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!!
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
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!!
Ah Beautiful Fiji
We had to leave the hostel at 3.30am to make the flight from Cairns to Sydney where we picked up the connecting flight to Nadi, Fiji!!!!!!
We were both ready to leave Oz, we’d had an amazing time but with the exchange rate and recently elevated shop prices oz was rediciulously expensive to live and travel and had hit the bank accounts hard!!
We landed in Fiji in the evening and Al the friendly taxi driving was there waiting with our names on his board- luxury travel, or so we thought he led us outside to his wheels, we were lightly surprised to find him loading our bags into the little old bangar. It was difficult to identify the car but Al told us it was a Toyota mark 2, probably 20-30 years old, with more rattles and knocks than a tin can full of stones!! Al turned out to be a really friendly guy and luckily his wheels didn’t reflect at all the quality of our hostel. We pulled into the gated property, to the friendly welcome from the Fijian staff and British owners. Jessie was playing his guitar and doing his version of singing in the back garden by the pool. We dumped our bags in our huge room and gave each other a high five. It was hotel quality rooms for hostel prices!! We went to the pool side where a few others were eating and joined them for an amazing restaurant quality meal for about 6 quid!! The beer was cheaper - we had a great nights sleep!!
The next day we awoke to sunshine and our nice complimentary breakfast. We finished this then took the local bus to the town centre. I wish we had a picture to show the bus it was a real classic with a bicycle bell to get the drivers attention when you wanted to get off!! We went to the market with Ferdinand and Holly, a Swede and a Brit. Ferdinand put our trip to shame having already travelled the trans Siberian railway through Russia, Mongolia etc and having spent time in China so we felt we were in the safe company of a seasoned traeller. The market was cool, we discovered the cultural mix of Fiji was so diverse for such a small country. Their was a mix of Indian and Fijian and just about every religion known to man practiced. The market was filled with roots sitting on the tables. We were a bit mythed as to what this was but as we got to know Fiji we discovered became very familiar with what turned out to be Kava the drink of choice in Fiji. We all had a taste in the market, it was a mouth numbing taste of muddy water but the Fijians are mad for it.
We brought loads of fruit and bread at the market and headed back to the hostel/ hotel and had a feast. In the afternoon we called Ali and agreed a price for him to take us to the hot springs for the day.
For 25 dollars Ali rattled and shook us all to the hot springs of Nadi. It was a bit of a surreal experience as we were taken to the second springs past the usual sign posted springs up a rough road into some land were their appeared to be a volleyball tournament. We pretty much drove right through the middle of the games and down to the bottom of the garden- I don’t think we were expected but after some discussion between Ali, our driver, and the apparent land owner we were introduced to a young girl who was to show us around. The first thing to do was climb down into a pit dug into the ground and cover ourselves in mud. Then we got out and dried the mud in the sun, while the locals all played volleyball right behind us!!
We then had to clean off and go over to the hot springs. The water at the source was too hot to sit in so they had channeled the springs to another “swimming pool” or pit as it really was to swim in the bath temperature waters.
The kids came and watched the tourists flap around and seemed a little intrigued by us. We dried off and Ali was ready and waiting to take us home via the supermarket, a nice but very random experience!!
That night we had another amazing meal and music and ‘singing’ by Jessie and lots of chat and beers.
The next day we were boarding the Yasawa flyer and heading out for our island experience!!
We were both ready to leave Oz, we’d had an amazing time but with the exchange rate and recently elevated shop prices oz was rediciulously expensive to live and travel and had hit the bank accounts hard!!
We landed in Fiji in the evening and Al the friendly taxi driving was there waiting with our names on his board- luxury travel, or so we thought he led us outside to his wheels, we were lightly surprised to find him loading our bags into the little old bangar. It was difficult to identify the car but Al told us it was a Toyota mark 2, probably 20-30 years old, with more rattles and knocks than a tin can full of stones!! Al turned out to be a really friendly guy and luckily his wheels didn’t reflect at all the quality of our hostel. We pulled into the gated property, to the friendly welcome from the Fijian staff and British owners. Jessie was playing his guitar and doing his version of singing in the back garden by the pool. We dumped our bags in our huge room and gave each other a high five. It was hotel quality rooms for hostel prices!! We went to the pool side where a few others were eating and joined them for an amazing restaurant quality meal for about 6 quid!! The beer was cheaper - we had a great nights sleep!!
