Salt Flats and bizarre noctural occurences!

So, following very little sleep we dragged ourselves and our backpacks to the pick up point for our Salt Flats tour for 8am the following morning... it hurt! We met our fellow 'saltflatters' and companions for the next 3 days.. there was 6 of us; myself and Katy, Jo and Mike (an English couple from Kent) and Jean-Baptiste and Chloe, a French couple.. who luckily for us spoke fluent Spanish.. handy! Pic here.. L-R front Katy, Jo, Mike. Back; Jean-Baptiste & Chloe.

First task of the day was to navigate our way across the border (a hut in the middle of nowhere that is! Pic here is Katy and I at said border!) to Bolivia... that successfully completed we hopped back on the bus for our trip across no mans land before stopping for breakfast at the entrance to the Bolivian National Park... a national park like no other you've imagined before... all very sparse dry desert lands, rocks, volcanos and crazy lakes of varying colours... and obviously the Slat Flats but we'll come to those later!

Once across the border we swopped from the mini bus to a jeep that would be our transport for the next 3 days, it was nice and cosy and our guide (and i use that word loosely) Leon, was at least a decent driver - there's very little else i can sing his praises about I'm afraid.. as much as I'm sure he's a very nice man, he was entirely disinterested in us (other than to stare intently at whoever was sat in the front with him) and offering us any information on the sights we were seeing around us!! That day we stopped at numerous laguna's... the first being Laguna Blanca, (for those who haven't twigged yet, that'll be the White Lake) standing at 4350m above sea level, then Laguna Verde (green lake) before a stop at the Hot springs, pictured here, it was freezing getting in and out but while in there was like a lovely hot bath, with a backdrop of mountains and flamingos!! Then came the Geysers, with the volcanic activity found in this vast park these were amazing. Next stop was lunch, at what was to be our home for the night, what we didn't realise at the time was how utterly cold beyond belief we were going to be there. We had a little break after lunch, and for me a much needed nap thanks to the lack of sleep the previous night as well as me not dealing too well with the altitude... little did i know it was only going to get worse!!

Anyway, after our little siesta, we headed off to Laguna Colorada... the Red Lake... this was probably the most impressive of the lakes and we spent a good while there running around taking pics of the scenery, flamingos and lamas that were mooching around all over the place before heading back to the 'hostel' ... and i use that word in the loosest possible way... for dinner. The food so far was ok, although that would all change soon too and dinner passed in a blur of chatter and random encounters with some friends of Mike and Jo's turning up there too. It also randomly transpired that night that Mike knows people I know from home.. small world eh!

Anyway, that was our first day, a good day and some incredible sights, the likes of which I've never seen before and I was most impressed! Little did I know I was about to have one of the most uncomfortable, disorientating nights of my life... the hostel is situated 4800m above sea level, I thought i'd pretty much adjusted to the altitude thing by now but clearly not. We'd been warned that the hostel was basic and had no running water but we were entirely prepared for exactly how basic it was.... we all had beds, not the most comfy but it could've been worse, what we weren't prepared for however was the cold.... I don't think I've ever been as cold in my life (and my lot back home know how i hate to be cold!) dusty, dirty concrete floors, a very minging bathroom and a completley pointless fire... so we went to bed wearing as much as we possibly could... including thermals... never have i been more grateful to Luke for giving me his thermal top as at the last minute before I left New Zealand.. thanks Pucas! and Jules, your sleeping bag is being put to good use here too!! The hatred place is shown in the pic below... its not as innocent as it looks, trust me!!

I did manage to fall asleep, at least I'm assuming I did because the next thing I'm aware of is that I woke up at what i think was about 3am, needing to pee... something we were all praying we wouldn't need to do til the next morning... I however, couldn't ignore it so I reluctantly managed to get myself out of bed and get my trainers on, find my torch and navigate my way to the dorm door.... that's all i remember... the next thing I'm aware of is that I'm lying on the cold concrete floor in the doorway of our dorm with 2 people and a torch light comnig towards me.. i have no idea how long i was there for, although Katy tells me it wasn't too long, but I then managed to get myself up and make my way to the bathroom.. the 2 people said something to me although i have no idea what it was.... and again, the next however long is also a blur... once more I found myself lying on the floor, this time in the bathroom, once I'd realised where i was and what i was trying to do I managed to get myself to a cubicle and finally pee (too much information I'm sure but hey, too late now!) After that, i wasn't capable of getting myself back to bed and I was ridiculously hot too, so having stripped to just one layer, i lowered myself on to the floor (a realisation I didn't welcome the next morning when seeing the bathroom floor in the daylight!) and waited it out until i felt human enough to make it back to bed. It didn't even occur to me until half way through the following day that I'd fainted!! I've never fainted before in my life (at least not to my knowledge... right Ma?) so why on earth would i have done so now?! It was obvioulsy the altitude, my body clearly didn't like it much but at the time it was actually really scary, I was completely disorientated, felt terrible in a completely unknown way and had no idea what was happening to me... and no you skeptical lot, there was no alcohol involved!! The next day, apart from a few random bruises that I'm assuming are from the falls, I felt fine!!! All very bizarre!!! I wasn't sorry to leave that place as you can imagine.

Anyway, there's my little tale for you all.... the next day we were up and away by 7am, with various sights to stun us once again along the way, including Volcano's simmering away, stone trees, more laguna's, a stop at San Juan village (where you can see me hugging a cactus in the pic below!!) and a very very random lunch at PMA Chiguana Army Barracks, which our guide assured us was a 'normal' stop for all tour groups.... the fact that they were totally unprepared for any such event and Leon, as we discovered the following day, had to give away some of our food as a 'fee' for eating there, didn't exactly convince us of the normality of the whole event... its safe to say we also encountered THE worst toilet in the world here... and I've seen a fair few dodgy ones too!!!

Luckily that night we were staying in a nicer hotel, although no thanks to our guide who wanted to put us up in another similar venue to the previous night... thankfully the lady that ran the place had decided to take herself off somewhere so wasn't around to check us in ... resulting in us having to go to the Salt Hotel.... a lovely hotel, with all the walls and everything made of salt.... although for us, the best feature was the hot showers.... it was utter bliss i can tell you. We were there fairly early and just chilled out and chatted until dinner, had a little 'fight' with Leon about getting up for sunrise over the salt flats the following morning... basically he didn't want to but its something that's promised as part of the tour and we were naturally all keen to do so. Thankgod for Chloe and Jean-Baptiste who could effectively argue our case with him! With case settled and wake up call set for 4am we all headed to bed in our comfy warm hotel, where you'll be relieved to know there was no repeat performance from the night before!!

4am came all too quickly and we were packed up and on our way relatively on time to Isla Incahuas, where we were to watch the sunrise. We actually only just made it, Leon ended up forgetting the meat that everyone ended up wishing he'd left behind and we had to turn back, adding some vital minutes onto our journey... we hotfooted it up to the top of the island... not an easy task at 3660m above sea level... we were shattered by the time we got there! We did make it though and it was an amazing sight, well worth the rush. This pic here is of the sunrise, it doesn't really do it justice but you get the idea. Once the sun was up, we headed back down for brekkie and then had some free time to wander out over the flats and get some pics.... the place is unbelievable and I'm so glad I got to see it... its one of the things that was recommended to me to do in Bolivia and I'm so glad i listened. Its such a strange feeling to be walking out over a massive expanse of salt that looks like it should be the ocean.

After we left there, we drove across the salt flats, stopping for pics and encountering a crazy couple cycling their way across the flats and the park.... nutters!!... saw the salt being mined, manually, as it still is and collected into little mountains as you can see in the pic, stopped at another salt hotel for a peek and then headed to Corchani for lunch.... a tiny village with a random salt museum and lama's wandering around, as they do. Lunch was in a word.. hideous.. with half the veggies lunch having been given to the soldiers at the barracks the previous day and the meat for te others looking anything but apetizing...we were all looking forward to reaching Uyuni, our final stop, for some more food!

Anyway, after 'lunch' we had one final stop before the tour was over... the train cemetery... which is what the title suggests... basically a big area where trains go to rust and end their days. We climbed around on them, had a little look, took some pics then got on our merry way to Uyuni... which we reached at about 2pm. Katy and I were intending to stay overnight in Uyuni but when we arrived, as ok as it was, there wasn't much to it so we decided to just get on our way to La Paz so we'd have a few days to chill out and enjoy the place before heading to Peru for the Inca trail. We booked our overnight bus, then killed the rest of the afternoon eating, catching up on email, shopping and eating some more. We bumped into Mark, a colleague of Katy's from home in the fab pizza restaurant we were spending our last few hours in Uyuni in, who as it turned out was also heading to La Paz that night. Our bus left about 8pm and we managed to cause about as much fuss as 2 girls could when we finally got on it... we managed to siti n the wrong seats twice, the second time, we'd packed all our stuff into Katy's packsafe and tightly attached it to our chair before being asked to move by the seats rightful occupant..... i think by the time we were settled, we'd pretty much made ourselves unpopular with just about everyone on that bus!! oops!

The journey took about 11 hours, and Bolivia being the poor country that it is, means the buses aren't as nice as the ones found in the rest of South America and the roads not exactly well made. Katy was feeling poorly so was out for the count the entire time, which was lucky methinks... me on the other hand, didn't sleep so well.... i managed to forget to get my trusty eye mask out (and we weren't undoing the pack safe for a 3rd time i can assure you!) and it was all a bit uncomfy.... I also found myself with a french girl, venturing out into the middle of nowhere in the pitch black to relieve our bladders while we desperately prayed that the bus wouldn't leave us there!! It didn't thankfully and several hours of no sleep later we arrived at our next stop, bolivia's capital La Paz!!

Now, I know it sounds like i've complained a lot about our Salt Flats tour but don't get me wrong, its the tour company that left a lot to be desired, not the tour itself... .the place is unbelievable with sights you can't imgaine and the Salt Flats themselves just blow you away... I completely recommend to anyone that that should go and experience it... just with a different tour company!! xx

Hangovers at High Altitude!!

