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 ;)