The next day we awoke to sunshine and our nice complimentary breakfast. We finished this then took the local bus to the town centre. I wish we had a picture to show the bus it was a real classic with a bicycle bell to get the drivers attention when you wanted to get off!! We went to the market with Ferdinand and Holly, a Swede and a Brit. Ferdinand put our trip to shame having already travelled the trans Siberian railway through Russia, Mongolia etc and having spent time in China so we felt we were in the safe company of a seasoned traeller. The market was cool, we discovered the cultural mix of Fiji was so diverse for such a small country. Their was a mix of Indian and Fijian and just about every religion known to man practiced. The market was filled with roots sitting on the tables. We were a bit mythed as to what this was but as we got to know Fiji we discovered became very familiar with what turned out to be Kava the drink of choice in Fiji. We all had a taste in the market, it was a mouth numbing taste of muddy water but the Fijians are mad for it.
We brought loads of fruit and bread at the market and headed back to the hostel/ hotel and had a feast. In the afternoon we called Ali and agreed a price for him to take us to the hot springs for the day.
For 25 dollars Ali rattled and shook us all to the hot springs of Nadi. It was a bit of a surreal experience as we were taken to the second springs past the usual sign posted springs up a rough road into some land were their appeared to be a volleyball tournament. We pretty much drove right through the middle of the games and down to the bottom of the garden- I don’t think we were expected but after some discussion between Ali, our driver, and the apparent land owner we were introduced to a young girl who was to show us around. The first thing to do was climb down into a pit dug into the ground and cover ourselves in mud. Then we got out and dried the mud in the sun, while the locals all played volleyball right behind us!!
We then had to clean off and go over to the hot springs. The water at the source was too hot to sit in so they had channeled the springs to another “swimming pool” or pit as it really was to swim in the bath temperature waters.
The kids came and watched the tourists flap around and seemed a little intrigued by us. We dried off and Ali was ready and waiting to take us home via the supermarket, a nice but very random experience!!
That night we had another amazing meal and music and ‘singing’ by Jessie and lots of chat and beers.
The next day we were boarding the Yasawa flyer and heading out for our island experience!!
Diving with Diana!!
We took a transfer to Cairns for the last week of the Australian leg of our adventure.
We stayed a little out of town at a Nomads backpackers hostel, the Serpent, which had a pool, a nice bar and was the cheapest we’ve had throughout the whole of aus! It had a few cubs staying there. (Cashed Up Bogans(similar to chavs)) Cairns it’s self was an interesting place, it obviously had a high unemployment rate there are a lot of drunk aborigines roaming the streets and a lot of bogans drinking in the various bogan watering holes dotted around town. There was no beach and the mud flats at the sea fronts had a lot of signs warning us about crocodiles, but the lagoon was a nice place to hang out.
We spent the first day in Cairns camera shopping for Laura to replace the love of her life…. her camera, which the rat pack had brought Laura, and our travels destroyed with a mixture of sand and hard surfaces.
So we’d met up with Diana in Cairns and headed off into town to book up our next few days.
We found Peter Pans and sat down with the sales guy we’d met on the greyhound earlier in the week. We had managed to get a fantastic deal. This might be because the sales guy was sweet on Diana. Thanks Diana our aussie hunny trap. We had bought a couple of days of adrenaline fueled fun. We hung out by the lagoon and had a delicious but not nutritious dinner at the hostel, followed by a game of darts with some randoms.
The next day we went white water rafting down the Russel river. First we hiked through the rain forest with our rafts on our backs and paddles in hand. It was only 5 minutes before we needed to cross a river and the threat of leeches was hanging over us. Mike was frantically checking his legs every couple of minutes. Diana had two leeches that mike helpfully got off for her with his paddle. Laura proudly announced when she reached the river that she had escaped leech free…. Until she took off her shoe and discovered the biggest leech out of everyone there! Being the mildly competitive type she was obviously jealous that Diana had two, but was happy in the thought that hers was by far the biggest even though the majority of its mass was indeed blood sucked from Laura’s leg!!