So, I just wrote this entry, nearly completely, then lost it all!! Not amused!! Anyway... I'll try again... One thing Katy and I hadn't considered during our partying the ngiht before was the altitude and the effect it may have on us!! oops! San Pedro de Atacama is a lovely little town, with a bit of a 'wild west' feel to it that sits at 2440m above sea level. The pic here is one of only a few we have of San Pedro and doesn't do it justice at all, it's far prettier than it appears here and was somewhere that Katy and I would've both been happy staying in for longer given the chance. It was small and peaceful and just what we needed after our marathon journey.

Having never been at a high altitude before though it wasn't suprising my body was crying out in pain for putting it through not only excessive amounts of travelling but also plying it with Gin and sending it to ridiculous heights!!! When sipping on our Pisco Sours under the Chilean skies at our random party the night before we hadn't considered the althitude thing, trust me though.. we couldn't help but remember it the morning after.... Hangovers at high altitude are anything but fun!!!

We managed to drag ourselves out of bed and into the peacful suntrap of the hotel courtyard for breakfast and I don't mind admitting that I went straight back to bed afterwards. I know I should've been exploring the place but I had a warm bed waiting for me and felt shocking so that was the place for me. Not only was I dealing with a hangover but I wsa trying to adjust to the altitude... nose bleeds are just one of the lovely symptons I had to contend with... hmm, nice!!

I did manage to see most of the afternoon though and after a unbelievably lovely hot shower and a mooch around town we headed to La Cave; the restaurant the our new friends Ian and Ceaser worked in, for dinner.. where despite our resolve to not let a drop of alcohol pass our lips, free Pisco Sours were presented to us and well, it would've been rude not to really!! We did however manage to stick to our guns and fulfill our plans of getting to bed early and sober... annoyingly though I found myself unable to sleep.. what Ma would call Sods Law I believe!!

We did wake to find ourselves feeling slightly more humn the following day luckily and after a leisurely morning and lush fish lunch at a cheap local restaurant we took leave of our senses and hired mountain bikes in order to cycle to the Valley de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) approximately 12km form San Pedro, to see the sun set over the sand dunes. The Valley is one of Chile's (and South America's) many amazing parks with stunning mountainous and volcanic landscape. As we set off about 3:30pm, the sun was blazing and it was hot and dusty....

The pic on the left here is me having a little rest at the entrance to the park and the other (below) is me contending with the hills.... Katy's fitter than me and managed to stay on her bike for most of the hills, unlike me although it was steep (the sign says so) so I think I can be forgiven!! It really is an amazing place though, you can easily see why its named so, resembling the moon's crater immensly. And just to prove to those skeptics out there.... the pic on the right here is to prove I did actually ride the bike, not just wak next to it the whole time!!!

The sunset is best viewed at the top of the masive sand dunes, so along with all the people that had been sensible enough to book themselves on a driven tour of the valley, at 5:45pm we climbed the masive dunes and settled ourselves down to watch the sun disappear behind the Northern Chilean mountains... not a bad sight, I tell assure you!

Now, we do have a little confession to make... while sat there watching the sun go down, we contemplated our return journey to San Pedro... and weren't exactly relishing the thought of it... as we'd been on planes and buses for so much of our time recently, we were both feeling quite lethargic nd had wanted some exercise.... now, though we were just shattered and so decided to hatch plan... there seemed to be several half empty tour buses all heading back to San Pedro so we figured a ew Chilean Peso's ought to convince one of the drivers to take pity on us and our bikes!! As it turned out though, we did one better.... on our descent from the sand duens we spotted at Australian couple in a UTE (obviously!) with 2 empty seats and a big fat empty trailer on the back... we cheekily asked them to take us and our bikes back to San Pedro (luckily where they were heading anyway) and offered them some money for their trouble... they wouldn't take the money but thankfully would take us... so, 2 weary girls and their bikes hitched a lift back to town and were more than grateful to be back in double quick time and showered and off for dinner at a respectable hour. This time at La Casona... which served the most delicious Salmon. The rest of the evening was spent just chilling out and chatting with Ian (shown in pic here), who'd joined us (Ceaser was home nursing sunburn!!!!!! p'ah, call himself a man!! ) we were leaving early the next morning on our Salt Flats tour so it probably wasn't wise to not go to bed til about half one but it was a fun evening and had been a really good day. We were both sad to be leaving San Pedro, it's such an easy place to be and we'd had fun... but time was ticking so we had to go... xx

The longest journey EVER!!!

So..... little did i know that as I reluctantly got out of bed that morning at the Nadi Bay Resort Hotel it would be the last time my poor body had the luxury of a bed to sleep in for the best part of 3 days!!! The flight from Nadi to Santiago was via Auckland and in total took 15.5 hours.. the Nadi to Auckland was pretty painless and a very sweet irish couple had kindly paid for the taxi to the airport I'd shared with them (bargain!) so all in all the journey wasn't starting too badly. Transferring to the SAntiago flight was a tad slow but still ok, then i spent the next few hours searching for antihistamine cream for the ridiculous amounts of bites I now had on my legs (perhaps my own fault for spending too much time relaxing on a hammock in the open the night before but hey, sympathy anyway please!!) and using the last of my NZ mobile credit by waking my mum, sis and Becky & Aideen up (technically not their night but as they were on night shift me calling them was just as annoying I suspect!) Anyway, the next leg was pretty dull, a 13 hour flight that saw me watching far too many movies, not sleeping very well, not eating all that much (thanks to me yet again forgetting to tell anyone I needed the veggie option!) and most excitingly of all... saw me crossing the date line.... after 13 hours on board, I arrived in Santiago nearly 4 hours before I'd taken off!! Bizarre!!

So.. Sept 22nd 2006 Take 2; somehow Katy and I timed things perfectly and found oursleves walking towards each other off our respective flights (hers from Buenos Aires) have to say was very relieved this was the case given the amount you get harrassed the minute you walk through from arrivals! Before I go on... just for those who don't know, Katy and I are friends from home (via our lovely mutual friends Zoe and Nicky - Hi Girlies!) and had arranged while I was in Sydney to spend the first 3 weeks of my time in South America travelling together. She has 6 weeks leave before heading back to London to start working far too hard as a Lawyer so this was her time to party... who was I to complain!!

Once we'd worked our way through the mob at the airport and found ourselves a taxi to a hostel in the city; La Casa Roja, we checked in, both of us exhausted but decided it was sensible to keep oursleves awake until a respectable hour for going to bed..in an attempt to beat the jet lag! We busied ourselves for the afternoon, having lunch, getting some money changed and booking our bus up to San Pedro de Atacama, in Northern Chile... where we planned to do the tour of the Salt Flats and cross over to Bolivia from. This was where our thoughts of a nice warm bed were firmly put to rest (pardon the pun!). Thanks to the only availability on buses being 3 days later or that very evening, cos of time limitations we had no choice but to opt for the bus leaving that night at 9pm... I was meant to be sound asleep by then!!! Ah well!!

And that's how it came to be that we found ourselves boarding a bus for a 24 hour journey to the nroth of Chile. It was a shame we didn't have time to check out Santiago but I'm told that it's not all that anyway and I already have Easter Island on my list of places still to visit so I'm sure Santiago will feature in that somewhere! We did manage a little look round when we went for lunch and to book the bus and I have to say the one thing I noticed about the city was that my name was everywhere.... there were streets named after me, launderettes, shops and metro stations! It was even commented on when I checked in at the hostel... ok, so I'm sure 'Mr Ricardo Cumming', whoever he may be, might object to me claiming it's all named after me but hey, I think I'll risk it anyway!! Luckily the buses in Chile are pretty luxurious.... they include food and semi reclining seats, that recline back enough for sleep to not be too difficult... that said I could've slept on a cold concrete floor with no blankets I was that tired!!

In fairness the journey didn't prove too painful... probably cos I was asleep for most of it but hey!.. (the first pic on this entry is us half way through the bus journey) we had to change in Calama, 23 hours in and luckily were guided to the bus from there to San Pedro by a very sweet Chilean named Gilbert who took a little shine to our Katy, even giving her a cheeky little squeeze when they posed for a requested photo....!! It was a blessing he was there though or I'm not entirely sure how we'd have found our way to the other bus. We did though and an hour later arrived in San Pedro.. slightly concerningly we were dropped in the middle of nowhere and as it was dark we decided the sensible thing was to get a taxi to a hostel. We picked a slightly micer hotel; Takha Takha - we'd decided we deserved it and the real clincher was that it offered 24 hour hot water.... trust me, a luxury I couldn't wait to make use of!

We worked out that by the time we reached San Pedro, Katy had been travelling for 36 hours and I'd been on the road for 54 hours!!!! Ouch!!! Definetely the longest journey I've ever done... and i thought the 23 hours from Bangkok to Phi Phi way back in December was bad!!

Now, you would think that the sensible thing to do after travelling for that long would be to go to bed.... so we went out!! Obviously!! We decided we deserved a drink after surviving our mamouth journey plus we'd been together for nearly 2 days and still hadn't had a drink together. We were too tired to care what we looked like and have to admit, skanky as it is, other than cleaning our teeth, we went out as we were... as you can probably tell from the picture above, with our first drink together!!! The plan was we'd just have one cheeky drink then head to our beds, with nothing to get up for the next day we were both looking forward to a lovely long lie in! As you can probably all guess... those 'quiet nights' never quite go according to plan so you'll not be surprised to learn that a mere few hours later we found ourselves at a very random Gay Chilean's party in the middle of nowhere being charmed by the likes of odd magicians and 2 lads who were to become our friends during our time in San Pedro; Ian (Argentinian) and Ceaser (Peruvian.. shown giving Katy a cheeky dance lesson above!!!!).... all in all it was a very comical, unexpected night and a sample of South American hospitality. It didn't take us too long to want nothing but our beds, plus the lack of a bathroom other than in the darkness, speeded up the desire to be back at the hotel... so we finally made it into proper bed, a few pisco sours later... I can't tell you what bliss it was!! x

Leaving too soon!

