Fiji Time!

We had made the big decision to finally leave New Zealand in search of some warmth and employment in Australia. We also thought it would be a perfect time for a little holiday in Fiji, what with it sort of being on the way to Australia! I was in desperate need of some sun, it had just got way too cold in New Zealand..I needed to lie on a beach again!



So, with Tom, we booked a 10 day trip to one of the Yasawa Islands off the main island. Our island was called Waya Island, and it was beautiful! We got on the big yellow Yasawa Flyer boat from Nadi, travelled for a couple of hours, admiring other stunning islands on the way, and wondering which one ours would be. We then got met by a small wooden long tail boat and taken to Waya Island. We were met by a warm welcome of Fijian singing and music from the resort workers on the beach, and then presented with traditional shell necklaces!

We stayed at the Waya Lailai Resort, which was 100% Fijian owned, everyone was so friendly..everywhere you go they shout Bula! at you..which means hello! We stayed in our own private bure...basically a little wooden shack, it was so cute! They´d laid out flowers on the bed and we had a private bathroom..we weren´t expecting anything so nice! The resort´s private beach was lovely too, with hammocks hung in trees and a volleyball net.

After unpacking and having a look around, it was time for lunch. All meal times were announced by a very loud drumming which can be heard from all over the resort. Lunch was yummy, and there was lots of it! We were pretty happy with our island!

We spent days on the island just chilling out on the beach, Chris found some friends to play football with, we hung around in hammocks, swam in the sea...just generally enjoying the warmth and the sun after our very cold experiences in New Zealand! Evenings were all about dinner which was served about 7ish, there was always lots of it (very important for Chris!) and it was very tasty indeed. There were meals of rice, fish, steak, sausages, chicken stir frys, one night we had an amazing curry with great popadoms! And always lots of lovely fruit too.

We also enjoyed evening entertainment from the villagers. One night they put on a show explaining the history of the island all in Fijian dress, very amusing! Another night was fire dancing which was so impressive! I think the funniest evening was when they put on some traditional Fijian dancing..and then got us to join them..there was no getting out of it either, we all had to get up and participate in the hilarious dance routine! It was all very embarrassing! Especially when as a couple Chris and I had to go to the middle of everyone and make up some dance routine!

Most evenings there was the traditional Kava Ceremony. Kava is the national drink of Fiji. Made from the root of a local plant, it is ground into a fine powder then mixed and strained with water. It is poured into a big bowl and it looks like muddy water. It tastes like muddy water too. It is disgusting, but we still managed for some reason to drink pints and pints of the stuff most nights! The process for drinking this unorthodox beverage is as follows;

1. Chief offers you a small bowl filled with Kava.
2. You clap your hands once to say you accept. (If you find yourself at a Kava ceremony, make sure you accept because you will offend the locals if you don't...I think this is why we drank so much of it..so as not to affend!)
3. You take the bowl and drink the Kava in one go.
4. Clap your hands three times.

The clapping of hands is a symbol of respect to the Kava. The Fijian people take it very seriously!!

You can see from my face just how wrong this drink is! It was just part of the Fiji Island life though..we made quite a few friends while drinking at these ceremonies! The bowl gets passed around the group and then the whole process is repeated. Before we reached Fiji, we had heard stories of Kava from other travellers. The roots has narcotic like effects. On my first bowl, my mouth went numb!

One of my favourite parts of the evening was when the Fijians would put the Kava down (not for long unfortunately! ) and get the guitar out and sing us some Fijian songs..one guy had the most amazing voice and we made him sing all the time!!

The resort would put on activities for us during the day which we enjoyed like snorkelling around the island, we also swam to another island which was pretty exhausting (and painful with all the sea lice biting us!!), we also went on a trip to another island, had lunch at Kuata Island and enjoyed the wonderful scenery from the boat trip.

We spotted loads of huge blue star fish and lots of colourful fish during our snorkel trip. On our trip to another island we met up with a lovely couple Will and Sarah who had previously stayed on Waya Isaland and had moved on..was great to see them again!

We also joined in on an arts and craft lesson where the ladies from the village teach you to make bracelets and other crafts, Chris, who wasn´t that keen to participate in the first place, was extremely talented at it and made me a lovely bracelet! After exploring the island we found some papaya trees which were so yummy!!

One of the highlights of our stay in Waya Island was the 40- minute hike to the summit of Vatuvula (one of the highest peaks of the island) from our resort. We started the walk around 5ish and had a very sweaty hike up a steep but well trodden track through forest and up through a narrow crag before opening out onto a rocky escarpment that leads to the summit.The view was stunning, you could see the whole of the island opposite, Kuata. We were up there at sunset and it was beautiful.

However, this did mean doing the steep trek down back to the resort in the dark..complete darkness by the time we reached the bottom. It was a nightmare!! We had no idea where we were going..our ´guide´kept saying nearly there..but it seemed to take forever! We eventually made it down..late for dinner which was most upsetting as we had cold bangers and mash..oh well, the view was worth it! The Kava session that evening made us forget all about it...

