So we finally managed to get jobs and somewhere to live in QT, after coming close to leaving with funds running low and no jobs in sight.
Laura worked as a massage therapist in Aspects day spa.......the hours were a little slow until the ski season really kicked off but the hourly rate was a good one!!
Mike eventually found work out of QT in Arrowtown and had to resort to approaching random builders in the street asking if they knew of anyone with work!! It paid off and he spent his season painting Mon - Friday and riding all weekend!!
Laura's hours were a little more intense. As the massage work was a little thin. A friend of Mikes boss found Laura work on breakfast shift waitressing three (early) mornings a week. Laura was oncall 7 days a week, yes 7 days a week, 9.30am - 8.30pm with the day spa also!!
Once the work picked up Laura was pretty much working every hour god sent. When she wasnt it was straight up the mountain!!
We managed to get riding time together night skiing or in the morning on weekends and this was largely thanks to our investment in Ola, our little Toyota Corolla.
She was an olden but kinda a gooden. 1800cc Diesel estate auto who did a steady 15 mph up the mountain letting out a James Bond smoke screen to warn off tail gaters behind wanting to get up the mountain at a normal speed like 30mph!!
Ola may have had a wonky smile but she was our little work horse. She got Mike to work everyday, took us to the supermarket so no more 20 min walks with heavy bags (Laura eats alot) and up the mountain which which was a good 20kms away and up some dodgy unsealed mountain roads!!
The house was 15 minutes to town and 20 mins home (up a very steep hill) and we lived with Eran and Mikie. Eran was from Israel but had lived in QT on and off for 8 seasons. Mikie was from Japan and had been in the house a couple of months. The house had pros and cons. Clean and friendly yes, warm no!! We had a nice wood burner in the lounge but this was the only heat source for the whole 3 bed house!! Our first night in a room with no heating was a sharp wake up call to buy more clothes, bedding and heat!! So thats exactly what we did. The sally army shop clothed us for the winter and kept us warm in the cold perma-frost house. We also brought a heater for the room and a decent blanket which made life alot more comfortable but sleeping fully dressed became the norm.........romantic!!??!!
We settled into our new existence though and once Lauras hours picked up we were never home long enough to worry about heating and once our heads hit the sack we were usually exhausted and out for the count.
We had a pretty good life style once we had brought all our snowboarding stuff and each friday pay day would come around meaning we were cashed up for a good weekend. We made some nice friends who we would live with, work with, drink with and ride with and the weeks flew by!!
we started boarding up coronet peak, known by the locals as concrete peak, due to it's hard/iciness. we felt like we had conquered coronet, so for laura's first day off in a month good old ola took us to cadrona, this had faster lifts and longer runs, it also had a baby park that tempted us in for a few jumps and some boxes. We also mastered 180s on the piste here, and so it began mike's love of park. We both found that we preferred going up the mountain with each other.We would often watch snowboarding dvds and lessons on you tube by seirra snowboards, before heading up. We loved the mountain, and although we did have a few bumps and bruises it appeared the mountain loved us back as we came out of a whole season relatively unscathed. we spent our last week at the remarkables, which was great for mike as he improved in the park, managing to almost land a 20ft jump!! Laura was happy to stick to the baby park, occasionally having enough speed to make it all the way over a box!!Our last night in queenstown we decided to do the thing we had loved most about queenstown....you'll be surprised to hear it wasn't drinking!! We headed up coronet peak for our last night riding session, and truly shredded up the slopes, with a dj playing and mike using the natural features on the slopes to pull off some gnarly 180s and indie grabs. what an awesome way to say goodbye!!
Sunday, 12 September 2010
Friday, 18 June 2010
Ode to Queenstown
It feels as though you are living in a post card every turn uncovers more remarkable natural beauty. The vast lakes and rugged mountains make the perfect back drop for the trees alluring strip tease, which throws explosions of autumnal colours throughout their show.
The air is fresh and crisp, and if you let it catch you in the shade is not afraid to nip at your fingers and toes. The smell of wood burners wonders through the streets and draws you to their warmth.
Amongst the people there is gentle buzz of excitement about the blanket of snow that has laid it's self over the mountains, and the snow fueled adventures that are yet to come. Regularly you meet an adrenaline junky dying for his next hit. Deep white water diving in 8 degree waters. no thanks you.
Laura's top 5 ways to stay warm in Queenstown (when you have no money)...
1)Stay in bed.
2)Put all the clothes that you own on.
3)Dance/skip everywhere you go.
4)Get as many people as possible in one room.
5)Go to the pub and enjoy their heating.
Things you have to eat when in Queenstown....
*The Ferg burger, (try and eat the big Al in under 5 mins, we like them so much we are trying to work our way through the whole menu before we leave)
*Winnies Pizza esp montonara, such a cool place the roof opens so you can see the stars!!
*Montys wedges...oh or their hotpot. yum!
*Hot chocolate at Patagonia.
*A steak or ribs at Flame.
this is making me hungry!!
The air is fresh and crisp, and if you let it catch you in the shade is not afraid to nip at your fingers and toes. The smell of wood burners wonders through the streets and draws you to their warmth.
Amongst the people there is gentle buzz of excitement about the blanket of snow that has laid it's self over the mountains, and the snow fueled adventures that are yet to come. Regularly you meet an adrenaline junky dying for his next hit. Deep white water diving in 8 degree waters. no thanks you.
Laura's top 5 ways to stay warm in Queenstown (when you have no money)...
