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Hey everyone - thought it was probably about time to finish this blog seeing as we've been home for over a week now :-(
The last blog stated we were doing a "Bush and Beach" tour from Auckland, so thats a good place to start. Please bear with us though; it was a little while ago now and our brains have been frazzled in Fiji and then superchilled in the UK.
So... we were picked up by a lovely bloke (name... no idea. Lets call him Bruno) and were told we were the only ones booked on the trip, and could therefore do pretty much what we wanted until lunch time. We had a personal tour of the city, including a rose garden (very special and massive - I think they had about 200 varieties in every colour imaginable), Mt something (high viewpoint on an old volcano) and then across to Devonport for another lookout point. Bruno insisted on taking us to a fish market, claiming it to be a great site that many tourists don't see. We tried to explain that we didn't really travel half way round the world to see fish/we were not really that interested/Nat used to work in a fishshop and would rather not be reminded of such times etc etc... but Bruno persisted and finally won the deal buy promising us the best fish and chips we'll ever taste (at 11am?!).
The market was fantastic! Such a diverse range of EVERYTHING sea food ish including live eels (no, we didn't try these) crabs (creepy) and crayfish (expensive) and soooo much cheaper than the UK markets. The little chippy next to the market gave us a light brunch of mega fresh market fish battered and deep fried, and served with a mountain of chips and loads of salt. Flipping brilliant food, and only cost $7 (£3!!!). Strangely, everywhere we've been all over NZ seems to have a shortage of vinegar, and we all know you can't eat chips without a good splash of the stuff - Nat went up to the rather cute lad at the counter and asked if they had any spare, and returned to the table with a shot measure (literally) of vinegar. We puzzled over the amount of vinegar we had been given and decided it was a good idea not to drink it, even though it seemed like such a waste of such a scarse resourse in NZ. Turns out its not the best thing to use as a dipping sauce for your chips, they tend to go a bit soggy.
In the afternoon we picked up another lady and a new driver who took us to the West Coast, where we had a tour of the local forestry and some beaches with black sand. This part of the trip was interesting, but involved a lot of driving to the different sights, and on this long journey through scenic locations the driver was fantastic in providing dull, monotone commentary about all the stuff we may have been seeing. Natalie took this opportunity to catch up on 40 winks, as did the other lady; Nathan was sat quietly admiring the view/being lulled to sleep by the commentary and also fell asleep momentarily, before realising he was right in the eye-line of the driver's mirror and would no-doubt get the brunt of the driver's rage if he could see all his passengers were asleep. How he managed to stay awake is a miracle, but one Natalie applauded him for.
That evening, we had dinner in the sky tower (200m+ high). But before that we did a little souvenier shopping and we saw loads of beautiful had crafted stuff but due to the limit in our suitcases only got a few small things, but hey when we live there we can buy as much as we like!
So going up the sky tower itself was pretty cool, the lift had a glass panel in the floor so it was kinda scarey to see the floor rapidly dissapear beneath you. The viewing deck had 360o magnificent views across the whole of Auckland aswell as more large glass panels in the floor! Nat was too scared to stand on them but Nathan plucked up the courage to stand and sit on the 'completely safe' glass with nothing but thin air between him and concrete several hundred metres below!
After having a good look round and taking some pics, we went even higher in the tower to the restaurant were we had a very nice buffet style meal again with spectacular views across Auckland.
The following day we sadly had to leave NZ behind and flew to Fiji. This was only a 3 hour flight, so our bums were only slighty numb. Leaving Auckland airport we were lucky not to be strip saerched and probed as Nat decided it would be funny to say to the passport officer that she didnt have a bomb in her passport! OMG! Nathan couldnt believe his ears and cringed as the 'B' word left Nats lips and fell on the ears of the passport officer with a very stern look and the words of warning not to joke about that sort of thing! Thank god NZ has some sense of humour and we werent in LA! Suffice to say we left quite quickly! LOL.
Anyway we safely landed in Fiji with Nathan reminding Nat to just smile and hand over her passport! Walking off the plane into the airport we were greeted with several brightly dressed guys playing and singing Fijian music aswell as extreme heat and humidity!
Shortly after arrival we were whisked off to the port in a very well airconditioned luxury Volvo by a very polite and chatty driver who insited on calling us sir and madam!
