On an Island in the Sun . . .

So after arriving to be greeted by the band of 3 jolly Fijians playing an absolute tune, we spent the night at Nomad's Skylodge in Nadi (pronounced Nandi) before catching a bus to Suva, the capital, the next day. Although we got to see a bit of the country flash by on the journey, it was spoiled by some heavy rainfall, understandable considering we knew we were arriving at the end of the cyclone/monsoon season, but we didn't know that rain was basically gonna be the story of our first 5 or 6 days in Fiji. We did manage to see some of Suva despite the weather, and its a pleasant town although you wouldn't have thought it was a nation's capital. Lots of people we met later on the trip said they didn't visit it cos of the coup and subsequent violence that they expected to follow. All we saw were a couple of checkpoints on the road which administered no checks. Scary. Turns out the best time to visit a country is after a military coup.

On the 17th we got a bus to the town of Nausori, which cost $1.35 (bout 45p), where we were gonna stay the night before heaidng to Leleuvia, an island we'd booked on, the next day. Sounded like a plan, though when we got to Nausori we saw no sign of any accomodation whatsoever.... it was a truly Fijian only place. Luckily we got off the bus and Ryan got approached by a random old guy who started the conversation by the most common of greetings, "You English?". When we answered yes he seemed pleased and started chatting some more. This is when our Thailand teachings kicked into gear, in other words the inability to trust a stranger who walks up and starts chatting because the chances are they wanna scam you or sell you something. But this is Fiji. The guy was a ledge. Jake ("That's what they called me") used to be a British paratrooper stationed in Aldershot and said the time in England was the best time of his life. He seemed suprised we were looking for somewhere to stay but thought he might know somewhere, leading us down towards the river where he asked another Fijian who pointed us in the right direction. We got to the 'Riverside Accommodation' where Jake said goodbye but said he'd try and stop by that night with some drinks, which we happily agreed to. Unfortunately a violent storm kicked up that night so he didn't which was a shame, but we're grateful to him. The accommodation we were in basically consisted of us being rented a house for the night! The place was quite cosy, though slightly more expensive than usual... somehow we allowed the woman to get away with charging us $40 each a night because we had a 'room each'. We did have a room each until a man-eating cockroach was discovered on the wall above Ryan's bed, prompting him to flee into Pete's room, returning only briefly to rescue Bobby Robson (his autobiography) from the clutches of the evil roach.

In the afternoon of the following day we got a cheap, cardboard-clad taxi to Waidalice Bridge, where we were picked up at 3pm by a boat taking us to Leleuvia. The weather was nice for the journey, so we enjoyed the ride down the river with thick jungle on either side, before emerging into the sea and arriving on the island. First impressions of the island were yes, it's nice, but the weather ain't. On one point when it was very overcast, pete and ryan took some kayaks out to sea for a while, only coming back when it looked like a storm was approaching from the mainland. It even rained slightly, but when we got back we were sunburnt! Quite badly n all. That's how strong the sun is in Fiji. So imagine how hot it was if we skip out a couple of depressing days to when the rain suddenly stops and the island is basking in glorious sunshine. Then it got seriously hot, and we were finally allowed to do what we came here for, lie on the beach, swim and generally relax. Plus when we fancied doing something there were kayaks and snorkels to take out for free, volleyball, beach rugby and trips to local villages or other islands. One trip we did took us to 'Honeymoon Island', which was a genuine desert island, although you wouldn't want your honeymoon there! It was just some sand in the middle of a perfectly clear, blue sea, with an additional couple of plants and birds.

Honeymoon Island

On evenings the locals always politely harangued us into joining them for their 'Kava parties'. When we asked what kava was we were told it's a local narcotic drink! It's made by taking the root from a kava plant, mashing it up and filtering it through a bag with some water into a kava bowl, which are seen everywhere in Fiji. The kava is then drunk from a coconut. We had some and at first weren't sure what to expect, although we suspected we might start hallucinating and be led back to our but by some strange dancing bunnies, or something along those lines, caused by what we thought was the Fijian version of magic mushrooms. To our relief, but also to our disappointment, the kava did absolutely nothing. It tasted like dirty plant water. The fijians on the other hand, seemed to be totally spaced out after an hour or so of drinking it and playing music. Strange, seems like its the opposite of alcohol, the more regularly you drink the faster an effect it has.