Once in our two man inflatable kayak we were a force to be reckoned with. Before each rapid our guide would stop us and tell us how to take the rapid… some of them grade 4!! On route we stopped at an aboriginal cave with a waterfall and painted our faces with tribal war paint. Then we carried on down the river. Diana did manage to get stuck wrapped round a rock at the top of a grade 4 rapid. She had to let her boat go and walk around instead. One of the guides jumped off the land crocodile Dundee style and wrestled the raft back to the land….amazing to watch that narly dude. We went out that night to listen to a bit of live music….. what an awesome day!!
The next day we were up early ready to dive the great barrier reef. The staff were very friendly, but it was a very busy boat. We managed to do 2 dives and Laura was very excited to see a giant clam. She also had a 1.3 meter sucker fish stuck to her leg for the duration of her first dive. Usually they sucker onto sharks but unfortunately we didn’t see any of them. Mike was really excited by the food especially the cheese platter. We had a great night out that night playing guess the nationality and convince someone that they know you game…. Diana what a legend!! Diana almost convinced this guy Elliot that he knew her.. she put in ground work and talked to one of his friends to get some deets…. So funny!! Diana got some yummy pineapple sweets at the end of the night. Laura liked them so much she happily obeyed the three second rule for them and may have eaten a few of them off the floor…very messy night!! It was sad to say goodbye to the lovely Diana, who headed back to Sydney.
Our hostel ensured we had a good send off on our last night they had an aussie night. Were they put emu, crocodile, and kangaroo on the Barbie. They also had an animal show were we saw indigenous species and got to hold a crocodile!! It was sad to say good bye to Australia but with Australia being so expensive and Fiji calling we were excited to leave.
We stayed a little out of town at a Nomads backpackers hostel, the Serpent, which had a pool, a nice bar and was the cheapest we’ve had throughout the whole of aus! It had a few cubs staying there. (Cashed Up Bogans(similar to chavs)) Cairns it’s self was an interesting place, it obviously had a high unemployment rate there are a lot of drunk aborigines roaming the streets and a lot of bogans drinking in the various bogan watering holes dotted around town. There was no beach and the mud flats at the sea fronts had a lot of signs warning us about crocodiles, but the lagoon was a nice place to hang out.
We spent the first day in Cairns camera shopping for Laura to replace the love of her life…. her camera, which the rat pack had brought Laura, and our travels destroyed with a mixture of sand and hard surfaces.
So we’d met up with Diana in Cairns and headed off into town to book up our next few days.
We found Peter Pans and sat down with the sales guy we’d met on the greyhound earlier in the week. We had managed to get a fantastic deal. This might be because the sales guy was sweet on Diana. Thanks Diana our aussie hunny trap. We had bought a couple of days of adrenaline fueled fun. We hung out by the lagoon and had a delicious but not nutritious dinner at the hostel, followed by a game of darts with some randoms.
The next day we went white water rafting down the Russel river. First we hiked through the rain forest with our rafts on our backs and paddles in hand. It was only 5 minutes before we needed to cross a river and the threat of leeches was hanging over us. Mike was frantically checking his legs every couple of minutes. Diana had two leeches that mike helpfully got off for her with his paddle. Laura proudly announced when she reached the river that she had escaped leech free…. Until she took off her shoe and discovered the biggest leech out of everyone there! Being the mildly competitive type she was obviously jealous that Diana had two, but was happy in the thought that hers was by far the biggest even though the majority of its mass was indeed blood sucked from Laura’s leg!!
Once in our two man inflatable kayak we were a force to be reckoned with. Before each rapid our guide would stop us and tell us how to take the rapid… some of them grade 4!! On route we stopped at an aboriginal cave with a waterfall and painted our faces with tribal war paint. Then we carried on down the river. Diana did manage to get stuck wrapped round a rock at the top of a grade 4 rapid. She had to let her boat go and walk around instead. One of the guides jumped off the land crocodile Dundee style and wrestled the raft back to the land….amazing to watch that narly dude. We went out that night to listen to a bit of live music….. what an awesome day!!