Our prayers weren't answered and the day of our departure from Caqelai dawned grey and wet.... 45 mins in what was basically a rowing boat with an engine attached to it was not going to be fun!! After we were seen off from the island with a scarily funereal like song from the locals, we proceeded to get ridiculously wet bumping up and down over the waves..... now that it's over it's quite comical, at the time.... not so much! Anyway, we'd arranged for a taxi to pick us up at the bridge and take us back to Nadi. Lotty and Graham were flying out to LA the next day, my flight was the day after and we had friends from Sydney arriving the following morning too. The journey back to Nadi, once we'd dried out was ok, it rained most of the day so we didn't really mind being stuck in a car all day. We made it back but about 3pm and checked into the Nadi Bay Resort Hotel.. which had been recommended to us. It was a great little place with 2 swimming pools, bars, restaurants and decent dorms, not to mention a proper shower! Yay! we spent the afternoon just catching up on emails, doing our laundry and having a long awaited proper shower... lush! Then, along with David, a guy from our dorm, headed to a nearby Mexican restaurant for our last supper together where we discovered Pictionary so had a cheeky game while waiting for our food. (another long awaited thing... a good feed, the food on Caqelai wasn't all that). As you can see from the pic, Graham in particular enjoyed the meal!!

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and chilled out in the bar with a cheeky cocktail before bed. We ended up bumping into a lot of peeps that had been on Beachcomber with us so it ended up being quite a late one. Fun though.

Thursday morning dawned... my final day in Fiji - Boo! Lotty and Graham weren't flying until that evening and Steve and Glen were arriving mid morning so the day, although sad as I'd have to say goodby to the lovely Lotty and Graham, would be a fun one too. Luckily it was beautifully hot and sunny so once we were up and about we set ourselves up by the pool to soak up the sun. By mid morning we'd found Steve and Glen checking into our dorm and caught up with them - having not seen them since Sydney, we'd been looking forward to them arriving. The rest of the day was spent by the pool, mostly playing Trivial Pursuits - the aussie version which took us an age to get through but we managed it in the end. Obviously not sure about Lotty and Graham but Glen and I let Steve and Andy win... we were just being nice!!! ;0) Honest! (pic here is the newbies, Glen and Steve btw, not that you can actually see Glen - there's a clearer one of him below though!!)

After the sun had set we all headed up to the dorm and chilled out while Lotty and Graham got packed and ready to go... and I pretended to pack (although how lying on the bed chatting is pretending I'm not really sure but hey it was fun!!) 7pm came and it was time for the cheeky two to leave us..... I can't believe it came round so quickly..... Lotty and Graham I had a ball travelling with you both, you rock and I can't wait to catch up when we get home (if not in South America) I miss you loads but hope you're having fun and games in LA!!

Anyway, once we'd tearfully waved them off we headed back to the room, Glen got the drinks in while I had a shower and the evening went from there..... somehow all except Andy 'forgot' to eat and while everyone else headed straight to the bar, Glen and I sat and chatted in the dorm, which unintentionally meant that we were sensible and didn't drink for a little (although we made up for that later). We finally dragged ourselves from the comfiness of our beds and joined the others in the bar where numbers had multiplied several times over in our absence, Andy had done his usual socialite thing and brought the masses together so there was quite a crowd going on and the atmosphere was great. Glen and I settled in nicely and thanks to several weeks of banter (aka: abuse) concerning our drinking abilities, it seemed only right to put such claims to the test... which meant only one thing... Sambuka!! Ouch!!! I don't know why I imagine I can do such things and be ok (and Glen, that isn't me admitting I'm a lightweight... that's your title!!) I did manage to hold my own though and if I recall correctly, the nearly full bottle of beer left voluntarily at the end of the evening didn't belong to me did it Mr Cameron??! Anyway, in a nutshell the rest of the evening post-Sambuka was spent, drinking, chatting, chilling out on the fab (and ridiculously big) hammocks the hotel had dotted around and generally being mischievous and having fun. Needless to say we all awoke with big fat hangovers the next morning and surprise surprise, we had to be up early to catch our respective boats/buses/planes!!!!! Clearly I will never learn my lesson!! Was a wicked night though!

Anyway, 8:30am Friday morning and it was time to say goodbye again... yet again to people I didn't really want to leave... having already said bye to Lotty and Graham, next to leave were Glen and Steve who were off to Beachcomber for a few days... Lads, it was wicked to see you again albeit for too short a time, it's a shame our timing wasn't better and we only crossed over by one day but it was a good day and the perfect way to end my time in Fiji. I hope you're having fun back there and I hope we'll meet again.... it's so much fun abusing Glen it'd be rude not to eh Steve! ;0) Glen.. what can I say.. I think we can call it even on the drinking stakes but I'm clearly still beating you on the tan front!!! xx

Next to leave was me, which meant another goodbye, to a very hungover Andy... the only one of us that didn't have to get up that morning so I let him off seeing me off and believe he promptly passed out again after I'd left. Andy... it was great to have met you and I know I speak for Lotty and Graham too when I say we're really glad you joined Team Fiji, you were fun to travel with and we'll see you back in London, Brentism's, Top 10 Saints and all!! Enjoy the rest of your trip matey.

And that was that... Fiji over.... I was on my way to the airport for my penultimate flight... a very bizarre feeling!! I could've done without the hangover for the marathon journey i was about to embark on but the hangover was worth it and at this point I wasn't to know just how long my journey was really going to be!! Fiji went all to quickly... it's strange how you look forward to something for so long and wish for it to come then before you know it it's been and gone. Even though I was really excited to be heading to South America, I have to admit I would've happily stayed in Fiji a little longer... xx

Quacking in Caqelai!!

Basically all of Saturday was taken up with travelling, we left Beachcomber at 1130, me battling with a nasty hangover and an even nastier reaction to one of my malaria tablets that I've been taking in preparation for South America - having missed brekkie thanks to it and only getting sorted thanks to Andy looking after me (thanks matey). We said goodbye to the peeps that had a few more days on the island... Simon included despite it being touch and go the previous day thanks to a close call with the loss of his passport and tickets (luckily found just before he was about to head back to the mainland in search of them... hope all's good Simon and you make it to Sweden ok. Have fun!) The pic here was actually taken at Beachcomber on our first night so not really relevant to this post but Lotty I thought it was a nice one of you and you always tell me off for putting not so nice ones (in your opinion anyway) of you on here! ;0)

The plan for us was to hop on the bus down to Suva, check out Fiji's capital city for the night then head over to Caqelai for 3 days chilling out on a nice remote tropical island. We ended up getting a taxi to Suva, as there was 4 of us it only worked out about $1 more expensive so it seemed daft not to... we made it down there having passed the 4 hour journey with some comedy games.. by early evening and checked into the Sunset Motel.... take my advice, anyone that finds themself in Suva... don't stay there. It was grim and like sleeping on a plank of wood.... we weren't sad to be on our way the next morning. We did have a little venture around the city to see what it was like and to be honest it felt a bit like being back in Asia - this was Andy's first experience of anything like it and it was really interesting to see a different side to Fiji than the idyllic tropical islands it's famous for. I'm not sure it's on my list of places to go back to and other than a great curry (according to the others anyway, me being a wus found it way too spicy!) there's not much more to be said about it.. so I won't bother!

Sunday morning came and we started out for Caqelai... the only way to get there was by taxi and boat. We got a taxi to a place called Waidalice River where the people from the island were picking us up... you can see from the pic here that we were basically dumped in the middle of nowhere, all feeling a little skeptical about whether any boat would be turning up at all!!

It did though, and bang on time too. The next 45 mins were spent whizzing our way down the river to the island, we felt a little like we were back on the Mekong in Laos.. it was great fun. We arrived at the island by about midday and as it wsa a Sunday they were serving the traditional Fijian meal; Lovo. We were quite looking forward to trying it but I have to admit I don't think any of us were that struck... sorry Fiji! It was all a bit bland and lacked taste.. other than the fish anyway. Pic below is on the boat ride to the island!!

Caqelai though....... a strange island. Chosen because it was recommended by a mate of Graham's... aesthetically speaking it's stunning, as you can see from the pic's, beautiful white sands, palm trees, the lot... from all the other points of view, a little odd if we're being honest. It's run by Buddists who were all very lovely people and there was only about 15 guests on the island, maximum but I'm not sure how to put it so it doesn't sound offensive, they weren't exactly the same types of people as us... many of them we're sure like to think of themselves as 'proper travellers' ie, the type that look down their noses at the likes of us! Now don't get me wrong, some of them were very sweet but it was pretty clear that we weren't about to become best buddies with them... there seemed to be a routine to the island... so when we attempted a bit of volleyball at a time other than the usual 4pm, after tea... it was met with a little tension!!! comedy!!

Anyway... as we had the 4 of us there it was all good... the day we arrived, it was overcast so after lunch when we'd settled into our dorm - which was wicked, we had it to ourselves for all but one night and were able to fashion seperate 'boudior', lounge and even a bar section - we got on with some cards, then joined in the volleyball (at the accepted time) although I still have a big fat bruise on my arm and once Lotty and I had tired of nearly breaking our bones and listening to the somewhat pompous wannabe professional volleyball player (who really wasn't that good) we took it upon ourselves to crack open the duty free gin and take the boys a post-volley drink... ok so it was only 5pm but hey, there's nowt else to do on an overcast desert island! Suffice to say, the rest of the evening was hilarious... involving the discovery of George the cat (so named by us) dinner then a bit of a party for 4 in our dorm.... and also saw the birth of Team Toilet.... the toilets on the island, not to mention the cold bucket showers, left a little to be desired and as they were a little trek from the dorm, after dark there was no way Lotty and I were going it alone so Team Toilet was established... long may it live on Lotty!!

Talking of which.. on one such excursion... our fate as the misfits of the island was sealed when we encountered what we believed to be our friendly french neighbour... we happily greeted her with our Bula's and were promptly met with... 'would you keep it down, you're Quack Quack Quacking all over the place!' Needless to say it was all Lotty and I could do to keep a straight face and from there on in all team toilet outings were accompanied with actual Quacking!!!! Classic! We were naturally most disappointed to find that she was leaving the next day!!! ;0)

Luckily our second day there was lovely and bright and hot.... it was tough getting over the hangover but we managed to get some snorkelling gear together and head out to Snake island whnen the tide was out... it's a crazy little rock formation really shaped like a pirate ship and named so cos of all the sea snakes that reside there. When the tides out you can walk out there... so we did. It was cool to see but thanks to the shallowness of the surrounding waters we didn't manage to snorkel there and headed back to the beach to check out the underwater world there. It was cool to snorkel but it was still really shallow and the colours were no where near as impressive as on Bechcomber. The rest of the day was spent soaking up the sun, poor Andy got a tad burnt (and yes, that's me being kind, sorry Andy) and playing cards before dinner and a bit of a sing song at a bonfire the island peeps had organised. Thanks to the hangovers we didn't last too long that night and headed home to chill out before bed. One thing I've forgotten to mention thus far is a little comical element to our friend Andy.... he has an unconcious ability to imitate the comedy genius that is Ricky Gervais - although we all find it far more amusing to have nicknamed Andy; David!! haha.... it's truly hilarious, sometimes you'll just catch a 'Brentism' and he has no idea..... don't stop Andy, it's a good thing honest!!

