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Published: June 26th 2007
Wellington
Wellington from the top of the cable carNew Zealand - North Island
Wellington We got a ferry up from the South Island to Wellington and had a few beverages on the ferry whilst playing cards, so when we arrived we were quite keen on a night out. We stayed at a really nice YHA and were lucky in that, as there were 5 or us (the three of us plus Hazel and Cathi from the Kiwi experience) they upgraded us to private ensuite dorm for just the five of us. This was pretty nice for a change as it meant your sleep wasn't frequently interrupted by people going out or coming in as we were doing pretty much the same thing. We didn't actually get up to a lot in Wellington - we had a night out at the start to watch the State of Origin rugby game (which meant we missed the alarm for the England game set at stupid o'clock in the morning). Gray and another girl off the bus (Lydia) were also out and Marie took a new liking to rugby. We ended up in a club somewhere which was pretty good but the younger girl, Lydia, was pretty wrecked (and persistant) and
In a tree
Andy and Fraser in Wellington's botanical gardens we kind of felt oblidged to look out for her.
During the next day we had a bit of a wander around town and took the tram up the mountain to the botanical gardens with great views of the capital city, then walked back down - it was a pretty nice and cheap way to spend the afternoon. On the way back, we purchased some plum hair dye for Marie to dye Fraser's hair - back at the hostel, Marie performed a skin test with the dye. In the evening we watched Pirates of the Caribbean 3 at a very funky cinema. Rubbish film and pretty sure I (Andy) fell asleep for about 20 mins of it.
Taupo Whilst in Taupo we met up again with a few people from our Kiwi bus in the South Island including Hazel, Cathi, Gray and Ali. On the day we arrived, with the skin test having proved successful, Marie dyed Fraser's hair plum - came out quite well (although Catherine's reaction to the photo of the results sent to her would suggest otherwise - "what have you done Brown?").
We had a fairly big night out on the first
Beehive
Beehive building and statue in Wellington day, with 4 of us heading out for a nice dinner (us three and Ali) before heading to meet the others in an Irish bar with a superb club attached to it. As usual(!), Burgin was the last home forcing entry (together with Cathi) to a second club which wasn't letting anyone else in as it was closing. Not sure how they managed it but guessing it was something to do with their female assets!
In the morning Marie (still very drunk) and Andy went on a romantic stroll to Huka falls. During the walk, Marie consumed about 5 litres of fluid to try and rehydrate herself. The falls were really cool as you can see from the pictures. We continued further on to a place call the moon crater walk which is an area with lots of thermal activity which was interesting and a little strange. It was about a 10km trip and Marie put in a heroes performance. The afternoon was spent lounging around watching films and using the free hot tub.
One of the main activities we did from Taupo was the Tongario crossing (where you can see mount doom from Lord Of The Rings).
Gumboot
Gumboot statue in the town of gumboot tossing The crossing spans the length of Mt Tongariro (17 Kilometres) and takes about 7-9 hours. One of the highlights is the Emerald lakes (see picture), the colour of which is caused by minerals leached from the surrounding rock. The highest point of the crossing is about 1900m. The trip involved a 6am start (at which point the weather was absolutely freezing) and so by the end of it we were all pretty knackered. Really good day though and the views from the mountain was incredible.
All of us did also did a second sky dive (again from 12,00ft) over Lake Taupo which was absolutely fantastic. It was a really clear day and it felt like you were free falling for a fair bit longer because you don't "lose as much time" as you do with your first skydive as you know what to expect and are more aware of the situation and can enjoy the views - you could nearly see both the east and west coasts of the north island when we jumped out. An added bonus was the pink plane (for marie) and transfer to the air strip in a limo.
Rotorua On arrival in
Hair dying
Marie dying Fraser's hair a plum colour Rotorua, Fraser and Andy headed off white water rafting. Marie had to skip this so as not to aggrevate her hand. The rafting was ace and we got to go down the highest commercially rafted waterfall (being 7m) where the raft is completely submerged under the down pour (very good fun).
In the evening we all went to a traditional Maouri feast where some of the food was cooked in the traditional style known as Hangi. This is a Māori word for a method of cooking in an outdoor pit oven. It is done in New Zealand as an alternative to the barbecue, but often saved for special occasions due to the large amount of time and preparatory work involved.
To "lay a hāngi" or "put down a hāngi" involves digging a pit in the ground, heating stones in the pit with a large fire, placing wire baskets of food on top of the stones, and covering everything with earth for several hours before uncovering (or lifting) the hāngi. The food was fantastic (and there was even dessert, a rarity for backpackers) which perhaps explains why Fraser and Marie both felt sick from over eating (it was a
The results
The results of the hair dying episode buffet style meal). The evening also involved a Maori dance show, a tour around the village and a very funny bus journey back and forth where the driver said hello in about 50 languages and generally kept everyone amused with songs, talk of his driving convictions and some interesting driving (including circling the same roundabout 4 or 5 times; not an easy feat in a bus.