The next day we were up early ready to dive the great barrier reef. The staff were very friendly, but it was a very busy boat. We managed to do 2 dives and Laura was very excited to see a giant clam. She also had a 1.3 meter sucker fish stuck to her leg for the duration of her first dive. Usually they sucker onto sharks but unfortunately we didn’t see any of them. Mike was really excited by the food especially the cheese platter. We had a great night out that night playing guess the nationality and convince someone that they know you game…. Diana what a legend!! Diana almost convinced this guy Elliot that he knew her.. she put in ground work and talked to one of his friends to get some deets…. So funny!! Diana got some yummy pineapple sweets at the end of the night. Laura liked them so much she happily obeyed the three second rule for them and may have eaten a few of them off the floor…very messy night!! It was sad to say goodbye to the lovely Diana, who headed back to Sydney.
Our hostel ensured we had a good send off on our last night they had an aussie night. Were they put emu, crocodile, and kangaroo on the Barbie. They also had an animal show were we saw indigenous species and got to hold a crocodile!! It was sad to say good bye to Australia but with Australia being so expensive and Fiji calling we were excited to leave.
Thursday, 18 March 2010
you have to kiss many toads before you find your prince!
After yet another over night coach we arrived in Port Douglas more than a little jaded! Fortunately our room was ready so we shoved our stuff in and did what any normal couple would do... hired bikes to cycle round port douglas and orientate our selves. We were not surprised to find another bit of wild life to fear... there are signs everywhere saying Danger do not swim crocodiles inhabit these waters. We had been told on good authoritiy that port douglas is beautiful... unfortunately we had come in the wrong season to see it in all it's glory the waters were really merky and the threat of a grade 4 cyclone made any sea related sports more than a little risky. we also learnt that this is where beloved steve irwin died... if he couldn't handle the waters here...then niether can we. Fortunately our hostel had a pool and good company to keep us entertained.Needless to say we had an early night that night.
Mike enjoyed a good bit of man time the next day with Manny and created some new swim strokes namely the sofa swimming, the modified sofa swimming, and the back wards dolphin. They also did other manly things like lift weights. Laura enjoyed a very girly day of mooching round the shops...and ofcourse a little bit of shopping.
We had an awesome night out on st Patrick's day. started in iron bar with our new friends from norfolk sam and nat. we went to cane toad races.
This is where you have to pick up a toad give it a kiss then when the cane toads are released from a bucket you encourage them to jump off the table with party horns, you then have to pick up the toad and the first toad in the bucket wins. you'll never guess who got called up first round.... yes mike!! he was a little shy when it came to being affectionate with the toad in public...(ie on stage in front of an audience of around 60 people).... but he really came up trumps and his toad was first in the bucket, winning him a beer!!! May i take this moment to explain to you that mike did not actually need to touch his toad, it actually jumped from the table into the bucket...well done jerry springer. The american that came last was no where near as lucky having to chase his toad around the audience calling come here 'gay freddie'....very funny!!
we headed on after the toad racing for a few more beers and begged a bakery to give us food as there was no keebab places open. yummy fresh sausage rolls.
we had to get up early the next day heading to cairns to meet up with diana and weather permitting dive the great barrier reef... woo hoo so exciting!
Mike enjoyed a good bit of man time the next day with Manny and created some new swim strokes namely the sofa swimming, the modified sofa swimming, and the back wards dolphin. They also did other manly things like lift weights. Laura enjoyed a very girly day of mooching round the shops...and ofcourse a little bit of shopping.
We had an awesome night out on st Patrick's day. started in iron bar with our new friends from norfolk sam and nat. we went to cane toad races.
This is where you have to pick up a toad give it a kiss then when the cane toads are released from a bucket you encourage them to jump off the table with party horns, you then have to pick up the toad and the first toad in the bucket wins. you'll never guess who got called up first round.... yes mike!! he was a little shy when it came to being affectionate with the toad in public...(ie on stage in front of an audience of around 60 people).... but he really came up trumps and his toad was first in the bucket, winning him a beer!!! May i take this moment to explain to you that mike did not actually need to touch his toad, it actually jumped from the table into the bucket...well done jerry springer. The american that came last was no where near as lucky having to chase his toad around the audience calling come here 'gay freddie'....very funny!!
we headed on after the toad racing for a few more beers and begged a bakery to give us food as there was no keebab places open. yummy fresh sausage rolls.
we had to get up early the next day heading to cairns to meet up with diana and weather permitting dive the great barrier reef... woo hoo so exciting!
captain crankey and whitsundays!!
