Rough times

I'm pleased to say Les got over her little set back quickly and we headed back out to the islands to enjoy the rest of our trip.

We headed to a little island called 'Drawaqa' home of 'Barefoot Lodge' a small collection of 20 bures (thatched huts) and nothing else on the island. No electricity, no water, no ....... anything!! But what the island lacked in travel luxuries it made up for in natural beauty, within seconds we were snorkelling in extensive coral gardens, and within eyeshot a passage where the gigantic Manta Rays swam through. As usual, kayaking, snorkelling, and relaxing in hammocks were on the agenda.

As usual i have found a new tipple as i have been passing through countries, this time though it is not a beer (although Fiji Bitter is very nice), it is actually a narcotic drink called Kava, it is drank in ceremonial style until you pass out. Tastes like (and looks like) mud, but has a weird relaxing effect, and is legal (apparently)



After two days on the above island, our next stop was the most southern tip of Waya island, the place we stayed was called 'Sunset' (which is quite ironic as the huge mountain blocks us from seeing the sunset!). We arrived quite late and were pretty tired so we slept after we ha been introduced to the island by a Fijian guy named 'John'. We awoke at around 5am the next morning to hear a howling wind and lashing rain .... great! The day was spent inside a large bure playing cards and listening to lots of eager young backpackers yank on about thier worldly travels, and how great Thiland is compared to every where else in the world ........ zzzzzzzz

Our 27m catermaran (The Flyer) was rather late in picking us up to take us back to the mainland, and the sea was very rough. It arrived around 5pm and we were taxied out to the Flyer for our return trip. To say i wasn't ready for what ensued is an understatement!!! This was the worse trip of my life, waves the size of two storey houses battered the catermaran left, right, up, down, back and forth (and a combination of those direction) for around 2 1/2 hours. People were vomiting left right and centre, people were injured from flying objects and people had been reassigned seats by being bounced to another location out of their original seats.

I arrived back on the mainland, shaking and very sweaty.

Anyway have to go and catch a plane now so i will update pics and blog when i get back (in about 30 hours)

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Just when i thought it was all going swimmingly .....

So we set off for the Yasawa islands of Fiji and our first stop was Bounty island, part of the Mamanuca group >> http://www.fiji-bounty.com/ , for those who watch British TV, it is where celebrity love island was filmed last year - although i didn't know that until i actually got there - honest!! The had pics of Lee Sharp and Jane Middlemiss etc .,... zzzzz.

It took me about 30 mins to kayak around the island and we stumbled upon the 'Loveshack' apparently! It was shocking to see what the uk based program had left behind, the buildings looked like they had just been left to collapse!



Unfortunately for me, i picked up a cold in New Zealand and therefore am unable to dive the Fijian waters, nevertheless i still snorkelled, which was pretty ace, despite it getting pretty rough at times.

The next stop was 5 hours out of the Mamanucas and into North Yasawa group, to an island called Nanuya lailai. This island was hardcore, no electricity, no hot water, nothing but iddylic scenery and sunshine. We took a walk to the 'Blue Lagoon' apparently where the film 'Blue Lagoon', with Brooke Shields was filmed, and did some snorkelling, i was a bit sad by the amount of dead coral in this lagoon, but it was still amazing and for the second time in my trip i 'found nemo' in his anemone with his family (well actually Les did!)
Night time on the island was pretty dark, with only an oil lantern to find our way around and light up the room, pretty neat tho. We ate food with the locals, were treat to a fijian show, and drank kava (a narcotic local drink) by oil lantern light.



This is where the fun stopped. In the morning Lesley awoke with a pretty serious pain in her pelvis, the pain was so great we had to come all the way back to the mainland to see a doctor (6 hours on a catamaran). To cut along story short, we are now back on the main land, lesley has seen a Dr and been given some meds, and all is well. We hope to head back out to the Yasawas tomorrow.

Bula - from Fiji

Arrived here safe and sound, not much to say really apart from its hot and there are many different types of shark to be scared of when i go diving (Hammerheads, Bull, Tiger, etc etc) - I'm not scared though ... I'm a tourist!!

We will be out of contact for a while when we go island hopping across the yasawas, but will try and update when i get back.

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New Zealand - act 2

The next few days saw us being haulled around Auckland sightseeing, we went to a lookout point (great panorama), up the Sky Tower www.skycity.co.nz and then to Bryces (our host with the most) parents house for a home cooked meal (mmmmm venison).



The next day we took off in the Mystery Machine and headed for the waitomo caves -->> www.waitomocaves.co.nz. Nice caves and lots of glow worms.
After that we headed to Rotorua, a hub of volcanic activity that allowed us to sample the local Polynesian outdoor spa --> www.polynesianspa.co.nz (pretty wierd sitting outside in a 40 degree spa on a freezing cold night!) and also mud baths and more spas at a place called Hells Gate --> www.hellsgate.co.nz.
We also went to a Mauiri village and witnessed some delightful displays of entertainment and traditional Mauiri ingenuity. I really enjoyed this culture feast, it had such an impact on me that i even did a spontaneous Haka on the way out! (Can you tell which Mauri Warrior is me??)


After this encounter with Rotorua, we headed south to Lake Taupo, and into another volcanic crater, it was a bit cold so we didn't hang around too long, we headed up to mount Manganui, a very scenic spot on a peninsula (and quite posh too!)

