Bula Time

It took us a while to decide where to go after our time at the Westin. 300 islands make up Fiji so we wanted to at least see one of those. A cruise looked the best option to do this, but the ones we looked at were too expensive. In the end we swallowed our pride and bought one of the packages offered by Awesome Adventures to the group of islands, near to mainland. The Yasawas and the Mananucas.

The fact that it was called Awesome Adventures and that it was aimed at backpackers made us shudder and we had visions of “wacky” non stop party backpackers. In the end we were glad we chose it. Our worst fears were not confirmed and we had a lovely time. We opted for the “lazy threesome” where you go to three islands. It is pot luck which ones you are assigned to, but we were happy with ours.

The first one was Tavewa which is at the top of the Yasawa islands and so a four hour boat ride, after which we travelled back down staying at 2 more islands. The journey was gorgeous, travelling past island after island ringed with white sand and palm trees, gorgeous blue sea. Views you see in brochures, but this time reality actually lived up to the brochure pictures.

All the islands we stayed on had different characters. I think the staff at the first, Coral View, made that one. They were so genuinely affectionate and made us feel so welcome. Even though we were only there for 2 days we felt that they were genuinely sad to see us go and we had big hugs from some of them. At each island we were welcomed with the Bula song; serenaded off the beach as we arrived. We were sung a farewell song as well. At Coral View we made friends with a couple, Elaine and Dave. Elaine was quite emotional when they sung it with such feeling. This of course set me off!

The atmosphere at Coral View was lovely too. We couldn't help getting into the spirit of the island and I blame this for the fact that we ended up cross dressing! Every night they had an activity and this one advertised itself as “make your fun dream come true tonight in Fiji!”. Tim had already made his fun dream come true back home, but he still participated wearing my clothes and I wore his! Look out for those pictures and there will probably be a video circulating the net at some point! Everyone put in the effort. We had to dance down a catwalk and be asked questions at the end of it. I'd never make a stand-up comedian but I think our dancing made up for that!

The island was beautiful and I couldn't get over how many different shades of blue the water was. The only thing was it was quite windy and so not ideal for snorkelling. It didn't matter though. We spent a lot of time wiling away the hours in a hammock. We also visited a traditional village. It was a bit uncomfortable at times. We went into the Chief's bure and sat around in a circle waiting for him. When he arrived we shook his hand and were invited to ask questions starting at the beginning of the circle so you knew that soon your time would be. When I've worked doing group work this is called the creeping death and is advised against as it makes everyone feel nervous. You could see the beads of sweat forming on everyones head as they furtively tried to think of a question before it was their turn. I asked something about the artwork in his bure and he made me repeat the question about 4 times!

After an emotional farewell to Elaine and Dave (we were meeting up with them the next day on the next island but maybe the farewell song had got to us a bit too much) we travelled to Naviti island. Again we were welcomed with the Bula song. The accommodation here was a bit more upmarket with a verandah on our hut and ensuite as opposed to outdoor salt water showers on the previous island (which was quite nice though as you could watch the sea as you showered). We watched a lovely sunset from the hammock on the first night.

The staff here didn't have the same spark as Coral View but they were still lovely (until they made us get up and dance to the Bula song and made us dance a silly one with random people!)

The resort offered snorkelling with Manta Rays which Tim and I fancied. In the boat we saw a fairly big bird hovering over the sea and the crew shouted, “there they are”.(The birds go after the fish which the Manta Rays are chasing) We looked to where they were pointing and saw a few dark manta ray shapes in the sea and hurried to get our snorkelling gear on. I plopped in the water as graceful as ever (not) which caused my mask to shift and water get in. The next few minutes saw me spluttering and thrashing around in the water trying to sort my mask out. I was feeling more and more manic and frustrated because the crew were shouting to tell us where the Rays were, “over there, swim there. Quick quick. No swim the other way. No no. Get out of the current.” I felt like going back to the boat and turfing them in. As I thrashed around I heard a big splash. I felt a bit jumpy at this point as I was stressing about my situation and I didn't feel in control. I looked around and saw that the bird we saw earlier had dived right in front of me which was quite cool. All I succeeded in doing was swallowing loads of sea water. I hadn't even got my head under when the crew shouted to come back to the boat. It was so frustrating especially when everyone said they saw some. I fixed my snorkel and the next time we went in I calmed my mind down and decided to be calm when they were shouting and not panic. I managed to jump in gently and my mask stayed on. The visibility wasn't great and the sea wasn't the calmest, but I saw one big manta ray underneath me which was lovely. However, it looked like it was coming for me and although I knew they don't hurt I didn't want it too close. I like to keep my distance from sea life which is why I don't want to learn to dive. I popped my head up. When I went back down though it had gone and I didn't see anymore. I struggled against the current to get to the people in time who were with some other rays. Back on the boat and everyone was swapping stories of how 5 or 6 were doing dance formations round them and I sat and smiled through gritted teeth. It felt reminiscent of Borneo when everyone saw a turtle except us. At least Tim got to see lots of rays though. I did see loads from the boat though and that was very good, especially when an absolutely massive one went past. Tim told me he had heard me when I asked him for help but he chose the mantas! Can't blame him really. Thrashing, spluttering me or beautiful, graceful creatures of the sea. Hmm I know which I'd chose!

