24 – Fiji

We flew to Fiji from Auckland and arrived at Nadi airport. We had arranged to be picked up at the airport and a driver was waiting to take us the hour and a half journey south to the Coral Coast and our accommodation at Tambua Sands Resort.

We were greeted at the resort with a local fruit juice drink and after completing the necessary paperwork we were shown to our room which was a bure on the beach. The bure in a one room bungalow with attached bathroom which looks out to the lagoon and ocean beyond.

 The room was quite spacious. It had a sitting area, double bed and two single beds. The windows had no glass just wooden shutters and some mesh to keep the bugs out. Just outside was the thing that Syd had been looking for throughout our trip – a hammock between two palm trees.

The resort was one of the smallest on the island. Just 24 bures, not many of them were occupied. After unpacking we went to the restaurant and bar area and met some of the other guests and some of the staff.  We got speaking to a couple – Alan and Julie who are Australian, it was Julie’s first trip abroad. Another couple Kim and Alex were really nice. They live in the northern beaches outside Sydney, Kim is English and Alex is Brazilian.  We got on really well with them.

The facilities at Tambua Sands were great for us.

They had snorkelling equipment and kayaks which we could use whenever we wanted. The sea directly in front of the bures was a coral lagoon which was great for kayaking on during high tide. During low tide we could walk through the reef and look at the fish and other sea creatures that make the lagoon home. Syd came across a reef shark on one of his reef walks.

The fish were just like those you would keep in a tropical fish tank at home. There were some beautiful vibrant blue coloured ones and orange and yellow clown fish. Some were tiny but there were also some decent sized fish. The locals fish in the lagoon using small nets and chase the fish with sticks.

The staff at the resort were lovely, very friendly. We got to know some of them quite well.

 Many came from the local village which is about a twenty minute walk.

The locals would climb the trees which were full of coconuts, but we often heard a thud as the ripe ones fell to the ground.

Fresh coconut milk is delicious.

We decided to go to the church in the village on Sunday.

Others who had been said the singing was something to be heard, so we went to find out for ourselves. They were right. The village does not have a piano or organ so all the singing is a capela. It was lovely. The children were delightful.

They kept staring at us and saying Bula which means hello. We had met some of them before outside the resort. One afternoon I was sitting in our bure reading when four or five young faces appeared at the window saying “hello Sandra”. Syd had been speaking to them and they wanted to know my name and where I was.

All along the road in the Coral Coast you see horses just grazing at the roadside or standing in the middle of it. Often they would appear on the beach in front of us.

They would walk through the water probably to cool off. On our second last afternoon two of them appeared on the beach and started running up and down. Next thing they were galloping up round the bure. Good thing there were no kids about.

We took a trip to a pottery village which is inland a bit. The villagers collect the clay from the local riverbed and make bowls, vases and small ornaments which they sell in the towns and to visitors.

 While we were in the village we were welcomed with some singing 

and dancing.

They have a ceremonial drink called Kava which they make and offer to guests. There is a ritual to it which has to be performed each time. The Kava is made from the roots of the pepper plant which is ground down and mixed with water. It looks just like a muddy puddle and tastes disgusting. It leaves you with a numb tongue and lips.

We went to an area where there is huge sand dunes which the Fiji Rugby team use as a training ground. They run up and down the dunes.

can you see me at the bottom?

I couldn’t make it the whole way up even once.

The staff at the hotel put on a show for us one night. The men dressed up in their warrior costumes and performed the Kava ritual then we had some singing and dancing and a Fijian banquet.

We had a really great time.

They dressed Syd up in the grass skirts and he performed a highland fling much to the locals amusement.

To us Fiji was paradise.  We were quite happy to stay in the resort and do very little for most of our stay. We had a great time and have many happy memories of the people we met and our time at Tambua Sands.

There was a tear in my eye when it was time to go.

23. The South Island, New Zealand

The crossing from the North Island to the South Island was not very good.  It was a dismal day and the sea was really rough.  The waves were large. We sat in the upper observation deck and at times the waves were crashing over the windows at the highest levels. Going through the Cook Straits was the worst. If you feel seasick they say to look at the horizon. It’s not possible to see the horizon through the waves crashing over the ship. The other thing that’s supposed to help is sucking on an ice cube. I went through a whole cup of ice cubes. The sea calmed down as we approached Queen Charlotte Sound.

The trip through the sound was really picturesque.

We travelled between large mountains covered in forests and passed inlets leading into small coves on our way to Picton harbour.
From Picton we travelled south east.  This part of the country is where much on New Zealand’s wine is produced. 