On our arrival at the port we were directed to our private chartered boat with our very old toothless skipper. Our bags were put on board and we received our thorough safety briefing... 'Life jacket under seat.. ok?' Erm lets hope we dont need them! We neednt have worried, the skipper was quite competent of keeping the boat upright and afloat as we jumped, tipped around in the 6ft waves! As we both hung for our lives and said a quick prayer, our skipper just smiled and said 'Ok?'. Apparently our terrified reply of 'Yessss!' translated to him as 'speed up please' as he accelerated and now bumped higher with waves crashing over the small boat!
After 1 hour of addrenaline boating we arrived into calmer waters to our island resort (http://www.matamanoa.com/) and peeled our puckered bums and hands from the boat. Fortunately we were greated on the hot, white sands with a cocktail to calm our shredded nerves!
Ok so lets get the bad part out of the way first.... We were informed a few months before we went that at the resort there would be some minor refurbishment works going on. Erm well that was a bit of a lie as there was full on demolition, sawing, grinding, banging etc going on! We were pretty put out, but the staff and manager were very aplologetic and helpful, so what can you do?
Despite this, we can honestly say we had an amazing time in Fiji and were totally relaxed. The work was only going on from 9am until 3pm and wasnt always that noisey and we could get away from it on other parts of the island.
Our bure (there name for a hut) on the beachfront was absolutely stunning and was not much smaller than our flat. Equipped with air-con and with a nice patio area and hammock. So we really just got to relax either by the pool on the beach or by our bure in the hammock.
We did do a little exercise (!) and borrowed some kayaks to go around the island which took all of 20 minutes, but we did it! Nathan also spent several Hours snorkelling in the blue, crystal clear 25oC waters looking at all the coral and amazing technicoloured fish.
The weather was a very warm and humid 35oC, but it was their monsoon season, so we had 2 very heavy downfalls of rain, but they only lasted about half an hour and as soon as they stopped, the sun was out again and you would never had known it had rained.
The evening were mainly taken up by, eating, drinking and being entertained by the Fijians, who did singing, dancing and also put on other activities like a quizzes and karioake (which by the way we both had a go at, but not on our own. They got all the men and women to do a song together!)
After 3 days of soaking up the sun and just chilling out, we sadly had to head back to the mainland of Fiji. Fortunately the boat was bigger and the sea much calmer going back, however about 20 minutes out from the port we were hit by another extreme downpour. This made visibilty steering the boat very difficult but the skipper seemed to manage peering out a small opening in the plastic windshield of the deck to see where he was going!
We made it safely to port and were then taken back to the airport. We did however have a small delay as the driver had been and gone as he thought we were on a different boat! But anyway we got there in the end!
We got to the airport at about 4:30pm and as our fight was until 10:50pm we had arranged a little tour of Nadi, where we were driven around by a guy who liked to be known as 'Ready, steady go!' Ok?! Purely because his name was reddy! It was a bit of fun and we saw some nice tropical gardens, a big Buddist temple and some freah fruit and veg markets selling stuff we didnt have a clue what it was! We also stopped off in some random restaurant for a lovely meal before being taken back to the airport.
In preparation for returning to the UK we got out of our shorts t-shirts and sandals and into warm layers! :-(
LA airport hadnt changed on our return, with equally stern faced staff as before. We only had to show our passports 4 times and once again had to have our fingerprints and retina scans (just incase they had changed since we were last here!!) Fortunately Nat remembered not to smile or say the 'B' word, but Nathan was shouted at for stepping over a line before being told! Funny thing was there wasnt a line! But he obeyed the command in fear of being shot!
Our flight home didnt go without some event, there was plenty of turbulance and one passanger fainting and needing attention of what seemed to be the entire flight crew and a bottle of oxygen! Me and Nat just stayed hidden in our seats and hoped they didnt ask for someone medically trained!
Several sleepless hours and 4 films later we landed in freezing Heathrow. Brrr! What a shock going from 35oc only 24 hours ago to 3oc. Nats mum who very kindly picked us up had stocked the car up with warm blankets, a flask of tea and bacon sandwiches. Mmm!
So that was the end of our most amazing adventure! We well and truely fell in love with NZ and are now more than ever determined to move out there.
I dont think either of us have quite got used to being back in the UK yet, its too cold for starters, but our body clocks have been making us fall asleep by about 8pm and waking up at 5am!
We hope you have enjoyed reading our blogs, as this is accessable by anyone on the web we have even had comments from as far away as Switzerland on it!
Merry christmas and a happy new year.
Love Nathan & Nat xxx
- comments
Karen Hoskins So this is the final chapter - I have so loved reading your blogs and will miss them so much. You sound like you have had the most amazing time. Start saving as I can see you moving out there. Take Care Stay Safe and Have a Lovely Christmas and New Year Love Karen xx