After returning Marie and Andy headed out for a bit of a night out (as they didn't have to get up early the next day) and went to a superb sports bar. A lot of pool was played before heading back. I (Andy) was mildly scared by some of the local girls who were somewhat persistant in trying to get us on the dance floor. They were also very well built as a lot of the Maori's are. Amusement of the night was provided when Marie went to take a drink from her pool queue and tried to visit another 'questionable' establishment on the way home (apparently innocently).
The next day Andy and Marie woke up a bit later and went Zorbing and Luging, both really fun activities. There were two tracks
Taupo
Taken on the romantic stroll that Andy and Marie took for the zorbing; a zig zag track which we did individually and the straight downhill track where we went in the same zorb (how sweet). The Luge involved getting the cable car up the mountain and we did three seperate runs. It was a lot faster than Queenstown and involved certain bits where you were almost taking off. Unsurprisingly, Marie finished triumphant.
Whilst Marie and Andy went luging and Zorbing, Fraser jumped on the Waitomo Wanderer and headed out to Waitomo, about two hours away from Rotorua. Waitomo is home to many cave networks and it was refreshing to get away from the smell of sulphur in Rotorua. After arriving there, we got on our wetsuits, helmets and harnesses and headed out to one of the caves. The activity began with a 35 meter abseil through a cave opening then down a vertical wall to the bottom of the cave. After a short walk through the caves, we were hooked onto a flying fox, all lights were turned off, then we shot down the aerial runway in pitch black through the caves, with the only light being the glow worms. We then jumped on tubes (rubber rings) and paddled
Taupo waterfall
Fast flowing waterfall up stream looking up at the glow worms. The guide had a flare gun and set this off a few times to wake up the glow worms - the loud noise scares them and they crap themselves - they get brighter as it is their excrement that glows in the dark. After that, we walked/swam through the caves for another hour or so, through the Labrinth maze, then climbed up through a couple of waterfalls, back out into the forest. It was a great experience and one unlikely to be repeated as glow worms only exist in New Zealand. After returning to Rotorua, we got in some Dominos pizzas and chilled watching some films.
Auckland After a very long bus journey to Auckland, we finally got to the hostel and bumped into a number of people from our Kiwi bus. After a few drinking games in the hostel, we headed down to Globe bar. After some drinks, Andy headed off to the casino partly due to the fact that Marie was stroppy as she had been on the white wine. Marie then headed home, leaving Fraser flying the Birmingham flag with the few that were left.
The
Taupo waterfall again
Strange coloured water next day, Marie and Andy went to the Lionzone brewery, whilst Fraser rested after the heavy session the night before. The brewery tour in the morning was actually a pretty good trip. There was an interactive tour for about an hour to an hour and a half followed by free tasting in the bar. Marie had a couple of beers which remarkably cured her hangover. We then got a bus back to town and did a tour of a few of the bars around the hostel area before catching up with some of the others in the evening to get set for the Rugby. After a few beers in an Irish bar with the others, Fraser joined us and we headed over to the stadium. The All Blacks hammered a weak French team scoring several tries in the process.
It was ace to see the All Blacks perform the haka at the start of the game. The French seemed quite intimidated by the sheer size of the kiwis and to be fair had not brought out anywhere near a full strength side with the Rugby World Cup not that far away. After the match, we headed back for an early
Steam
Geothermal steam in Taupo night in anticipation for the long journey up to Paihia.
Bay of Islands After (another) early start, we took the big green bus north of Auckland up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands - this was the first landing place in Fiji and also holds the original capital of New Zealand (near Russell). It also holds the meeting house where the treaty was signed between the Maori and the Europeans - this treaty mainly concerned the ownership of land and the English version was not translated correctly into Maori - the Maori's thought they were leasing the land to the English and the English thought they were buying it outright. This is still an issue in the country with the Maori having recently submitted a claim for well over 100 million dollars worth of land which they believe is clearly their land. After a brief bus tour, we spent the afternoon there relaxing watching a few films.
The next day, we headed down to the wharf and boarded a large catamaran with only about 10 passengers for our cruise around the Bay of Islands. After a couple of hours sailing, seeing a few tiny penguins swimming
Devil's staircase
Steep climb during the Tongariro Crossing past us, we anchored at one of the islands and went for a swim (in the very cold water). After a short trek up one of the hills, which had superb views of the bay (see pictures), we had a BBQ on the boat, then hoisted the sails and set off searching for dolphins. After a short while (and a few beers), dolphins were spotted and we headed over there. There were lots of them swimming along with the boat - unfortunately, we couldn’t swim with them as they had babies with them but they were pretty amazing nonetheless. On the journey back to Paihia, we opted to jump off at Russell to sample New Zealand’s oldest pub (the Duke of Marlborough). We boarded the ferry back to Paihia, armed with superb Fish ‘n chips, and hit the sack.