1)Stay in bed.
2)Put all the clothes that you own on.
3)Dance/skip everywhere you go.
4)Get as many people as possible in one room.
5)Go to the pub and enjoy their heating.
Things you have to eat when in Queenstown....
*The Ferg burger, (try and eat the big Al in under 5 mins, we like them so much we are trying to work our way through the whole menu before we leave)
*Winnies Pizza esp montonara, such a cool place the roof opens so you can see the stars!!
*Montys wedges...oh or their hotpot. yum!
*Hot chocolate at Patagonia.
*A steak or ribs at Flame.
this is making me hungry!!
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Wanaka/ Puzzel world
We met up with Deano and his lovely girlfriend Amy, who helped us to get a lovely double room...what an extra special treat after being in dorm rooms for pretty much the last month!!
We headed out to puzzle world where we got taken to school in the maze. We had a competition to see who could finish first. Amy and Deano v team mclou. The losers had to do 30 push ups. we dropped we gave them 30.After our beating we headed into puzzle world. Really cool place check out the pics.
we then had some of Amy's amazing brie cranberry and chicken pizza. And helped some of the locals celebrate Anzac day!!
We then headed to queenstown....
We headed out to puzzle world where we got taken to school in the maze. We had a competition to see who could finish first. Amy and Deano v team mclou. The losers had to do 30 push ups. we dropped we gave them 30.After our beating we headed into puzzle world. Really cool place check out the pics.
we then had some of Amy's amazing brie cranberry and chicken pizza. And helped some of the locals celebrate Anzac day!!
We then headed to queenstown....
Sunday, 6 June 2010
South island antics!
After arriving in the South island we headed to Abel Tasman. En route we went through the Marlborough vineyard region. We stopped for a little bit of wine tasting. Being the wine connoisseurs that we arent we decided that we preferred the australin pinot noir,We were told that the Otago wine region has excellent pinot noir, this excited us a great deal as this is where queenstown is...our final destination. We stopped very briefly in Nelson. Then arrived in Abel Tasman just before night fall.There was a glorious red sky that welcomed us to this beautiful area. That night we had opted to camp as it was a whole $10 cheaper. It worked out quite well as we ended up with a tent for just the two of us. result!
That evening we enjoyed some local green lipped muscles and marshmallows toasted on the camp fire. We had been very organized and arranged a group dinner... what a team. Jamie made a tasty spag bol.what an awesome chilled out evening.
The next day we were up early and on a beautiful hike with sea views, after a relaxing walk we were met by a catamaran that we sailed to explore the coast line. It was so beautiful, just a shame the water was icy cold!! A few brave lads from our boat ventured into the water to get a picture on the split apple rock! We saw some seals and mike had a go at sailing the boat. Good fun had by all!
We had another team cook that night and Merressa made some mean chicken fajitas. we also celebrated isreal's independence day with champagne bought by our isreali friend/ stray bus player Eli. We had another night in the tent, best nights sleep we'd had in ages!!
up the next day heading to Barry town.... Now Why Barry town you may ask yourself... it really is in the middle of nowhere the only thing in the village is a pub! well it turns out that the guy who started the kiwi bus and stray actually comes from barry town so he made this stop so the locals would be able to generate some funds from the tourist industry...genial!!
It was a long day of driving punctuated by a couple of stops to see pancake rocks, some blow holes, oh and a colony of seals.
Laura was ridiculously excited at the prospect of Barry/Baz Vegas and the chance for her to dress up as a beauty or a geek! When we stopped for a shopping stop we managed to find a charity shop/op shop with some wonderfully geeky clothes, including a just jeans jacket for $1 that's 50p to us English folk!! what a result!!
An awesome night was had by all, we played the drinking game roxanne and bunch of dubious beauties (ie men dressed up as women)and geeks danced until the wee hours. it was a night of romance for some(in our room), but fortunately it didn't wake us!
lots of post drinking dramas ensued, as i'm sure you can imagine.
The next morning Laura and few other girls got up early to make bone carved pendants. Laura was very proud of the pendant that she made for her brother.
That day we headed onto Franz Joseph all feeling a little hungover!!
Franz joseph is a small village situated near the fraz joseph glacier. The hostel that we stayed in was pretty comfortable, with a cool bar on site. Unfortunately the beds were pretty uncomfortable every time laura so much as breathed a great big earrsssoersss noise would follow.. not conducive to a good nights sleep.
The next morning we were up early ready to face our full days hike on the glacier. We had to go and get all kitted out with specialist equipment such as water proofs, crampons, gloves, hat and a very fetching red bum bag. Now maybe the best time to mention that there is a lot of rain around franzjoseph and today was not an exception.
The Glacier is not quite as beautiful as we thought it might be there was alot of dirt on the ice. The rain didn't let up for the whole time we were on there and the water proofs we'd been given weren't really living up to their name. It was also kinda like being in a massive freezer, so pretty chilly. Due to the rain and it's persistence getting the camera out to get snap happy wasn't really an option. We stopped for lunch but only for 10 mins as the guide was worried about us getting too cold. We did mange to go on an ice slide and fall/climb down an ice tunnel which was pretty exciting. Needless to say we were more than thrilled when it was over and we could get into some warm dry clothes.
That evening we went to the bar, mike played pool with eli, and laura took part in some piggyback races where she won a t shirt, a white water rafting trip, and a bar crawl! not bad for a nights work!!
