We are in Hawaii at the moment. Landed yesterday morning. The time difference is a little weird to get used to, we had to re-live the 28th of September twice (should’ve really flew out on the 3rd, then I would’ve had 2 birthdays =D)
We haven’t been able to update this since New Zealand because of lack of internet. So since last time we travelled the south island in a week. We had a few nice days but it mainly rained so we didn’t do much apart from stay in the car. The first day we visited Pupu springs and Wainui falls. That’s probably the first time we’d seen a proper waterfall. It was nice as well since we were the only ones there, kinda felt like we were explorers.
Within the next few days we made it to Fox Glacier. Typically it rained when we got there but we walked up to it nonetheless. There you can do heli-hikes but it was a bit expensive and I don’t think we would’ve seen much without the sun shining. The next day we drove through Wanaka and Queenstown. We really liked it there. It was the perfect place for George, a giant lake to go fishing in the summer and Treble Cone to snowboard on in winter. It was very picturesque as well. Like a scene out of the movies. Apparently it‘s one of New Zealand’s most expensive cities. Although it doesn’t feel like a city, more like a big town. So George went snowboarding on Treble cone. The season was coming to an end so the snow wasn’t as good but the view from the top was amazing!
I was starting to get a cold, so I was suffering with that for the next few days, thought I might have tonsillitis at one point. We drove through Christchurch, we didn’t stay long as there wasn’t much to do there. Some of the shops were condemned due to structural damage from the earthquakes. We didn’t get many pictures though, we felt bad for the people affected by it and those having to clean up all the mess so we didn’t want to disrespect them.
We visited Kaikora, which isn’t far from Christchurch. We got to see a seal colony there. We got up close to them and there were even some just lying about on the car park. After that we headed back up to Picton to get the ferry to Wellington. There was a free museum at Wellington which was interesting, there was an earthquake simulator so we got to experience what that felt like and learnt where the plates are and how New Zealand broke away from Australia billions of years ago. There was also a little bit about the Maoris.
We made our way north. We were staying with Ruth and Adam up in Auckland for our last weekend. That was probably our favourite part. We got a taste of what its like to live there. They have a massive house and a great lifestyle. They took us to some tearooms in a historical village so we all had cream teas which were huge! We went to the thermal pools as well, that made getting into a bikini at 15 degrees worth it. On our last day we hiked up a volcano. The sun actually made an appearance for that. It took us an hour to walk up and the views were great from up there. You got a panoramic view of Auckland.
Overall we did like New Zealand, we probably just chose the wrong time to visit so we couldn’t do as much.
Next stop…..Fiji!
We well and truly experienced what they mean by “Fiji Time” everything slows down and it’s time to just relax and chill out.
We decided to travel through the Yasawas, a bunch of islands north west of the mainland. We’d been told to get off the mainland as there was nothing there. We bought what is known as a “Bula Combo Pass” we’d payed for 7 days/6 nights’ accommodation and we got to choose where we stayed and for how many nights. We decided to visit 3 islands and spend 2 nights on each. We started right up the top on Nacula Island and a place called Nabua Lodge. To get to the resort though we had to transfer to a tin boat and it took about 30 minutes to get to shore. It was nice and secluded there. We had our own hut and there were hammocks to chill out on. We were right on the beach aswell. All food was inclusive so you got what you were given at meal times. It was just a completely different way of life out there. They had no electric until 6pm when a generator came on for 4 hours. We got used to it though. It was quite nice to be cut off from the rest of the world. We spent most of our time reading or sleeping. We took a walk to the village one day, as soon as they know you’re coming the women set out a market where they display things that they’ve made. They don’t push you to buy anything but they are grateful if you do buy something, the look on their faces is priceless and it makes you appreciate what you’ve got.
The next 2 days were spent on the island of Naviti at a resort called “White Sandy Beach” we will probably remember it as the place with the outside shower. I still can’t get used to showering outside, George on the other hand had no problem and got straight in. We did absolutely nothing on this island, George did abit of snorkelling by himself and filled up the camera. He reckons that was the best reef he’d seen, way better than the great barrier and the Ningaloo. The pictures look good to be honest. We saw the best sunset there as well. It was just a very quiet chilled out place.
Our last 2 nights were spent on the Waya Lailai Island at “WayLailai Ecohaven Resort” just the transfer boat ride was an experience in itself. We were overloaded, there were 15 of us in this tiny boat plus everyones luggage. The water was slowly creeping up to the rim of the boat. I didn’t think we were going to make it to shore without either sinking or capsizing. We got put in one of the nicest huts called the “cottage” it was the best we’d been in so far and a nice way to end the trip on. Although the next day we got told to move to a lodge up the hill because someone else had paid extra to stay in the cottage. We weren’t that bothered as we were only staying another night but the people next to us seemed to moan about everything from then on. The food was nice at this resort and there were more people than at previous resorts but it was still nice. Again we just chilled out on hammocks. We got our tans back despite sitting in the shade for most of the time, it was too hot to be sitting in the sun. The typical Brits were out baking themselves and ending up looking like lobsters. I was surprised by how many Brits were there to be honest, they seemed to outnumber any other nationality.
We flew out on the Tuesday night. George had probably his worst flight ever. He hadn’t been feeling too well all day. Possibly something he’d eaten or the water or something. He kept feeling sick and getting stomach ache so he just wanted to be on the ground all the way. We stopped off on Christmas island for an hour to refuel and landed at Honolulu 10.30 Tuesday morning. Weird.
So far we haven’t really done much. We slept most of yesterday since we couldn’t sleep on the plane. We took a walk around Waikiki last night. It seems really nice though, I like it. There seems to be the odd weirdo about though but there’s always a few in any country. Today we tried to go shopping but there’s mainly winter clothes in stores which I have enough of in my suitcase anyway. George has spent most of the day sleeping so its probably good that its been raining for most of the day!
The sun is supposed to be shining from tomorrow for the rest of the week though so I’ll be kicking him out of bed! We’re going to visit Pearl Harbour tomorrow I think then Honolulu the day after. We haven’t really planned anything yet, you have to be conscious to do that so we’ll get our arses into gear tomorrow!!!
For some reason I can’t upload any pictures so I will have to try again tomorrow and do a separate blog full of pictures.
xXx
Lake Wanaka, New Zealand 
View from Treble Cone ski resort, New Zealand
Mount Cook Alps
Christchurch after the earthquake, New Zealand
Huka Falls, Lake Taupo, New Zealand
Auckland from Rangitoto
Rangitoto Volcano from the ferry, New Zealand
Nabua Lodge, Fiji
Our trip to the village to meet the Cheif of the Village
Pictures of the Coral in Fiji
George playing guitar to the sunset on White Sandy Beach
Sunset on White Sandy Beach, Fiji.
Delivery from the mainland on Waya Lailai EcoHaven, Fiji.