There were fields and fields of grapes and small winery’s dotted about the countryside. We soon reached the coast where the seas were quite rough and stopped in a small picnic area to take some photographs.

We weren’t the only ones there. Syd got a bit too close to a seal who growled at him.

It made him step back quite quickly. Further along the coast we stopped at the seal nursery. 

There were about 50 pups playing in the rock pools. We were heading for Kaikoura. 

This is the place to go if you want to see the whales.  We booked an excursion for the next day to go out to see the sperm whales. The trips are all weather dependant and luckily for us the next day was sunny and a lot calmer.  The whales are quite close to shore in this area because the continental shelve is near to the coast here.

We were extremely lucky on our trip and saw five whales up close and another in the distance. For us the trip to New Zealand was for the scenery and the wildlife.

From Kaikoura we headed west through the northernmost part of the southern alps. 

We had hoped to see beautiful mountain views but the day was rainy with lots of low clouds which obliterated the scenery. Just as we reached the west coast the weather improved.

 We travelled down the coast road from Greymouth towards Hokitika.  All through New Zealand there are lots of single track bridges over the rivers.  The one near Hokitika was a bit different.

This single track bridge was not just for the road traffic it was also for the trains. Wonder who’s got right of way!

Hokitika is a nice little town with a lovely beach.

Being on the west coast we were treated to a magnificent sunset. There are lots of nice walks in the surrounding area. We took a hike through the forest to a swing bridge over a beautiful turquoise blue lake.

  There are many lakes and waterfalls in the area. We visited a few.

We headed south along the coast towards the glaciers. As we approached Whataroa we saw a sign which said “Glacier Flights from $95”. That sounded really cheap so we had to enquire.  It was really too good to be true. For that money you got 3 minutes.  The woman at the information centre said that if we really wanted a flight over the glacier we should do it quickly because the weather was closing in. She offered us a flight for 15 – 20 minutes at $145. So after a quick phone call we headed out to the airfield.

 Our journey over the glaciers was in a small helicopter which took us up over the mountains into the glacier area where we saw five glaciers before decending back down passed a glacier lake and along the river to the helipad.

We had thoroughly enjoyed the trip but now wanted to see a glacier from the ground. We headed to Franz Josef and decided to hike to the face of the glacier immediately because if the weather was changing we maybe wouldn’t get another chance. The hike there took about 45 minutes.

We had to walk through the forest then along the dried up edge of the river passed some waterfalls until we got as near as they allow you to go without a guide.

That meant that we were still a good distance from the glacier’s edge.  We took some good photographs but would have liked to have been a bit closer.  As we headed back the clouds drifted down obscuring the view of the top of the glacier and just as we neared the car park the rain started. We had to find a campsite and decided that as we’d seen Franz Josef we’d head to Fox. The edge of Fox Glacier is not as long a trek, so although the weather wasn’t good we decided to go there the next morning.

We did get a lot closer to this glacier, but the weather was terrible. By the time we got there we were cold and a bit wet. By the time we got back to the campervan I was drenched. At least we’d seen the glaciers.

Our next stop was in Wanaka.

It’s a pretty town on the edge of a lake. The weather in Wanaka was wet. It rained constantly. During the night the roof light window in the campervan had sprung a leak and we woke up to a wet bed.

 We got in touch with the hire company who arrange with a local garage to repair the rooflight.  Two hours later we were back on the road.

Bad weather and no plans tend to stress Syd out. He found a great way to get rid of his anxiety. Climb to the top of a hill and roar.

Heading further inland we stopped off in Arrowtown, a beautiful old fashioned little town.

Thought we’d try to get some money to gamble in Las Vegas so we panned for gold – or should I say pan lidded for gold (we were too tight to hire the gold pan so used a saucepan lid instead).

Syd wanted to try panning in the big river but I wasn’t keen to wade through the ice cold water, so he decided to give me a piggy back, that must have been some sight, two Chinese people could hardly take a photo of us for laughing. Syd’s back hasn’t been right since. (Thought I’d lost weight!)  Needless to say we were unsuccessful, so looks like we’ll have to come home in a few weeks. 

Ray and Anne you’d really love this place, lots of little coffee shops

and an old fashioned sweet shop that Emily and Douglas would adore.

Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand. 

 It is where the first bungee jumps took place and is home to many extreme sports. We’d both decided we wanted to see it but not sure about trying anything extreme.  It was also possible to arrange a trip to Milford Sound – one of the Fijords – from Queenstown. It would give us a break from driving and also save us a bit of time which we didn’t appear to have enough of.  We booked the trip to Milford with Awesome NZ. The journey there took over four hours but the scenery on the way was spectacular. 

