August
8th
We
arrived in Fiji in the early hours and were
welcomed by our wedding-planner-to-be. Yep,
that's right, we decided to get married in
Fiji (well, why wait?!). First impressions
of Fiji were a mucky beach and scary dogs
but lovely tea and toast. Everything got a
whole lot better. Initially we weren't going
to stay long at the hostel but due to the
friendliness of the staff, value for money
and the fact that Steve, the owner, had agreed
to organise our wedding for us, we stayed
for over a week. There was lots of lazing
by the pool, chatting with other travellers,
and recharging our batteries.
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Fijian
Grasshopper
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Tall
Ship |
We
took a couple of trips, the first being a
tall ship voyage to a small island called
Tivua. On this exploration, we had our first
taste of Kava, the traditional ceremonial
drink. It is made from the powdered root of
the Yaqona plant and mixed with water in a
special wooden bowl. Kava is said to be slightly
narcotic and when drunk, makes your mouth
go a bit numb. It's mildly relaxing but looks
and tastes like muddy dish water. We had our
first taste of the Fijian snorkeling scene
there where we saw some electric blue star
fish. We also met a lovely New Zealand couple
who took pity on us and offered for us to
stay with them in Auckland. We duly accepted
of course! Before our next trip we spent a
day in Nadi rushing to get our last-minute
wedding items to go with the outfits we bought
along Haight Ashbury in San Francisco. We
also collected the all-important wedding licence.
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Starfish
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Fiji
from the air |
The
friendly people of Fiji
Drink Kava, like the Brits drink tea
To welcome you into their home
But with more pomp and ceremony
Made from the root of the Yaqona
And served in a special bowl
Shout 'Bula' and clap three times
And wash it down your hole
A warning, it tastes unpleasant
But I recommend you try some
As it contains a mild narcotic
That will make your tongue go numb
So even though it looks disgusting
Nature may have found the answer
The Uni' of Aberdeen have proven
Kava's good for two types of cancer
The
second trip was a jam-packed day of cultural
Fiji, centred around a visit to a village.
On our way, we stopped at a market to buy
some Kava as a gift for the Chief of the village
as is customary in Fijian culture. We spent
the morning trekking through the jungle with
a friendly Georgie couple and our guide, Soni.
He introduced us to lots of natural plant
remedies including the Yaqona root which Aberdeen
University have discovered prevents the formation
of certain cancer cells, and a relative of
the ginger plant which is good for diabetes.
We ate grapefruit fresh from the tree, discovered
village food sources including spinach leaves
the size of Graham's arse, and finally found
out how pineapples grow. Keira braved the
extremely cold waters on the first of three
lovely waterfalls and Graham did his Tarzan
impression on one of the giant jungle vines.
We returned to the village for lunch of local
produce and some more Kava. At this point,
we found out that the Chief was ill and his
nephew had stepped in to do the Kava ceremony.
The afternoon started with fishing in the
rain by the river with bamboo rods and freshly
dug worms, learning the craft of mat-weaving
using flax, and a short horse-trek. We then
drove onwards through sugar cane fields towards
the mountain of the Sleeping Giant (with a
lot of imagination and some Kava, the peaks
of the mountain range, create the illusion
of a sleeping giant), to our final destination
of the day... the thermal mud pools.
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Soni
our guide
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Brave
(and cold) Keira |
Unlike
the thermal pools in Yellowstone park, the
temperature of these pools was low enough
for us to be able to bathe in them, so as
the sun set, that's what we jolly well did!
The first of the three pools was luke-warm
and filled with twigs and leaves. The mud
at the bottom was thick enough to paste on
to our skin. We washed off the mud in the
second thermal pool which was much warmer.
And finally the third pool was just like stepping
into a steaming hot bath. Later that evening
we were still finding twigs and leaves in
our nether regions!
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Tarzan
in the jungle on the giant vine
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Fishing
in the rain |
We
left the mainland by catamaran to Plantation
Island Resort on the island of Malolo Lai
Lai - the destination of our wedding and honeymoon.