'The General' squeezing his root

After nearly a week on the island we were enjoying it a hundred times more than the first couple of days, but we decided another week of pure relaxation wasn't for us. Before leaving Ryan and Pete kayaked to another island nearby, where we found the nearest thing to paradise we've ever experienced. A totally deserted island beach, clean sand, perfectly clear water, palm trees swaying in a slight breeze which provided a nice relief from the baking heat. Perfect. We could have stayed there another week!

Back on the mainland we spent a few more days in Suva planning our next move, opting to catch a bus and stay at the Beach House backpacker resort, where the latest series of Celebrity Love Island was filmed. The "celebrities" had left messages on the wall and everything... shame the show was crap. It was a nice resort with a pool, hammocks, nice beach, everything you needed to relax, which is what we did. Relaxing is the point of coming to Fiji, hence why the whole of Fiji can fit in one blog article!

Celebrity Love Island beach

For the last few days before LA we stayed at Nomad's Skylodge again and had a great time just swimming, sunbathing, reading and playing volleyball, its all you need! Our flight to LA was at 10pm on 5th May. We arrived in Los Angeles at 1pm on 5th May. We were swimming in Fiji and driving down Sunset Boulevard (where our hostel is, in Hollywood) at the same point in time. Work that one out for yaself and we'll see you in 9 days time...

The Road back to Auckland

After the extreme workout that was the Milford Track, we decided to unwind in Te Anau that evening by having a currry, some beer and visiting the local (extremley comfy) cinema to watch our film of the trip (by unanimous decision), Blood Diamond, for the second time, it was as good if not better than the first.

The next day consisted primarily of driving to Dunedin, by the time we got there, me n pete decided to go and see Mr Bean's Holiday while Tom had an internet sesh. We decide the next day we would go to the cinema again to see 300, the thought had occured we were not being very cultural, so we counteracted that by visiting the Museum there, despite being a modern and pretty impressive museum, i was still bored out my wits for the majority of the circuit. Previous to that we decided we would get in touch with our childhood and visit the cadbury factory which was NZ's largest cadbury factory, during the tour we saw how chocolate was made, ate chocolate fish, ate some more chocolate then decided to buy more from the factory shop. The tour itself was pretty good, Tom got double the ammount of bars me n pete had, one because he had his bungy shirt on and another because he won the filthy hands competition, followed not that closely by a 5 year old, filthy hands being the most chocolate covered. The night of this rather packed and expensive day was spent in the Pub and then after getting food, i the getaway driver, could not get away, it appeared the boys had left subway, not seen the car and remembered the last spot we parked in so headed there.I in the meantime did around 6 laps of this square trying to find them, went back to the holiday park, gave a randomer a taxi ride for about 100 metres and earned 5 dollars for it, and then did some more circuits until coming across them after learning they had been in a club, words were exchanged.