The next day we headed to Makarora, unfortunately the rain wouldn't let up and the windows of the bus was steamed up we couldn't take in the beautiful scenery around us...we couldn't even see mount cook, or Fox glacier.. a bit of a bummer but we kept ourselves entertained on the bus with a bit ipodoke.(this where you put your ipod on and sing to the song...only you can hear the music...only the audience can hear what you really sound like...awesome/painful)
We arrived in Makarora, now this place really is in the middle of nowhere they don't get mobile or tv reception...they don't even get radio reception!! Team mclou went for a gentle stroll down to the river. then returned in the evening for a bit of karaoke...our last night with the stray gang! Mike broke his karaoke duck to serenade his woman with a bit of Dakota...he's getting brave in his old age!!
The next day we headed on to Wanaka were we decided to leave the stray bus and say goodbye to all our lovely new friends.
That evening we enjoyed some local green lipped muscles and marshmallows toasted on the camp fire. We had been very organized and arranged a group dinner... what a team. Jamie made a tasty spag bol.what an awesome chilled out evening.
The next day we were up early and on a beautiful hike with sea views, after a relaxing walk we were met by a catamaran that we sailed to explore the coast line. It was so beautiful, just a shame the water was icy cold!! A few brave lads from our boat ventured into the water to get a picture on the split apple rock! We saw some seals and mike had a go at sailing the boat. Good fun had by all!
We had another team cook that night and Merressa made some mean chicken fajitas. we also celebrated isreal's independence day with champagne bought by our isreali friend/ stray bus player Eli. We had another night in the tent, best nights sleep we'd had in ages!!
up the next day heading to Barry town.... Now Why Barry town you may ask yourself... it really is in the middle of nowhere the only thing in the village is a pub! well it turns out that the guy who started the kiwi bus and stray actually comes from barry town so he made this stop so the locals would be able to generate some funds from the tourist industry...genial!!
It was a long day of driving punctuated by a couple of stops to see pancake rocks, some blow holes, oh and a colony of seals.
Laura was ridiculously excited at the prospect of Barry/Baz Vegas and the chance for her to dress up as a beauty or a geek! When we stopped for a shopping stop we managed to find a charity shop/op shop with some wonderfully geeky clothes, including a just jeans jacket for $1 that's 50p to us English folk!! what a result!!
An awesome night was had by all, we played the drinking game roxanne and bunch of dubious beauties (ie men dressed up as women)and geeks danced until the wee hours. it was a night of romance for some(in our room), but fortunately it didn't wake us!
lots of post drinking dramas ensued, as i'm sure you can imagine.
The next morning Laura and few other girls got up early to make bone carved pendants. Laura was very proud of the pendant that she made for her brother.
That day we headed onto Franz Joseph all feeling a little hungover!!
Franz joseph is a small village situated near the fraz joseph glacier. The hostel that we stayed in was pretty comfortable, with a cool bar on site. Unfortunately the beds were pretty uncomfortable every time laura so much as breathed a great big earrsssoersss noise would follow.. not conducive to a good nights sleep.
The next morning we were up early ready to face our full days hike on the glacier. We had to go and get all kitted out with specialist equipment such as water proofs, crampons, gloves, hat and a very fetching red bum bag. Now maybe the best time to mention that there is a lot of rain around franzjoseph and today was not an exception.
The Glacier is not quite as beautiful as we thought it might be there was alot of dirt on the ice. The rain didn't let up for the whole time we were on there and the water proofs we'd been given weren't really living up to their name. It was also kinda like being in a massive freezer, so pretty chilly. Due to the rain and it's persistence getting the camera out to get snap happy wasn't really an option. We stopped for lunch but only for 10 mins as the guide was worried about us getting too cold. We did mange to go on an ice slide and fall/climb down an ice tunnel which was pretty exciting. Needless to say we were more than thrilled when it was over and we could get into some warm dry clothes.
That evening we went to the bar, mike played pool with eli, and laura took part in some piggyback races where she won a t shirt, a white water rafting trip, and a bar crawl! not bad for a nights work!!
The next day we headed to Makarora, unfortunately the rain wouldn't let up and the windows of the bus was steamed up we couldn't take in the beautiful scenery around us...we couldn't even see mount cook, or Fox glacier.. a bit of a bummer but we kept ourselves entertained on the bus with a bit ipodoke.(this where you put your ipod on and sing to the song...only you can hear the music...only the audience can hear what you really sound like...awesome/painful)
We arrived in Makarora, now this place really is in the middle of nowhere they don't get mobile or tv reception...they don't even get radio reception!! Team mclou went for a gentle stroll down to the river. then returned in the evening for a bit of karaoke...our last night with the stray gang! Mike broke his karaoke duck to serenade his woman with a bit of Dakota...he's getting brave in his old age!!
The next day we headed on to Wanaka were we decided to leave the stray bus and say goodbye to all our lovely new friends.
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Stray bus adventures - north island..
So by the end of this section it may become more apparent why we have been so slow updating the blog this month!!
We left Auckland with only 2-3 hours of sleep under our belts heading south. Our new driver for this leg was metro. We boarded the bus which was absolutely jam packed with Strays. We were probably reasonably shabby company for that first day or two with sleep never being far from our minds!!
