Feejee experience part 2

Now where did I leave off the last part of our Feejee experience, oh yes that is right we had just finished up at the Kava ceremony and were heading back to our what would be our home for the third night. Now I have to say this accommodation had to be possibly the the worst I had seen on my travels and actually reminded me of the places they show in films when they are staying in a dirty sweaty Mexican motel. Anyway it was only for one night so we were not too bothered by it.

The next morning was our final day on the Feejee experience tour and this was possibly the funniest yet most heart warming day we had in Fiji. It started with us heading quite a distance in our little bus back to where we started and to the famous mud pools :o). Once we had stripped down to our swim costumes we proceeded to cover ourselves in thick lumpy mud. Bodies and faces. Once we had posed for pictures and laughed at each other we then took a slow and steady walk into the mud pool. Now I am not sure what I was expecting but it certainly wasn't to step into what I can only describe as thick knee deep reeds and mud. It was pretty cringe worthy. We didn't stay in there too long as we were all quite grossed out by it so instead jumped into the hot pools and boy were they warm, but much nicer than the previous pool we had been in. We washed all the mud off and then headed to dry off.

We left the mud pools and proceeded to our next and final stop. The orphanage. Not knowing what to expect as I had never been to one before I was pleasantly surprised with the accommodation and how happy the children all were. We all had bought toys for them to play with, chat with the staff and most importantly play in the garden with them. It was very heartwarming and rewarding to see them laughing and running around.

This was where our Feejee experience tour ended and we all went off on our separate ways. However saying that we did see the girls at our next stop - Mantaray Island.

On this Island we were able to relax and enjoy spending some time on the beach. I was also able to do three dives including a night dive which were amazing and have definitely given me the buzz to do more again. I even got to see a shark, no big deal! :o)

Unfortunately this was where our time on Fiji ended. We had a brilliant time, saw some amazing places and experienced some amazing things and really was a once in a life time trip.

This is also where my blog is going to end for now as whilst I write this I am currently on my way to move to Perth for work and therefore won't be doing too much traveling. Never fear though as this isn't goodbye and is only see you all very soon.

Take care all

-x-

My Feejee experience part 1

As I write this I am currently sat on a plane on my way back from Fiji where I have spent the last nine nights traveling around the main island and heading to one of the three hundred odd smaller islands.

When we first landed in Fiji we were welcomed into the airport by a band of locals singing us through passport control, brilliant. After getting in a very suspect looking taxi (no metre and a sound system that could rival many a boy racer) we headed to our first stop, the Sheraton Denearu. Here we spent two nights relaxing, eating and generally enjoying the beach side views.

Before we headed to Fiji we decided that we didn't just want to sit in one hotel and not actually get to head out and see what the island had to offer. Therefore we booked ourselves onto a three night, four day trip around the mainland with a company called Feejee experience.

When the bus arrived to great us we were met by the rest of our traveling companions. A girl from England, a girl from Italy and a man from Switzerland. A great mix. The ages ranged significantly as well with the youngest being twenty one and the oldest being sixty six.

The first stop on our trip was to the main shopping town were we picked up our sarongs for a later planned village trip and any other essentials we needed. Then it was off to the village to see how the locals really lived and not just how we saw them within the hotels. Afterwards we checked into our first hotel which had a lovely beach side view and outside showers.

The next morning we set off for a jungle trek which in the thirty odd degree heat wasn't the easiest but made jumping into the waterfall at the end all the more enjoyable. This conclude with a speedboat ride down the river to our next accommodation which topped the first night with fire dancing entertainment and privately being serenaded by a local group whilst drinking the lovely Kava (basically mud water).

The following days activities were interrupted slightly as it was Fiji independence day. The school we were planning on visiting was closed so instead we were able to watch the parade taking place in the capital city which included letting off giant cannons (didn't make me jump at all). When that had finished we donned our lovely sarongs (Mark looked especially nice) and headed to another village where we were presented with an authentic Kava ceremony (oh good, more muddy water). The day ended with us going rafting down the river which was made all the more special when the chef who was originally dressed in the traditional Fijian clothes for the ceremony was now sunglassed up, Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts on and was racing us down stream. Perfect picture!

I am going to end this now as I could go on forever but I figured rather than ram everything into one post I can split it over two and the you guys still have something to look forward to - you lucky things.

So until the next post - Bula guys!

-x-    

Goodbye New Zealand hello Tasmania

My trip through New Zealand really was one of the best I have ever had. From whale watching to bungy jumping I really did it all. The sights I saw were stunning and even though people had told me I would love it I am not sure I realised quite how much. How many other people can say they have been on the beach in the sunshine whilst looking up at snowy mountains.

Even the campervan didn't bother me too much and that was even after bumping my head a few million times.

So New Zealand you have been amazing and I have loved every second in your beautiful country however it is time to say goodbye and continue on with my travels......

Hello Tasmania!

Between New Zealand and going to Fiji I had a few days to kill. I didn't want to spend more time in Sydney as there was only so many times you could look at the Opera house before you got bored. So telling my friend my predicament she suggested Tasmania to me. It was not too far from Sydney by plane and was pretty cheap to get to - sold!