After an amazing nights sleep (?) on the greyhound we arrived in Airlie beach around 7am and headed for the YHA. We couldnt check in until 1 so after breakfast we decided to be productive and book our whitsundays sailing trip!!
Tina our booking agent had good and bad news for us!! The bad news was the weather was looking aweful at the end of the week, the good news was Tina had a boat leaving in two hours we could jump on to miss the bad weather and definately go to whitehaven beach. After much debate (slightly heated) we decided to go for the one boat on offer. We raced back to the YHA cancelled our booking, brought new towels (as we had lost our other towels at 1770) and showered, packed a weekend bag, dragged our other bags to storage, trekked over to the marina picking lunch up on the way and enough beer for the 3 day trip. We made it bang on time to meet the crew and other 23 passengers and head off out to sea on our home for the next few days the Habibi.
We had warning s from the crew that the weather was looking pretty aweful and we would need our sea sickness tablets so Mike downed a cheap tblet he'd bought in Thailand and when combined with loss of a nights sleep on the greyhound spent the rest of the day drawling on himself in a zombie like state, but atleast he wasnt sick!!!
The boat was pretty budget. We did get ourselves a double cabin which was lot more private than all the other bunks but did have a locked door into the smelly toilet, so we had the smell and sound of everyones bodily functions to look forward to as we lay in bed - the whitsundays were looking to be a truely romantic experience!!
Fortunately, Tina was right about the weather though. The first day was beautiful and we snorkelled over a couple of reef systems wearing our all in one black stinger suits looking like extras from a star trek episode!!??!! Slightly bad timing on a second front not only was it cyclone season so bad weather likley but it was also stinger season, deadly jelly fish season to you and I!!! We developed an unhealthy fascination with these little creatures over the next few days!! The captain had a few books so we educated ourselves on what to look for which proved to be a bit of a mistake. The deadly stingers can be as small as 1cm and not always visible to the naked eye, this combined with the budget stinger suits which did not cover the head nd had many large hles and gaps did not add to the enjoyment of snorkelling......and to think we were worried about the recent increasing shark attacks around the whitsundays!!??!! Sharks were the last thing on our minds!!
That night was early to bed everyone very tired after the first days excitement. It was an interesting night in the flee ridden bunk. Mike decided to partake in a little sleep walking and obviously didnt get far in the 6 x 6 cabin. After a couple of hours in the near cooking heat and smell Mike decided to sleep up on deck, and it was a gooooood sleep!!
The next day we awoke to the early call from captain cranky to "get our arses out of bed and down to breakfast"!! It would appear that someone had forgotten totell captain cranky that we were on holiday and not part of a paid crew there for him to vent his angers on!! After breakfast captain cranky got the maps out and weather print out and told us the news. The wind was looking to be blowing 40knots and the captain told us the weather would be hitting whitehaven beach therefore their was no point heading over there and he had selected a few sheltered bays for us to enjoy teh next two days!!??!! Obviously we were all disappointed but accepted our fate as we all agreed we would rather be safe!!
So we headed to our next snorkelling spot opposite some rich and famous resort filled with Brad and Angelina types. The captain herded us hurridly into the water as we were apparenty on a tight schedule. We enjoyed a short snorkel before we were surrounded by jelly fish and got the fear and swam back to the boat asap!! This was much to the captain cranky's annoyance. Even though he told us we only had a short time to snorkel and we had been in the water for 30 mins he was incredibly pissed off with us for not staying off the boat longer!!??!! He seemed to show no care for us being surrounded by stingers in the water but when asked why he wasnt joining us he confidently told us he never swims in stinger season!!??!! Good old captain cranky- damned if you do, damned if you don't!!
Next stop after snorkelling was a spit of sand that was only visible at mid to low tide. We set up a game of beach cricket with the other 3 brits and an ozy and Mike took them back to school!! Before leaving the boat we had another warning from cranky which really added to the enjoyment of the experience and further reminded us what a wild country we were in. Cranky showed us pictures of shells which we were not to touch as these little creatures fired a poison that would kill a man in minutes!! Great, another deadly ozy species to worry about, this time on the beach, our only safe haven in oz or so we thought!! What was more interesting was Mike had been collecting shell fish back on fraser island and prizing them open with a knife using them for bait only a few days earlier when fishing!! lol!!