The first day took us to Hahei where the warm water beach is. This is a beach where the hot springs feed lovely warm water into the sand. You have to dig down then you can enjoy being warmed by the nice sand (apparently).......Unfortunately not for us as we missed out on this experience as tides were not in our favour. We did get to sea kayak out into Cathedral cove, some huge white cliff face along that coast line. The kayaks were two man and team mclou managed pretty well as there were some big waves around the shore line. Highlights were definately launching out from the beach head on into the big surf and the hot chocolat prepared for us on the secluded beach. Not to mention tom and teds attempt to get through a little cave..hitting against the edges the whole way through. A nice experience but one I'm sure is supposed to be enjoyed on a sunny summers day when the wind is not blowing the wrong direction creating the big swells, but we kinda liked that!!
We did have a nice BBQ that night but early to bed was unavoidable as we were falling asleep in our diner following our previous nights excesses in Auckland!!
The next day was back on the bus and heading from east side to west coast (and slightly south to Raglan. This is one of the top surfing destinations in NZ. We stayed in an amazing hostel in the rainforest, with zip line through the forest and loads of facilities. A good place to kick back and enjoy get to know everyone on the bus. We had some offical teammclou to attend to. we got our IRD number and kiwi bank account sorted thanks to a lovely lady in a post office.
The next day we headed down to Waitomo caves, a place with a zillion or less caves to explore and some pretty good hiking. We all had the chance to do some exploring, abseiling, caving and see some glow worms in their hundreds. We chose to take the cheaper option and go off on a couple of hour walk, explore our own caves and stop by a local shop to watch the Rabbit shearing!!
That evening we had a cultural evening in Uncle boys place Maketu, we were welcomed to and stayed in a Maori village. It was a nice evening the boys got to learn the Haka, dressing up in traditional wears (a see through skirt and your undies) and the girls learnt to do a Maori dance in traditional dress. We were fed by the chief and his villagers for that night we were to follow the traditional village rules.we all slept in a village hall on a matress, we all got to know eachother pretty well.
The next day we headed down to Rotorua, a cool looking town but one we decided to pass through. It smells a bit like rotten egg, caused by the sulphur due to all the geothermal activity. we visited the bog of eternal stentch. We would have loved a day to spend on the world class mountain bike tracks but apparently we would have to wait four days for the next stray bus which we decided was a bit too long.
Enroute to Taupo we stopped at the hot springs these were incredible, so hot and we all struggled to get out of the beautifully warm water. Taupo was a sky dive destination for some on the bus but we waited with great difficulty while the others made their jump as we had planned to do ours in Queenstown. We were impressed with our discpline not to jump with the others but still green with envy when they all returned to the hostel that night high as a kite.
The next day proved to be our second favourite activity in NZ to date...........The Tonagariro crossing. This is sold as the world number one day hike!!.....and it didnt disappoint!! We had a fantastic day, hiking and in places climbing through a valley with a stream running along side, then we caught a glimps of mount doom...an active volcano we climbed a grueling ascent towards the volcano,to earn the right to take in some of the most amazing vista we think we'll ever see!! With signs warning that if it starts spitting rocks, smoking, or pouring with lava that you should RUN!
Once we'd climbed up we walked through a crater of a volcano, once over to the other side we caght a glimps of emerald lakes, they were really green due to the sulphur. As we reached the next peak the wind picked up, which was a little unnerving, the desent was on loose rocks that kind of fall down with you as you walk down, laura got a little freaked out. once on solid ground again and after walking past the lakes we then walked over shrubland and ended the walk going through lush rainforest. unbelievable!! It was a great day and one we wont forget for a long time. We headed back to the superb hostels hot tub for a much deserved soak then feed and beer!! The stray bus had conquered the volcano and we were a tight nit group at the end of this day!!
From the Tongariro hostel we headed south to Wellington where we enjoyed our last night in the north island, before we crossed over to the south island the next day!!
We left Auckland with only 2-3 hours of sleep under our belts heading south. Our new driver for this leg was metro. We boarded the bus which was absolutely jam packed with Strays. We were probably reasonably shabby company for that first day or two with sleep never being far from our minds!!
The first day took us to Hahei where the warm water beach is. This is a beach where the hot springs feed lovely warm water into the sand. You have to dig down then you can enjoy being warmed by the nice sand (apparently).......Unfortunately not for us as we missed out on this experience as tides were not in our favour. We did get to sea kayak out into Cathedral cove, some huge white cliff face along that coast line. The kayaks were two man and team mclou managed pretty well as there were some big waves around the shore line. Highlights were definately launching out from the beach head on into the big surf and the hot chocolat prepared for us on the secluded beach. Not to mention tom and teds attempt to get through a little cave..hitting against the edges the whole way through. A nice experience but one I'm sure is supposed to be enjoyed on a sunny summers day when the wind is not blowing the wrong direction creating the big swells, but we kinda liked that!!
We did have a nice BBQ that night but early to bed was unavoidable as we were falling asleep in our diner following our previous nights excesses in Auckland!!
The next day was back on the bus and heading from east side to west coast (and slightly south to Raglan. This is one of the top surfing destinations in NZ. We stayed in an amazing hostel in the rainforest, with zip line through the forest and loads of facilities. A good place to kick back and enjoy get to know everyone on the bus. We had some offical teammclou to attend to. we got our IRD number and kiwi bank account sorted thanks to a lovely lady in a post office.
The next day we headed down to Waitomo caves, a place with a zillion or less caves to explore and some pretty good hiking. We all had the chance to do some exploring, abseiling, caving and see some glow worms in their hundreds. We chose to take the cheaper option and go off on a couple of hour walk, explore our own caves and stop by a local shop to watch the Rabbit shearing!!