After Dunedin we headed for Tia maru, beacuse it was saturday of the easter weekend we got ourselves a room, watched TV and ate noodles, it was merely a stop off for the next day of driving. Our goal was Auckland, and in between lay the ferry to the north island and several spots left behind during the first half of the trip. Today was tasked with getting to picton for the ferry and stopping in Christchurch. Due to poor weather we decided to stop only for lunch in the city, we found an irish pub and upon entering were given a taste of home, traditional pub, fire, football on one TV, rugby on another. We ordered our food, i had a beef sanwhich and chips and Tom and pete had bangers and mash, it was the first time in a while that we had had a real hearty and filling meal. With a pint in hand, Everton beating fulham 4-1 and a superb meal on the table, it was near Heaven for an hour. We left christchurch shortly after for Picton and the ferry, upon arrival nothing looked open at the port, we decided to sleep in the car and get the next ferry across. It seemed like a good idea to stay in the 3 door, extremley compact car with 3 very large bags because it ould save money and we were right outside the ticket office, how wrong we were. During the night a car crashed nearby and Tom checked it out, concerned with sleep me and peter stayed in the car, he came back with news and then we settled in for the night. For an hour i could not get comfy, i had the back but both front seats were downso i had around a 30cm gap to fit in, i eventually became embezzled under the 2 seats and slept extremley uncomfortably for about 45 minutes, when i woke i was struck with blind fear at not being able to move, i imagine that's how it is when you crawl through a cave and get stuck, never before being claustrophobic, i felt it's wrath until i got loose. After swapping of positions and altering seats, we eventually all ended up with a couple hours sleep in one way or another. The ferry enterained us with two great films rated both less than 3 by Tom. As we left the ferry we drove to lake Taupo passing the spot where i was caught speeding on the way down, we drove through Tongario national park and at one point were stopped dead in the road as a local farmer walk a couple of hundred sheep down the road, it was quite a sight so the cameras were drawn and pictures were shot. Upon entering Taupo at around 6:30pm, we enjoyed a fantastic Sunset over the volcano and hills across the lake while entering the city. The first night consisted of a curry (s***e), and leaglly blonde on TV. The second day was slightly more productive, a trip to the internet cafe, lunch in a surf bar, pub sesh and pool and then a hell pizza and legally blonde 2. We also got an ice cream that day, i had a chocolate dip which i learned was ice cream shoved in melted chocolate which hardened immediatley, it looked impressive but upon first bite the whole inside was nearly melted, which spanner invented that idea, a waste of $2.50, Tom had more success, on the shops 4th attempt to provide him with an ice cream they gave him it free. Before we left the next day we used the internet once more and posted our postcards before driving to Rotorua.

Christchurch

Taupo

We booked 2 night in this city which had garnered a beautifull city award, we arrived with the intention of seeing the geysers and sampling the hot pools. The first night once again involved eating and watching films we rented from the nearby store, at only $1 each for our DVD's it was a steal. The next day we went to see the Geysers, we got there and it was $35 so i decided i would stay in the car, i was not prepared to pay that much for a natural occurence, i thought it was an outrage, Tom and Pete went ahead and came back satisfied. The next stop was a hot pool, there were numerous which charged and one free one, we decided we would go to the free one and if it was not that good, then pay for one of the others. Upon arrival everyone was leaving, a good sign we may be alone, we got there to be greeted by a small waterfall in to a large pool, we could see the steam. After getting changed and descending in there were 2 other people who left shortly after, we ended up having the pool all to ourselves in the middle of a forest, it was pretty amazing and instantly became a highlight of the trip, it was considerably better because it was free.

The next day we travelled to Auckland after we bought ourselves a rubber american football for on the beach in Fiji, it didnt take long but once we got there we decided to stay near the Airport, the Top 10 holiday park was full so we went in search of somewhere else to stay, we evetually found a hotel\motel where we could spend the night, it was expensive but we needed it if we were to spend the next in the airport. We watched Munich that night and also had Baths, me and tome both came out about to faint due to extreme heat and excessive ammounts of steam. We had to drop the car off the next day around 3 so we needed to fill from 11 till then with something, we went to the cinemas once more to watch TMNT, Tom loved it, I thought it was good and Pete was severley dissapointed. After dropping of the car we were taken to the airport where we would spend the next 15 hours or so, after the battery for the psp ran out while Pete was 2-0 up against Roma (Robbie Keane double), it was time to finish lord of the rings, a superb book that i was not happy to finish. I then started a John Grisham book which Tom had raved about since the trip began, i was quickly hooked and read near 2/3rds before we boarded the plane, Tom read through while me n Pete tried to sleep, i woke up with a dead arm and pins and needles in the other. After a little confusion with our flight number, which had been changed, we went through customs and were what i can only described as an assault, were searched, scanned and searched some more, they had problems with liquid substances in our bags, i had the biggest bottle of any substance yet my bag was not searched, Tom and Pete however, endured an onslaught. We touched down rather smoothly in Fiji to be greeted by 4 native's playing us an absolute tune, and then breezed through security 10 times easier the the one we had entered.

A long way from home...

Milford, sound mate!