Our third and final day on Caqelai was unfortunately dull and wet so it was mostly spent chilling out, reading, playing cards (surprise!) with a little frisbee thrown in between the rain in an attempt to do something other than lie in our beds all day. The pic you see here is of the lovely Lotty and Graham looking out towards the rain cloud that was approaching (shown in the other pic) it was awesome, you could see it coming towards you and where the rain started and yet be stood there totally dry... although not for long.... we had to do a mad dash to shelter right after those pics were taken!! Was wicked to see though. The evening was much the same as the last, dinner, drinks, cards and some comedy charades thrown in for good measure!! We were leaving the following morning at half 9 and although there were several oddities about the place, it was a good few days, spent with 3 people that are wicked and so we all had fun and I think were glad to have seen the place and experienced a different side of Fiji. We were just hoping and praying for good weather for the return river boat journey!! xx

Team Fiji!!

So, it was goodbye to NZ and hello Fijian sun.... I couldn't wait to get my flips back into action, the bikini out and put the summer skirts to use again. I didn't quite manage to update the blog whilst in Fiji, there was just too much of very little to be getting on with but I'll tell you about it now.... the early start from Auckland was a bit of a mission, espically after only a couple of hours sleep but the boys, bless them made sure i was up in time.... Luke just whacked the side of my bed to make sure I was awake... bless, thought that counts eh! S0, at 5am I hugged Dan and Luke goodbye (really for the last time with Luke on this trip - boo!) and climbed onto the bus to the airport... the journey there wasn't as relaxing as hoped thanks to some drama's at home (thanks Nan and Grandad btw!) but with that sorted I found Lotty and Graham at the airport and it was Fiji here we come! Having relieved duty free of a fair bit of their wine, gin and vodka we boarded and the flight passed uneventfully, mostly cos I was alseep for the majority of it, then we arrived and we had that lovely feeling you get when you walk out the plane door and he heat hits you in a wave.... awesome!

The plan for our 10 days here was to be..... first night in Nadi (pronounced Nandi, the islands main hub for arriving tourists) to chill out, get some supplies and sort out bookings for the islands over the next 9 days. We'd decided to visit 2 islands; Beachcomber - Fiji's party island and Caqelai (pronounced Thangelai) a more remote island on the West coast of the mainland, ending up back in Nadi on the 20th in time for our flights out of tropical paradise.

So, we headed to a hostel in New Town; the Tropic of Capricorn, for the first night and given the early flight we were there by midday and chilling out by the pool not long after that. The rest of the day was spent doing just that, with a little trip to the shop thrown in for good measure. We were leaving at 8am the following morning for Beachcomber and as we were all shattered from the early start we had dinner, watched the sunset (see pic above), wasted a few good dollars on the worlds slowest internet connection and got our heads down. We could've picked a nicer hostel for our first night but in fairness it did the job, was clean and a bed for the night so it could've (and has been) a whole lot worse.

The sun was shining for us the following morning and after a brief bus journey and boat trip we arrived at our first tropical island desitination.... Beachcomber (shown in the pic here) is well known for where all the backpackers go and we were expecting a mass of people, Ibiza syle... espically given the 84 bed dorm we were booked into!! In fact, it wasn't anything like that. The island is tiny, you can walk round it in about 15 minutes and although the dorm was massive it was actually pretty decent, well organised and even people snoring wasn't really a problem. There were only about 70 odd people on the island while we were there and the vibe was great, really chilled out with little else to do but sunbathe, play volleyball, read, swim, eat, drink, take advantage of the free snorkelling trips, play cards, mini-golf and generally have fun. So, with 3 nights on the island, that's pretty much what we did. All the food was included in the price and it was provided in abundance (something which Graham was grateful for) and it was lush... I developed an obsession with the yum banana muffins they had at breakfast.

Wednesday was our first day there and the day we added another bod to our little group... introducing Andy, a Kent lad who we met at lunch and who ended up travelling with us for the rest of our time in Fiji. BTW - Lotty and Graham shown in pic on right and Andy with me (obviously) in other pic here. After lunch that day, Lotty, Graham and I foolishly played crazy golf without any mozzie spray on and Lotty and I got devoured.... my right leg alone had 18 bites on!!!! Nice!! We won't mention the final scores for the golf though eh!?!

That evening started with happy hour in the islands only bar before sneaking off to polish off some of the duty free wine then heading back to partake in the Bula Dance - a dance disturbingly like the Macarena!!!! - and sample my first and last taste of the Fijian traditional drink Cava - it basically is like drinking dirt!! hmm!

The next day we awoke to overcast skies and the threat of rain so after brekkie it was back to the dorm to chill out.... there's not much to say about today except that we all got through a fair bit of our books, started the card playing (Girls are clearly better at Hearts and Sevens Graham... there's no escaping it!! ;0) got fleeced on the ridiculously expensive internet there and managed to catch the few rays of sun that did come out. The boys went snorkelling but Lotty and I decided to save that for a nicer day... or rather tomorrow, the only other day we had left there! The evening was comical... Crab Racing was on in the bar, with an auction held for the crabs you wanted... we ended up with Pakistan and China - I can't remember the names so Team Fiji, if you can post it on a comment pls! We'd added another stray to our gang by now too... Simon, someone I recognised from New Zealand and who'd been told to 'look out for me' (err!!) by Dan and Jamie, the boys I'd stayed in Rotarua with. Needless to say, some more of the duty free goods were sampled and our crabs lost but hey it was fun. Much of the evening, infact much of the whole trip, was spent playing various games to amuse us..... favourites being, 20 questions, the name game and numerous variations sometimes made into drinking games, sometimes just to pass the time. We liked it anyway!! (pic on left is me with Andy, Simon and John).

Luckily, our last day on Beachcomber dawned bright and sunny so the day was naturally spent on the beach, soaking up the sun and working on our tans... we headed out to the sand bank for some snorkelling too, which was utterly amazing. It really is like something you see in a holiday brochure here, the waters are so blue it's amazing and the reefs are gorgeous, I wish i had pictures from the snorkelling but i don't so you'll just have to trust me when I tell you that it was probably the best snorkelling i've done, including the Great Barrier Reef, the colours were stunning and the sea was so clear. After a tough day on the beach we'd managed to add a few more peeps to the equation and along with them (Stuart, an Aussie who's actually been around the whole time I just forgot to mention him, oops! John, a Scottish lad from Dundee, and Ed and Patrick; 2 young english lads, one of which looked like he belonged in McFly) we managed to tuck into a fair bit of the duty free stash as well as the makeshift black russians that Graham had got going on.... there were many drinking games, for which the Black Russian was the losers 'prize' and alot of amusement involving such peeps as St Francis of Assiss (is that spelt right Andy?) Ansell Adams, Metal Mickey and Caravaggio (prob not spelt right at all!) I'll not bother explaining as it's prob not funny to anyone but the Fiji gang but if anyone knows what St Francis did.. you know where the comments button is..!

The only other thing to mention from today, or rather that night, is the moon - i didn't get a decenet picture but it was amazing, a really deep orange, sitting almost on the horizon... it was stunning!
It was a shame but our time on Beachcomber was nearly over, Andy had decided to come with us to Caqelai and so Friday night was our last night there, and in true NZ Flee style, I'd managed to get drunk the night before I had a journey to embark on... this time by boat instead of bus but as you can tell, i still haven't learnt my lesson!! oops!

All in all though, Beachcomber was wicked and I'd recommend anyone to go there, especially if you're travelling alone, it's really easy to meet people and is loads of fun. For us though, it was bye bye Beachcomber... next stop Suva... xx

The end of NZ and Unexpected Reunions!

0742 and my phone beeps.... 'The Luke' is back in town... waiting for me in reception so I crawl out of my bed and far too many people in reception get a sneaky peek of my Marks and Sparks PJ's en route to collecting Luke from his almost comatose state on the sofa... I was really pleased to see him, it was only a few days ago that we discovered we'd be crossing over here by one day and as we had thought we wouldn't see each other again on this trip it was fab. I was, however, most relieved to see he was looking shattered (and annoyingly tanned) so wouldn't take any pursuading that crashing out for a few hours was a good idea. That was how we spent our morning, then once we'd got ourselves up and showered we had some lunch and watched each others skydive DVD's and my bungy then headed out to actually see a little bit of Auckland - something I'd as yet managed not to do.

Dan (from Rotarua - (aka Action/Sandwich Dan) also arrived today and he joined our little outing too. In fairness we weren't all that productive, we made it to the wharf where we promptly indulged in some yum ice-cream before leisurely wandering a bit further around the wharf, then Luke and I jumped on the free bus for a little sightseeing before hopping off at the Sky Tower and 'getting high' for a while... up to the 56th floor it was for us, in a lift with glass floor... wierd sensation! We spent the next few hours meandering around up there, making the most of the cafe, catching up over tea and cakes as we watched the sunset over the city. From 220m up the views aren't bad and you can see why Auckland is known as the 'City of Sails' - apparently one in 4 families has a boat and there were plenty on show in the numerous marina's.