That evening we had a cultural evening in Uncle boys place Maketu, we were welcomed to and stayed in a Maori village. It was a nice evening the boys got to learn the Haka, dressing up in traditional wears (a see through skirt and your undies) and the girls learnt to do a Maori dance in traditional dress. We were fed by the chief and his villagers for that night we were to follow the traditional village rules.we all slept in a village hall on a matress, we all got to know eachother pretty well.
The next day we headed down to Rotorua, a cool looking town but one we decided to pass through. It smells a bit like rotten egg, caused by the sulphur due to all the geothermal activity. we visited the bog of eternal stentch. We would have loved a day to spend on the world class mountain bike tracks but apparently we would have to wait four days for the next stray bus which we decided was a bit too long.
Enroute to Taupo we stopped at the hot springs these were incredible, so hot and we all struggled to get out of the beautifully warm water. Taupo was a sky dive destination for some on the bus but we waited with great difficulty while the others made their jump as we had planned to do ours in Queenstown. We were impressed with our discpline not to jump with the others but still green with envy when they all returned to the hostel that night high as a kite.
The next day proved to be our second favourite activity in NZ to date...........The Tonagariro crossing. This is sold as the world number one day hike!!.....and it didnt disappoint!! We had a fantastic day, hiking and in places climbing through a valley with a stream running along side, then we caught a glimps of mount doom...an active volcano we climbed a grueling ascent towards the volcano,to earn the right to take in some of the most amazing vista we think we'll ever see!! With signs warning that if it starts spitting rocks, smoking, or pouring with lava that you should RUN!
Once we'd climbed up we walked through a crater of a volcano, once over to the other side we caght a glimps of emerald lakes, they were really green due to the sulphur. As we reached the next peak the wind picked up, which was a little unnerving, the desent was on loose rocks that kind of fall down with you as you walk down, laura got a little freaked out. once on solid ground again and after walking past the lakes we then walked over shrubland and ended the walk going through lush rainforest. unbelievable!! It was a great day and one we wont forget for a long time. We headed back to the superb hostels hot tub for a much deserved soak then feed and beer!! The stray bus had conquered the volcano and we were a tight nit group at the end of this day!!
From the Tongariro hostel we headed south to Wellington where we enjoyed our last night in the north island, before we crossed over to the south island the next day!!
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
NZ Baby!!!!!!!!!! Auckland, Bay of island, dolhins and top food!!
We took the flight from Fiji with Air Pacific........a big plane with friendly staff but unreassuringly dated. They still have the ash trays from on the seats and in the toilets very retro!! watched blind side awesome film.
We arrived in Aukland the city of sails very excited indeed. We booked up a trip north to Bay of islands, Paihia pretty much straight away keen to get out of the city which was a bit of a culture shock after the peaceful slow pace in Fiji.
We were picked up by Daisy (male) the stray bus driver early the next day. We had a few stops enroute hugging 800 year old kauri trees which were massive, and a ride on a glass bottomed boat in goat island marine park seeing some pretty big fish!! Daisy was a good guy and kept us all entertained with games while the kilometres passed by.
We stopped overnight in Paihia, the location where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, which is basically a legal document from way back that set the rules of how land would be governed between the indiginous Maori and us invaders. In true form we stitched 'em up good and proper and this has left NZ with ongoing disputes to this day!! We had a few pics taken at the site and felt ourselves to be satisfactorily culturalised!!
The next day was an early rise to have a day that provided the absolute highlight of the trip (and as you maybe aware we're a month late writing this and that fact remains!! We spent the morning aboard the dolphin explorer. After an hour aboard our optimism was dwindling especially given that they informed us only 20 percent of the rides end with actually swimming with dolphins but then........we found a pod of bottlenose dolphins. They were swimming along side the boat as we hurridly put our snorkels and masks on but no wetsuits. Luckily the adrenaline from the sight of the 3m long dolphins kept us warm (kind of) as we waited for 15 minutes for the ok to jump in. Once in it was amazing, we had two sets of 20 minutes swimming with the pod feeling very slow and overwelhmed by their size and speed in the water.
After the swim we were dropped in a small town called Russel where we had some hot chocolate and lunch sitting by the beach revelling in our experience.
The buzz didnt wear off all afternoon and we bored everyone to tears on the bus ride south to Auckland that afternoon!! We stopped at Haruru falls, which translated into english means'big nose' as you can imagine mike was in his element, finally seeing one much bigger than his own. The ride added to our day though, stopping in a small wild bird sanctuary. We got to see and pet the Kiwi bird which is apparently quite rare, and a first for our driver Daisy.
We were keen to get back to Auckland that night as we had planned to meet up with Nicole, a friend from Fiji for a night out before we board the bus again in the morning to head south.
As excited as we were to be meeting up with Nicole we were a little concerned with her choice of destination when we were informed it was one of the more expensive restaurants in Auckland and we were on our travelling budget. Mike managed to crack out his shirt for the first time since leaving the UK for the occassion and even managed to remember what the iron was invented to do. Our journey there on the bus was spent planning how we were going to be frugil travellers and keep the costs down.