That evening after the arrival of Dave and Elaine, catching up on the 24 hours we'd been apart and after more silly dancing, we were invited to drink Kava by one of blokes who worked there with the locals. Elaine declined as she was really tired but Tim, Dave and I trudged off feeling slightly edgy as it all felt slightly shady. We felt we had to do it though. Kava is drunk every night by Fijian people. It is the crushed up root of a plant which looks a bit like ginger. We arrived at a thatched bure where lots of locals were all seated around a bowl with something which resembled thin cement slurry. ummmm, cement slurry. A man dished up the Kava in a small bowl to each of us in turn and everyone clapped rhythmically and randomly and said “bula” (this word is used for many things) In turn we downed the foul looking liquid. People had said it was really awful, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was quite hot and gritty, but didn't taste so bad. After I downed it I followed suit to everyone else and said, “Bula Bula”. Not sure why, but hey! I'm sure I just said “hello, hello” I looked around as I waited for some effect. I wanted to laugh at Dave and Tim as they looked like rabbits caught in headlights. Their eyes were looking quite big and round, or it could have been the effect of the dim lighting. A lot of people were just sitting slumped. I think they'd had quite a lot. It was quite quiet until Dave brought out his magic tricks, something which we saw frequently in the few days we were with him and which was great for breaking cross cultural barriers. The kava group were impressed. After this Tim and Dave had more Kava (I declined) and I took lots of photos of people on their request which I have to send to them.

We left the bure and I felt quite wired. It's supposed to be narcotic and therefore you should be able to sleep well. Apparently Dave did, but me and Tim struggled!

The following day we all headed to Honeymoon beach, a short walk up a hill, through forest and a small settlement later we were at a beautiful secluded white sandy beach. I immediately jumped into the clear blue inviting water after which we walked up the beach and were fascinated to see hundreds of hermit crabs all marching in the same direction away from the sea. We heard them before we saw them, clicking away.

Back at Korovou and after lunch we said goodbye to Elaine and Dave, this time for longer than 24 hours as we leave for the Cook Islands and they go to the New York. We boarded the boat for our final destination on that trip, Bounty Island. I had to sit inside and felt unable to leave my seat feeling a bit iffy. Must've been something I ate! Arriving at Bounty Island, it looked lovely (as they all have) Again we were greeted with the Bula song. All our accommodation had been overlooking the beach and sea but this one was right on the sand. The sea looked really inviting, but we went and sat on the end of the jetty with a drink and watched the sun go down. We were pleased when we spotted a stingray swim under us.

We watched the welcome singing that night which was probably the best yet with about 20 people singing really soulfully. It was really lovely. My mum would have been in bits!

Up early the next day to make the most of our only day on the island. We walked right round it which took, all of half an hour. Again, beautiful white sand, clear blue sea, islands dotted in the distance. We had hoped to see a turtle or two as we had heard that the island has nesting turtles on it. Not to be. Turtles are eluding us this trip.

We spent some time snorkelling which was probably the best off the beach snorkelling we've done. There was lovely colourful soft coral and lots of really beautiful brightly coloured big fish. I was glad to get my snorkelling head on again. The rest of the day we spent reading in the shade. It was just too hot to do anything else.

The time we've spent in Fiji has been such hard work and I hope nobody feels too sorry for us. Fiji is beautiful and I would definitely go back. From the moment you step off the plane and you are serenaded by fijian people it is hard not to get into the spirit of it. There are so many different islands to visit and we didn't even explore the mainland which is apparently in contrast to the beaches, with highlands and rainforest. Next stop The Cook Islands. hOh how will we cope with more beautiful beaches and island life?

Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands

As the nation of Fiji is composed of many small islands, we decided we ought to see some of them. We originally looked at Captain Cook Cruises and Blue Lagoon Cruises, both live-aboard small cruise ships that ply a more or less fixed route through the Mamanuca and Yasawa island groups. These cruises were a bit out of our price range, so we were forced to look at alternatives. A company called Awesome Adventures Fiji markets itself to the backpacker market. I’ve already mentioned that I cringe at such things, but since a five night trip with them was the same price as the least expensive two night cruise with the others I gritted my teeth and booked a trip. We chose the Lazy Threesome trip, five nights spread over two islands in the Yasawas and one in the Mamanucas, starting with the northern Yasawas (or the possibility of two islands and two nights on their own live-aboard cruiser). The company is deliberately vague in the brochure and you don’t find out exactly which islands or resorts that you are staying at until you pick up your tickets. I imagine this is so they can spread people out amongst the resorts, as well as picking the ones that cost them less.

We got picked up early in the morning from the Skylodge along with a few other people. We got speaking to a Welsh couple who were doing the same trip as us but interspersed with some extra days. Happily at the jetty we discovered that they had been assigned the same resorts as us. As we were headed first to Tavewa island at the extreme northern end of the Yasawa chain we had a four hour boat ride ahead of us. The ride was lovely cutting through beautiful calm blue seas, stopping off at the island, some of them tiny, along the way. After Naviti island the wind picked up and the water became a bit more choppy. Along the way we spoke to the Welsh couple, Dave and Elaine, and got on really well.

