New Zealand - JAFA's and Skytowers in Auckland

Updated by Paul

To the local Maori people, New Zealand is known as ‘Aotearoa’ which means The Land of The Long White Cloud. It’s no surprise they are referencing the weather as this is the country where you will be applying sunblock whilst lying on a pristine, unspoilt, golden-sand beach one minute then half an hour later scrambling around for your woolly hat, scarf and gloves as it starts to snow!

The three and a half hour flight from Fiji arrived into Auckland late afternoon and as we took the bus into the city to our hostel we though this might be a good time to consult the guide book to find out a few facts. Auckland is a city twice the size of London - in fact it’s the fifth biggest city in the world by physical size - yet has a population of only 1.4 million people. Pretty sure this was not going to be city of crowds and congestion!

Having got a list of all the things we were going to spend the next few days doing we arrived at our hostel on Karangahape Road (thankfully known locally as K Road!) This area of central Auckland has shaken off a reputation of being the seedy part of town and is now more a place full of cool clubs, bars and coffee shops.

After a 10 minute walk into the Centre we had a look around the harbour. They say that one in five Aucklanders owns a boat - it’s a bloody big harbour! Although it’s the middle of winter in New Zealand, the sun was shining and the temperature hitting nearly 20 degrees. This didn‘t last long though as the heavens opened and a torrential downpour came down. You can bet your bottom Kiwi dollar you’re never going to be wearing the right clothes in this country!

We took a free day tour around Auckland with a company called Kiwi-Experience and it certainly was an experience as we completed the Auckland Harbour Bridge walk in the lashing rain! Great views, but we were still not talked into doing the bungy jump off the bridge into the harbour below. They’re all idiots I tell you!

Next on the tour was a drive up an old volcanic cone now converted into a military bunker. It overlooked a part of the harbour where we could see the whole New Zealand navy fleet. I say whole fleet - they only have two boats. And I think the captains are called Bruce and Shane.

Picked up a huge portion of fish and chips for lunch in an upmarket part of Auckland called Devenport then headed back to the city centre. We liked the Kiwi Experience bus tour so much we decide to ditch the idea of hiring a campervan and booked the tour bus experience for the rest of the country with these guys!

The next morning a brisk ten minute walk to the Auckland Museum enabled us to see the largest collection of Maori artefacts in the world. Impressive weapons but I did expect more scary looking blokes with tattooed faces jumping out to greet us in a traditional way. Or maybe that’s just in Greenford.

One of the dominating features of Auckland is the Sky Tower. Built in 1997, it’s twice the height of Seattle’s Space Needle and on a clear day you can see up to 55 miles away. Given the changeable nature of the Auckland weather system we grabbed the opportunity of a rare clear morning to get up the top.

The views were as stunning as you would expect and you can have a walking-on-air moment by standing on the glass floor. Pretty sure you’re not meant to jump up and down on it but we had to test the claim it was as strong as concrete!

We decided to check out some local comedy talent at a late night comedy club after grabbing a few pints of Stella Artois in an authentic Belgian Bar. In the middle of Auckland! Not much to write home about on Kiwi comedy - other than to say big jugs of beer still can’t make female comedians talking about how badly men deal with the ‘flu funny! I think they’re still at least ten years behind on the comedy front.

Walking down K’ road back to the hostel I discovered the best Kebab shop in the world. The shop was called QPR and yep it was a Queens Park Rangers themed kebab shop! Does life get any better?!

People throughout the rest of New Zealand refer to people from Auckland as JAFA’s - Just Another F*****g Aucklander! Although the city isn’t as pretty or scenic as the rest of the country it is a decent place to visit. We certainly enjoyed our week in the city but it might be nice to try something different. Next up then we’re headed north in search of warmer weather. Oh yeah, and we’ll be working on a farm!!

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Fiji - Island Hopping and Lazy Days On The Beach

Updated by Anna

After the long 10 hour flight to Nadi airport from Los Angeles we were ready for some lazy beach life. Arrived at 6.30am and felt knackered but we were welcomed by the Fijian people (the friendliest people in the world!) at the airport who approached us and arranged all our transport to our hostel. For free! I think we’re going to like this country!