Auckland (again) We headed back to Auckland the next day and didn’t do much in Auckland that evening or the next day awaiting our flight to Fiji and the return of sunshine and heat - not sure how much longer Marie would have survived in the cold in New Zealand. The flight over to Nadi was amazing with superb
In the crater
Andy and Fraser in the crater on the Tongariro Crossing sunset views above the clouds on the flight across the Pacific.
Fiji
We were met by a very camp Fijian at the airport who issued us with our bus tickets and hotel voucher and organized our transfer to the hostel. Everyone was wearing sarongs and had flowers in their hair (apparently, a flower behind the right means married, a flower behind the left ear means single and two behind the left ear means desperate). After a few Fiji Bitter beers, we went to bed, already feeling the heat compared to New Zealand.
It would be pointless talking about Fiji on a day by day basis as, whilst we visited quite a few different places aside from the organised days on the Feejee experience, the activities we did didn't really vary very much place to place. We pretty much spent three weeks either sunbathing (it was 30 degrees most days), swimming, snorkelling, diving, eating, drinking, crab racing, drinking Kava, fishing or reading (in no particular order).
We did two organised trips both starting from Nadi the main tourist hub. The first was a trip around the Yasawas where we stopped at two islands (South Sea Island - 1
Red rock
Volcanoes on the crossing night and Nanuya Lailai - 2 nights). The second island had a very camp host called Queen - his claim to fame was that he used to work at the luxury resort on Turtle Island and had met Oprah - she paid for him to go over to the USA and go shopping with her! We also spent two nights aboard a boat where the bottom floor was a dorm for about 20 people and the top floor a bar and food area. All your meals were included on the whole trip and you basically had set meal times (signalled by a bell or a drum) and other than that your time was your own. I (Andy) did 4 scuba dives which were all really good including a wreck dive for the first time. Afer this trip we returned to Nadi (from where we started our second trip).
Our second trip was the Feejee experience. On the first day we went to Natadola Beach for a couple of hours sunbathing, football with some locals and swimming followed by lunch on the beach. We then went to a local village - the villages here are very basic and they have
Emerald lakes
No swimming in these - like battery acid loads of local customs which we were introduced to. Each village has a chief who has his own entrance to the communal building. An example of the customs is that it is disrespectful to touch a Fijian on the head - someone has died for it! Back on the bus (a big green, air conditioned bus very similar to the kiwi bus) we went to some sand dunes which was much steeper than we expected - this is where we sandboarded which was a lot of fun though the walk up was exhausting. We stayed on the coral coast in the evening where we had a game of volleyball in the pool before a really decent meal and a few drinks and (predictably) Kava. There was a quiz and just like in England we finished pretty near the bottom.
Day 2 was perhaps the best day of the Feejee experience, the Jungle Trek! This was a 9-10 km treck through the rainforest for part of which you were walking through a river (about 30 mins). It was really good fun and a pretty good bunch of people. After the trek we tubed down the river, basically we all sat
Geothermal activity
Check out the smoke in inflatable tyres and floated down. It was a bit slow but we went through a few rapids which was great. Unfortunately, unlike Laos there were no bars on the way down. There's a waterfall at the end where you can jump in and it was absolutely freezing though good fun (Fraser and Marie opted out). In the evening we went to Suva, the capital city of Fiji for a meal and night out. After dinner we went to a local club which was sketchy to say the least. Rather odd local man showed off his dance skills to the ladies but none seemed too impressed. This night was the last alcohol Fraser had for ten days before a beer on the flight back to the Auckland - the same was true for Marie (although she generally doesn't let herself drink the beers).
We left the bus for a spell from Suva and got dropped off at a bridge in the middle of nowhere at about 9.30am for a 2pm transfer to an island called Caquali where we were visiting for 4 nights. We had anticipated more than just a bridge and thought we would just mill around a
Crater
Looking back to where we have been walking town and have some lunch beofre catching the boat. On arrival it was raining and there was just a small hut but fortunately a man came along in a boat and agreed to take us to the island earlier. The island was beautiful and very relaxing (three books read each in three days). The snorkelling was superb ( I saw 4 reef sharks just snorkelling and some really cool sea snakes). The pictures give you a better impression of what the island was like - would thorougly recommend it to anyone and it was such good value for Fiji. The biggest decision of the day was generally whether to sit on a hammock or the beach. This time, food was signalled by blowing in to a conch shell. After the island we headed back to Suva on the local bus where we met up with a new Feejee bus heading out the next day. Fraser and Marie had a romantic meal while Andy opted for the buffet and a few beers with the new arrivals.