When we arrived Nicole was with a few friends and we all got on well had a few glasses of wine and some very tasty pizza. At the end of the meal we were waiting to pay to find Nicoles friend had settled the bill and treated us to a great meal to round off a great day. We went back to his house (mansion) to find ourselves in something from MTV cribs. This obviously seemed a little out of the ordinary and it was then revealed why the boys had been talking so much about cricket.......we had been treated to diner by an ex Kiwi international cricket player!! We enjoyed a few more drinks with our new friends and the night ended very late. When our heads hit the pillows we only had three hours until we were due on the Stray bus for the next leg of our journey. What a surreal day, one that goes down as one of the best days since leaving the UK!!
We arrived in Aukland the city of sails very excited indeed. We booked up a trip north to Bay of islands, Paihia pretty much straight away keen to get out of the city which was a bit of a culture shock after the peaceful slow pace in Fiji.
We were picked up by Daisy (male) the stray bus driver early the next day. We had a few stops enroute hugging 800 year old kauri trees which were massive, and a ride on a glass bottomed boat in goat island marine park seeing some pretty big fish!! Daisy was a good guy and kept us all entertained with games while the kilometres passed by.
We stopped overnight in Paihia, the location where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, which is basically a legal document from way back that set the rules of how land would be governed between the indiginous Maori and us invaders. In true form we stitched 'em up good and proper and this has left NZ with ongoing disputes to this day!! We had a few pics taken at the site and felt ourselves to be satisfactorily culturalised!!
The next day was an early rise to have a day that provided the absolute highlight of the trip (and as you maybe aware we're a month late writing this and that fact remains!! We spent the morning aboard the dolphin explorer. After an hour aboard our optimism was dwindling especially given that they informed us only 20 percent of the rides end with actually swimming with dolphins but then........we found a pod of bottlenose dolphins. They were swimming along side the boat as we hurridly put our snorkels and masks on but no wetsuits. Luckily the adrenaline from the sight of the 3m long dolphins kept us warm (kind of) as we waited for 15 minutes for the ok to jump in. Once in it was amazing, we had two sets of 20 minutes swimming with the pod feeling very slow and overwelhmed by their size and speed in the water.
After the swim we were dropped in a small town called Russel where we had some hot chocolate and lunch sitting by the beach revelling in our experience.
The buzz didnt wear off all afternoon and we bored everyone to tears on the bus ride south to Auckland that afternoon!! We stopped at Haruru falls, which translated into english means'big nose' as you can imagine mike was in his element, finally seeing one much bigger than his own. The ride added to our day though, stopping in a small wild bird sanctuary. We got to see and pet the Kiwi bird which is apparently quite rare, and a first for our driver Daisy.
We were keen to get back to Auckland that night as we had planned to meet up with Nicole, a friend from Fiji for a night out before we board the bus again in the morning to head south.
As excited as we were to be meeting up with Nicole we were a little concerned with her choice of destination when we were informed it was one of the more expensive restaurants in Auckland and we were on our travelling budget. Mike managed to crack out his shirt for the first time since leaving the UK for the occassion and even managed to remember what the iron was invented to do. Our journey there on the bus was spent planning how we were going to be frugil travellers and keep the costs down.
When we arrived Nicole was with a few friends and we all got on well had a few glasses of wine and some very tasty pizza. At the end of the meal we were waiting to pay to find Nicoles friend had settled the bill and treated us to a great meal to round off a great day. We went back to his house (mansion) to find ourselves in something from MTV cribs. This obviously seemed a little out of the ordinary and it was then revealed why the boys had been talking so much about cricket.......we had been treated to diner by an ex Kiwi international cricket player!! We enjoyed a few more drinks with our new friends and the night ended very late. When our heads hit the pillows we only had three hours until we were due on the Stray bus for the next leg of our journey. What a surreal day, one that goes down as one of the best days since leaving the UK!!
Friday, 9 April 2010
FIJI TIME ON THE YASAWA”S!!
FIJI TIME ON THE YASAWA”S!!
So the clocks went back during our last night, for once we were well informed, clocks changed, alarms set and off to bed. So we first wake up at 5am to the hostel alarm as two girls leave the hostel with wheely suitcases in tow!!??!! Then an hour later theirs a knock at the door and a rather anxious receptionist telling us that its 7am and our transfer is due any minute. He was clearly concerned given our light was off and mike was half asleep in his undies!!
So in a panick mike tries to wake the sleeping beauty up and get his phone to check the time and find out why the alarm hadn’t gone off when mike realized everyone had been told about the time apart from the receptionist and the two girls who were probably still standing very bemused at the bus stop and the receptionist who was frantically working his way around all the rooms waking up his lazy guests and wandering what he had done to deserve such a lazy bunch of tourists on his early shift!! He was clearly a little embarrassed with himself when Mike managed to point his mistake out. This was Fiji time gone mad!!
We got to the Ferry terminal and boarded the Yasawa flyer which is a huge yellow cateraman that delivers tourists to the beautiful pacific Fijian islands everyday.
We had a 5 hour ride ahead of us to Oarsman Bay resort, Nacula island. The Ferry stopped in the bay and we were collected by motor boat and taken to the island. It was a result, we were greeted with drinks and our bags all taken to the Bure (bungalow) we had been given a free upgrade from a dorm room to a private bungalow on the beach looking out to sea.
We were given lunch and then spent the day snorkeling on the reef just off our beach. All meals were signaled by the staff hitting the Fijian drum. At diner we sat on communal tables which turned out to be an excellent idea as we all got to know each other very quickly!! It was kinda like speed dating for couples. We had some really interesting and fun people there.