Eventually we transferred from the ferry onto a very rickety boat to transfer to Coral View Resort. A mild soaking later and we were on the beach and being welcomed by all the staff. The resort was a fairly basic, rustic place with traditional bures, basically thatched huts. The dining and entertainment room was cool, built straight on the beach with a sand floor. The staff were excellent, all very friendly and leaving a real sense that they cared about you. Joe, the guy in charge, apologised profusely on our first night because they were unable to do their normal welcome song.

Our time on the island was spent pretty much lounging in hammocks and reading, although we did take one excursion. The resort runs various boat trips, including one to the Blue Lagoon from the Brooke Shields film. We took one to the village on a nearby island. To be honest it was the only disappointment that we had on the island. On the trip out a tiny flying fish jumped into the boat. On the island itself we were marched in through the village, sat in the chiefs bure and waited for him to arrive. When he did we all shook hands with him and got to ask a question, going round the circle. There was no pre-amble and no explanations other than to the questions we asked. We later heard from other people that had done village visits on other islands that they had been given a really good and informative tour. Ours seemed purely a way of getting us to buy stuff from the ladies of the village, who assembled selling necklaces, sulus (sarongs) and various other trinkets.

On the second evening the whole staff formed to give us our belated welcome song. It was really quite nice, the whole staff singing together. Afterwards they held a cross dressing night, which everyone got into, some more enthusiastically than others. Sticking a bra over a football top just doesn’t cut it in my book. It was pretty funny and I think everyone had a good time. After lunch the Yasawa Flyer arrived again and we made our way southward again. At lunch the staff sang the farewell song which had Gemma and Elaine in tears. Elaine and Dave were staying an extra night at Coral View before joining us at the next island, but we said goodbye like we’d known them for years and wouldn’t be seeing them again.

The journey down to Naviti took only an hour or so. We boarded the little boat bound for Korovou Eco Tour Resort and booked in. The excitement of the previous evenings transvestite shenanigans had worn me out. I tried, in a blind panic, to escape the dancing after dinner. I failed. I think I managed about ten minutes of conversation afterwards before dragging myself off to bed. The accommodation at Korovou was a step up from Coral View, en suite bathrooms, with freshwater (albeit cold) as opposed to outdoor mixed fresh/saltwater at Coral View. Both resorts had a completely different character.

We awoke refreshed in the morning and after breakfast took a snorkelling trip to see manta rays. The presence of the mantas is seasonal, and they should have gone by now, but luckily they are still there. A short boat ride round the island and we were all in the water. The guy piloting the boat was spotting the mantas by looking for birds ahead of them. They chase fish to the surface, which the birds then dive in for, so the birds are a very good indicator. There was a lot of confused splashing around trying to follow the guy on the boat’s instructions to get out of the current and wait for the manta rays. Some people were splashing toward them rather too much which spooked them a bit. Gemma was calling out for me as her snorkel wasn’t on properly and all she was managing to do was swallow a lot of seawater. I had a decision to make, swim back and help Gemma, possibly missing the manta rays, or crack on looking for them. I selfishly chose the latter and was rewarded with a good view of a couple of rays, one massive one swimming right underneath me.

We got back in the boat and moved to another spot, this time with people having been briefed to calm down in the water and also with Gemma’s kit having been tweaked. She did manage to see a manta ray this second time. I think I saw about five or six, in one place three were doing a sort of looping dance with one another, just gently spinning through the water in a somersault motion. Manta rays are absolutely majestic creatures, effortlessly gliding through the water in currents that I had to really struggle against. We also got some good views of them from in the boat on the way back.

In the afternoon we were on the deck as the band played the Bula song and Dave and Elaine arrived from the Yasawa Flyer. We spent the rest of the day with them drinking and chatting. Late in the evening I mentioned to the main host, Moses, that I hadn’t yet tried kava. This got us an invite to the bure at the end of the beach were his uncle, and most of the island’s locals were drinking it. Kava is a drink made from a powdered root, and has a mild narcotic effect and reputedly reduces anxiety. Dave, Gemma and I went along while Elaine bowed out. It seemed a little shady at first, but was fine once we were in there. As we drank half coconut shells filled with the liquid, that tastes and looks like dishwater, Dave pulled out his magic tricks and proceeded to wow everyone (as he had done every night previously). I vowed to learn a couple of tricks, as they are instant cross-cultural ice breakers. The locals continued as we bowed out and went back home. Despite kava’s reputation as inducing sleep, both Gemma and I had a terrible nights sleep.

After breakfast and checking out of our rooms Gemma, Dave, Elaine and I walked over the hill to Honeymoon Beach. A path cuts through the trees and up a steep hill, then down the other side through a small settlement with a couple of houses and fairly extensive fruit and vegetable gardens. The beach is private with a donation box, so we dropped in a few dollars on the way through. We were the only ones on the beach, a wide stretch of sand with beautiful clear water lapping against it. Walking along the beach toward the rocks at the end we saw hundreds of hermit crabs plodding up the beach. I love hermit crabs, so I was very impressed to see so many of all sizes marching their way toward the trees.