During the check-in process, an Australian
couple joined us at our table. We got chatting
and soon realised that we had found the ideal
couple to be the witnesses at our wedding.
We met our wedding coordinator, Api, who was
more miserable than 'appy! That evening we
had a Hag night (cross between a Stag night
and a Hen night), when we got to know our
witnesses, Jim and Sabrina, a bit better.
We had one full day on the island before our
big day which we spent writing our vows, playing
crazy golf and relaxing. OK the wedding day....
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Mat-weaving
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G
horse trekking |
After an early breakfast, Graham and Jim headed
out under a cloudy sky for a round of golf.
Meanwhile, Keira was trying to get on the
first boat off the island but accidentally
got on the snorkeling boat with Sabrina. Once
back on dry land, Keira decided to go through
with it (tee-hee!). The rest of the morning
was spent with Sabrina styling Keira's hair
into 'tossels', whilst Graham made cups of
tea. At this point we found out that Keira's
hair stylist, Sabrina, is the make-up artist
for the well-known TV soap Home And Away.
We then met our super-cool celebrant who looked
as if he'd have been more at home at a Chicago
blues club, and our photographer. With the
formalities complete, we sat and chilled with
a few glasses of champagne until it was time
to seal the deal. When given the all-clear
at about 2pm, we walked hand-in-hand through
the palm trees to the beach setting, arriving
to the sound of the Fijian choir.
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Mud
bath
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Plantation
Island Resort |
The ceremony was perfect: some beautiful words
from the celebrant, our own vows, and all
the rest of that official stuff. After the
ceremony6 we planted a coconut tree nearby
as a symbol of our union and because we are
environMENTALists. The obligatory photographs
followed with Sabrina eagerly jostling for
best positions with the professional. It was
worth it, as they both got some really lovely
pictures. After the wedding we returned to
our honeymoon suite, shared another glass
of champagne with our witnesses, and spent
the afternoon relaxing.
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Wilson!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Keira on the original castaway raft)
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Path
to the wedding |
In
the evening, we had a beautiful four-course
candle-lit champagne meal on the beach - every
dish a delight. After dessert, a train of
singing Fijian staff with musical accompaniment
weaved their way through the restaurant towards
our table, holding a giant chocolate wedding
cake aloft. At this point a group of Australians
who we'd met earlier started a standing ovation
in the restaurant. Whilst the band was by
our table, we cut the gigantic cake and the
two of us danced on the sand together to a
song in our honour. If we'd have eaten the
whole cake to ourselves, we probably would
have blown up like Violet in the Willy Wonka
films, so we kept a quarter for ourselves
and declared open house on the rest. We then
made all the nearby children's (and adult's)
Willy Wonka chocolate dreams come true by
handing out huge slabs of the delicious cake.
Having made all the kids hyper-active, we
quickly escaped back to our bure. We ended
our perfect day with sparklers on a secluded
beach under the stars.
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Arriving
at the ceremony together
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I do |
We
spent our honeymoon gorging on lovely food,
working our way through the wedding cake,
more snorkeling (like swimming through a huge
tropical fish tank... they came so close!),
more golf, some kayaking, tennis, fishing,
reading, sleeping on hammocks, eating coconuts,
etc. and revisiting our tree to feed it water
so that it takes root.
Next stop New Zealand...
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Bless! |
Us and our celebrant |
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No
regrets
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Us
and our Aussie witnesses |
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Thank
god for knee surgery
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The
good life |
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Stunning
(and Keira)
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Just
another lazy wedding day |
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Oh
dear...it's started already
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Crazy
japanese guy wanted to congratulate
us |
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Happy
ending
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View
from our candlelit dinner table |
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Our
tiny cake
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Cutting
the cake |
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Midnight
sparklers
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Fishing
tackle |
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Keira
under the sea
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Ickle
fish |
August 20th
We left Fiji early to get our short flight
(no time difference for a change) to Auckland,
New Zealand. We were met at the airport by
Lex (we met Lex and his wife Heather on a
boat in Fiji and they kindly offered to put
us up whilst in Auckland). He very trustingly
dropped us at their home and gave us our own
key before heading back to work. We decided
there was nothing worth stealing so we made
good use of their PC before Heather arrived
home to take us on a whistle-stop tour of
the North Shore area. As it is winter in New
Zealand at the moment we stopped off to kit
ourselves out in some warm gear ready for
the month ahead. We stayed for 3 nights with
Lex and Heather, during which we enjoyed home-cooked
food, fantastic NZ wines and some good advice
for our forthcoming travels.