Once the sun had set we headed back down to earth and off to the hostel so I could get packed up before dinner. Luke was calling in on the bet I lost way back when we left Sydney - only a month ago but it feels like longer - so I was buying him dinner, or contributing should i say... so, eventually we made it out and along with Dan filled ourselves silly at Denny's... now we're back at the hostel and it's nearly time for bed.. I have to get up in a few short hours for my flight to Fiji.... I'm really excited about going but I'm sad to be leaving here too. I've had an absolute ball in New Zealand and I'm sure I'll return one day. It's been wicked spending my last day here with Pucas and Dan too. I've said all the emotional rubbish in my 'Things I'll miss' so I'll not flatter the boy anymore but I have missed Luke loads in the last month and know I'll miss him lots once I leave here too. This time we really are saying bye - at least for now as our trips are taking us in different directions from now on - so I've no idea when I'll see him again or where it'll be but I know that we will.... weddings and funerals remember Pucas - so it's all good!!

Right, it's off to bed for me now.... I need some sleep.... so, next time I write I'm assuming (hoping!) it'll be while I'm having myself a quick break from lying on a tropical beach soaking up the Fijian sun..... how is the weather back home by the way you lot?? hee hee!! ;-) xx

Auckland and the Girls Final Fling!!

We made it into Auckland by about 8pm, i got myself checked in and went to find my girlies... we spent the next couple of hours catching up and faffing around getting ready to go out - Aideen's just like me in that respect, it's great... Beck has a job on her hands getting us organised bless her but for all you lot back home... there's someone else like me.... and I love it! Aid - you rock!! haha! Bet no-one's ever told you your faffing is a good thing before!! ;-)

Anyway, we finally made it out about 10pm, I'd managed to not find the time for dinner so it didn't take too much vodka for the effects to start to make themselves known! First stop, Irish bar, the Fiddler to meet Ray; a friend of the girls from their time in Perth. We had a few there then headed to the Cock and Bull - an english pub - in some suburb of Auckland somewhere - to meet some of Ray's friends. The rest of the evening passed by in a bit of a blur, there was lots of drinking and silliness and a crazy Canadian who ket buying me shots (my wallet was happily staying in my bag so i wasn't complaining bless him!) at some point we all ended up back at The Fiddler for some silly dancing and more drinking... i believe there was a point around 4am when i thought about going home to bed but clearly that didn't last long as the next thing i knew we were all piling back to someone's house, i attempted to teach Barry, one of the lads, to juggle with oranges - suffice to say, the oranges came out a little worse for wear - and then somehow the sun was coming up, the birds were singing and it was time to get back to the hostel so the girls could pack and catch their flight. I'm also not quite sure how Becky and myself managed to find ourselves in McD's at 9am this morning either - it wasn't pleasant but vodka warps the senses!!! That's my excuse anyway!!

Somehow, the girls managed to get themselves ready in time and the next thing i knew I was finding myself in the midst of more emotional goodbyes as they hopped on the bus to the airport. They've both flown back to Sydney to work there for a while and I'm very jealous... not only do i miss Sydney but I already miss them loads too.... and they've only been gone since this morning!

I have to say first of all that i think I'm too old for this 'all nighter' lark.... I'm running on auto pilot at the mo, desperately trying to get up to date with this little blog before Luke arrives tomorrow. Today's been a bit of a washout, despite intentions of being productive today, i slept away most of it, managed to do my laundry, eat and do this, oh and catch up with Anna and Jonathan from the cruise who're also staying here.

Anyway, missing a nights sleep is not as easy as it used to be.. but hey, it was fun! I'm not sure Becky and i should be allowed out together though... we seem to get each other into all sorts of mischief when we do, although obviously I blame her! ;-)

The only other thing left to say here is about my lovely girls... I can't believe that I'll be leaving NZ in less than 2 days, I'm gutted.... it has been one big month of fun and that is largely due to the people I've shared it with. Becky and Aid, I'm so glad i met you and got to rock NZ with you... you're both absolute stars and i love you lots and lots.... as I've said before there are some people you meet on a trip like this that you know you'll never see again and then there's the handful of people that you know you'll always be friends with.... you two are obviously the latter... (and Cat and Kirsten too). The past month has been just what i needed and i can't thank you girlies enough for making it so much fun... I have laughed til my tummy and cheeks hurt, sometimes for no apparent reason, I've done things i never thought i could do, I've drunk far too much and I loved every second of travelling with you... don't ever change my lovelies and make sure you keep in touch...... Miss you loads already but enjoy Sydney and the sunshine, say hello to Coogee for me (I'm already plotting ways I can make it out to visit!) and make sure you cause all sorts of mischief over there... I want tales ladies! Love you loads FantaPants and BeltWoman.......... xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ps - just think of all the christmas plans that are happening now you're not here??! haha!


and now it's time for me to get to my bed..... I'm going to be rudely awoken by Pucas at stupid o'clock so I need some sleep - does it show that I'm actually looking forward to seeing him!? ;-)

Playtime in the Bay of Islands!

Thursday morning and it was time to say goodbye to the boys and Rotarua.... Dan and Jamie, you've been fab to hang out with, i hope you both have awesome trips and hopefully we'll catch up again one day.

Next stop... Auckland.... albeit briefly... the bus journey there was pretty quiet (and can i add for once i wasn't hungover on the bus!!) We got to Auckland by mid-afternoon and checked into ACB hostel. The rest of the afternoon was spent running around on a wild gooschase trying to find the post office that mum had sent a parcel for me to. Without success i returned to the hostel and got my head down early as it was another early start for me the next day... at 0715 i was off to the Bay of Islands for 2 days. Named so due to the 144 islands dotted around the area and famous for being where the first settlement was in NZ. I did manage to call home before bed though, today is my lovely brother's 25th birthday so thought I'd call the 'old' boy and say hello. Map - I hope you had a fab day and got spoilt lots, I'm sorry i couldn't be there. Love you lots x

Not bright, but early the next morning I was on my way up to Paihia, 4 hours north of Auckland.... we hotfooted it up there and were there my late morning. The girls were actually up there too but they were heading back to Auckland and as I'd bookec myself on the Swimming with Dolphin's tour that afternoon we wouldn't manage to catch up which was a shame. Anyway, I was excited that I'd finally get to swim with the Dolphins so early afternoon headed out on the tour... the waters were calm and things were looking promising.... but it wasn't to be! We saw lots of bottle nose dolphins and they were amazing but despite several attempts, getting very wet and cold, when we got in the water they were more interested in catching themselves some fish than playing with us. I was gutted I have to admit and kicking myself that i didn't swim with the ones in Kaikoura who were so playful. So, i returned to shore a little downhearted but figured that I'll try again somewhere else so c'est la vie!

The evening was spent at the hostel just having some food, chatting to Ehuka - one of the Stray drivers - who took pity on my dull pasta meal and kindly gave me some tuna to spice it up a little - then headed to bed and relaxed with my book. I was booked on a cruise out to the famous Hole in the Rock at 9am the next morning so thought I'd get an early night -not to mention try and save some pennies.

Despite the early night, i still managed to have to run to catch the boat the next morning - much to the amusement of Anna and Jonathan, 2 peeps I met when out of breath i made it on to the boat!! I ended up spending the whole cruise with them, Anna a kiwi and Jonathan from Israel are both lovely and made the cruise fun - especially as much to our disappointment, we'd woken to grey skies and rain.... resulting in rough waters, seasickness for yours truly and not a hope in hell of us even getting close to the hole in the rock let alone sailing through it!!!! We managed to have fun though and amuse ourselves watching Anna beat Jonathan at arm wrestling - the male ego took a little beating on that one, bless you Jonathan!! heehee!

I had a few hours to kill before the bus back to Auckland but as it was raining so much there was little else to do in Paihia so i just chilled out in the TV room at Pipi Patch, the hostel i was staying at. To be honest, the whole 2 days cost me a fair bit of the little money i have left and thanks to the weather and the dolphin swimming not happening, was something I could've done without really. The place is amazing and you can tell in the sunshine why people would love it so much but i don't think I really saw it at it's best. I'll have to go back in the Summer when I've more time to get up to Cape Reinga, go sandboarding and see where the ocean's meet - that's supposed to be wicked... the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea i believe it is!

Anyway... the journey back to Auckland passed painlessly enough, we watched Wedding Crashers and bantered away with driver Jarrad... I was excited to be going back to Auckland as Becky and Aideen were there and we had a big night out planned. I was looking forward to being back with the girls - I'd missed them loads and it'd only been a few days! x

Glow Worms and Mud Baths!

I was very sad that the girls were leaving without me but had decided to make the most of my few extra days in Rotarua and if I was going to be on my own then I'd do it in style (not that i really was on my own as Jamie and Dan were there looking after me). Anyway, i was up and away on Tuesday morning before the sleeping beauties had even stirred. Dan and I were off to Waitomo to go Black Water Rafting in the caves there. Dan, bless his heart, had evenn made me my sandwiches for lunch... you're a little gem Dan! Waitomo is a 2 hour drive from Rotarua so it was a 0715 start for us, although thanks to Dan's comfy shoulder i did manage a little extra sleep on the way there!

I'd opted for the Labyrinth experience, a 3 hour tour, with 1 hour underground - I knew it was going to be freezing and i figured that was long enough for me down there. Dan was doing the Abyss, a 5 hour tour and would be staying overnight in Waitomo so once we got there we headed off in seperate directions for the day. There were 3 others on my tour that I knew from the Kiwi bus; sisters Sarah and ??? and Sarah's boyfriend Johny. It was nice to have a few other peeps I knew on the tour as i was feeling a little apprehensive about what it involved!! There was about 15 of us in the group althogether though and everyone was really friendly and team work was all good. There was also a lovely english couple on there who reminded me so much of Jules and Oli.... they were so like you guys - it made me miss you more than I do anyway!

Anyway, the tour.. we got kitted out with our sexy wetsuits, hardhats and bootys as you can see in the fetching pic's here - i don't think I've ever looked so good!! haha! then headed out to the caves.. first stop though... tube selection... the caves are mostly nativaged through by sitting in the inner tube of a type and floating down letting the current take you. Size selection is most important and done by sticking your bum out and shoving the tube around you and seeing if it falls off - a compical sight with 15 of us all doing it at the same time. Then we had a practice jump off a step into the river - as in the caves there are some waterfalls that you have to jump backwards off - ooer! - then it was off to the caves themselves! We walked down and climbed down into the darkness.... stopped and took a few minutes to introduce ourselves and get used to the lack of light in the caves. All done we set off, the first bit was the scariest if you get claustropobhic, you had to lie flat back in your tube as the cave was so low and be pulled through it by the guide.... and did i mention the water.... freezing- and i mean freezing - by the time we finished i barely had any feeling on strength in my fingers that it was actually a struggle to get my wetsuit undone!!