After lunch and a couple of beers the Yasawa Flyer appeared on the horizon and another farewell song started up. We said goodbye to Dave and Elaine, promising to visit them in Wales sometime. Our next stop was Bounty Island in the Mamanucas, named after the HMS Bounty of ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ fame (The crew of the Bounty were the first Europeans to sight Fiji). The island is also famous for being the location of Celebrity Love Island, although that one rather passed me by. It was quite a long ride to the island and I spent a good portion of it on the front of the boat watching the sparkling water rush past as we stopped at various islands along the way. At one island hundreds of fruit bats were circling the treetops.

In the launch on the way to Bounty I developed, perhaps irrationally, an utter and overriding hatred of three English girls who were also on the boat. They were vacant, painfully skinny, wearing stupid giant sunglasses and clutching designer handbags. It took 10 minutes for them to move their emaciated frames up the boat when requested to. I think they may have been malnourished and therefore not fully alert. Just the mere sight of them brought out a murderous rage in me. On approach to the island they were in a flap trying to identify features that they’d seen on Celebrity Love Island, and failing miserably because it was filmed on the other side of the island.

Once again the character of the resort was completely different, as well as the accommodation. This time we had a fridge, air conditioning and hot shower! I don’t think the staff were as friendly as the other resorts we’d been to, although their welcome and farewell songs may have been the best. Before dinner we sat on the jetty and just watched the water for a while. A small stingray swam up and round the jetty posts. The food at Bounty was excellent. I didn’t stay out too long after the singing finished and got an early night.

In the morning we took a nice walk around the island, which only took half an hour. Aside from the resort and some buildings that I guessed were from Celebrity Love Island, there wasn’t anything except beach, trees, shells and birds. Lovely. After the walk we moved our bags from the room and went snorkelling from the beach. They have quite a nice range of corals just off the beach and a stunning range of fish species. We spent a little while in the water just drifting from one patch of reef to another marvelling at the colour of the fish. The rest of the day was spent just lazing in hammocks and on benches until it was time to be picked up by the boat and ferried back to Port Denarau, and from there back to Skylodge. We didn’t get an upgraded room this time, but weren’t really bothered. The room we did get was fine, the only discernible differences being that the ‘lesser’ room was slightly smaller and had no towels.

And so ended our time in Fiji. It was a completely relaxing time for us and almost like a holiday within a holiday. Having both luxury and more basic accommodation was nice. I enjoyed both. I probably say this about everywhere we’ve been, but I would definitely go back to Fiji. The people are lovely, the islands are perfect little idyllic paradises and the marine life is amazing.

Bula

The plane ride to Fiji was mercifully short, especially given that we were sat next to a young family with a kid that screamed most of the way. I resolved to book myself into the vasectomy clinic as soon as we return to the UK. We had exit seats but, perhaps fortunately, I wasn’t called on to demonstrate my door opening skills. The immigration officers in Fiji had all paid attention to lessons at the international school for stern-looking officials, it was slightly surreal being looked up and down with the jolly strains of a band in the background.

We’d pre-booked at Nomads Skylodge, a backpacker place near the airport. Normally anything with the word backpacker associated with it gives me the shivers but this place wasn’t bad at all. If I had to guess I’d say it was a resort that was finding it hard to compete with the better located and more up to date places, so reinvented itself and began targeting the budget market. The service was excellent and we got upgraded to a better room so we definitely weren’t complaining. The ride from the airport was enlivened enormously by a crazy honeymooning dutchman, who was whacked up on painkillers and aeroplane wine. He seemed much more subdued the next morning at breakfast. With his wife he was visiting 6 countries in just over a fortnight!

Our stay at the Skylodge was a limited one. In the morning we took a cab to the Westin on Denarau island. The Westin is one of three Sheraton owned hotels in the same complex on the island, and the poshest of them. We don’t normally go for such budget-blowing luxury, but we had decided to treat ourselves for Gemma’s birthday. Being the scruffy looking oiks that we are, we attracted some odd looks when we arrived at the hotel, spurning offers of help from the porters. The room was lovely and we very quickly made ourselves at home, using the specially designed shower and loafing around in bathrobes and slippers. Gemma sat on the bed and opened the cards that we’d picked up from Christchurch.

The first day was spent just chilling out, walking round the resort and generally being lazy. As evening draws in the hotel has a fire-lighting ceremony where drums are banged, flaming sticks are twirled and large braziers in the pool are lit up. Gemma had to ring her Mum to be wished happy birthday, so after a couple of drinks we went back to the room and she did so. By the time we got off the phone we were both pretty hungry so we made for the nearest restaurant, The Steakhouse & Grill. Again treating ourselves, we had a nice meal. Gemma had a shock when she saw that the wine had cost as much as the food, but when I related the whole thing to being less than the cost of a night out at home she calmed down. The wine was very nice.

Breakfast was a quiet affair with my hangover beginning nice and early. I tried to be healthy by sticking to fruit and yoghurt, but failed when I saw the croissants. The hotel had many activities organised, but active wasn’t how I was feeling at that point so I sat by the pool with a book, occasionally jumping in to cool off a bit. We ate lunch in one of the restaurants at the adjoining Sheraton Fiji resort. The exertion of this was such that we immediately had to have a bit of a nap. Our bed was so comfy and inviting that I had trouble tearing myself away from it, I had visions of being stuck there forever. The mattress was thicker than my head. That evening we watched the fire-lighting ceremony again having a couple of beers. Neither of us felt hungry at all so we didn’t bother with dinner.