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One
of the Auckland North Shore bays
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Spaceship
lands at One Tree Hill |
On our last full day in Auckland we picked
up Dexter, our Spaceship. We took launch and
landed at the Auckland Museum where we enjoyed
an interesting exhibition on volcanoes. This
was apt as Auckland sits on about 50 of them.
Next we blasted off to One Tree Hill for a
panoramic view of the city. the following
day we beamed up to Paihia for our first voyage
in to Outer Space. We slept with Dexter for
the first time and in doing so, we renamed
it the 'lack-of-spaceship'. The next day we
took a boat tour around the Bay of Islands
to the Hole In The Rock. During our trip we
saw the island that Captain Cook first landed
on in 1769, were joined by many playful dolphins
and were lucky enough to spot a huge hump-back
whale which was amazing. After Paihia we drove
to the Waipoua Forest which has the largest
(oldest) native Kauri tree in NZ which reminded
us of the Whomping Willow in Harry Potter.
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The
Hole In The Rock
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Wildlife
photography at it's best? |
July turned into August and we arrived in
Coromandel where we awoke early to visit (and
ride on) a hand-built narrow gauge railway.
Due to the rainy weather, we were the only
2 passengers. The railway winds itself up
the mountain through replanted native forest
and is adorned with ceramic artworks made
at the on-site pottery workshop. After seeing
the rainy views from the 'Eyeful Tower' we
tried our hand on the potter's wheel, where
we produced 2 things which loosely resembled
pots, and surprisingly, may just find themselves
as part of a larger water feature in the grounds.
The best part of the day was yet to come...Hot
Water Beach. Picture this: It's cold, it's
windy, it's raining, and we strip down to
our swimmers, shovel in one hand, brolly in
the other and make our way on to the beach.
With the sun setting, we dug a large hole
in the sand (OK, borrowed someone else's)
and sat in the water that emerged from beneath
the sand. Luckily the water was hot due to
a volcanic island (White Island) over 200
miles away which channels steaming hot water
deep under ground towards the beach. It was
a really surreal experience but well worth
the chesty colds that ensued.
Hot
Water Beach
Was really surreal
Rain on the brolly
Cold to the feel
With shovel in hand
We had to laugh
Dug a hole in the sand
And took a hot bath
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The following day we drove all day to visit
Whakatane where we hoped to get a boat to
the White Island. Unfortunately this was cancelled
due to bad weather so we headed to Rotorua.
On the way we stopped at Hell's Gate and were
welcomed by some beautiful peacocks. Hell's
Gate is a collection of mud pools and hot
springs which in comparison to Yellowstone
Park was unfortunately a little disappointing,
although we had fun doing some wood-carving.
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Dolphin
- Bay of Islands
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Giant
Kauri (native New Zealand) tree |
We stopped in Rotorua (or RotoVegas as it
is known) for 4 nights. Whilst there we visited
a buried village (due to a volcano eruption
in Victorian times), where we saw massive
Rainbow Trout in the river. We were also treated
to a 'traditional' Maori experience at the
village of Tamaki. This turned out to be Maori
meets Walt Disney (see poem). But at least
we got a free ticket to the Polynesian Spa,
where we relaxed in pools containing natural
steaming hot volcanic water which allegedly
have many healing properties.
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Driving
Creek railway
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Going
potty? |
The
Tamaki Maori experience
Was not what I hoped it would be
More commercial than authentic
More Disney that Maori!
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Hot
Water Beach
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Who's
a pretty bird then? |
During our stay in Rotorua, we also glimpsed
our first Kiwi (bird, not the fruit or human
variety) at the Kiwi Encounter Sanctuary.
