Auckland and off to Fiji - Bula (hello)!!!
3 October 2006
Off to Auckland which is a very sprawled out city and almost straight up to the Bay of Islands. As the name suggests, its a bay with 142 islands dotted around which makes for an amazing surrounding. Me and my buddy went out for an afternoon on a boat to investigate the islands while having fun fishing. Unfortunately it isn't quite the right time of year for large Snapper so no fish BBQ but we each caught several moderate sized fish including Snapper and a scorpion fish! Great afternoon and perfect weather, especially now that we are further north and summer is creeping in.
Back to Auckland. Just as the last of my group leave Auckland and I’m thinking that its going to be a quiet few days before I fly out....I’m checked into a dorm with 7 men which quickly became my family and we got blotto :-) and then, the group start to gather as we're all preparing for flights out, so the old team is back together, and guess what? we got blotto again.
Off to Fiji with Simon, Jack, Dave... and Drago decided to come along too. We hadn't really acclimatised to the fact that we were in Fiji, sitting at the bar in the warmer climate, but it soon kicked in....helped by the fact that Drago would shout 'its Fiji time' every 5 minutes!! Back in the world of pinacoladas, sunsets, mosquito nets, sunburn, beaches, flowery dresses and a flower in the hair, hot weather, turquoise waters, and incredibly nice locals. Off on the boat, the islands are so beautiful and most are quite small with sandy beaches, palm trees in the centre and coral reefs around the periphery. Off to Manta Ray Island, where we stayed for a few days. We snorkelled with Manta Rays, went scuba diving, kayaking (although spent most of our time pushing each other out), fishing (funny watching the locals digging for sand crabs and running down the beach after them!). Nights filled with 'Fiji Gold' lager, drinking games, shots of vodka out of sea shells, and bonfires on the beach. A couple of local guys joined us and did the Haka around the fire much to our amusement, although drank our bottle of tequila, fell asleep on the beach and were sacked the next day....whoops!! The boys are a lot of fun and a good group to be with, although we have now realised that Drago is not only an alcoholic with a bionic man stomach, but also an insomniac!!
Next we stayed on Nacula which is fairly far north of the Yasawa islands with incredible sandy beaches and crystal clear seas and then off to South Sea Island which is the smallest of the islands and took 5 minutes to walk around. We went on an amazing dive here around a sunken yacht where I was chased by a potato cod and then into the coral gardens with so many tiny shoals of fish such as damsel fish, butterfly fish and blue star fish too. Managed to book a couple of nights on Beachcomber Island which is the party island and did just that. Brilliant time and back to the main island for our last night together.
After spending the last few months in OZ and NZ, its quite strange to be back in a world where dogs roam the streets, con men work to scrape money from you, and kids walk to school with bare feet. Its also quite nice to have that element of backpacking again..bring on central America!!
I then spent the next few days on Robinson Crusoe Island and met some really great people. The locals are really friendly and did the most amazing shows of fire dancing and routines with outfits like something from a 'Miss Catherine Dancing Show' (only my family will understand that one). A family I met, are sailing the world with no real timescale in mind and they had the most incredible stories of pristine places...I asked if they needed a skipper/wife/chef, but unfortunately not. I spent the afternoon on their yacht drinking fine coffee they bought in Bora Bora.
Well I'm off to LA tonight and can't quite get my head around the fact that I leave at 10pm on Tuesday and arrive 10 hours later in LA at 1.30pm on Tuesday....eh!!??
Speak soon me mateys, love Fi xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
