Going island-hopping

The last two days I spent on-and-off (sunhine-and-rain) at the pool of my “hotel” – which really is a hostel with a pool – reading guidebooks and brochures trying to figure out how to spend my 3 weeks in Fiji  And here’s the plan for the first half:

Tomorrow I’m going island-hopping in the Yasawa islands. I’ll start in the north (Oarsman’s Bay Lodge for the first two nights) and then work my way down for the next seven – or possibly more - days   So if you don’t hear from me for a while, don’t worry - some places don’t have internet and at other places it is too slow to get anything done.

I hope you’re all fine wherever you are – and if you’re in New York, I’ll see you soon (3/30- 4/7)

Rain, wind & fog

Driving back from Franz Josef to Christchurch via Arthur’s pass was fun, but the weather pretty bad: rain, wind and fog. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the winding roads in New Zealand’s Southern Alps

An Afghan-German hitchhiker, my passport, rain & more rain

I drove from Arthur’s Pass to Franz Josef on the West Coast in the rain. Today I didn’t do much singing as I had someone to talk to: a hitchhiker who was born in Afghanistan but has lived most of his life in Germany (and 3 years in Russia when he was in elementary school). I met him in the hostel last night and so when I saw him standing by the side of the road, I figured I’d give him a lift. He was very nice and it was quite interesting to talk to him.

When I arrived in Franz Josef I went straight to the hostel where I got my passport, driver’s license, etc. back. The nice staff had kept it in the safe for me – exactly where I had left it about a week ago. I’m very happy to be reunited with my passport, my driver’s license, and my scuba diving log book and certification    :)

I checked with the Heli hike company about tomorrow’s weather forecast – rain. Rain AGAIN!  The rain has been following me for more than a week now. Ever since I arrived in Franz Josef last week it has been raining – in Queenstown, at Milford Sound, in Dunedin, at Lake Tekapo, in Christchurch, at Arthur’s Pass, and again in Franz Josef. I seem to have not much luck with the weather here in New Zealand. Which is a little bit of a shame as most of the things to do here are outdoor activities of which many are cancelled if the weather is bad

At this point I am not getting my hopes up. It looks as if even the second time ’round the heli-hike won’t happen…

Dunedin

From Queenstown to Dunedin:

The usual: It rained all day long.

The bad news is: 1) I didn’t get my passport back. The bus driver didn’t bring it – didn’t want to take the responsibility

2) The wildlife tour in Dunedin (is supposed to be really good from what other backpackers have told me) was full

The good news is: I feel very much at home here: the landscape reminds me a lot of Austria (the mountains) and England (the sheep), everybody speaks English (It’s still often a little easier for me to speak English than German – funny isn’t it), they drive on the left-hand side of the road (the only car I ever owned was the year I lived in England and so driving on the left-hand side of the road is still easy for me), the people here are nice and relaxed (which reminds me of Australia), some of them are grumpy, but in a friendly way (which reminds me of Austria), etc.

Sometimes I feel so at home here that I forget that I’m traveling.

When we got to Dunedin, a nice university town with a studenty flair to it, it still rained. I ended up walking around the city in the rain with Paula, from Ireland, so we’re both used to rain Then I went to the movie theater, saw “Slumdog Millionaire”, which I very much enjoyed, and then went on a brewery tour Speight’s is a well known brewery in the South Island Was fun – reminded me of the days when I worked as a tour guide at the “Ottakringer brewery” in Vienna And once again, I forgot that I’m traveling; it just felt as if I lived here…

Milford Sound

Daytrip to Milford Sound:

The usual: It rained all day.

The good news is: we spent most of the day in the bus (2 times 5 hours) to get to Milford Sound - and hence didn’t get too wet – and then did a 2 hour boat tour there

The bad news is: we spent most of the day in the bus (2 times 5 hours).

Teh boat tour at Milford Sound was great, though. Due to the bad weather we had the boat to ourselves, i.e. 30 people on a boat for 300 people The rainy and windy weather somehow added a kind of rough charme to the place. So it was definitely worth it!

PS: Tomorrow I’m going to get my passport back

Rain, bus, and passport

From Franz Josef to Queenstown:

The usual: It’s raining again.

The good news is: the magic bus did not forget to pick me up today

The bad news is: I forgot my passport in the hostel in Franz Josef

Andy, our really nice magic bus driver, will call tomorrow’s bus driver to bring my passport down to Queenstown tomorrow. So I should have it back by tomorrow evening, or Monday morning at the latest.

Heli-hike cancelled :(

It seems to rain quite a lot in NZ. Yesterday it rained a lot; today it rained even more. So the heli-hike (first a helicopter ride and then a hike on the Franz Josef glacier) was cancelled   I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to hike on the glacier named after an Austrian emperor ;-)  I ended up doing my laundry – a good thing to do on a day like this as there is not much else to do here in Franz Josef.

Relaxing in Khao Lak – sun & rain 2

At 8:15 in the morning the sun is shining. Priska and I go to the pool right away – no breakfast right now. We’ll eat breakfast when the rain returns. At 11:30 it starts to rain, well actually to pour. We pack our stuff quickly and run over to the restaurant next to the pool. This is the perfect time to have breakfast You know, you have to work with the weather in the reiny season ;-) Today it doesn’t stop raining. So after our very late breakfast we decide to go get a Thai massage After that we walk down the main street in Khao Lak where there is a fair today and the next 2 days – the “Season Opening Festival”. Have I mentioned that it is still raining Fortunately, the resort provides huge, green umbrellas for their guests. It’s almost a challenge to walk through the fair with these gigantic umbrellas…

Dinner at Nom’s again – it’s becoming my favorite restaurant here in Khao Lak After this Priska goes to a tailor to get some pants.

Oh, and I buy my bus ticket back to Bangkok earlier in the evening. The choices are:

- 1300 baht: VIP bus with a/c and toilet, 24 seats, leaves at 17:30

- 850 baht: P-1. 32 seats, leaves at 16:30

- 650 baht: P-2, 38 seats, leaves at 19:00, 20:00, and 21:00

It takes about 12 hours to get to Bangkok and as I don’t want to arrive at 4:30 or 5:30 in the morning I decide to go for the cheapest bus. Tomorrow I’ll find out whether this was a good idea…

Relaxing in Khao Lak – sun & rain 1

Priska and I have breakfast at “Stempfer’s Cafe” – I love their homemade bread! Then we go to the beach by our resort – and believe it or not – it starts to rain. We go back to our room and end up sitting on our balcony. I write in my journal. Later it stops raining and we walk along the beach. Getting back at 4 pm we go to the pool and I meet Karen and Jason and the Dutch couple from the liveaboard.

Dinner at Nom’s – a very good Thai restaurant, nice atmosphere and not expensive

A rainy day during rainy season

It rained all night. It’s still raining in the morning. Noone gets up in the dorm. What can you do if it pours? Nothing really. At noon it finally stops and I’m heading out with Clare (UK), Sofi (Sweden) and Sanne (Holland) to have breakfast at the breakfast place that’s a tattoo parlor at the same time. The breakfast is really good here Later Gavin (South Africa) and John join us. They are all staying in the dorm and traveling for a few weeks, months or a year. While we’re eating it starts pouring again. As it stops we go to the massage salon next door: Thai massage - 1 hour = 250 baht, oil massage - 1 hour = 300 baht, less than 10 dollars and this is expensive for Thailand! Later it stops raining, so I head for the beach. Before I make it there it starts to rain AGAIN!!! I just make it to a travel agency that also has an internet cafe and update my blog