Due to the continuing decline in numbers,
the sanctuary was established to aid the recovery
of the species by rearing them in to adulthood
and releasing them with a 65% more chance
of survival than their wild counterparts,
who's survival rate is just 5%. One of the
highlights of Rotorua had to be the Agrodome
where we took an organic farm tour sampling
kiwi fruit wine and feeding the farm animals
(including stag and llamas). We were introduced
to the 19 varieties of sheep during the sheep
show where we were chosen to milk a cow (G)
and feel a middle (older baby) lamb (K) on
stage.
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Plip,
plop!
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Buried
village |
You cannot visit New Zealand (the adventure
capital of the world) without doing some sort
of extreme sport, so we opted for the Extreme
Freefall and a go in a Zorb. The Freefall
is basically like sky-diving without the sky,
as you hover (or try to) above a huge fan...Awesome!
The Zorb is basically a giant blow up hamster
ball that you climb inside. We chose the tandem
Zorb with warm water thrown in and sent ourselves
tumbling down a large hill, laughing all the
way...Sweet as!
On our way to Waitomo we spent the morning
wandering around Wai-o-Tapu, a thermal park
with a soap-induced geyser (no wonder it erupts
at exactly 10.15am every day), and a luminous
lime-green hot spring. Oh, and we also nearly
had the life sucked out of us by 2 Harry Potter
dementors we stumbled across. In Waitomo we
had our first sight of glow worms (or as Keira
likes to call them, wo glerms) on a walking
tour of one of the caves. The worms are actually
maggots and it's their faeces that burns producing
the light but they're fascinating. The rock
formations in the caves were also really pretty.
Due to the weather we skipped Tongariro National
Park and went straight to Taupo where we met
up with our friend and ex-work colleague Hazel.
It was pretty weird meeting up with someone
from home, especially as so much about NZ
reminds us of home ( e.g. some of the landscape
which is a bit like the Yorkshire Dales, driving
on the left-hand side and proper bacon!).
Needless to say we caught up, got drunk and
had a good boogie. Whilst in Taupo Hazel treated
us to a lovely meal to congratulate us on
our marriage, where we discussed the rights
and wrongs of which way round toilet paper
should go (what do you reckon? Answers on
an email please!). We also went for a stroll
at Huka Falls, saw the Aratiatia Rapids (a
hydro-electric power station and dam), saw
some glass-blowers in action, tasted about
15 different honeys, some fruit wine, mead
and a disgusting nut liqueur. Once Keira-the-pooh
was torn away from the honey-tasting we soaked
up the view of Lake Taupo.
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Keira
on a stag do
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Feeding
the ickle lambs |
We moved on towards Wellington and just before
we arrived one of our rear tyres blew. So
we pulled over into a lay by and called the
AA. As night fell and we waited for our knight
in shining armour, we realised K was bursting
for the loo (with no bushes to hide behind)
and that we had inadvertently stopped at the
local drug-swop location. We tried to be inconspicuous,
playing cards in our BRIGHT ORANGE Spaceship,
ignoring the criminal activities going on
around us. We were relieved when our AA man
showed up. As the tyre came off, we realised
how lucky we were that we had not yet taken
the van across to the South Island where there
are more severe weather conditions, as it
turned out the tyre was in a dreadful state
- very bald with the metal inner poking through
- and it should never have been rented to
us in such a condition. Once back on the road,
Keira still bursting for the toilet, we took
drastic measures, driving to the nearest housing
estate and knocking on the nearest door. Our
second knight in shining armour allowed Keira
to finally relieve herself and we continued
on. The following day, new tyre in place and
the ferry to the South Island booked, we ventured
into the capital to Te Papa, New Zealand's
national museum, where we caught the Lord
of the Rings exhibition. Thankfully the weather
brightened up enough for our crossing from
the North to the South Island.
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Eventually
he flies!
