eyes or just bad backs. The little orphans were super cute and happily going to be released back into the wild soon. We also did a mangrove boardwalk here where we saw hundreds of bats (flying foxes) which were making a huge racket!

22. This was a day of driving via the foothills of the blue mountains to reach Richmond.

23. My 23^rd birthday was spent fantastically! We left the campervan and headed into Sydney on the train. Once checked into a hostel we embarked on a walking tour taking us to Darling Harbour, The rocks full of little alleyways and market stalls, we had lunch at the edge of circular quay overlooking the opera house. We also walked around to see the harbour bridge. We spent some time at the opera house which is very impressive and then wandered our way back through the botanic gardens and the domain. We had a drink in our hostel bar and then headed back upto the rocks taking in the opera house and harbour bridge by night. We had dinner at the aptly named Jacksons restaurant and I had an amazing steak. On our way home we bought a caramel cupcake and back at the hostel stuck a match in the top as a makeshift candle! We had some more drinks in the bar downstairs before bed.

24. Our second day in Sydney was spent at manly we caught the ferry over and had a nice walk around the bay watching surfers and volleyball. We went all the way around to shelley beach and then back to the main port. We caught the ferry all the way along the river to the Olympic park and on the way saw some yacht racing in port Jackson. We wandered around the Olympic park seeing archery, mtb, the main stadiums and best of all the hockey stadium where there was actually a match that we sat and watched for a bit. We then headed back to Richmond and the van in the evening.

25. We left Richmond and headed into the Blue Mountains, we saw the Leura cascades, Gordon falls, and the famous Echo point that looks out over an enormous distance and also home to the three sisters rock formation which we walked down some very sketchy steps to the walkway of. It was a pretty impressive day of views and then we embarked on a 5hr drive to the sleepy town of gunning to camp.

26. From Gunning it was a short drive to Canberra I had a tour around the Australian Institute of Sport and all their facilities which was really cool. We spent the afternoon walking about 5km upto parliament hill where there were some good views of the city and on the way back the sunset was stunning. We stayed in Canberra with alex’s friends from Norway and it was fantastic to be able to chill out on a sofa and have a proper bed!

27. We headed out of Canberra after a visit to the national museum of Australia and the DFO outlet store where I got some new jeans and a top. We drove into the Snowy Mountains and to Thredbo to a beautiful campsite by the lake. On the way there we saw some huge wild grey kangaroos.

28. We had an explore around Thredbo in the morning, it was nice to be back in the mountains and see a ski resort without the snow. The drive out was pretty windy but the views were amazing with white gum trees and rocky landscape turning into lush forest as we got lower. That evening we arrived in Melbourne and stayed with our friend Hana and her family.

Victoria

29. Our first day in Melbourne was a day of sightseeing starting at Flinders St and Federation Square we headed out to the docklands along the river. We also ambled around Victoria markets souvenir buying. We also went to the impressive library which had a very interesting display on the life of Ned Kelly including his armour and gun. We went to the suburb of Prahan to visit Alex’s cousin Emma. We had a drink with her and then at the bar she works at (The Smith) before heading back to Hana’s.

30. Day 2 in Melbourne we had a quick visit to the coast in Williamstown and then left Hana’s. We headed to Vermont south and Oak Pin Court better known as Ramsey Street from Neighbours! So cool! We went then to Caulfield North where Emma lives. We all went out to dinner at this amazing indian restaurant. We had corn fritter, pork ribs, veggie green curry and pork belly it was incredible! After dinner we made our way to the MCG (where the ashes are held) and watched the aussie rules football st Kilda V Hawthorn. It was a really good match if not a bit chaotic and was cool to see. We then went to lounge bar till late.

31. Day 3 in Melbourne, we headed out along a small bit of the great ocean road. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to see very much. In the evening we went out for a pub quiz which we won! We then rented some movies on the way home at a video store that had a horror section full of blood coated props! Back at emma’s we had cheese and biscuits whilst watching the beach.

32. My final full day in Melbourne was a bit of an admin day with a lovely Australian pie thrown into the mix. In the evening we went to St Kilda and I saw the little blue penguins at dusk at the end of the pier which was really cool. The views across to the main CBD were really cool too.

The next day I left Australia and headed over to New Zealand. Ideally I would have liked a couple more weeks to see a bit more as didn’t get to see Uluru but it was amazing trip all the same and the freedom of the van was fantastic.