The next day was Day 3 of the Feejee experience and was a cultural day today including a village trip, Kava ceromony, school visit
Sitting by the lakes
Andy and Fraser sitting by the Emerald lakes and rafting. For the village visit everyone who enters the village must wear a sulu (sarong), even the men and the women must cover their shoulders - you must also remove your shoes, hats and sunglasses. By this time Fraser and Andy had got quite used to wearing a sarong, Frasers being a flashy green number and Andy's a plainer blue version (see pics).
The chief invited us in to a hut and we all sat in a circle in a large room - the chief blessed the kava which is Fijian national drink - it is made from the kava plant and is unfortunately non alcoholic (it does make your tongue a little numb). They drink it every day in the villages but not like you drink in a bar - there is a certain way to drink it and a routine beforehand which they adhere to every time. After the chief had stopped speaking in Fijian, some of the boys from the village brought us round the kave - it is an insult to refuse it. It looks and tastes like dishwater! You have to clap once before accepting it, say Bula, drink it all in one
On the way down
View from the other side of the Tongariro crossing go and then clap three times before saying Vinaka (thank you). The kava went around a few times to me and Fraser whilst Marie was busy weaving with the other girls. They just kept making more which is a ritual in itself - they put the ground up kava in a muslin cloth and then strain water through it - the end result is what you drink.
After the ceremony, all of us went down to the river for billi billi rafting - this is basically about 5 large sticks of bamboo tied together to make a raft. Each raft had a Fijian 'poler' pushing the raft along with a stick and between 5 and 9 people on each raft - on the way back we paddled and had a big race! My raft (Andy) won, though Fraser and Marie where not competing so perhaps it would be a different story if they had. There was a lot of cheating!
The last stop of the day was the school visit which was one of the highlights, basically it was an insight in to village life and the kids where so happy. They certainly love their sports at the
Mr Bond
Andy's limo for his skydive end of the day and are pretty keen on having their photos taken.
The last over night stop was Voli Voli where we stopped for three nights. Really beautiful spot where we just did many of the activities mentioned earlier including a wreck dive for Fraser and Andy (free in the price of the trip which was nice). After three nights and days lazing around we returned to Nadi (via some mud pools and hots spas). We spent one final day and night in Nadi prior to heading back to Auckland.
Back in Auckland, we didn't get up to much before our flight out to Santiago in Chile - it was cold and wet so there was plenty of moaning from Marie. We went on a free bus tour of the city which included a bridge walk on the Auckland harbour bridge, a lunch stop at Devonport and also a stop at the Victoria market. We did a fair amount of shopping, especially Marie (mostly stocking up on jumpers and thermals for the cold anticipated in South America). On our last evening in New Zealand, we went to see the new Will Ferrell film (Blades of Glory), which
Andy pre skydive
Serious faces for the task before them was cool, then treated ourselves to dinner at Nando's.
Other random stuff
* The Argentinian police are beginning to arm up for the arrival of Sanjay.
* Whilst people were getting rained on at Glastonbury we were basking in the Fijian sunshine and yet were still jealous.
* Midweek Jimmy is apparently a lot of fun.
* Fiji is super hot.
* Mosquitos bite in hot climates.
* Hammocks are relaxing.
* Money is spent quickly in NZ.
* Argentina will be all about eating steak.
* Kiwi's are very proud of their Rugby team.
* A fight between a Kiwi second row and Sanjay would be an interesting match up.
* Marie feels the cold more than most people.
* Thermal under clothes have now been purchased by all for the start of S.America.
* Nando's in NZ does not sell the bock (unbelievable!).
* It is not unusual to bump into people from Deloitte.
* Fijian bitter is "the beer of sportsman"
* The Kiwi beers are far superior to their Aussie counterparts.
* Brewery tours with free beers are a good idea.
* Bence would fit in well in Fiji (we have passed on your
About to take off
All smiles in the back of the pink plane contact details to Queen and a free holiday could be on it way - conditions apply).
* We still haven't had a burger to beat the Ferg burger.
* We are starting to fall behind a bit with the latest music, any decent recommendations appreciated. In particular have Three of a Kind released a follow up to Babycakes.
* Our next stop is a Hostel named after the owners dog who unfortunately recently died of cancer.
* Pirates of Carribean 3 is rubbish.
* Spiderman 3 is rubbish.
* Sky diving is still ace.
* Pink planes are cool.
* You can watch a lot of films when you have realised that you are haemoraging money.
* Fraser is getting a lot of texts with around 50 from his mum and 50 from Andy's in the space of about 4 days.
* Marie received about 30 texts from the Howlster in two days.
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Audrey
non-member comment
Fiji rules!
Can't believe you guys stayed on Nanuya Lailai! Chris and I have just arrived in Auckland from there today. We spent 6 nights at the resort round the other side of the island from 'Queenie's' place...it was BLISS! and as you said, HOT! :o)