It was a great trip and we loved the Fijians, they made us feel so welcome. The islands are beautiful and I´d love to come again to visit a few more of them! We were sad to leave Waya Island, but excited about our new adventure in Australia...read Chris´entry to find out how nearly didn´t even leave Fiji!

Franz Joseph Glacier

On our very long route back to Christchurch we stopped off in the Westland National Park - Glacier country! We had already driven through Fox and Franz Joseph towns in January while our parents were here. Chris and his folks spent a day on the Franz Joseph Glacier, while my parents and I took a trip to the Doubtful Sound. So I missed out on the glacier trip, and felt I couldn´t really leave New Zealand without climbing on some sort of glacier.

We decided, as our money was quickly running out, that only I would do the trip, and although he loved it the first time, Chris wasn´t overly keen to spend a day trekking over ice again. I was lucky..it was a perfect day-lovely and sunny with completely blue sky. I was so relieved it wasn't raining as I really didn´t fancy walking up a glacier in the cold and rain! Apparently this region gets about 6-8 metres of rain per year so it really was a miracle the sun was out.

I opted for the full day adventure and got kitted out with boots, big waterproof trousers and jacket, gloves and the very important crampons- I was ready to go! We got the bus to the entrance of the park and then walked for about 5 minutes before the impressive glacier was in view. It was big! 12 kms long to be precise!

We walked another 20 minutes to get to the start of the glacier. I got my crampons on and got on the ice. It was amazing how stable I felt walking on ice..the crampons were great. There was a great stairway built by ice axes for us to get onto the path ..and a few more along the way-very cool! Our guide was great, hacking away at the ice to make us steps and pathways all day.

It was a great day, we spent about 6 hours on the ice, we were sliding through ice caves and squeezing through very tight crevasses! It was pretty hairy at some points- the gaps we were getting through were tiny! It was all so impressive though..amazing to actually be walking on a glacier. I loved how blue the ice was too..the higher up we got the bluer the ice. The scenery all around us was incredible as well- we were surrounded by huge waterfalls and stunning forest. It was such an experience and I´m so happy I got to do it before we left New Zealand!

Queenstown- Lovely But Too Cold!

We had big plans for Queenstown, we wanted to stay here for 5 months, get a job, then ski and snowboard to our hearts´ content. Unfortunately it was raining when we arrived. And it didn't stop for a week. It was cold and miserable. The plan was to get out of the van as soon as possible as it was just getting too cold to live in it anymore. But we had to get jobs first. This proved to be really difficult..we walked around for a week or so with our CV´s and nothing came up- we got really fed up and so so cold..it was -2 outside and we were living in a van!

Queenstown itself is a lovely place, set on a beautiful lake with some of the best scenery in New Zealand surrounding it. The town is really lively and great fun to be in. I bumped into 2 old school friends while we were there- they were trying to do the same as us-work and play in this amazing place! We had a couple of good nights out with them- the night-life in Queenstown is fun! We found some great spots to sleep with amazing views (as well as sleeping in a car park after a night out and getting woken up at 6am by a banging on the window to tell us we´re breaking the law..whoops!)


I think our highlight of our whole 3 week stay in Queenstown was Fergburger. We had heard great things about this burger joint and was recommended it by everyone! It certainly lived up to the hype..the burgers are simply amazing. Probably in our Top 3 burgers of all time. And the choice..there were so many to choose from it was so difficult to make a decsion! On our last trip Chris had the Big Al- this is a double serving of prime New Zealand beef (1/2 lb), lashings of bacon, a huge amount of cheese, 2 eggs (yes 2 eggs!), beetroot, lettuce, tomato and relish! It was a seriously BIG burger. He ate it all, and some fries and half of my burger too! It was hard to stay away from Fergburger, it was the busiest place in Queenstown..everyone loves it!

So after about a week we really got fed up with the lack of jobs and the freezing temperatures. However my Mum came to the rescue..she surprised us with a week in an apartment nearby! Amazing! We were so happy..Tom was with us too and we´d all got so miserable being so cold so this was so exciting- to be warm for a whole week! The apartment was great - Sky TV, heating and with a gorgeous view over the lake. Perfect. Unfortunately by this point we had pretty much run out of money and made the big decision to leave Queenstown to look for jobs elsewhere. In the meantime we had a fun week in the warmth and really enjoyed Queenstown without the stress of getting jobs.

We walked up the Queenstown Hill one day which was so good..the walk was quite steep but we were rewarded with stunning views across the lake and far beyond. We also took part in one of the many extreme activities on offer in Queenstown..I´ll leave that for Chris to write about!

It is such a lovely area- we were so sad that things didn´t work out and we weren´t going to be staying there all winter. It was a really hard decision to make as we´d dreamt of spending a whole season up the slopes but getting jobs was just so difficult- we had got there too early in the season and people just weren´t hiring at this time. There was also 1000 other people there trying to live the same dream as us- not great when jobs are sparse!

So we were sad to be leaving, but excited about the next chapter in our travels..wherever that may be! Overall, I think the hardest thing about leaving Queenstown was that we hadn´t eaten all the burgers on the menu at Fergburger. Disappointing.