In the morning after breakfast we jumped on the first boat across to Akuilau Island. The resort owns the island just over a small stretch of water from the beach and runs an hourly shuttle boat over to it. We took a quiet walk along the beach, peering in pools at the wealth of crawling, swimming, wriggling and squirming life in there. Lizards and crabs dashed around on the rock as we approached them. I found a couple of hermit crabs that were either mating or fighting. It was hard to tell. Back in the main grassy part we met a man who lives and works on the island. He led us on a path through the trees to a small chair and plucked us fresh papaya and coconut.

Back at Denarau we jumped straight in the pool for a bit of a cooling dip and then lazed around for an hour or so, occasionally looking up to order a cocktail or something to nibble on. The highlight that evening was the crab racing. An auction was held at the start for various crabs named for sports personalities from various countries. We bid for and won, for $27, the Fijian crab, named after a golfer I think. I think Gemma enjoyed the excitement of the bidding, although it was very restrained compared to that which happened for the Canadian entry, with a couple of Canadians bidding madly against each other. David Beckham crab was also a hit, going for about $120. All the contestants were sold and a bucket produced full of hermit crabs with numbers on their shells. This was dumped rather unceremoniously on a mat with the aim of seeing which crab made it off the mat first. I have an inkling that our crab was over the line first, but in the end it was fudged up so the kids that bid won. Fair enough, although what would they do with a cocktail (the prize)?

Another day of lazing by the pool started with the fish feeding. I’d seen this on the activities board and was quite looking forward to it, so was dismayed when a guy came up shouting, ‘Fish feeding, feeding of the fish.’ to then throw a loaf of bread in the water and walk off. The fish seemed to like it though, the bread pieces jumping around on the water and disappearing chunk by chunk. In the evening we were treated to a magnificent sunset as we walked along the beach to the Sheraton. We had dinner at that resort before walking back with Gemma nearly dying of fright at nearly stepping on frogs and having fruit bats fly out of the trees next to her. They grow the bats big in this part of the world.

The luxury was over with the next morning, although we waited until just about the last moment to check out. We caught a cab up to the Skylodge, where we had stayed when we arrived to sort out our remaining time in Fiji. When we arrived, I thought again, that the place wasn’t bad for the money, especially as we’d been upgraded to a better room again. Our taxi driver had been mercilessly touting for the business of taking us touring around the main island of Fiji, we put him off by taking his card. Instead we sat around the pool again, soaking up the heat and reading. Very relaxing, despite the surroundings being a bit less luxurious that we’d become used to over the previous few days.

Slumming it

I turned 28 (Thank you everyone for your cards) in Fiji and it couldn't have been a better place to soothe the shock of it! As a birthday treat we booked into the Westin. I'm not proud I'll stay anywhere, but this was absolutely awful. The room was luxurious with a mattress and double shower head specially designed for the Westin. It was tastefully furnished and had a lovely bathroom. I know it sounds awful and you are probably wondering how I could have spent four days there mainly relaxing by the pool with cocktails, umm relaxing, swimming, eating, putting up with the room, wearing the dressing gown, (even though it was too hot for it I made sure I wore it).swimming, relaxing. I think you get the picture.

The Westin was on a resort of two other hotels and you can use all their facilities too. There was a beach in front of one of these but not much of one in front of ours. However, our hotel owns a little island about 10 minutes boat ride away which you can go to when you want. We spent a few hours over there, being the only ones on it except for the family which live there. A member of this family picked us a coconut and Papaya and it was all very idyllic.

Each night the hotel had an unwind ritual which consisted of hunky Fijian men banging a drum and fire dancing as the sun went down. At about this time, the bats would come out and I would occasionally shriek when I thought one was coming for my head. These bats were absolutely massive. About the size of chickens so I think I should be forgiven for being a pansy.

The four days was very resorty, but we enjoyed it. It was a step away from the norm and we enjoyed living it up for a while, although we felt four days was probably the right amount of time. Believe it or not there are only so many times you can watch hunky men dance with fire. We didn't see much of Fiji whilst at the hotel, but that was our next assignment.

Goodbye Campervan

We've said goodbye to our van now. Despite it being slightly shabbier (added to previously mentioned faults the holder for the table leg snapped because of metal fatigue and left a hole in the floor), I was still sad to leave our mobile home behind.

Our last day in the van was spent West of Auckland. My initial reservations of Auckland melting away when I saw the beautiful coast line and the Waitakere ranges, a lovely wilderness area, all within about an hour of Auckland city. The day was spent pootling around exploring the coast thick with beautiful trees and bush. We went to Piha a beautiful place with houses sat in the bush covered hill overlooking the beach with Lion rock, a massive beautiful rocky outcrop. Next beach was Te Henga beach where we joined the locals and surfers at the little coffee van before walking along the black sand beach (product of volcanic history). We camped at at the van park next to the last beach, Muriwai, another black sand beach where we had a lovely walk up to the Gannet colony. Hundreds of gannets were perched on the rocky outcrops which help to make the coast so pretty. The fisherman stood on the rocks below looked dwarfed by the immensity of the sea and the rocks. Waves were crashing against the rocks and one Fisherman looked like he was defying the elements by rooting himself, fishing rod in hand, to the spot.