So the day came to say goodbye to Mum and Dad (very sad) and jump on a plane and head South. I arrived quite late so didn't get to see too much and just went to my hostel and crashed for the night. Again being the super organised person that I was I had arranged activities for the three days I was staying there in advance of arriving. The first day I planned to head to the museum Mona. This was like no other. Owned by a man who made his money through gambling it featured some of the strangest but most thought provoking pieces I have ever seen. I won't go into too much detail but lets just say I am not sure if my parents would have approved.

Day two was a trip called "The land of the giants" which was basically a trek through a forest to see some of the worlds tallest trees followed by heading up to the top of Mt Wellington. Unfortunately the weather once again wasn't really on my side and although it wasn't raining it was hard to get some good pictures up the mountain. I could tell however that if it was a clear day it would have been beautiful. I also got to go to a wildlife park where I was able to see a real life Tasmanian Devil (boy are they mean looking).

Day three and my final day in Tasmania I booked onto a trip called "The Deep South". This was probably my favourite day of all. We headed to the southern most point of Tasmania which in turn was the southern most point of Australia and here we went inside a cave. It was pretty amazing even if our guide did seem to like the cave more than he did the people he was showing it to. After that we went to a couple of beaches which again were very beautiful, finally stopping in an apple museum on the way home (basically a room where they had a lot of apples and served cider - perfect).

My three days in Tasmania went very quickly but I am so glad I got to experience going there. It really is a beautiful part of the country even if the weather could rival that of Englands.

Now time to head back to Sydney where I am excited to say I will be meeting up with my Sister and Brother in law for the next part of my adventure - Fiji!!! Yay!

-x-

Milford sound and bungeeeee!

One of the last things I booked before heading to New Zealand was a trip to Milford sound. I had seen some other people's pictures and it looked beautiful. It was however a little way from where we were staying in Queenstown and the whole day tour was going to take around twelve hours most of which was going to be spent in a bus driving.

Now the thought of twelve hours in a bus didn't completely appeal to me however the $1000 price tag to get a helicopter was a little out of my budget and therefore bus it was going to be. This turned out to actually be a great choice as even though the idea was to go to Milford sound and take a boat around to see the area the journey down was actually really good and we got to see so many amazing sights. The driver was really informative and we actually all learned a lot as we were going along, except of course those who were napping (yes mother I am referring to you).

The boat journey was only about an hour and a half but it was really pretty and we even got to see some seals enjoying a life of luxury and sunbathing on a rock. All in all the trip was very worth the twelve hours and I managed to get some great pictures myself (again none to show at the moment as they are all on my camera which I cannot connect to my tablet boo).

So now for the post you have all been waiting for, yes that's right people. IT'S BUNGY JUMP TIME!!

Now for years I had wanted to do one but as I got older I got just that little bit more wimpy and knew if I didn't do it now I would never do it. Therefore about six weeks ago I went online and booked myself a spot figuring if I really did not want to do it I could chicken out and just never mention it again.

The day to leave Queenstown arrived and this was also the morning I had decided to book my bungy for. So off I went kissing my parents goodbye (hoping not for the last time) and strolled down to the check in centre. I was feeling pretty calm at this point however this soon changed when I got to the desk and they said those five fatal words no female wants to hear "Please step on the scales". Oh dear lord they wanted to weigh me - noooo!

Once that traumatic experience was over we were led off to bus and driven for about forty mins to the back end of nowhere. In the distance I I could see this little speck in the middle of a very large crater. Yep that was my bungy spot. Oh joy. Thinking I would have some time to mentally prepare I again checked in and again was weighed (would there be no end to this torture) and headed to sit down. Before my backside even had a slight chance to enter the seat I was called and told I was to head over to the jump station. Ahh what really now??

There was about five of us going over to jump and I was number four. Off the three people in front of me went with no trouble and then it was my turn. Putting on a brave face for the camera I sat in a dentist like chair and had my legs strapped together. Once that was done the guy swung me around and walked me to the edge of the platform. Telling me again to smile for the camera (not likely buddy) he counted down very quickly to one and told me to jump. Now I have always been one to not show face and as the three people in front of me had gone with no trouble there was no way I also wasn't going to jump on command. So with a little prayer to God and a lot of hope I jumped head first into the empty space below.

Wooo hooo I was flying, oh hang on crap no I wasn't, I was falling. Ahhh please let me stop. Thankfully and as you can probably guess the bungy did not fail me (mostly as I wouldn't be able to write this if it had). After bouncing around for a bit admiring the view and thanking the great above for my life I was safely brought back up to the platform with a little bit of shaky leg syndrome but feeling amazing.

Would I do it again? All I can say is bring on the next jump as clearly 134 metres didn't beat me! :o)

-x-

Whale watching and Franz Josef

When we first planned our New Zealand trip we decided to do about a week in the north island and then a week in the south island hoping we could fit in as much as possible. We managed to get quite a bit done in the north island including heading the to the capital Wellington and then across on the ferry to the south island. The crossing was beautiful and I managed to get some amazing pictures (no where near as good as my photography mad friends but I tried).

