Auckland - Fiji (Day 87- 93)

---

Day 87

Our final few hours in the campervan so we had a big tidy up and packed our bags before heading towards Auckland along our second motorway of the trip! Before dropping the van off we wanted to head up to Mount Eden but driving in a major city is a bit different to all the country roads (and there was no signs!)...so it took us a while to find our way. It was worth the steep drive to the top though as we had panoramic views over the city and were stood on the edge of a crater of an extinct volcano!!!

We then headed for a bite to eat in Mount Eden village before giving our van back and giving up our home of the past two weeks...we were told that we had driven 3458 Kilonetres (2144 miles), not bad for seventeen days!!!

A taxi took us back into the centre and to our hostel, K City Travellers, where we had a relaxing afternoon, had some dinner, watched a film and then headed to bed shattered from the past couple of weeks.

Day 88

We decided to do a bit of sightseeing and headed to the main attraction of Auckland, the Sky Tower. We got the lift up to the Sky Deck (220m high) where we had a 360 degree view of the city, harbour, numerous volcanos and watching people doing sky jumps off the tower! We also had hot drink and cake in the Sky Lounge Cafe, not a bad view from here either! We had a stroll around the harbour before stopping off for lunch at Neptunes, sitting in the sun and overlooking the quay...lovely. We then had a relaxing rest of the day, looking around the Queen Street shops and sitting in Aotea Square before heading back to the hostel...another chilled out evening.

Day 89

We caught the Airbus to Auckland airport and jetted off to our last destination of the trip...Fiji!!! After a quick flight we were welcomed into Nadi and the sun with Fijian live music, a great start...before Mandy realised she had left a load of stuff on the plane, so we had to run back on to get it!!! We were picked up by the hostel staff and arrived at Mamas Tropic of Capricorn early evening. Everyone in Fiji is really friendly and the staff make sure they remember everyone's names! We got some dinner where Brett enjoyed a tradional fish dish and we also had a beer or two talking to a couple of other travellers.

Day 90

After deciding we wanted to check out one of the other 300 Fiji Islands...we headed to the Mamanucas to relax in the sun at Mana Island. Following an hour's journey on a speedboat we arrived to clear blue water, palm trees and beautiful sand...not a bad way to end our travels!!! Down to our last few pennies of our extended budget, we weren't able to stay at a plush resort and instead had a different experience of staying in the village with the locals at Sereana's. Although, we did have our own Bure (a kind of bungalow) which had a double bedroom and living room, with a shower (which consisted of a hose!) and toilet outside. We were staying amongst the villlagers who lived in basic homes so we only had cold running water and electricity was only available from 6pm to 6am! All our meals were included and it was nice sitting around the table with other travellers eating home cooked Fijian food!

After meeting our fellow travellers (Rosie, Xavier and Simona) and hosts (Vini, Sarah and Asse) we enjoyed eating the tradional "breadfruit" for lunch. We then took a walk along the beach, stopped for a mocktail at the main resort on the island, then sat and enjoyed the views of the multi-coloured sea until the sun set. Being a small island and small hostel, there isn't anything to do in the evenings so after dinner we sat playing cards with our new friends (Brett had been waiting for a cards night since we came away!).

Day 91

We didn't sleep brilliantly as there was no air-con and the fan was really noisy! After lovely home made bread for breakfast (they literally make it from scratch the night before by hand!!!) we decided to spend the morning as independant travellers...Mandy found a quiet shaded spot to read whilst Brett went for a walk along a deserted part of the island before meeting up for lunch. We spent the afternoon in the sun and the sea as well as playing bat and ball and were joined by Joeal, a young Fijian boy who was chuffed when we let him join in. We then walked around the island towards "Sunset Beach", followed by a couple of the local dogs, before heading back for dinner. There was a couple of new people at the hostel, one of which (Lisa) joined our gang for a second night of cards.

Day 92

After another yummy breakfast we decided to do a bit of exercise, whilst it wasn't too hot, walking to the top of the hills which gave us wonderful views of the whole island. We then visited the local school and had a look around the two classes and chatted to the children which was really interesting. We then played a bit more bat and ball (again joined by Joeal) before lunch. A very relaxing afternoon followed where we enjoyed our last bit of sun and sea before coming back to the cold winter in England! We had our last tradional Fijian meal (Malian Fish) and of course a round of cards finished off our final evening abroad.

Day 93

One last breakfast, a few goodbyes and we were heading back to the mainland on a choppy speedboat ride. We then ate some lunch before finishing off this blog...

Tonight we are having a BBQ back at Mamas Hostel before catching our first ten hour flight this evening over to LA where we'll stay for four hours before another ten hour journey back to Heathrow!!!

Hope you have all enjoyed reading about Team Bready's travels...see you back in Eastbourne soon!

---