A bottle of wine bought at a winery (as is the theme of our time in NZ) was drunk to seal our last night in our van and the next day we returned Ezy.

Glow-worms, Whales and Vegetables

In Waitomo we stayed in a van park, our site next to a field of entertaining cows. It was a welcome break from driving straight away the next morning when we only had to go across the road to get to where we wanted to go. This was the Waitomo caves. In the area there are about 300 caves. We chose to go on a tour which takes you to see Glow worms and another cave near by. It was a great trip, our guide on the way to the cave explaining the geology of the scenery which was very green, very hilly with (as is the way in lots of New Zealand) sheep around us. The area had a lot of limestone which means that millions of years ago, it was under the sea (limestone being rock made up of tiny crushed shells).

We arrived at the cave and adorned attractive hard hats with lights on before entering. Inside we saw Glow worms up close. They aren't worms but are the larvae of the fungus gnat which have luminescent organs. They weave sticky threads which hang down and which insects, attracted by the light get caught in. The Glow worm reels in the thread and eats the insect. After watching a few insects perish we moved on to an inflatable raft. This was the highlight. We moved down the river inside the cave and it was like sailing through a grotto with lots of fairy lights around. These lights were of course the Glow worms and as our eyes adjusted to night vision we saw more and more and they became brighter. It was strange to think that all these beautiful lights were something quite horrible really. Larvae of a gnat. It was very relaxing and quite hypnotic floating through the cave looking above and around and seeing all these beautiful lights. A girl next to me said 'it would be great if the sky at night was like this'. I thought, 'she obviously does not look up at the sky enough then', as what was above us could have been mistaken as the night sky with lots of constellations. It was even more amazing when the guide made a loud noise and they all shone brighter. I believe this happens because the larvae work with vibrations so they interpreted the loud noise as an insect nearby and therefore shone brighter to attract them.

Outside of the glow worm cave, blinded by the sunlight, some of the group fed the eels. After the eels had their feed we had ours (well a biccie and cuppa) before heading to the next cave. This was a lovely cave with some nice decorations, but the highlight of this cave for me were the extinct Moa bird's bones. Caves always provoke my imagination into thoughts of ancient times so to have an (estimated) 20,000 year old extinct bird in the cave added to that feeling. David Attenborough filmed a documentary at the Glow-worms caves which apparently was shown in UK in October 05 or March 06.

Out of the caves again and the tour ended when we arrived back in Waitomo village. We carried on the site- seeing on our own and visited a couple of natural attractions up the road a few kilometeres. The first one was a the Mangapohue natural bridge, a massive natural limestone bridge with a large stream running under it. My description does not do it justice. It was beautiful and again I was in awe that it was essentially made out of tiny shells. We walked to the other side of it through a field with some curious and some not so curious sheep and more scattered limestone, some with fossilised giant oysters in.

The next natural attraction was beautiful Marakopa falls which usually is in three tiers, but because of rainfall it was running as one; the result being a large, impressive waterfall.

From one stunning waterfall to another the next day we stopped at Bridal veil falls. Tim laughed at a comment I made in a broad Suffolk accent that they make them good in this part of New Zealand. That they do though. Bridal falls was a stunning, tall single stream waterfall gushing into a pool at the bottom.

After the falls we headed to Raglan for our daily coffee. Heading for our chosen cafe we were aware of a van creeping along by us. We stopped so he could pass us which he didn't. Instead he beckoned us over. I thought he was going to tell us off for walking out in front of him or something. I felt reluctant to do as he said, a bit like the shepherd incident previously, but in the end I did as I was told. I was glad I did as he told us that there were whales coming into the harbour. We rushed over and indeed there were several orcas (AKA killer whales) swimming in. We felt incredibly lucky to be seeing them, especially when a girl told us that she had lived there for 5 years and this was only her second time seeing them. (Apparently they appear about twice a year. ) I couldn't believe our luck. There were some kayakers in the harbour who probably couldn't believe theirs either. They were too far away for a decent picture, but seeing them emerge and hearing the blowing noise as they exhaled from their blowholes was fantastic. We followed them down the harbour a bit before deciding to get that coffee, after which we had another look at a couple of orcas which appeared to be in the same place as we had left them. I love it when things like that happen when you don't expect it. I had been missing a bit of wildlife whilst in NZ. That made up for it. Just in time too as we only had two days left.

From whales to gardens in the City of Hamilton. We had lunch and wandered round the large pretty gardens and played the guess the vegetable game. We can have fun doing anything!

The end of New Zealand

Hamilton is only an hour and a half south of Auckland. As we still had a day left we went north into Auckland, but immediately swung across to the west coast. The North Island is very thin around Auckland, with the city sprawling from the east coast inwards. On the west side the Waitakere ranges are a forested mountainous area protected as a regional park. The drive through the park was lovely, native bush at both sides of the road and it was easy to forget that we were so close to the city. We stopped at the Arataki information centre to have a look from the viewpoint, a 360 degree panorama of Auckland and it’s surrounds.