The sand island also gave us chance to get to know the other people on the boat which was great and as it transpired we were not the only people to have developed a feeling that captain cranky should be made to walk the plank and we should take our chances with our own way home!! We also made friends with the local turtle who swam up and down the beach as we played cricket by the waters edge. Very cool but not much of a fielder, he droped every catch!!
We returned to the boat via the little motorised dinghy for lunch and some more moans from cranky that everyone was being too slow!! Little did he realise everyone was just enjoying time away from him and plotting his downfall!!
The winds were indeed picking up so we were taken to a resort island for the afternoon which was very relaxing. We took full advantage of the pool with swim to bar, jacuzzi and sauna's!!
We got to chat with the cook from the ship a littl more, Mel, a kiwi who was new to the boat and she was pretty cool!!
When we got back to the boat we were moored off of lovers cove, a beautiful spot for our last night on the boat. Captain cranky and his first mate (Dominion Dave, a real captain cranky in the making) were clearly very relaxed and suspiciously red eyed!! The BBQ was great and we sat around the table all 25 of us and had a great evening chatting and drinking into the night!! one of our drinking rules was no one can hold thier own drink. Matt and Jay the two Brits looked like they were enjoying this rule. laura told them "that is the gayest thing i 've ever seen" they said "no this is" and proceeded to pretend to snog with choclate cake in their mouths...very funny boys. We slept up on deck under the stars that night, so no toilet smells and luckily no sleep walking from Mike!!
The next day we were again awoken in the same fashion, had breakfast, snorkelled then headed back to harbour in the 3m swell with sails up and sea crashing over the front of the boat- good fun!!
We got off the boat, took some pics, and dragged our salty, sleepy selves back to the lagoon and counted our flee bites. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the lagoon pool with our shipwrecked mates!!
As soon as we got in we boil washed all our clothes to rid them of bed bugs. we had showers and cut eachothers hair. we were spruced up and ready for a good night out.
That night we got free pizza with our new pals in one of the bars, had a boogy to live music, and caught up with fraser island crew the Argentians, Liam and Tom. Whom had all made it into port!! We ended this night with a mad rain run...good times.
Tina our booking agent had good and bad news for us!! The bad news was the weather was looking aweful at the end of the week, the good news was Tina had a boat leaving in two hours we could jump on to miss the bad weather and definately go to whitehaven beach. After much debate (slightly heated) we decided to go for the one boat on offer. We raced back to the YHA cancelled our booking, brought new towels (as we had lost our other towels at 1770) and showered, packed a weekend bag, dragged our other bags to storage, trekked over to the marina picking lunch up on the way and enough beer for the 3 day trip. We made it bang on time to meet the crew and other 23 passengers and head off out to sea on our home for the next few days the Habibi.
We had warning s from the crew that the weather was looking pretty aweful and we would need our sea sickness tablets so Mike downed a cheap tblet he'd bought in Thailand and when combined with loss of a nights sleep on the greyhound spent the rest of the day drawling on himself in a zombie like state, but atleast he wasnt sick!!!
The boat was pretty budget. We did get ourselves a double cabin which was lot more private than all the other bunks but did have a locked door into the smelly toilet, so we had the smell and sound of everyones bodily functions to look forward to as we lay in bed - the whitsundays were looking to be a truely romantic experience!!
Fortunately, Tina was right about the weather though. The first day was beautiful and we snorkelled over a couple of reef systems wearing our all in one black stinger suits looking like extras from a star trek episode!!??!! Slightly bad timing on a second front not only was it cyclone season so bad weather likley but it was also stinger season, deadly jelly fish season to you and I!!! We developed an unhealthy fascination with these little creatures over the next few days!! The captain had a few books so we educated ourselves on what to look for which proved to be a bit of a mistake. The deadly stingers can be as small as 1cm and not always visible to the naked eye, this combined with the budget stinger suits which did not cover the head nd had many large hles and gaps did not add to the enjoyment of snorkelling......and to think we were worried about the recent increasing shark attacks around the whitsundays!!??!! Sharks were the last thing on our minds!!