When we arrived in the south island we took a fairly short drive to Kaikoura where we were booked on a trip to do some whale watching. Now there was no guarantee of actually seeing any whales and after about two hours of watching the sea (pretty much like watching paint dry) we had all but given up hope. However just as we were about to head back to shore the captain heard about a sighting of a whale a few miles away. So off we went racing across the water (not great for anyone suffering sea sickness) but fun for everyone else and finally managed to get to the place the whale had been seen. Just like magic there he was laying all happy on top of the water without a care in the world. This made the water watching all worth while and after about ten minutes he flipped around and dove off back into the water flipping his tail as he went. Was a pretty awesome sight I have to say.

The other part of this post I really wanted to tell you about was our trip to Franz Josef. We had booked a couple of nights there as on one of the days we had planned to take a helicopter up onto the glacier and go on a hike. However once again the lovely New Zealand wind put stop to all that and our trip was cancelled, boo! Grumpy and disappointed we headed off to walk back to our campsite when we saw another company advertising flights. We figured we had nothing to lose and went in to ask if they were heading up on the glacier. As luck would have it they were and they could take us in the next half an hour! It wasn't going to include the hike it was better than nothing. Thank god we went for it. It was quite possibly the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. We were even able to land on the snow, get out and have a walk around taking everything in. Fantastic! Take that wind, you didn't beat us this time :o)

-x-

Sorry guys no pictures at the moment as my little adapter thingy is broken and therefore I cannot upload anything (now sent home with the parents to see if they can get me a new one)

The Tongariro Crossing

Another one of my great ideas before we arrived in New Zealand was to book the Tongariro crossing which was recommended to me by some friends I met travelling (may need to rethink that friendship now) only kidding. However not really knowing too much about it I had in my head a leisurely stroll over a mountain top and back down again. The whole mountain part should have given away that it wasn't going to be a walk in the park.

Anyway the morning arrived for us to put on our walking boots, grab our hats and gloves and head over to where we were to check in with our guides and walking groups. Now up until this point I was still thinking that whilst this might be a challenge it wouldn't be too hard. That was however until the guides handed us our crampons and pick axes! Ok this was going to be interesting. 

So off we set. Backpacks on, ice picks in hand we started the steady climb up the mountain side. It was funny as at one point we saw a small amount of snow scattered around and thought how lovely it looked and that it must be the leftover from the winter - oh were we in for a big surprise. 

Soon after our short flat stroll we hit the beginning of the real climb and boy was it steep. There had to have been about a million steps (ok slight exaggeration but I wasn't in the mood to start counting them) it was however safe to say there was a lot.

Oh and that small bit of snow we had seen at the bottom soon turned into a lot of snow and to give you a real idea of how much I am talking about people were actually walking past us with ski's!

Being the troupers that we were though we did not let this put us off and up we carried on trekking up the mountain side.

This went on for about 8km, stair after stair after mountain edge after freezing cold hands. As we neared the top our guides had a little side meeting and gave us the unfortunate news of not being able to continue on with the walk. The wind at the summit was just too strong and they feared for our safety. As disappointed as we were we knew that they wouldn't have made this decision lightly and therefore it really was in our best interest to turn around and head back down to where we had come from. The worst part of all of it was we were only about 1 and a half km from the middle and if the mother nature hadn't been acting up we would have made it all the way across. As it turns out we in fact did 16km of the 19km we would have done had we completed the walk. Not too bad an attempt I don't think and I guess it just gives us reason to come back again one day and try again! However maybe next time we will try summer time!  :-)

-x- 

The Maori way of life

After leaving Hot Water Beach we headed centrally to a place called Rotorua! Here we stayed in a lovely place called Blue Lake and yes before you ask there was a lake and it was blue. Unfortunately we only had one night at the campsite so didn't get to explore the area too much.

Anyway before we arrived in New Zealand I booked some activities to do whilst we travelled our way round and one of those was a dinner and show which explained about the Maori people and their way of life. Now for all my uneducated friends (no insult intended as I didn't know about them) the Maori people are the original inhabitants of New Zealand. That is of course before the white people came along and did what the whites did everywhere - took over and decided the country was their own.

When we arrived at the location of the show we were treated to a display of the Haka which anyone who has watched rugby will know is dance which represents pride, strength and unity. We were asked not to laugh as some bits can be quite funny but in all honestly it was pretty damn threatening. Very cool to watch though!

Next we were led around to different areas each one explaining to us about the different aspects of the Maori lifestyle. These included games they would play, the clothing they wore and the resources they used.

After finishing at each section we headed off to do one of my most favourite things - eat! There was so much food I was in heaven (and so was my Dad who went up more than once for cakes, shock horror). The food had been cooked in a traditional Maori way which involved a giant pit of steam and the food being lowered into it. I am sure it is more technical than that but that's about as good an explanation as I can give you.

All in all the evening was really good fun and for once I actually learned something rather than just going out and getting drunk (that the parents influence for you).

So goodbye Rotorua, it has been short but sweet however we must continue on with our travels.

Until next time...

-x-