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A
professional at work |
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Luminous
lime-green hot spring
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Dementors |
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Waitomo
cave
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Night
out with Hazel - end of night |
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Huka
Falls
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Graham's
stream |
August 26th
Our
journey to the South Island was punctuated
by beautiful fjords and although cold, was
a calm crossing. We drove straight to Blenheim
for our 2nd wine-tasting tour of the world
trip. The tour led us to 4 wineries in the
Marlborough district and we tasted over 20
different wines. As usual, after the 2nd vineyard
they all started to taste the same! The next
stop on our travels took us to Punakaiki on
the West Coast, on our way to Greymouth. We
only stopped for half an hour, but this was
enough to see the star attraction - the 35
million year old pancake rocks. The weird
and wonderful natural formations are caused
by the waves eroding the soft limestone and
mud cliffs. We stopped over night in Greymouth
before heading out to Franz Josef early the
next day.
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| Just
living the dream
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Maple
syrup anyone? |
At Franz Josef we saw our first glacier -
basically a large body of ice which is moving
slowly down hill, in this case between 2 mountains.
It was pretty spectacular, as was the view
from the hill at Okarito that we conquered
shortly afterwards. The following day we headed
to Queenstown and stopped off at Wanaka where
we attempted to decipher Puzzle World - a
bizarre collection of illusions and believe
it or not, puzzles! We got lost in the 2-storey
maze and were amazed by a tilting room which
gave the impression that objects, including
ourselves, were defying gravity.
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| Franz
Josef Glacier
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View
from the Okarito after a long hike |
After
a stop over in Queenstown we drove to Te Anau,
the gateway to Fjordland. Due to the recent
avalanches on the road to Milford Sound, we
decided to play safe and booked ourselves
on a tour of the equally impressive Doubtful
Sound. The excursion took us over Manapouri
Lake to the West Point hydro-electric power
station which we took a tour of on our return.
From there we had a rainy drive through a
rain forest to our 2nd boat which took us
on a 3 hour journey through Doubtful Sound
to the edge of the Tasman Sea and back. Despite
the all-important clouds (it rains 2 out of
every 3 days there), it was stunningly beautiful,
peaceful, and a highlight of our New Zealand
trip. Back on dry land, before our return
to Manapouri village we were taken a distance
of 2 kilometres down a spiral underground
tunnel to see some of the workings of the
hydro-electric power plant. It was quite interesting
and a good example of ingenious production
of renewable energy. The underground lair
was like the set of a James Bond movie. Back
at our holiday park (otherwise known as the
twilight zone, we had the distinct feeling
we had stepped into a 70s Austrian alpine
village, complete with rows of Morris Minor
cars and a mouse in the kitchen.
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Keira's
anti gravity skills (Wish it worked
on the butt!) |
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| Rainbow
above Lake Manapouri
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Mysterious
Doubtful Sound |
The day after we crossed to Dunedin on the
east coast before driving north to Oamaru
to see the local penguins the following day.
Despite the bad weather, the small blue penguins
were out in full force as we witnessed them
return form their day's fishing after sunset.
Frustratingly we weren't allowed to take photos
because last year some silly cow wasn't looking
where she was going, fell down the viewing
platform and broke her leg. We then drove
to our final destination in NZ, Christchurch,
where we visited the International Antarctic
Centre. There we briefly experienced antarctic
weather conditions at -25 degrees Celsius
and had an exhilarating ride over an outdoor
assault course on a Hagglund - an all-terrain
vehicle designed to traverse snow, water and
extreme ground conditions. Thankfully the
Yank opposite Graham just about kept her lunch
down. On our last full day we visited the
botanical gardens and said goodbye to our
good friend and companion, Dexter.
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| Us
at Doubtful Sound
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Temporary
waterfalls at Doubtful Sound |
During our travels in New Zealand, we drove
almost 5,500 kilometres and were continuously
spoilt with stunning views along the way,
especially in the South Island with its majestic,
snow-peaked mountains. We are going to off-set
our spaceship emissions and have made a start
by purchasing a native NZ tree and shrub as
part of the YHA Green Footprint project.
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| Hydro-electric
power plant or set of James Bond movie?
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The
twilight zone |
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G
exploring the South Pole
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Hagglund
- Vomit-inducer |
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Antarctic
sea life
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Majestic
NZ Southern Alps |
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| One
of many stunning lakes
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Manapouri
magic |