We left Queenstown for Te Anau and when we arrived gathered our transport and hut passes from the Department of Conservation HQ. Afterwards we headed to the Ranch, a local pub with a pool table before we getting ourselves an early night in preparation for the adventure over the next few days. The Milford track is a 53.5km route found in the heart of spectacular Fiordland National Park, part of Te Wahipounamu (the World Heritage Area in South West NZ). The itinerary for the trip included two boat journeys to and from the beginning and end of the track and return buses to Te Anau. The four day walk is described as one of the finest in the world, and is classed as an 'easy' tramp by the DOC leaflet. No problemo...

On day one we left the Top 10 Holiday park in a hurry, as we woke with little time to pack, shower and by the last few supplies from the local store before reporting to DOC HQ at 9.30am. All of us were pretty sure however that we were very well prepared with everything we could possibly imagine needing in the scenic but barren Fiordland National Park, so we parked the car in the long stay car park after one last listen to "Sky Sports News" ( aka 'Surface to Air' by the Chemical Brothers - a dull song that Ryan and Peter seem to love, no idea at all why) and boarded the bus to Te Anau Downs.

Te Anau Downs is little more than a few low hills on the edge of Lake Te Anau where a lonely jetty and a small car park are the only reminders of civilisation. From here we joined our fellow Milford Track trampers and took the hour long ferry boat to Glade Wharf. Disembarkment here marked the start of two things; the track and the attachment and fondness for our 70kg backpacks. The days walk took us past Glade House and the largest of the suspension bridges on the trip over the Clinton River. The trek continued for about one hour through an unimpressive beech forest along the banks of the river to the Clinton Hut. I can't remember who was leading the way, but whoever it was established 'Marching pace' as a suitable speed for the three of us to undertake the track. Walking at this speed we easily arrived at the hut first, finding three bunks at one end of the first dorm and scouting around the other two buildings, kitchen and toilet, well before anyone else arrived. It was about this time, 2 o'clockish, when we all felt hungry and realised to our dismay that the huts didn't have any kettles or cooking utensils whatsoever. Bad doo. We had no way of cooking any food for the next four days (plus Pete had forgotten his cutlery bought especially for the occasion and Ryan hadn't bothered yet managed to rustle up a dirty old fork out of nowhere). However after a thorough search of the kitchen, on a dusty corner shelf, we discovered a battered and well used frying pan which saved the day. This same pan was then used for every meal on the trip and still remains with us.

With absolutely nothing to do in the huts and 5 hours to kill until we could sleep Pete and Ryan mooched off back down the track to a wetlands board walk and I read. When they came back we found a jigsaw puzzle and did that until we were totally bored, awesome! 12 hours sleep ensued from which we were awoken by the other trampers in our bunkroom who had the amazing ability of making tremendous amounts of noise without actually doing anything.

Day two took us from Clinton Hut again following the Clinton River to its source at Lake Mintaro. Here is the Mintaro Hut at the base of Mackinnon Pass. This section of the track passed through sections of forest and crossed many small streams which run down the mountains that rise sharply on either side of the valley and into the Clinton River. Along the way we caught our first glimpses of Mackinnon Pass and the Pompolona ice field high above us as well as seeing the first of many waterfalls, Hirere Falls. We lunch a short way of the track at Hidden Lake, a totally unremarkable lake at the edge of a mountain with water running into it from small waterfalls. Sounds awesome but with so much happening in the scenery around us it wasn't all that impressive. From here we set off marching again overtaking the walkers who had set off earlier than us. At this point we realised how far we had to go. This 16.5km section of walk took roughly four and a half hours, although the guides say six to seven, and our packs were getting heavy. To make matters even worse for him, Pete discovered that the pains in his feet were blisters. However we continued on, with little choice, and as the vegetation began to change reflecting the alpine climate we reached Mintaro Hut, again first. That night we read and socialised with the trampers, 39 in total, who were tramping the same itinerary as us.