Anyway, we spent the next hour floating down in the caves, jumping off waterfalls, gazing up in the dark at the glow worms (infact Maggots) that the caves are famous for and checking out the stalagtites all around. It was qutie a scary thought that we were several metres below ground but it was an amazing experience and the guides were fab so we all felt very safe. i have to admit that an hour down there was long enough for me, and my bladder too - I'm not sure I could've managed another 2 down there but it was wicked and so much fun - now that I've thawed out anyway!! There is a hot shower, soup and bagel at the end of it too, bargain and very welcomed by all of us!
We had a couple of hours to kill before the bus headed back to Rotarua so headed into town (and i use the term loosely as it consists of about 5 buildings and very little else) we got ourselves a hot choc (or milk for oddbod me) and chatted the time away. As Dan had stayed in Waitomo it was just Jamie and I that evening - again in our efforts to safe money we opted for vegging in the TV room after dinner, i was quite happy cosy in there, i was still trying to warm up!! Plus I had an early start the next day..... it was to be my day of pampering!!


Although, it is questionable that a day of pampering would be done some where called Hell's Gate but that was the venue so off i went. I managed to oversleep and actually only caught the shuttle bus by seconds and thanks to Jamie waking me up when he realised i really shouldn't still be in my bed. Cheers Jamie!! Hell's Gate is one of Rotarua's geothermal parks. It attracted me as it has a large volcanic park that you can walk around and see all the steaming mud pools, mineral pools, an active mud volcano (pictured here) and hot water waterfall and all sorts - as i said before all that stuff fascinates me so I was really excited about seeing it all. I opted for a guided walk too - which is were i learnt about the Sulphur smell thing i mentioned before.

After the walk came the pampering, they were doing a winter special that included a massage so I thought it'd be rude not too... so i was shown into my massage and relaxed for the next while - it was bliss, although I do have to say the massause (sp?!) was slightly annoying - i don't think she stopped talking once and i could've sworn the idea of a massage it to relax. Anyway, despite that it was lush and afterwards i was shown into the thermal waters of the Spa to relax some more before my Mud bath. The mud baths were the other reason I'd chosen this place particularly - not all of the spa's have mud baths. I was shown into my own private mud bath and it was fab... very very hot though and i have to admit would probably be more fun if you weren't alone but I wasn't about to let that stop me going. My bikini is still suffering the effects of the mud now too.... after you get out you have to have a freezing cold shower - a shock to the system i can tell you - in order to open up your pores again and get your circulation back to normal as the mud clogs it up i believe. After that though it's back into the nice warm spa to chill out until you're ready for your Manuka tea (yum!) in the lounge. I could so get used to this lifestyle!!

My morning of pampering went all to quickly, and after randomly bumping in to Lotte and Graham there too I spent the afternoon catching up on bits and pieces before whiling away my last evening there with the boys (and 2 newbie Scottish boys that had moved into our dorm too) in the hostel's spa pool - well, may as well carry on the theme for the day eh!) Tough day really!! ;-) x

Rolling around Rotarua!!

Sunday morning rolled around all too quickly and before we knew it we were back on the bus on our hungover way to Rotarua, there was only a few peeps on the bus and we weren't feeling the most spritely but we managed to survive, we're getting quite practised at it now!!

We had a few things planned for our time in Rotarua, well known as New Zealand's cultural capital the first thing on the list was the Realm of Tane, an evening of theatre, dinner and introduction to the Maroi culture in a traditional Maori village setting. There was 6 of us that booked to go that night so en route to Rotarua we stopped at the Maori centre for a brief welcome session which included some tasty samples of Maori cuisine. Before this we'd also made a brief stop to check out the bubbling volcanic mud pools, shown here in the picture. Rotarua has masses of Geothermal activity so everywhere you go you can see steaming Geysers, mud pools and numerous spas and retreats offering all sorts of treatments. It also means the town is famous for it's 'rotten egg smell' hmmm lovely. This is mosst commonly put down the the Sulphur emanating from all the volcanic landmarks, however, I learnt a little something in my time there - Suplhur doesn't actually smell, the specific cause of the smell is Hydrogenated Sulphite Gas (or something along those lines. 'scuse spelling btw) this is apparently one of the most lethal types of gas you can get but as it's so dense it simply falls to the ground and we don't inhale it, therefore it doesn't harm us! Handy that!

Anyway, after all that we checked into the hostel - Hot Rocks and promptly did the only thing we were capable of..... went back to bed!! We'd made a new friend, Dan, who was on the bus with us that morning and he was sharing our dorm too - so when our other 'roomie' Jamie entered a couple of hours later when we'd all just about vaguely woken from our naps, he was somewhat amused to find us still in bed at that hour!! Anyway, the 2 boys became our partners in crime for the next few days and thanks to Cat's musings about how cool it would be to be Sabrina (the teenage witch) at some point in Queenstown i think, we managed to get onto the subject of Super powers and superhero's - as you do! - and the next thing we know, we had our theme for the next few days... Superhero names and powers were to be stated quick smart, no duplications allowed (the last time I found myself in this scenario saw the birth of Glimmerman way back at Ayers Rock!)

Anyway.... I'm not sure we actually ever completed the full set but we got as far as this:
Dan became 'Action Dan' (or Sandwich Dan as we sometimes preferred) with Super strength as his power (as well as making ace sarnies!).
Jamie became 'T-man' with the power of err... making tea?! Sure there was another one but it escapes me now - Jamie, leave me a comment and remind me??
Aideen was Fanta Pants (cos she's a fiesty redhead and Jarrad the driver had taken to calling her that and we found it amusing) who's power was Flying! A power she got to demonstrate the following day too!
Becky was Belt woman (although she doesn't know cos i just decided that... for reasons that will amuse her no doubt!) and she never decided on a super power!
and me, well apparently I'm 'Gossip Girl' cos my chosen power was Invisibility, partly because how much goss would you be able to overhear when you're invisible!!

Anyway, that's all beside the point to everyone really isn't it but it was highly amusing to us... back to the day though... oh, just to explain though.. the Sabrina thing - came about when feeling tired and lazy and just wanting to be up and showered/have brekkie or a cuppa in your hand... it's self explanatory (and very lazy) but how cool would it be to be Sabrina at times like that, just conjure up a cuppa or chocolate, or in my case Chips!! ;-)

Anyway... sorry, I'll stop talking about crazy stuff now, got a bit carried away there didn't i!? Once we'd dragged ourselves out of bed, in normal human non-Sabrina style, Becky and I had a quick walk into town and indulged in some penny sweets like the children we are before heading back in time for the pick up for the Maori thing. Jamie had booked to come with us too so the 5 of us hopped on the bus with mouths watering at the thought of a proper feed for once!

The evening was really good, it started with a display of Maori warriors, then a walk round the village with displays of some of the things a traditional Maori village would get up to day to day before heading into the theatre for a performance of some of the traditional tribal dances and the famous Huka. Then it was off to dinner, a gorgeous buffet with all sorts of Maori dishes, including sweet potatoes and stuffing (veggie) not to mention several dessert choices. Yum! We all stuffed ourselves stupid and then went to watch the demonstration of how the meal was cooked before hitting the gift shop. Now, you may all be wondering why on earth there's a pic of a random Maori doll here - the reason it's on here is for Mum, Lotte and Map to see.... it was in the gift shop and the minute I saw it, i thought of Dad. I remember when we were little, whenever he went away anywhere he'd always bring Lotte and I back a doll, just like this one, from the country he'd been too. It's funny the things that spark your memory but it made me smile and think of him so I thought my lot would like to hear about it. i also gave into temptation and bought a Jade ring - I'm told the Jade is supposed to be given to you, you're not meant to buy it for yourself and as I lost the jade earrings i bought myself in Lake Maniphua I decided not to tempt fate so instead got Dan to buy it for me - not technically a present as i gave him the money but i haven't lost the ring yet so i think I got away with it! ;0)

Anyway, the evening lasted til about half 10 then we were all back on the bus, randomly singing a song from each of the native countries of the people on the bus (London's Burning was what the english among us opted for) before being dropped back at our hostels and saying goodbye in the traditional Maori way - by touching noses twice - before hopping off the bus. I also learnt that the Maori greeting is Kaiora and the formal greeting, when offering someone respect is Tenakque (I've no idea if that's splet right but that's how it sounds, only learnt that one a couple of days ago hence i can still remember it!) Once home, I popped to the Lava bar at the hostel for a quick drink with Dan and Jamie before it was time for my bed again. The hostel here was quite nice in that it didn't have bunkbeds so it felt a bit like we were all mates on holiday!! random i know but small things eh!! All in all it had been a good day, ok so the Maori thing is obviously geared at tourists but it's a good evening out and the food was delicious!

Monday was my last day with the girls until the weekend as they were heading off up to Auckland the next morning and i was sticking around for a few extra days. We started the day leisurely then at lunchtime hopped on the shuttle bus to try our hand at Zorbing.... which is basically when you put yourself in a big inflatable ball with some warm soapy water and get rolled down a hill. A simple idea and so so so much fun! Dan came too but as he'd already done it decided not to today so was camera man for us. The 3 of us went in to one ball together (the best way i think, wouldn't be as much fun on your own), they give you the sexy clothes you see us sporting in the pic here to wear as you obviously get soaked in there and then you comically have to do a running leap into the ball through a small hole - when Aid got to test out her Superhero flying powers!! - then they close up the ball, tap it on the side to signal it's time to go and you topple yourself over the edge and down the hill. There's not a chance in hell of remaining standing up and so you spent the next 20 seconds on your bum, rolling round and round in the warm soapy water as if in a washing machine and laughing your heads off... hilarious!! Its over way too quickly but I can't recommend it enough..... so much fun! If you ever get the chance make sure you do it!!