The view of the coast which broke through the bush on the road to Piha was fantastic. A stunning blue sea with Lion Rock just off the beach. The beaches of this part of the west coast are covered in black sand, a remnant of past volcanic activity. The sand sparkles as sunlight reflects from minerals in it. This looks lovely, but the wet sand stuck to people doesn’t look so nice. The surfies were out in force taking advantage of the weekend sunshine.

There isn’t a road which hugs the coast, meaning that we had to double back on ourselves several times during the day. Our next stop was Te Henga, or Bethells Beach, another nice spot, where a little trailer based store does a cracking coffee. Again, the car park was full of people pulling out boards and heading onto the beach. We laughed at a dog racing across the beach to chase a kite.

We made a quick wine tasting stop at the Matua winery and took away a bottle for that evening. About 10km away was our final stop, another stretch of black sand at Muriwai Beach. We booked into the camp site, a lovely spaced out site with loads of interesting mature trees. Muriwai Beach is also the home of a colony of gannets. We took a walk up to the colony, where several lookout platforms sit above the gannets. Below us on the rocks a fisherman cast into the sea as waves washed over the ledge he was standing on. It all looked a little precarious.

In the morning we packed our stuff up into our bags and made our way into Auckland. We had already pre-booked a hotel near the Ezy depot, so checked straight in after dropping off the van. It was a wet Sunday afternoon when we ventured out in search of food. As we walked the rain got harder so, fearing a complete drenching, we bought bowl noodles and sandwiches from a corner shop and went back to our room.

The weather had abated the next day, so after check-out we put our luggage in storage and walked into Auckland centre. Neither of us were in the mood for it and so maybe did the place a disservice. It just seemed so similar to other cities and we felt a little disheartened. Perhaps we were sad because we had enjoyed our time in New Zealand so much, with all it’s natural splendour, and our last glimpse of it was a fairly ordinary, fairly busy city centre. At the airport we had to deal with a very snotty bloke on the Air New Zealand customer service desk who charged us $25 apiece to re-validate our tickets. We weren’t happy.

Hamilton

The road north from Kawhia was unsealed for the first segment. Bad weather had caused rock and mud slides in places which meant the road would narrow to a thin wedge. The road passed through some lovely native bush. We hit a diversion almost as soon as the road became sealed. Following the diversion signs we managed to get to our first stop of the day, the Bridal Veil Falls. The falls were lovely, a single spout of water pouring out over the rock and into a large pool beneath.

The sealed road continued the rest of the way to Raglan a town well known for it’s surf breaks. We were just heading into the town when a man stopped his van and beckoned us over. He told us to walk round the corner to the harbour, which we duly did to be rewarded by the sight of several orcas surfacing in the harbour. Some people were out in kayaks with the killer whales gently breaking the surface only metres away from them. We followed a pair further into the harbour, where many people were gathering. A woman told us that they appear once or twice a year, so we felt extremely lucky to have seen them.

The largest town of the Waikato region is Hamilton and this was our next stop. We bypassed the centre of town and made straight for the Hamilton Gardens. The gardens are a large and pretty park with various themed areas. We took a walk around the lake, ate lunch at the café and spent some time browsing the herb and vegetable gardens. I think Gemma enjoyed my game of ‘what’s this vegetable?’

With plenty of time on our hands we decided to call it a day and book into a holiday park in Hamilton.

Glow in the dark

There was a little confusion after we left Taupo. Because I was doing something and not watching the road we sailed past our turn off. This led to travelling up and back down two sides of a triangle totalling about 50km in length, when we should have just taken the third side at about 20km. It wasn’t such a big deal. The road passed mainly through pine forest until we got back to where we should be. We stopped for coffee in a small town (Benneydale I think). I should have been warned off by the fact that the coffee selection on the sign consisted of, ‘coffee’. I’m particularly fond of a well made flat white. This was burnt powdered coffee (not even granules) and almost undrinkable.

Coffee and navigational disasters aside, I was quite enjoying the trip. We were driving through hilly sheep grazing land. The grass was very green, and the sky very blue such that it looked like a photograph with the saturation bumped way up. At times it was almost painful to look at. Somewhere along the road some farmers were moving a mob of sheep across the road. One guy was out on the road motioning for Gemma to stop. She hadn’t seen the sheep and thought the situation looked dodgy, and so refused to slow down until the very last moment. I thought for a moment that she was going to flatten the poor farmer, and judging by the expression on his face so did he!

We arrived quite late in the village of Waitomo and checked into the van park there. In the evening we had pizza at the Morepork pizzeria across the road and then settled in for an exciting evening of watching the antics of the young bulls in the field next to us. It was better than most TV I’ve seen recently.

Waitomo is famous for the extensive cave systems in the area, the name meaning something like ‘Water Hole’ in Maori. The caves here are especially famed for their populations of glow-worms, which is what we’d come to see. Typically for New Zealand a lovely place has been ‘adventured’ up for tourists. I can imagine the tourist board meeting, ‘These caves are beautiful, the limestone eroded throughout the ages leaving huge underground caverns with rivers running through. In the darkness you look up to see an enchanting ceiling of lights that look almost like a galaxy of stars above you, a perfect tourist draw’

‘Naw, it’s missing something. I know, how about we jump down into the cave from a height then shoot down the rivers on an inner tube. Oh yeah, maybe we’ll look at the glow-worms too.’