The third day was the most grueling. From Mintaro Hut there is a back-breaking, leg-burning, lung-busting ascent zig-zagging up Mackinnon Pass for 2 hours to the Mackinnon Memorial and the highest point of the track, Pass Shelter at 1110m. The weather had so far been superb, fine yet chilly with clear skies and the perfect temperatures for walking. However although on the way up there were some pretty special photo opps back down Clinton Canyon to Lake Mintaro mist descended upon the summit of the saddle between the two valleys and spoilt the world famous views which we had toiled to come and see. It was also much colder up here and we spent a while in Pass Shelter having lunch before the 8km downhill section, 970m over rocky morraine deposits to meet the Roaring Burn in the next valley. From here we followed the river down to Dumpling Hut which we again arrived at as one of the first groups. As views had been so disappointing from the top due to a low-lying cloud which had hung around for a couple of hours, Ryan and I came up with the awe-inspiring idea of running, yes running, back up the mountain to the top of the pass where the skies were now clear as the mist had been burnt of. Pete's blisters were hurting him too much and he definately wasn't up for any sort of walk, nevermind run. So Ryan and I set off, running for half an hour back along the to the turn off for the Sutherland Falls side trip. Here we nearly collapsed from exhaustion, and gave up on our desperate and ridiculas atempt to witness those spectacular views out towards Mitre Peak on Milford Sound that the Milford track is famous for. Instead we choose to do the one and a half hour side walk to Sutherland Falls, which at 580m are claimed to be the tallest waterfalls in New Zealand. This was the best part of the trip for me by far. The power, speed, size and force of the water cascading over the cliff face in three sections was a sight to behold. In my eagerness however to get closer to the falls I tried to circle the pool at the bottom and get behind the falls at the base, which Ross the Hut Ranger had told us was possible, but I only managed to become soaked through and freezing cold. On the way back to Dumpling Hut we met Jack and his son (whose name I forget) who were very slow and only just making their way down from Pass Shelter. This was not suprising considering Jack is 83 years old and has a left leg which is totally useless and in his own words "would be better off it was prosthetic but its alright because I've got these two sticks to prop me up". One word - effort. Anyway as we passed they said they wouldn't be able to make it to Sutherland Falls because it was getting late and Jack was tired, so I tried to make the waterfalls sound uninspiring. Despite these efforts upon hearing that his son had already done the track 20 years earlier and had seen the falls, Ryan said when asked his opinion of the falls, "They're probably the best thing i've ever seen!". In all honestly he is probably right.

The final day was similar to the first. Following the channel of the Arthur River out into Milford Sound. On this day the weather couldn't hold out any longer and heavy rain clouds dampened our spirits as we trudged with lactic acid filled muscles to the finish. We hadn't showered in four days and our bodies had marched at the extreme for too long. The boat journey in the Sound was pretty good but then the cloud had descended even lower and covered the tops of all the surrounding mountains, yet again spoiling the views. I felt a massive sense of achievement having done the trek although i was glad to get back to the holiday park where there were warm showers and comfortable beds. No way am I coming back when I'm 83.

Hope everyones having fun...

Tom

NZ South Island - Picton to Queenstown

After hanging around in Wellington til 3 in the morning to catch the 3-hour ferry journey to the South Island, followed by a drive from Picton to Pohara in the Abel Tasman National Park, it'd be fair to say that we were all knackered... so we crashed for the entire day. The next day however we thought we'd get out and explore a bit of the park, which based on photos we'd seen seemed pretty spectacular. We drove for quite a while along gravel roads and through a forest that was used for filming in Lord Of The Rings, until we parked and mooched off to a place called Harwood's Hole... which obviously prompted numerous childish jokes regarding Marlon Harewood.

Gandalf

Harwood's Hole

The 'hole' itself is "New Zealand's deepest vertical shaft" at 176m, and it looks seriously deep, especially when you clamber over a load of rocks to peer over the edge. Where we were standing was on a big pile of rocks on the edge of the forest, with the 50m round hole in front of us and massive cliffs encircling us, with the only gap being where we came out of the forest. This was followed by a hill climb through the forest to a limestone paving lookout, with amazing views down a valley.

