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)

Ferry

Today I continued on the magic bus from Kaikoura to Picton and then took the ferry from the South Island to the North Island. For a change the weather was beautiful – SUNHINE   On the ferry I met Elsa from France, whom I had met in Lake Tekapo, and we ended up staying in the same hostel in Wellington and having dinner at one of the best restaurants in town. I had one of the most delicious meals on my trip

Glacier heli-hike, flat tire, and kiwis in the wild :)

After many days of rain I can hardly believe my luck: SUNSHINE, SUNSHINE, and MORE SUNSHINE today

There were a few clouds around in the morning, but pretty soon they were gone and it was warm and sunny – a beautiful day   And so I went on my HELI-HIKE on the FRANZ JOSEF GLACIER   We got waterproof pants, jackets, gloves, shoes, and crampets (I think that’s what they are called), then the helicopter took us to the middle of the glacier and we went for a 2 hour hike. It was my first hike on a glacier and I loved it! I was amazing! My favorite part was when we walked through a small icecave   At the end the helicopter picked us up and took us back to the village.

Back at the village I decided to drive to Fox Glacier, about a 30 min. ride from Franz Josef. Abbie, from England, and Meike, from Germany, whom I had met on the heli-hike earlier that morning, joined me. Shortly before we arrived at Fox, I had a flat tire. We got out of the car and while Abbie and I were trying to remember how to change a tire, Meike had already gone to the trunk, taken out the spare tire and the tools and started taking off the flat tire. Turned out her father was a mechanic and she had changed many tires in her life. Then a young Israeli stopped and also helped us. The tire was changed within a few minutes and we continued to Fox. There we found a garage, and while my car got a new tire (the old one was pretty much gone), Abbie, Meike, and I had lunch at a nearby cafe. I also called the rental car company and they told me that I would get reimbursed once I got back to Christchurch as I had chosen the “Gold Insurance” instead of the regular insurance   Once the car was fixed we drove to the Fox Glacier, hiked up the valley towards the glacier and had a lot of fun :)

We returned to the hostel around 6 pm, but my day was far from being over: After having some free vegetable soup in the hostel (every evening at 6 pm), I went on a KIWI TOUR in Okarito. I’ll spare you the details, but after quite some walking and waiting silently we actually saw kiwis in the wild!!! It was pretty amazing – especially as New Zealand’s indigenous flightless bird is not only nocturnal but also endangered and there aren’t many left. (There were a lot of sandflies, though. I wish it was the other way round: endangered sandflies - that would be great!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwi

Today was BY FAR my BEST DAY in New Zealand

Relaxing at the beach in Khao Lak

I’m back from the third liveaboard in the Similan Islands and Richelieu Rock this season – it was great, although I got a sinus infection the day we got on the boat and couldn’t do a lot of dives At first I wasn’t too happy, but then, hey, what you’re gonna do – be miserable the whole trip? Well, I decided if I can’t dive that much, it’s more of a boat trip with good food, great company, and phantastic sunsets And I did get to do a few dives after all: one at Koh Bon, one at Richelieu Rock (still my favorite dive site!), and one at the Boon Sung Wreck – my first wreck dive – loved it!!! The boat this time was pretty full: 24 divers - the usual Western European mix, one Australian, and one American who lives in Brussels. Really nice people No complaints! The crew was great, too – love them all: Vic (New Zealand), Leo (the Netherlands), Abraham (Mexico), Tik (Thailand), and Vickie (Thailand) as well as the captain, P Nok (cook), P Pa (cook’s assistant), and the other people working on the boat. I got to dive with Tik, my favorite divemaster, again and loved it! Tik rocks!

So now I’m back in Khao Lak and will spend a few days at the beach here – until I get my flight to New Zealand sorted. Changing my flight from Jan.29 to Feb.4 or 5 proves to be more difficult than expected - I’ll let you know the date as soon as I know it…

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…