In the morning when we went over to the museum-cum-visitor centre to get a ticket I told the lady that I didn’t want a tour with, ‘Jumping, falling, crashing or whizzing through the caves.’ Her response was, ‘But you want to white water raft down them, yeah?’. No! We managed to get her to tell us which were the sedate tours and then booked on the longer, the Spellbound tour. The advantages of which were that it was a small group tour away from the more busy caves, taking in two caves and which allowed photography.

We were glad we did that tour. Our guide was quite a character and vastly knowledgeable about caves, limestone, glow-worms and a lot more besides. After a drive out to the caves with a running commentary about the geology of the area we were given helmets with torches on them and led into the first cave. A river runs through the cave, bringing in the insects that are the food source of the glow-worms. The conditions in there are perfect to support a massive amount of glow-worms. Our guide explained the different life stages of the glow-worm, not actually a worm but the larval stage of a mosquito-like fly. On the roof of the cave we could clearly see the ‘worms’ and the sticky strands of silk that they use to trap their prey (and quite a few examples of the prey being munched upon.)

We all boarded a small inflatable raft and set out deeper into the cave. Our helmet torches were put out and after a somewhat fruitless attempt to get some photos of the glow-worms glowing on the cave roof (even a professional photographer in the group was having problems) we continued down the river. As our eyes grew accustomed to the dark the cave just began to light up in front of us. It truly was a spellbinding sight. Thousands of tiny specks of light glowing away in the darkness and looking like the stars on a beautiful clear night.

Outside we had a quick cuppa before entering another cave. This was without a river and had a built walkway and lighting throughout it. The cave had some interesting decorations, but nowhere near as many or such stunning shapes as other caves. It was still very interesting though, the guide explaining how animals got trapped in the cave. We could see the bony evidence of this, with goat and possum bones and even the skeleton of the extinct moa, a giant cousin of the kiwi. By the end we knew we’d made the right decision over which tour to take as we’d really enjoyed it.

Back in the van we headed out westwards along the Marokopa road. We stopped at a couple of stunning natural attractions. The first, Mangapohue Natural Bridge, is huge chunk of limestone that has eroded into the form of a giant arch. Gemma kept repeating, ‘So that is all made of tiny shells then?’ The second, Marokopa Falls is a large three tiered waterfall. The rain that had fallen over the preceding few days made the falls into a spectacular sight, vast volumes of water pouring over them.

We didn’t fancy staying in the tiny village of Marokopa so swung north and up to Kawhia. This small fishing village stands on the harbour of the same name, although when we arrived there wasn’t any water there, instead we saw a vast muddy flat plain. We stayed in the very small van park in Kawhia, with virtually no-one else around.

East Coast

We didn’t get woken up by sheep in Morere, but they were bustling towards the van when I came back from the toilets in the morning. Maybe they were going to eat Gemma. They got spooked when they saw me and ran off. Our first port of call for the day was Gisborne, the major town of these parts. A quick coffee and use of the telephone and we were back on the road again, this time up the east coast. The road winds it’s way through pretty rolling hills, partly grazed and partly forested with both native and pine trees. At times the main road dips to the coast, affording lovely views of the bays. Mostly though the road stays inland. We did take a couple of short detours to get to the sea. These roads passed through small towns with tumbledown buildings. We couldn’t find many places to park up so our time there was quite limited. We covered a fair amount of ground, despite the road being as bad in places as the one from the previous day. Patches of unsealed road would suddenly appear with very little warning. Twice we had to pick all the cups and plates up after they came out of their holders.

At Te Araroa we stopped for the day in a camp ground set in a lovely garden near the beach. The camp ground has the world’s most easterly cinema -top that Lowestoft! Gemma was a little scared by the camp ground, it was a little bit local. There were several families who obviously lived in the park permanently. I would hate to go so far as to use the label trailer-trash, as it may be completely unfair, but there was a general impression.

Heading back westward the road was much better, with only a couple of random unsealed segments. This road also hugged the coastline for much of the way meaning we were treated to much more dramatic scenery. The waves battering the rocky shoreline and the gnarled and twisted trees made us think we were back on the South Island. The trees were Pohutukawa, only found in the northern part of the North Island, and very lovely. Again, as previously on the North Island, we were frustrated at the lack of proper stopping places so we couldn’t hop out and take photographs. Apparently a constantly smoking active volcano, White Island, should have been visible in the bay but I couldn’t see it. Gemma thought she could make it out though.

Gemma was up for a bit more driving, so after Opitiki we hooked back inland, pausing briefly in Rotarua for some lunch at the excellent Fat Dog Café. The food and the coffee were superb in there. I think Gemma particular liked the dog-based poetry adorning the walls, plates, toilets, everything else.

After lunch we continued to Taupo and De Bretts Thermal Resort again. The woman behind the counter looked surprised to see us back. It was pretty much on our route and a logical place to stop, and so stop we did. We both quite fancied a dip in the hot pools to soothe out the driving kinks from our shoulders. It was just as nice second time around, although there was some confusion at the start leading to the two of us sitting in different pools for about 10 minutes.