We booked 2 nights in a holiday park in Motueka, going for a walk the next day along the coastline of the Park, which had some ridiculous beaches to rival those in Thailand. Unfortunately, due to us being lazy and sleeping in, we ended up walking back for 2 hours in the dark, with the situation becoming more frustrating when the torch light started dimming. We had spare batteries, but managed to only just make it back to the car without having to change them. Apart from nearly falling off a few cliffs the walk was pretty good.

Next day we left Abel Tasman and journeyed south west along the coast to the world heritage site of Franz Josef, designated so because the area is home to the Franz Josef Glacier, which looks like a gigantic river of ice flowing down through the valley towards you. The again, thats basically what it is. We could have booked a hike up the glacier but opted against it considering they were asking for silly amounts of money, and so made our way to the bottom of it ourselves. The good weather was a blessing otherwise we'd easily have been risking our lives doing it, cos ice can collapse and the river levels can change rapidly at any time, which isn't good when you're walking (or stone-stepping) through a huge river basin with water all around you. The glacier was obviously impressive, although the bottom of it was stained black by the rock around it, which spoiled it a little, but never mind. It's still strange standing next to a glacier on what was a pretty hot day!

A waterfall nr the glacier. Notice the size of Ryan.

Considering we'd opted out of the glacial hike we headed towards Queenstown a day earlier than expected, and so stopped for a night in Wanaka, a picturesque lakeside town on the way. This was a pleasant stop-off, but to do some activities we moved on to Queenstown. Its the tourist hub of NZ, a small town with a big city feel, but it has never once seemed crowded. The first day in the town we spent having a look around and eating at the world famous "Fergburger", which is famous, as you may have already guessed, for its huge (and very sloppy) burgers. We all bought a burger and considered buying chips afterwards, but considering the burger turned out to be more than an entire meals worth of food none of us did. This was followed by a round at an indoor mini golf course complete with buildings and golf ball cable cars and rollercoasters. You can't help being entertained by stuff like this! Spontaneously entered a pool competition on the night, and even though we were playing against a few seasoned pros Ryan managed to make the semi-finals but he lost to, in his own words, a "genuine Maori brute".

A random raging river where we stopped for a spot of free running

Lake Wanaka

A big boig

Went up the hill on the gondola the next day, which seemed like a rip off at $20 return, but considering the view at the top and the fact we bought it along with 5 rides on the luge, it turned out to be a good investment. The luge was just good old-fashioned banter, hurtling down a track alongside each other at dangerous speeds always makes for good fun. After making the return journey and leaving the gondola station (minus our eyes) we did a bit of shopping for hiking goods, etc in preparation for the Milford Track before booking Tom and I onto the Nevis bungy jump for the next day.

Going up the gondola

Chairlift to the luge - overlooking Queenstown

Following a night of nervous sleep, Ryan dropped the two of us off at the bungy centre this morning, where we waited around for 45 mins before we boarded a bus and spent the same amount of time driving through some rugged hills, up steep gravel banks and through sheep stations to the location of AJ Hackett's Nevis Jump. Which we did. All 134m of it. The pod that you jump out of is suspended above the middle of a deep gorge with a nice-looking but also very shallow river running along the bottom. In other words, not the type of river you'd pay to plough in to from a great height... at great speed. You travel to the pod in a small open-air cage, get strapped in, then freefall for 8.5 seconds. The feeling you get when sat in a chair with your back to the edge, the guy making the final adjustments as you contemplate your life over the past 20 years, turns your legs to jelly. However, after you've waddled to the edge it actually ain't that bad, or it wasn't for us, even when we looked down. To be fair, this was probably because we'd already done one in Thailand, albeit a third of the height, but we still had. So we leapt off and after a brief scream/swear we enjoyed it, got winched back up and started wondering what all this nervousness lark was about. At this time Ryan was in the room enjoying Wedding Crashers on sky movies, and we met back up after the trip back and drove back into the town centre which is where we are now.

We leave Queenstown tomorrow heading for Te Anu and the Milford Track, a 4-day trek which is supposedly one of the best in the world. Lets hope the weathers good, though considering its been perfect for the past week we're probably gonna struggle knowing our luck! Anyway, take care everyone...

Peter