One of the things that caught me out in NZ is the sheer size of the place. In total i must have driven for about 9 - 10 hours and i have barely scratched the surface. Another thing that surprised me was the Aucklanders complete lack of ability to drive, but thats another story ;)

New Zealand - act 1

Landed in Auckland and was met by a very nice young couple who whisked us off to pick up our accommodation for the next week. We decided to hire a 2 person camper van (it was a Mercedes!!) and it had its own toilet and shower.
It was a baptism of fire as we trundled through the Auckland highways with random obnoxious Kiwi drivers tooting their horns at us and making naughty gestures (and that was before we left the rental place car park!)
Then it started to rain ......... as if we hadn't seen enough in Cairns already ...!!
We followed our new found kiwi friends home where they introduced us to the Hell Pizza >> https://www.hell.co.nz and i had dessert pizza for the very first time!

Tuesday we visited Piha beach a very picturesque coastline, famous for its surf and this is the place where Tim and Neil Finn from Crowded house saved Eddy Vedders (Pearl Jam) life! I climbed Lion Rock ....grrrrrr. After this we went to Kelly Tarltons, www.kellytarltons.co.nz, an aquarium/antartic experience, with numerous fish/inverts/penguins to see. Whilst we were there we took a dive in the main tank, which could be viewed from underneath via perspex tunnels. In the tank there were numerous fish including blue mao mao, snapper, trevelly, moray ells, turtles and stingrays. It was a pretty wierd experience being on the other side of the glass for a change!
Before i came to this side of the world i thought i would be eating healthy, drinking healthy and exercising to lose my ever expanding waistline .... However, this has not been the case ..... I was introduced to a restaurant called Lone Star ...... can anyone say "steaks the size of my head"??? - not that i have a big head or anything :p
Since being on this trip away, i consider myself a 'backpacker', as i have a backpack. Since coming to NZ and hiring a campervan i have become a 'camper' (and a happy one at that!), however, we all have to cheat now and then, and after stuffing my face with huge steaks and prawns i couldn't fit into the camper van, and had to spend a night in a inner city hotel (The Copthorne Hotel - Kingsize bed, statalite TV .... and the piece de resistance .... a bath!!).

Cairns and Cape Tribulation.

In Cairns I went on a live aboard, anchored off a Cay in the outer barrier reef and spent the night out on the ocean while i completed 4 1/2 dives (first one out of the 5 didn't go as planned, i jumped in a rough ocean - i'm used to calm swimming pools, and my weight belt decided to come off, follwed by my fin on my right foot. I splashed my way back to the boat shelf and sat there pretty spooked, contemplating not getting back in. I slapped myself around the face a bit and jumped back in for a snorkel. The other 4 dives went pretty much to plan (apart from using my air too quickly and having to share air so i could stay down longer). I did my skills and was qualified after the 4th dive.
Lesley and I enjoyed a night out at sea and drooled over the starry night sky (amazing what you can see without light pollution), we were also lucky enough to have one of the passengers on board serenade us with his acoustic guitar!.
The boat was pretty rocky and although i didn't puke, Lesley did. Strange though as she waited until we were in calmer waters before barfing!

The next few days we went upto a place where Reef meets Rainforest - a place called Cape Tribulation.
Inhabitants included - Natures top predator, Saltwater crocs (known man eaters and of which there were many, along with many warning signs)- they can grow upto 8 metres and can chomp down with such force that each tooth exerts a pressure on the victim of 6 family cars! - we saw a 5 metre croc by the name of Scarface
Numerous spiders - most venomous and most bigger than my hand
Snakes - again, most are venomous (and slippery little barstewards) - the snakes in cape trib included the brown snake (not the type you find in the toilet!! - read about it!)and the inland taipan (it can strike you 6 times in a second and inject as much venom in each strike as the deadly sea snake!)

In cape trib we went horse riding with two real ozzy cowboys (named Mick and Buffalo!), managed to get my horse (Popeye) up to a canter, but i kept getting blocked by Lesleys slow horse (Red) up ahead. Night times in cape trib were spent curled up in a ball, with the fear of god that something was going to eat/sting/bite us!

After that crazy ordeal, we came back to reality in a nice town called Port Douglas, had some beers, ate some food, caught a plane to NZ ................

Long time no blog .....

I have had severe lack of computer time, for that I am not sorry as I have been flying around the southern hemisphere doing and seeing some great things.

First of all, I should say that Lesley arrived in Cairns on 15th July safe and sound. After 30+ hours of flying she looked and smelled worse for wear, but love is blind and I have no sense of smell!
We headed to the Calypso Inn (a backpackers with the basics) for some R&R then went out in Cairns for a look around and a burger!
Cairns is a pleasant holiday town with a public salt swimming pool that is apparently used in the summer months when the ocean is not safe to swim in (stingers!)
As we ate, I endulged myself with my new favourite tipple …. Carlton Draught! (Victorian Beer from Melbourne)

More to come …...............

PADI and the Great Barrier Reef

I'm now a certified diver I did my 4 open water dives on a live aboard over 2 days moored at the outer Great Barrier Reef. What an amazing place!! I also pooed in my pants when i saw pretty much every coral and marine fish i have ever read about (there are tons!!!).

I managed to scrape my leg on a table acro (thought it was a millepora when i glanced back ), i also saw reef sharks and hitched a ride with a green turtle (dude didn't mind me hanging on to his shell at all, just kept looking back as if to say .... "ah! .... whatever!" ).

I was really tempted to bore everyone on board (16 berth boat) with my abundant knowledge of corals and marine fish, but i decided against it and listened patiently as they all said they were dissapointed they didn't "find Nemo" ......

Anyway, no mocking my spelling as i am typing this on a keyboard that has no letters on it (all worn away )

Laterz

M'off again.....

Bags packed, going for a beer with some people, fly to Cairns tomorrow morning 9am Oz time to meet up with Lesley.

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