 We stopped at a beautiful mirror lake and travelled through ancient beech forests.

 As we got closer to Milford the huge mountains seemed to crowd in. We had to travel through a tunnel cut through a mountain before making the steep descent into Milford. On arrival we boarded a small boat for our journey through the Sound. The views were magnificent.

Huge mountains and large cliffs all around.

There were some Fur Seals basking in the sun and a couple of bottle nosed dolphins swimming by the edge of a river. The boat came really close to a waterfall so that we could take pictures which showed the scale of the mountain.

We got soaked but it was worth it. On our last day in Queenstown we decided to take the Gondola up the mountain to see where they take off for the paragliding and where the bungee jump takes place.

 The gondola ride up the mountain was different to any other that we’d been on. People attach their mountain bikes to the outside of the gondola then ride the bikes down the mountain. 

It was really popular. From the top of the gondola we then took the ski lift further up to where they have a luge ride.  We had a go, but only on the easier of the two tracks. It was fast enough. We had lunch in the café and got speaking to one of the Paragliding Pilots. Yann is French and spends the southern hemisphere’s summer in Queenstown taking people of tandem paraglides then goes to Switzerland and does the same there. Syd decided he wanted to have a go, so Yann arranged it so that he could take him.

Although we have been together 24/7 for the last five months, I didn’t push Syd over the edge he literally threw himself off a cliff.

I stayed at the gondola station viewing platform and watched as they both soared over my head, screaming and laughing as they made their way over Queenstown. Yann decided to try some acrobatics. They were swooping and turning circles through the sky.  Syd had a great time, he couldn’t believe that he’d done it. I think I’d have been sick.

After Queenstown we decided to go somewhere quieter.  We headed to Dunedin. 

 We used to own a house called Dunedin, so decided we had to visit.  It is the south island’s second largest city and was to be as far south as we’d manage to get on this trip. All the places round about and many of the street name have a Scottish theme.  The statue in the centre of town is of Robbie Burns. Dunedin is on the coast and is split.

Part of it is the Ortago Peninsula, which is largely a nature reserve. The peninsula juts out into the south pacific ocean.  There is lots of sea going birds and animals in the area. 

We saw lots of cormorants and seals and got a glimpse of a rare yellow eyed penguin and a baby blue penguin. We had hoped to see some Royal Albatross but the weather was too good while we were there. They prefer high winds.

We headed inland again from Dunedin. This time we were going north towards the Alps again. New Zealand’s highest mountain Aoraki (Mt Cook) was our destination.

 We had heard of something we both really wanted to try. Kayaking among the icebergs on Lake Tasman. We signed up for the trip and were soon transported to the car park near the lake. Like everywhere else in New Zealand we had to hike to our destination.

When we reached the lake we had to lift the kayaks down to the water’s edge then don all the necessary clothing and equipment before getting into the kayak. There were icebergs dotted all over the lake. Tasman Glacier (the largest one in New Zealand) ends at the lake and every so often large chunks of the ice breaks off into the lake forming icebergs which float about through the lake pushed by the wind that blows through the mountains. We were warned to stay close to our guide because the icebergs were known to turnover and sometimes pieces break off, causing waves which could overturn the kayaks. 

We paddled through the lake stopping by the smaller icebergs every so often to take pictures and gain some knowledge of the glacier and it’s history. 

We had just collected some large chunks of ice when we heard a loud crack and a large piece of ice broke off one of the bigger icebergs. It created a wave which headed towards us but we all turned our kayaks into the wave and paddled back to the shore.

 After putting the kayaks and equipment away we celebrated our trip with a whisky on ice – 1000 year old ice from the icebergs we’d paddled around.

Our campsite was just down the road from the mountain. On our return from the kayaking Syd’s friend Phil the Pheasant was waiting for his dinner. We were on the edge of Lake Pukaki which is fed from the waters that come off the mountains and glaciers. The waters are turquoise due to the rock which has been ground down to a flour by the glaciers, when it settles on the lake floor it reflects the sunlight which gives it the bright turquoise colour.

We went for a walk down to the water’s edge where Syd had a Billy Connolly moment and had to run about bare assed.

Our time in the south island was coming to an end. We journeyed north towards Christchurch through various small towns and villages. Many are old fashioned and quaint. They reminded us of the towns in the old wild west movies.

We had to return the campervan before flying back to Auckland for our onward flight to our next destination.