While at Oarsman bay we took part in all the activities, the first one was a boat ride to caves where we had the opportunity to climb, crawl and swim through a network of caves. It was pretty adrenaline fuelled given the complete lack of safety gear, pitch black darkness and only one flash light held by the guide who only managed to get lost once. Needless to say Loo escaped with a bit of a lump ontop of her head from the cave wall, but great experience. Mike escaped unscathed as he didn’t actually make it into the caves cos he wasn’t feeling too well. Poor bunny.
That afternoon the boys decided to get their fishing rods out and go catch diner. Jimmy took us about half an hours walk from the resort to a point where tide ran fast and we set to work while the girls sunbathed.
In the evening we played potato racing(which Laura won a beer) and musical chairs ( which mike won a beer) and every evening al the guests and staff would gather on the patio with the sun setting over the sea and drink kava and chat late into the night.
Kava is a mild narcotic, which is used in the western world to treat depression and anxiety, it tastes and looks a bit like muddy water, and as far as we could tell its main effects were a numbing sensation of your mouth and throat. They grind tree roots and add water. The chief drinks first then the spokes man then everyone else drinks one by one in the circle. The chief initiates the drinking by saying taki . they hand around the kava in a half a coconut shell. I don’t think it’ll take off in the uk.
We visited a traditional Fijian village community while there , meeting the doctor and seeing the health centre, local school where the children sang songs for us in their assembly. We walked around the houses and brought some homemade mementos from the local ladies.
As much as we loved Oarsman we did have to sneak off to the competition resort next door with was a contrast owned and operated by a successful Ozzy businessman (who we later met on another island). We were tempted across by the Vonu beer and afternoon snacks on sale as the food wasn’t always enough to get you through the hole day at Oarsman. We had some secret sign language amongst the group and had to operate a covet mission as we felt a little guilty giving money to the enemy!!
After one session on the vonu we all swam out to a boat moored off the beach and had competitions for the craziest dives into the crystal clear water with sun setting behind- magical!!
We made friends with some lovely people Kate, Ed, Manuel, Alana, ash and Pauline. But like always when you’re travelling you say goodbye to people just as much as you say hello. We were sad to see them go as we had all got on so well. It wasn’t quite the same without them.
Oni our Fijian mother type figure tried to cheer us up and showed us all the uses for the coconut. We got to make things, eat all the different aged coconut, climb the tree and drink the milk. They even use the roots as medicine for food poisoning from fish.
We loved Oarsman bay for its connection to the traditional side of Fijian life. We were there for Easter weekend and the Village has a mix of catholic and Methodist which is at the heart of their community, so we visited the church for the Good Friday service. We thought our mum’s would be happy to hear this. We also watched their Easter day parade where a huge wooden cross is carried by the villagers across the island the different tribes give offering for the other tribes then it’s taken to the water where they would swim across with it to the other islands. This was a tribute to the peace and unity that Christianity had brought to their culture. It’s definitely much better than them cannibals!!
With a heavy heart we left oarsmans bay and headed back onto the yasawa flyer next destination mantaray resort. Here we were staying in a 34 bed dorm. We had heard the food and snorkeling here was amazing… the rumors were true the food was fantastic, and snorkeling was out of this world!! There were day time activities of jewellery making and basket weaving… I think we could make pretty good OTs ! Our first night there we went down to the beach for a romantic walk. We heard some splashing in the water and we looked out to sea…. Only to see 8 baby black tipped reef sharks beach themselves in front of us…. Unbelievable!! The next night the shark beaching event had caused quite a stir so that night we went down to the beach with 20 people keen to see these sharks…. Unfortunately the sharks were a no show…so we went up to play some limbo and a good old game of ring of fire… the best made-up rule being finishing every sentence with “in my pants”… so funny!
The next day we hopped back on the yasawa flyer this time heading to the poshest resort in the yasawas octopus resort… woo hoo what flash packers we are! We had arrived… a dorm with air con and only 15 beds this time!! It was like being on holiday! Every evening there were games organized. The first night we played a bit of volley ball and every time you got a good shot you got a shot. We made friends with some lovely girls from California they reminded Laura of her and kimmy. We also made friends with a real Australian guy who lives in the bush and goes wild boar hunting, and a funny Norwegian girl called Hannah.
The next night we played more silly games with balloon dancing, pig king horse donkey and relay drinking! We managed to win pig king horse donkey and our prize was a two handed massage for both of us valued at F$200. Awesome!
We headed back to the mainland and back to blue water lodge resort for some more of their amazing food. Nicole and Meredith joined us for dinner for our last night in Fiji.
As always we were sad to leave but really excited about the next step….new Zealand!!
So the clocks went back during our last night, for once we were well informed, clocks changed, alarms set and off to bed. So we first wake up at 5am to the hostel alarm as two girls leave the hostel with wheely suitcases in tow!!??!! Then an hour later theirs a knock at the door and a rather anxious receptionist telling us that its 7am and our transfer is due any minute. He was clearly concerned given our light was off and mike was half asleep in his undies!!
So in a panick mike tries to wake the sleeping beauty up and get his phone to check the time and find out why the alarm hadn’t gone off when mike realized everyone had been told about the time apart from the receptionist and the two girls who were probably still standing very bemused at the bus stop and the receptionist who was frantically working his way around all the rooms waking up his lazy guests and wandering what he had done to deserve such a lazy bunch of tourists on his early shift!! He was clearly a little embarrassed with himself when Mike managed to point his mistake out. This was Fiji time gone mad!!