We had a bit of a wait for the next shuttle bus back to the hostel after that so went for a little wander to the Agrodome where they do all sorts of other activites; jetboating, bungy etc etc - we didn't partake in any of them, just whiled away the time there waiting for the bus then once back at the hostel wandered into town, had some dinner and got the cards out for a few games of Shithead, watched some TV, ate popcorn, drank tea and went to bed. We're all feeling the effects of the last few weeks on our wallets so the aim of the game is to save money, hence staying away from the bar.. it was fun though, Dan and Jamie are good lads and we all get on well and as they say it's all about who you're with not where you are so despite having to be disciplined and not go drinking we had fun regardless. x

Hot Stuff (Springs I mean!)

I hadn't quite decided how long I'd be staying in Taupo and thanks to the night before I was in no fit state to decide at any point between leaving Wellington and arriving in Taupo. I'd already done my Skydive, which is the obvious thing to do in Taupo and unfortunately couldn't afford to do another one so that was one thing I didn't need to allow time for... the only other things i really wanted to do in Taupo were get to the Hot Springs and do the Tongariro Crossing.

Before we reached Taupo we stopped for the usual photo opps - I was quite happy to do this however as we were passing fantastic volcanic areas, past Mount Doom of Lord of the Rings fame - shown in the pic here. It seems that almost everyone you come across here had something to do with the production of those films - Smiley, our previous driver was one of the location managers on the production team, and Jarrad, our driver today well, his dog was the one that starred in the first film! Anyway, back to the Volcano's - they have official names obviously Mount Doom is not it's real name but I can't remember them now so will add them later.

The landscape of the North Island is dramatically different from that of the South Island - while in the South you'll find Snow capped mountain ranges, in the North, you still get some of those but you also get rolling hills and alot of greenery - in some ways very similar to England - as well as the diagonal line of volcano's that run through the island. Active Volcano's can only be found on the North island, the reason for this and difference in landscape is all due to the techtonic plates that New Zealand is settled on. In the South Island the plates meet equally and the movement of them pushes upwards creating the Southern Alps mountain ranges that you see all around, while in the north, one plate is positioned just under the other and when they push together, while they still push up some mountain ranges, the difference in height also results in the dramatic volcano's you see running up through the North island. So, when you're driving through you can look to one side of the bus and see snowcapped mountains and on the other is volcanic crators and active volcano's. It really is breathtaking, especially if you're a geek like me and are fascinated by such things - I blame Dad's love of Volcano's for that. I remember him watching all sorts of documentaries on them when i was little and i think i was quite enamoured by the thought of being s Daddy's girl!!! ;-)

Anyway, we stopped in a little place called Turingai for lunch and then had one final stop at Huka Falls in the Waikato River Valley before we reached Taupo. As you can see from the pic, the scenery was beautiful once again. We checked into Urban Retreat hostel mid-afternoon and spent the rest of the afternoon mooching around, watching Agassi in the US Open - we all got a bit caught up in that but once we'd seen him win (yay!) we headed to town for a cheeky hot choc (or in my case hot frothy milk - yes, i know I'm a child but i love it so there) and to check out the famous Lake Taupo - which is in fact a filled in crater created from a long ago volcanic eruption and measures 40k x 30k in size!!! It's a beautiful setting and you can see why the place is so popular. Once we'd watched the sunset over the lake (beautiful as you can see from the pic below) we headed back to the hostel to get some food before flaking out with tea, biscuits and far too many sweets in the TV room - no bar for us tonight - the thought of drinking wasn't too appealing for me, funny that! It didn't take too long for us to get tired enough for us to head to our beds.. i was ridiculously grateful for mine it won't surprise any of you to know! This night also saw Aid's all time low reached... for the sake of her dignity all I'll say is; bin, crisps and a lot of laughing! Good work Aid!

Somewhere through the day I'd managed to chat to Jarrad - our driver - about the Tongariro Crossing, i really wanted to do it but according to him and several others at this time of year (Winter that is) it's fairly treacherous and they only go on the crispest, brightest of winter days. The volcanic landscape really interests me and I so wanted to do it but all their talk of it put me off a little so I decided to put that on the list of things to come back and do in the Summer one year (that list's getting a tad long now though!). Becky and Aideen were heading to Rotarua on Sunday too so I decided to go with them as there were things I wanted to do in Rotarua that would be far more fun in a group than on my own.

So, that decided we had 2 nights in Taupo - the first spent recovering from the excesses of my last night in Wellington and so the 2nd (Saturday night) was earmarked for a night out! Saturday daytime we decided to explore Taupo and went in search of the natural hot springs that the area, thanks to all the volcanic activity there, is famous for. Once again, the hot springs are free - bonus!! It was a good 40 minute walk to the springs, the sun was shining and it was lovely - once there we got into our bather's and basically got into a bath... it was gorgeous. There were a few other bods there too but not too many and it was lush, just sitting around in the sun, in bath-like waters. Heaven!

Once we'd whiled away the afternoon in the water we headed back to the hostel and cooked up some culinary delights - pasta again then!! ;-) then got ourselves clean and tidy and headed out for a few bevvies to Mulligans - Taupo's not the biggest of towns so there aren't that many choices for a night out and to be honest, the evening started pretty slowly, there weren't many people about (guess it's out of season) and there was a somewhat dubious band playing - with what looked like a 14yr old lad on keyboards - who actually turned out to have the most amazing voice and remind me of a young Jarrad - all very disturbing! After a few comical encounters with some not so bright locals... when they discovered Becky and Aid were nurses they asked 'what, in a hospital??' hmm... ok lads!! Anyway, we made our escape and headed to the bar in an attempt to revive the evening - we were one drink away from calling it a night about 10pm then all of a sudden it was 2am and we were only just leaving the pub... oops! Was all very amusing in the end, with Becky getting a personal performance of the Huka, instigated by the Rugby being on that evening, and Aid and I being subjected to some rather baffling honesty.... don't think it really was the best policy for the people in question!! haha!

Anyway, we'd managed to continue the trend of getting ourselves drunken when we had to be up for the bus in the morning so after satisfying our late night munchies back at the hostel, we headed to bed to catch some shut eye before having to face the inevitable hungover bus ride!! There's a surprise!! x

Chivalry is alive and well and living in Wellington!

We left Kaikoura on a bright fresh morning, none of us feeling quite like that ourselves, unsuprisingly!! Smiley was still smiling though - how on earth I've no idea but I guess that's professionalism for you!! ;-) Anyway, I for one was sorry to be leaving Kaikoura so soon, as you can see from the pic's it's a beautiful place especially when the sun's shining like it was this day. But leave we had to, so a bus full of jaded bods (as Becky's demonstrating well in the pic below - sorry bec, couldn't resist!) made their way out of town, stopping on the way to check out a colony of Seals mooching about on the rocks - they were well cute - before starting our journey to Picton where we'd be splitting the group in half, leaving some of them behind while the rest of us hopped on the ferry over to the North Island - next stop Wellington.

I was sad to be leaving the South Island too it has to be said, I could easily have filled lots more time there... but time was ticking on and progress needed to be made. Plus I had a friend waiting for me in Wellington with a lovely home far away from hostels for a few days - despite only having been back on the hostel trail for a mere few weeks it was a welcome thought I can tell you!

We got the ferry about lunch time - all still feeling a tad rough to be fair - the ferry takes 3 hours and shows off some beautiful scenery as you both leave the South Island and approach the North Island. It's safe to say none of us were feeling too enthusiastic about it all and all except myself, Becky and James managed to sleep away most of the journey on the sofa's inside!

We docked in Wellington Harbour about half 4pm and made our way out to get our bags. My friend Stephen was meeting me at arrivals so it was time for me to say the first of a few emotional goodbyes... Cat and Kirsten were leaving the following morning so I'd not see them again once we left the port! Boo! A little aside for those 2 crazy sisters..... you two rock! I couldn't have wished for a better pair to make up our little harem and I miss you both loads. As is evident to everyone around us, Cat brings out the immature mischief in me (might have something to do with the decade in age difference) but I love it and Kirsten you make me do things i would never normally do - even if you don't do them with me!! I love you both lots and lots... thank you for making me smile so much... bring on the reunion!!! ;-)

Anyway, once we'd got our bags, I'd said goodbye to Smiley, Lucy and the others and seen my 4 girlies on to the bus (the back seat gang rock btw!!) and waved a tearful goodbye to those 2 mad Scots', I headed back inside to wait for Stephen. It was only a few minutes before he arrived - and I recognised him despite him being convinced that I wouldn't remember him!! Just so you know, Stephen's one of the guys I travelled through Laos with all the way back in December and is also the lovely man responsible for me having a birthday cake on my birthday (obviously)! In fairness though, we soon found out that Steve was actually the one that had forgotten me - he thought i was 26 and from Milton Keynes... glad you were paying attention young man!! ;-)

I have to say though, from the minute he met me, Steve spoiled me... it was bliss! ;-) and very much appreciated. We made our way into town and got dropped off by the bus at the train station, a good 20 minute/half hour walk from Steve's house.... regardless of this Steve had from the minute he met me off the ferry, taken my bag and proceeded to walk all the way home with it on his back, and steep isn't even the word to describe the hills by his house - if he struggled he didn't show it (me on the other hand, i was nearly dying with just my day pack on my back - and that doesn't weigh nearly close to the 20kg's Steve had on his back thanks to me!)

Once I was safely installed on his sofa, he made me tea and we sat down for a catch up. Given I'd not seen him for 9 months (a duration that was called into question as 'significant' by a few of his friends.... does no-one believe opposite sexes can just be friends anymore?! ;-) it took us a while... then Steve continued the spoiling the skint backpacker and took me out for dinner - not Subway, McD's or Oporto's either... a proper lush 3 course italian.... yum - frozen baileys and white chocolate mousse for desert too... tough life! It was naturally totally un-neccessary, I certainly didn't expect to be treated to dinner, I should've been the one treating him as he was giving me a free roof over my head for the next 3 days but he insisted.. thank you Steve, you're a gem!

