From Fiji to New Zealand

The water was crystal clear and the beaches were surrounded by lovely, green hills which were energetic enough to climb to the top of one.

We stayed two nights and went to the next island of Navitit. While we were there we went to the next resort to a Kava bidding ceremony. The people attending, who were mostly Fijians from local resorts, sit on a plastic mat and bid for Kava all night long in order to raise money for a local school. Kava is a non alcoholic drink made from roots whihc are rubbed in a hessian bag in water. It looks and tastes like dirty water and it numbs your tongue. I was treated to 4 cups of the stuff. Declining to drink any more we meandered our way home along the darkened beach.

While we were on Naviti we visited a village across the sea . When we arrived they performed the traditional Kava ceremony. Our elected chief of our tribe of six visitors drank the first cup followed by the rest of us. The chief of the village then drank his and welcomed us. The ladies of the village laid out their goods to sell to us on plastic maps, which consisted of barcelets and necklaces. The village itself was quite large and well kept. The houses looked solid and there was one large room for th family to live in. The kitchens were outside and I was amused to see a chicken strolling along the work top. The villagers mainly live off sea food and vegetables and as were leaving we saw them combing the beach for shell fish.

Once back to Naviti we went onto Southsea. The island is so small you can walk around it in 5 minutes. However, when we were there is rained so there was little else to do but leave early the next day to go back to Nadi. Fiji is a beautiful place but we were glad to get back on the travelling trail and onto New Zealand.

On arrival in Christchurch we treated ourselves to a lovely dorm of four in "The Sanctuary." Not quite as ideal as the name sugests but still very pleasant! We arrived late and woke up the next day to my 23rd birthday- As one of my greatest pleasures is eating we went for an "all you can eat" buffet breakfast. This, however, was perhaps not such a good idea for travellers as we took the "all you can eat" seriously and a little bit more. Two of us left feeling bloated and one just a little bit sick.

We saw the sights of Christchurch has to offer and went on a very pleasant boat trip along the river Avon. That evening we went out for a delicious meal which resulted in us being simply too full to ahve a night out in the pubs and clubs! We spent two nights there and left in style in our newly hired car. a red Toyota Echo. It was so nice to be able to drive where we wanted to at any time. The roads are ridiulously quiet and the signs simply take you to your destination rather than having to examine a road map for about an hour before departure. With our new found flexibility we stopped at a random farmhouse in the country side and stayed in a huge, cosy room with spectacular scenery surrounding us.

The scenery in New Zealand is absolutely beautiful and hardly any house or town spoil it as there are so few people living there. There are so many glistening lakes surrounded by huge, dramatic snowy capped mountains and at the same time, small, green rolling hills. We were there in the Autumn so the leaves were just chaning colour in beautiful oranges. Excited by the breath taking beauty we stopped numerously to take photos which of course we soon tired of.

We went to Dunedin next which was discovered by Scottish settlers in the nineteenth century. It was a nice place and very accessible but not much to see and do. We were told it was a lively student town but we some how managed to bypass this when we were there. We left after two nights and drove onto Te Anau.

Te Anau is in the Fiordland in the south west and is a small town next to the large and pretty lake of Te Anau! Our main excursion whilst we were there was to Milford Sound. We went on a tour with a group of retired Kiwis and Australians who bickered the whole time about which country was better. It provided us with much amusement and kept the focus off us "Poms."

Our tour guide was very interesting and achieved the phenomenal task of talking thw whole there and the whole way back. For those of you who do not know a fiord is a valley made by the movement of a glacier. The result is astounding as we drove through depp vallies with mountains steeply sloping up either side of the road. It made me feel like a tiny ant crawling through a crack in the earth. We made numerous stops and visited Mirror Lakes which reflects the surrounding mountains in the lake, as the name suggests.

When we reached Milford Sound, which is a large expanse of water meandering through the mountains, we hopped in a cruise and sailed down to the sea. We stopped at one of the many cascading waterfalls and a brave crew member called Richard put his man on and stood at the end of the boat with a jug under the fall so he could collect fresh water for us to drink. We also saw fur seals bathing on the rocks.

On the way back home the roads were very icy as it was very cold so we were glad we were not driving our Toyota! The next day we went for a walk along the Keppler track which gave us brilliant views of the lake and surrounding Alpine mountains. We moved on from our lovely hostel the day after and drove onto Queenstown, which is a very modern town and similar to a ski resort. The houses look like lodges and the streets are lined with souvenir and sports shops. It has a small town feel and we happily wandered the pretty streets, It is also known as the place to do adventure sports so feeling very extreme ... we did not do any! How ever we did have three days of complete relaxation in a really friendly hostel called Bungi Backpackers. The night life there is brilliant so we had a really fun night out, so fun that the day after we crawled to reception and asked in a croaky voice if we could stay another night as none of us were fit to drive. Luckily we could.