That night was early to bed everyone very tired after the first days excitement. It was an interesting night in the flee ridden bunk. Mike decided to partake in a little sleep walking and obviously didnt get far in the 6 x 6 cabin. After a couple of hours in the near cooking heat and smell Mike decided to sleep up on deck, and it was a gooooood sleep!!
The next day we awoke to the early call from captain cranky to "get our arses out of bed and down to breakfast"!! It would appear that someone had forgotten totell captain cranky that we were on holiday and not part of a paid crew there for him to vent his angers on!! After breakfast captain cranky got the maps out and weather print out and told us the news. The wind was looking to be blowing 40knots and the captain told us the weather would be hitting whitehaven beach therefore their was no point heading over there and he had selected a few sheltered bays for us to enjoy teh next two days!!??!! Obviously we were all disappointed but accepted our fate as we all agreed we would rather be safe!!
So we headed to our next snorkelling spot opposite some rich and famous resort filled with Brad and Angelina types. The captain herded us hurridly into the water as we were apparenty on a tight schedule. We enjoyed a short snorkel before we were surrounded by jelly fish and got the fear and swam back to the boat asap!! This was much to the captain cranky's annoyance. Even though he told us we only had a short time to snorkel and we had been in the water for 30 mins he was incredibly pissed off with us for not staying off the boat longer!!??!! He seemed to show no care for us being surrounded by stingers in the water but when asked why he wasnt joining us he confidently told us he never swims in stinger season!!??!! Good old captain cranky- damned if you do, damned if you don't!!
Next stop after snorkelling was a spit of sand that was only visible at mid to low tide. We set up a game of beach cricket with the other 3 brits and an ozy and Mike took them back to school!! Before leaving the boat we had another warning from cranky which really added to the enjoyment of the experience and further reminded us what a wild country we were in. Cranky showed us pictures of shells which we were not to touch as these little creatures fired a poison that would kill a man in minutes!! Great, another deadly ozy species to worry about, this time on the beach, our only safe haven in oz or so we thought!! What was more interesting was Mike had been collecting shell fish back on fraser island and prizing them open with a knife using them for bait only a few days earlier when fishing!! lol!!
The sand island also gave us chance to get to know the other people on the boat which was great and as it transpired we were not the only people to have developed a feeling that captain cranky should be made to walk the plank and we should take our chances with our own way home!! We also made friends with the local turtle who swam up and down the beach as we played cricket by the waters edge. Very cool but not much of a fielder, he droped every catch!!
We returned to the boat via the little motorised dinghy for lunch and some more moans from cranky that everyone was being too slow!! Little did he realise everyone was just enjoying time away from him and plotting his downfall!!
The winds were indeed picking up so we were taken to a resort island for the afternoon which was very relaxing. We took full advantage of the pool with swim to bar, jacuzzi and sauna's!!
We got to chat with the cook from the ship a littl more, Mel, a kiwi who was new to the boat and she was pretty cool!!
When we got back to the boat we were moored off of lovers cove, a beautiful spot for our last night on the boat. Captain cranky and his first mate (Dominion Dave, a real captain cranky in the making) were clearly very relaxed and suspiciously red eyed!! The BBQ was great and we sat around the table all 25 of us and had a great evening chatting and drinking into the night!! one of our drinking rules was no one can hold thier own drink. Matt and Jay the two Brits looked like they were enjoying this rule. laura told them "that is the gayest thing i 've ever seen" they said "no this is" and proceeded to pretend to snog with choclate cake in their mouths...very funny boys. We slept up on deck under the stars that night, so no toilet smells and luckily no sleep walking from Mike!!
The next day we were again awoken in the same fashion, had breakfast, snorkelled then headed back to harbour in the 3m swell with sails up and sea crashing over the front of the boat- good fun!!
We got off the boat, took some pics, and dragged our salty, sleepy selves back to the lagoon and counted our flee bites. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the lagoon pool with our shipwrecked mates!!
As soon as we got in we boil washed all our clothes to rid them of bed bugs. we had showers and cut eachothers hair. we were spruced up and ready for a good night out.
That night we got free pizza with our new pals in one of the bars, had a boogy to live music, and caught up with fraser island crew the Argentians, Liam and Tom. Whom had all made it into port!! We ended this night with a mad rain run...good times.
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