Thanks to my massive hangover and day's worth of travelling I have to admit I wasn't the best of company (sorry Steve) so after the meal we headed for a little walk by the beach so Steve could show me some of the city and it's artifically made beach then it was straight home to veg out in front of the TV before bed. Talking of which, another totally unexpected act of generousity from Steve here... he gave up his bed for me and slept on the sofa for 3 days! How old school is that! I'm loving it! I tried to insist that he really didn't need to, I'd be more than happy on the sofa myself but he wouldn't hear of it and basically said either you sleep in my bed or no-one does, so I gave in! I'm still amazed at how much of a gentleman this man is - maybe I'm selling some of you short but I'm not sure there's many men about that would do that same, at least not without attempting to share the bed with you anyway... let this be a lesson to you boys!! ;-)

Stephen had to work the next day (I'd given him all of a day's notice before turning up on his doorstep so fair play) so I slept... and slept and slept... don't think I surfaced until about 11am, think I may have needed it! I'd arranged to meet Becky and Aideen in town that day for a bit of sightseeing, somehow though, as you'll all be amused to know I sat down for brekkie, switched on the TV and got a tad engrossed in a rubbish film - yep, some thing's never change eh! He's got Sky TV what can you do!?! - it was only when i got a text from Aid questioning my whereabouts that I managed to drag myself into the shower and make it out of the house. Luckily the girls were feeling in a 'moochy' kind of mood too so we spent a leisurely afternoon in Wellington's Botanical Gardens.. we got the Cable car up there, got ourselves a cuppa (and possibly the worst hoot choc ever but hey) and sat in the garden's cafe chatting away - anyone would've thought we'd not seen each other for a year not just a night!!!

After a few leisurely hours up there we got the cable car back down to town and I left the girls and waited for Steve to finish work. Once he'd turned up we went for a wander and ended up in the pub... oops, how did that happen!?! .. we were well behaved though and after one headed off for dinner, this time to The Humming Bird although Steve being the gentleman that he is insisted on my choosing the venue, which - as will not surprise some of you - resulted in a rather lengthy wander round while i did my usual indeciciveness trick!! Turned out as well that there was some big gas crisis in Wellington and all the restaurants could only to limited things so we basically ended up with Fish and Chips! Was nice though, and once again, after dinner i was lame and shattered so we went home and vegged out again (anyone think i might have been burning the candle a little too brightly at both ends lately?!) attempted to watch me jump off a bridge but the DVD player didn't want to play it so we ended up just chatting away into the early hours.

Thursday dawned and guess who slept in again... oops!!! Steve had taken the day off too and thanks to him having to sleep on the sofa had been awake since 6am when his flatmates had got up for work... how bad did i feel? (well rested too though!!!) Anyway, after I'd eaten a lovely brekkie of croissants that Steve had gone and got fresh that morning (in his attempt to 'fatten me up' apparently), I managed to drag Steve away from Baywatch - a feature length episode too - and we got out of the house in time to enjoy the afternoon... Steve had been planning on taking me up to the Botanical Gardens but I'd put paid to that idea by doing so the previous day so instead we first went to the NZ Parlimentary buildings, famously known as 'The Beehive' for obvious reasons as you can see in the pic here. They do free tours every hour so we thought we'd check that out. Free is always good at the mo!! It was good too, they show you down into the basement where the earthquake protection system has been installed, it's amazing what can be done and was really interesting to see. The architecture of the whole place was amazing too - I'm a bit of a geek when it come to historical buildings and the like so I really liked seeing it all!

After that was done we headed down to the wharf with the idea of getting the boat over to Eastbourne, one of Wellington's beach settlements, we thought we'd have a walk by the beach and lunch somewhere.. it wasn't to be though, the ferry's weren't running that day so we went for Plan B... lunch by the Wharf and then to the Te Papa museum - the famous museum of New Zealand... was fab too, first we went to the Earth, Moon and Stars exhibit - which has a massive Volcano and earthquake section, both of which fascinate me so i was absorbed in that for quite a while. Then Steve managed to get some free tickets from a friend of his for us to see the 'Constable: Impressions of Land, sea and Sky' exhibit that's currently showing there. Some of Constables work was done famously in Brighton so I was looking at pic's of home - although from a fair while before even Mum was an apple in Nanny and Grandad's eye so can't say it was all that familiar!! Good though! ;0)

It was time to head home after that, I was gatecrashing drinks at Steve's friends flat that night so we got ourselves home in time for a quick 'power nap' - i don't know what's wrong with me lately, I'm constantly tired! - before I had to make myself look halfway decent. I think this was the first time since Queenstown that I'd even bothered to put make up on - as you can tell, i'm making the best of myself these days!! haha!

In true Flee style we were a little late getting Steve's friends flat but as we were armed with beer and wine i think they forgave us! There was 6 of us there, the couple who's flat it was and another couple - both lads Steve plays football with. We hadn't planned to stay long simply because Steve had to work the next day and I had an early bus to catch and hadn't packed yet......... best laid plans and all that though... somehow the wine and beer went down a tad too easily, the banter was flowing all too well (of which Steve bore the brunt to be fair, heehee sorry Steve - although the whole 9 month thing was brought out in the open with the culprits too, comedy!!) and all of a sudden it was 3am before we realised we really should think about getting our heads down! Steve's friends were lovely and the evening was great fun, thanks for letting me gatecrash guys!

So, once again I'd managed to get drunk the night before i had to get up early to catch a bus... I shoved everything in my bag and promptly fell asleep. Have to admit aswell that if it hadn't been for Steve waking me a mere 3 hours later I'd say there was fat chance of me ever having caught that bus!!! And, like the true Gent that he is, Steve not only woke me up but gave me breakfast to take with me and came with me to see me off - before going to work early for the first time ever I believe! I think it's safe to say that, thanks to wine being the beverage of choice the night before, this was the worst hangover to date.... the journey to Taupo was not an altogether enjoyable one i have to say!

That was my time up in Wellington though, it once again went way too quickly but it was lovely to see Steve again and be treated like a princess for a few days. Steve, you really really didn't have to spoil me so much but it was all very much appreciated. As i said in your book, don't ever stop being so lovely! You're a star and i'll look forward to catching up when we're both back in London. Be careful climbing Mount Cook too Mr - let me know how it goes - and thanks again for the roof, bed, food and fun. x

Kaikoura and the Whales!

After a much needed sleep in the Sanctuary, we were up and back on the bus the next morning on route to Kaikoura - I'd still not made my decision about how long to stay and what activities to do, as you can tell this trip hasn't improved my decisiveness at all!!

Other than a little stop in Cheviot for brekkie, the trip to Kaikoura didn't take so long. Our driver Smiley was just as his name describes (and named so due to his appearance as the 'Colgate Kid' on NZ adverts when he was a wee nipper... classic! A lifetime's supply of Colgate was part of the deal too, bargain!! and it passed pretty painlessly. To our amusement, it seems that we've gained ourselves a bit of notoriourty with the Kiwi Experience... as soon as any driver looks at one of our tickets the reaction is usually something along the lines of 'oh, you're Justin's girls!!!' Comedy!!

We reached Kaikoura by late morning and checked into a gorgeous little hostel - was basically a converted house and the feel to it was really homely. I'd still not decided how long to stay but had opted for Whale watching that afternoon. We had an hour or so to kill so made ourselves a cuppa and chilled out on the sofa's and in the garden at the hostel while we waited til it was time to head out. The temperature now that we were headed north had noticably improved and there wsa finally no need for the ski jacket at all times. It did come with me that afternoon in fairness but it wasn't really needed.

We checked in for the whale watching tour around half 12 and although i'd been warned about motion sickness I thought i'd be ok, I'd survived all the other boat rides so why should this one be any different?! Couldn't have been more wrong..... from start to finish it was 'eye's on the horizon, deep breaths' just to make sure there were no embarrasing incidents when the wind may have been blowing in an unfortunate direction!!! That said, the tour was fab, i still managed to enjoy it. How can you not when you spot 8 Giant Sperm Whales and get so close to them. I've never seen whales before so it was really exciting. I learnt something new that day too - did you know that a Killer Whale isn't in fact technically a whale - it's actually the largest member of the Dolphin family, named the Killer Whale simply because it preys on Whales!! Now maybe that's an obvious thing to everyone but I didn't realise that so there! ;-)

Anyway, once we'd spotted the whales - 3 of which were all side by side, an amazing sight! It was time to head back to shore, on the way though we came across a pod of Dusky Dolphins, about 300 of them... all just swimming anc jumping around in the water, they followed the boat for ages and it was an unbelievable sight - made me want to swim with them even more. After spending a while with the Dolphin's it really was time to get back. The only reason i was glad to get off the boat was so my stomach would settle, otherwise it had been an amazing few hours. A definete must do for anyone!

I'd decided to leave the decision of whether to stay a few extra days and swim with the dolphin's up to the fate of my bank balance... unfortunately it didn't really lend itself to staying so the decision was made to leave for Wellington the next day and try and fit in the swimming with Dolphin's when up North before I leave if I have enough money... obviously jury's still out on that one but fingers crossed as i'm told you can do it in the Bay of Islands and from Auckland!

Anyway, once we were back on dry land we headed back to the hostel and vegged out til it was time for dinner. The hostel offer's a fish and chip supper, including drink for $5 so Cat, Kirsten and I had opted for that. After we'd stuffed ourselves silly, Smiley took us off to the wholesalers for a 'beer run' - Kaikoura is just a small town and in an effort to save money too we'd decided to just have a few drinks at the hostel that evening. I'm not entirely sure how this saved us money in the end as Cat and I found ourselves giving into our temptation and buying ourselves a bottle of Southern Comfort between us - oops! - Just call us 'Flashpackers!!' Was yum though and yep, we managed to polish off the entire bottle that evening - infact we made scarily easy work of it... oh dear!

It wasn't just us though, everyone else tucked into there chosen tipples with avengeance that evening - Becky and Aid got through 2 boxes of Goon between them.. good work ladies!! Some of the lads on the bus were getting through their beers nicely and needless to say it was another very comical, very late evening.... ending in laughing fits, hat antic's (Becky!!) Cat picking me up and throwing me on the floor (no injuries don't worry - just more laughing!) Aid earning herself the new nickname of 'Patsy' - photo here should tell all - and yet again, there was an early morning bus to catch the next day... like i said - we'll never learn!!!!!

All good fun though and I have to admit I could've quite happily have stayed longer in Kaikoura, it's a beautiful spot by the ocean, and with the weather as it was at the time, the sun out - the colours were gorgeous and the place very welcoming. I loved it there. xx