The next day, feeling refreshed, we drove to Franz Josef which is a very small town which serves visitors who want to climb the neighbouring glacier. We set off on our glacier trek the next day with a bus load of other eager tourists. We were kitted out in big, sturdy walking boots, crampons, waterproof trousers and a matching coat. We were the epitome of cool and looked as if we climbed glacier every day. The whole experience was a lot of fun. Our guide hopped around the ice like a mountain goat, shaping steps from the ice with his ax. We walked through caverns and hollows and slided down into deep gorges. As luckless as I am, I managed to get very painful blisters from the boots and as I took them off to apply plasters I dropped one in an icy cold puddle which in fact numbed my foot which in turn numbed the pain of the blister! It was a strang sensation walking on a huge pile of ice which had actually been there for years gradually working its way down the valley and to think it may not even be there in years to come. We got home hungry and tired and left early the next day.

We drove up the beautiful West coast and passed throught the quiet towns. The towns were quite small and all generally looked the same. We stopped in Punakaiki in order to see the aptly named, Pancake Rocks, which have been formed from the erosion of the sea. Scientists cannot fully explain how the rocks have been able to form but they do look like a huge pile of pancakes. We then stopped at Westport which is hardly worth mentioning and then onto Nelson, where we succesfully found the worst accommodation in the town and decided to stay there! It was above a pub and our room smelt lik beer breath, the smoke alarm was falling out of the ceiling, there were holes in the wall and the kitchen was the size of a broom cupboard and covered in grime. So of course, being British, we smiled and nodded and stayed two nights.

Whilst we were there we met out friends from uni whoch were touring New Zealand. We also went to the nearby National Park called Abel Tasmen. It was beautiful-there were beaches surrounded by Lord of the Rings style hills which made it a wonderful place to walk. But alas! Our time in the South Island had come to an end and we boarded the feryy and headed across to Wellington, the capital city.

We stayed at one of the busiet hostels we had been to in New Zealand and it was absolutely bustling with people. Wellington seems a nice city but it was the only place in NZ where it rained so our time there was tinged with grey. The cafe culture seemd quite cool and the harbour was really nice. The Te Anau museum was a really interesting experience and well worth a visit. We drove onto Taupo a few days later which has a gorgeous lake and then onto Rotorua.

On the way we stopped at a geyser wonderland called Orakei Korako where we had to cross a small alke, as if we were crossing to a strange new land. The geysers are created by the thermal activity of the surrounding volcanoes. They are bubbling, hot water which flows over the stone and leaves a mirage of colours and steaming rocks. It was quite beautiful even though there was a smell of eggs created by the sulphur. We came across a "Diamond Geyser" which we saw erupt with steam. The steaming water and bubbling mud pools gave quite an eerie atmospher to the place and we expected a cackling witch to jump out at any moment.

In Rotorua itself the smell of eggs was strong but once you got used to it, it was not so bad. One night we went to a local Maori evening. All of the 102 strong tribe were related besdies two. Although they enjoy the modern conveniences and technology of today they keep their language and customs alive. We watched our dinner being taken out of the underground oven, the Hangi, and then we went and watched seven of the tribe row down the river in the traditional Maori boat. It was a cold night but the men were dressed in little more than a small loin cloth style garment which barely covered their bottoms. One of the men actually jumped into the freezing cold water and I could only stand there and shiver.

The tourists had to elect a member of our tribe to accept a peace offering from them. Chris from Essex bravely took the role as our chief and stood looking awkward on the stage as a Maori man perfromed the Haka at him. After that ordeal he was allowed to sit down. They performed the Haka at the audience too which was quite intimidating as they stick their tongues out and show the whites of their eyes. The Maori chief has a great sense of humour and he taught us words and told us about the village. The dinner was delicious as there was fresh New Zealand lamb and chicken with oodles of veggies and salad. We ate far too much as usual and then meandered down to the river to look at glow worms. It was a very enjoyable night.

We left Rotorua the next day but before we went we got to see New Zealands native bird, the Kiwi. We went to a sanctuary where they are trying to raise the number of Kiwis. Before humans came to NZ the kiwis had no natural predators and had evolved so much that they did not need any wings and became ground mammels. When the British brought the stoats across (in order to get rid of rabbits) they nearly destroyed the kiwi population and it went as low as 5% but with the help of the scheme kiwis are hatched in the centre and at six months they are released into the wild, big enough to protect themselves. They are the cutest birds with huge bottoms and long beaks with snuffle as they search the ground for food. When the female kiwi lays an egg it is like a human giving birth to a 35lb baby. Needless to say she is pretty worn out and the male takes over and looks after the egg.

After our kiwi experience we drove up to the Coromandal peninsula and we visited the gorgeous beaches in the area. We took it easy and cruised around the shore line for two. We then packed up our trunk and drove into Auckland, the capital city.

Auckland´s main feature is the striking sky tower which stands tall above the city scape and although we enjoyed our time there we did not really get up to much. We met up with some friends we had met on our travels and we sat in cafes and read our books. So our time in lovely New Zealand came to a sedate end and we waved a fond farewell as we flew off to South America.