We got to the Ferry terminal and boarded the Yasawa flyer which is a huge yellow cateraman that delivers tourists to the beautiful pacific Fijian islands everyday.
We had a 5 hour ride ahead of us to Oarsman Bay resort, Nacula island. The Ferry stopped in the bay and we were collected by motor boat and taken to the island. It was a result, we were greeted with drinks and our bags all taken to the Bure (bungalow) we had been given a free upgrade from a dorm room to a private bungalow on the beach looking out to sea.
We were given lunch and then spent the day snorkeling on the reef just off our beach. All meals were signaled by the staff hitting the Fijian drum. At diner we sat on communal tables which turned out to be an excellent idea as we all got to know each other very quickly!! It was kinda like speed dating for couples. We had some really interesting and fun people there.
While at Oarsman bay we took part in all the activities, the first one was a boat ride to caves where we had the opportunity to climb, crawl and swim through a network of caves. It was pretty adrenaline fuelled given the complete lack of safety gear, pitch black darkness and only one flash light held by the guide who only managed to get lost once. Needless to say Loo escaped with a bit of a lump ontop of her head from the cave wall, but great experience. Mike escaped unscathed as he didn’t actually make it into the caves cos he wasn’t feeling too well. Poor bunny.
That afternoon the boys decided to get their fishing rods out and go catch diner. Jimmy took us about half an hours walk from the resort to a point where tide ran fast and we set to work while the girls sunbathed.
In the evening we played potato racing(which Laura won a beer) and musical chairs ( which mike won a beer) and every evening al the guests and staff would gather on the patio with the sun setting over the sea and drink kava and chat late into the night.
Kava is a mild narcotic, which is used in the western world to treat depression and anxiety, it tastes and looks a bit like muddy water, and as far as we could tell its main effects were a numbing sensation of your mouth and throat. They grind tree roots and add water. The chief drinks first then the spokes man then everyone else drinks one by one in the circle. The chief initiates the drinking by saying taki . they hand around the kava in a half a coconut shell. I don’t think it’ll take off in the uk.
We visited a traditional Fijian village community while there , meeting the doctor and seeing the health centre, local school where the children sang songs for us in their assembly. We walked around the houses and brought some homemade mementos from the local ladies.
As much as we loved Oarsman we did have to sneak off to the competition resort next door with was a contrast owned and operated by a successful Ozzy businessman (who we later met on another island). We were tempted across by the Vonu beer and afternoon snacks on sale as the food wasn’t always enough to get you through the hole day at Oarsman. We had some secret sign language amongst the group and had to operate a covet mission as we felt a little guilty giving money to the enemy!!
After one session on the vonu we all swam out to a boat moored off the beach and had competitions for the craziest dives into the crystal clear water with sun setting behind- magical!!
We made friends with some lovely people Kate, Ed, Manuel, Alana, ash and Pauline. But like always when you’re travelling you say goodbye to people just as much as you say hello. We were sad to see them go as we had all got on so well. It wasn’t quite the same without them.
Oni our Fijian mother type figure tried to cheer us up and showed us all the uses for the coconut. We got to make things, eat all the different aged coconut, climb the tree and drink the milk. They even use the roots as medicine for food poisoning from fish.
We loved Oarsman bay for its connection to the traditional side of Fijian life. We were there for Easter weekend and the Village has a mix of catholic and Methodist which is at the heart of their community, so we visited the church for the Good Friday service. We thought our mum’s would be happy to hear this. We also watched their Easter day parade where a huge wooden cross is carried by the villagers across the island the different tribes give offering for the other tribes then it’s taken to the water where they would swim across with it to the other islands. This was a tribute to the peace and unity that Christianity had brought to their culture. It’s definitely much better than them cannibals!!
With a heavy heart we left oarsmans bay and headed back onto the yasawa flyer next destination mantaray resort. Here we were staying in a 34 bed dorm. We had heard the food and snorkeling here was amazing… the rumors were true the food was fantastic, and snorkeling was out of this world!! There were day time activities of jewellery making and basket weaving… I think we could make pretty good OTs ! Our first night there we went down to the beach for a romantic walk. We heard some splashing in the water and we looked out to sea…. Only to see 8 baby black tipped reef sharks beach themselves in front of us…. Unbelievable!! The next night the shark beaching event had caused quite a stir so that night we went down to the beach with 20 people keen to see these sharks…. Unfortunately the sharks were a no show…so we went up to play some limbo and a good old game of ring of fire… the best made-up rule being finishing every sentence with “in my pants”… so funny!
The next day we hopped back on the yasawa flyer this time heading to the poshest resort in the yasawas octopus resort… woo hoo what flash packers we are! We had arrived… a dorm with air con and only 15 beds this time!! It was like being on holiday! Every evening there were games organized. The first night we played a bit of volley ball and every time you got a good shot you got a shot. We made friends with some lovely girls from California they reminded Laura of her and kimmy. We also made friends with a real Australian guy who lives in the bush and goes wild boar hunting, and a funny Norwegian girl called Hannah.
The next night we played more silly games with balloon dancing, pig king horse donkey and relay drinking! We managed to win pig king horse donkey and our prize was a two handed massage for both of us valued at F$200. Awesome!
We headed back to the mainland and back to blue water lodge resort for some more of their amazing food. Nicole and Meredith joined us for dinner for our last night in Fiji.
As always we were sad to leave but really excited about the next step….new Zealand!!
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