Our hostel - The Sky lodge - was situated 10 minutes from the airport We had a basic but clean room and an inviting swimming pool. We had a dead cheap breakfast which was a change from expensive USA. Baked in the sun for a couple of hours and looked at palm trees and realised this was gonna be a good 12 days!

We paid 5 Fiji dollars (approximately £1.50) for a trip into town with a bloke who was a shop owner at Skylodge also. He dropped us off right outside his friends souvenir shop and we politely had a quick look around it. Then it was Paul’s turn to try and haggle himself a snorkel set for a decent price. He left the shop a few times and finally got the price he was prepared to pay. Paul was desperate for a haircut and got a thorough one in a small hairdressers. The lady spent a good 15 minutes cutting his hair and another 15 minutes brushing it!

Next day we travelled on an open bus, a bus with windows ripped out for natural air conditioning. The tears flooded down my cheeks because of the strong winds but we were headed to Port Denaru to start our island hopping. From the bus we saw kids playing football on the fields, some walking barefoot to school and lots of sugarcane fields.

We checked our bags in and stepped on the big bright yellow Yasawa Flyer boat which was going to transport us between the islands. After a couple of hours we saw the beautiful Tawewa Island and the Coral View resort. We jumped on a smaller motor boat where the men threw everyone’s suitcases in the air over the water to each other, obviously used to it. As we approached the beach a handful of natives were singing, clapping and waving at us. Both men and women had flowers in their hair, Hawaiian shirts and the traditional sulu skirt . We got a BIG welcome with hugs and handshakes and a lovely ice cold drink.

We stayed one or two nights at four different islands where each one had different choices of day trips and activities you could do. We went swimming with sharks - imagine yourself in a small motorboat in the middle of the sea with rough waves and every time the boat hits a wave everybody onboard screams out loud with fear! The boat finally stops and the divers tell you to jump out of it. You take a deep breath and do it and its amazing underwater! Incredible colourful tropical fish in all shapes and sizes swim right next to you. Then its time for the diving men to feed the sharks who where about a metre and a half long. There were three of them and all I could think about was the soundtrack of Jaws……nana nana nana nana!

We went swimming in underwater caves, ocean kayaking and climbed some really steep hills and mountains. One of these hills hosted an absolute massive spider and phobic Anna ran up the hill in nanoseconds! Paid a visit to the beautiful Blue Lagoon (where Brooke Shields was swimming in the same film) and did some snorkelling. Paul did a scuba dive and was very excited when he surfaced!

There was time for just laying in the hammock between the coconut trees as well. One could stretch ones hand out and get hold of papaya, bananas or pineapple! When you heard the bongo drums everyone on the island ran to the dining area to have breakfast, lunch or dinner like their life depended on it which it kind of was - it was the only place where you could eat on the island!

One evening there was a traditional Kava (slightly narcotic juice from a root) ceremony which we participated in. The Kava tasted like dirty water but the mood was on top and everyone was singing English and Fiji songs all together aahh…

Sailed on the big “Seaspray” boat out on the Mamanuca Islands and visited the “Castaway Island” where Tom Hanks was stranded in the film. Took the obligatory picture there but I also really hurt my back on the coral reef whilst snorkelling. Paid a visit to a really poor village and saw some gorgeous children drumming and singing with wooden sticks and plastic boxes. That’s all you need.

Then it was off to the coral coast and the ride of a lifetime. This is the moment I thought I would die…really. It was pitch dark and we sat with seven other people in a minibus. The driver started the journey by pulling out tools from under his feet to screw the wheels on -promising!! He then sped off really fast but we can’t tell how much because the Speedometer was broken. I prayed all the way to our next accommodation, the Beachhouse.

The Beach House was used as the scene for the reality show “Love Island”. I enjoyed an hour-long massage for £8. It was a dream and so good! But enough of lazing around - we were off on a jungle trek with our guide Tshuta who told us all about the Fijian history and what to live on in the jungle. The long walk led us up to a beautiful waterfall where we had a really cold swim.

All in all the time spent in Fiji was a paradise on earth. It was so sad to leave it! :-( Next stop New Zealand……:-)

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