New Photos

I added photos all the way back to the start of the blog, so feel free to scroll back and have a look!

The great shampoo caper...

Seriously, I'm on my 4th bottle of shampoo since I left. Either I keep losing it, or someone keeps stealing it....

Taupo - Muriwai Beach - Auckland

After Taupo, we leisurely made our way back through Auckland, going just North and West over to the West Coast again, stopping in Muriwai Beach for the weekend to conclude the trip. Did a bit of surfing, snuck into the campground to shower a few nights, and that was pretty much it. Last night (Sunday) we went to another surfer's house for dinner, and he led us back into Auckland this morning at 6:30 a.m.

The campervan was dropped off with no problems, and I am now booked into a hostel for a few more days, then I have a car rented to head South again, aiming for the South Island. Hopefully I can find some more things to do, and if something comes my way that could offset expenses, I'd be all for it. Until then, just relaxing in Auckland.

Skydiving in Taupo

So after leaving New Plymouth on Monday afternoon, we drove for about 6 hours up through Taranaki to Taupo, on the NE edge of the mighty Lake Taupo. It is a huge, huge lake. Drove some interesting roads under construction that took us way up on to the tops of the mountains, we were literally driving on the ridges that they had shaped to put this tight, winding road on. I wanted to look at the views, but when you're doing 100 with a semi on your rear on a road with no shoulders and 500 foot drop offs, protected by a barbed-wire fence erected by a farmer generations ago, your attention is pretty much on the road, waiting for one of may hairpin turns ahead. Driving on the highways through the mountains is like a racetrack.

We arrived in Taupo after dark and camped by the lake. In the morning we found a place to clean up and headed out to the airport about noon. We got squared away with what we wanted to do at the skydive centre, and met our dive masters who we going to jump tandem with. My dive master was Michael Holmes, who has an interesting story I'll touch on later.

The plane took off, a somewhat rickety bucket packed full of people. No worries I thought, if we go down, I've got a parachute on, right? We roared up to 12,000 feet, where the first guy went out. I was the first to go at 15,000 feet, so I was right behind him and watched him go out the door. Pretty amazing sight, to watch someone else fall out of an airplane.

Next we climbed up to 15,000 feet, which took a total of about 25 minutes. Enough time to wonder what you are doing up there a few times over. Nonetheless, the door came open and it was my turn to go. The cameraman hops out, and we sit on the edge, and 1,2,3 out the plane we go.

The only real initial sensation of falling is when you drop from the edge, because you o from sitting still to gathering speed, but once you reach the speed you settle in at, the only feeling present is that it's real windy and cold. It is kind of neat to float freely like that though. After about 60 seconds of free fall, Mike pulled the chute and we were floating under the chute, about 3000 feet up.

On the way down, I took control of the parachute, and got to turn it around in a few loops before he took over when we got close to the ground. We did however, get to talking a bit once the chute opened and you could hear again. He had asked me to put my hands in front on my harness so I didn't accidentally pull the reserve, which he stated has happened before at low altitude. He also mentioned that he crashed last year when he was by himself, hitting the ground at over 80 mph, breaking his ankle and collapsing his lung. Ouch.

I asked more about it inside and a girl filled me in. His reserve had got tangled in his main chute and something that should have detached didn't, so down he went. It was a faulty part on the chute from a company that has now gone out of business in England. From what the girl stated, he was an interesting guy, having been in a coma 3 times before from accidents related to motorcross. Oh well, I'm still alive.

She said it was all so funny now, because when it happened, everyone was going "Gee, poor Mikey." Now, however, is a different story, as it somehow has turned into a profitable even for him, having been flown all over the world. He was even on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Way to capitalize on your misfortunes, I guess. With over 7000 jumps under his belt, I guess this was a longshot for it to happen. There is an interesting article on what happened here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/
news.html?in_article_id=435377&in_page_id=1770 Have a read.

Tomorrow I think the plan is to leave and head to Rotorua, to check out what Zorbing is like. If you don't know what that is, look it up. Nowhere near as dangerous but might be fun.

Jack Johnson Concert

Well the Jack Johnson concert was pretty good. Got in about 6:20 p.m. and I was surprised to find that anywhere remotely close to the stage was filled up, even though the gates only opened 20 minutes prior. Still I found a pretty decent spot off to the side.

The concert started at about 7:30 p.m. with Matt Costa as the opening act. He played for about an hour, and was pretty good. At 8:30 Jack Johnson came on and he played for a solid 2 hours. Didn't really interact with the crowd a whole lot, but put on a good show.

The stage itself was surrounded by somewhat of a moat about 3 feet deep, and surprise, surprise, after about 45 minutes it was filled with drunk losers waist deep in duck shit and viral water. The crowd swelled to about 300 people in the water pushed up against the stage which had three tall steps on the front. Security was up there and they would gradually toss people back into the water who tried to climb on stage, so there was no big issue. The band would just laugh at people who made attempts.

Of course, someone had to start splashing water on stage, which didn't go well. Water + electric instruments + bankable musicians = not a good idea. They stopped the show, and Jack Johnson was good about it, just asking people not to splash, expressing his desire not to die in a shower of sparks and muddy water. People didn't listen so much, so a manager or promoter came out and told everyone to get out of the water before the show would go on. Police got involved a bit, and there was a few people that were holdouts, but Jack Johnson leaned over the stage and shook hands with them and talked with them a bit, so they got out. Eventually, more people piled back in, but they were few, and didn't really cause problems, so nothing else happened.

The rest of the show went on without a hitch.He played some songs in an encore with no backing instruments, and it was a good show. I tried a few times to get close enough for some pictures, but the darkness combined with the distance because of the water made it too far away. So, no real photos to show for it, which was disappointing, but what can you do I guess.

New Plymouth

So, moved on to New Plymouth now, have been here since Thursday, leaving Monday. The principal reason for being here is to go to the Jack Johnson concert, which starts tonight. New Plymouth is around 100,000 people I think, but attracts pretty large music acts due to the nice venues they have here.

We have been out surfing a few times here, most of which was small and uneventful, until this morning. The swell was larger, so the waves were bigger, and there was a lot more people in the water. I got beat up pretty good by the waves, I was stupid to go out and even try I think, it was way bigger than what I should be trying to surf in, but I guess nothing ventured, nothing gained. At one point I got stuck in a Rip Tide and after not paying attention, I found myself way farther out than anyone else. Took a good 15-20 minutes of paddling to get back in, but I made it. They then launched the rescue boat to go get a swimmer who had the same problem. Glad it wasn't me having to be rescued.

Anyway, off to the concert soon!

Piha - Port Waikato - Hamilton - Raglan

So, my friend Brenda and I set off Saturday from Auckland to Piha, which is quite a popular surf spot in NZ. We spent a few nights there, did a bit of surfing and looking around, going over to KareKare as well. The roads around here are very tight and windy, with no shoulders and straight drop-offs that go way down. After the waves kind of died out, we ended up leaving Monday morning for Hamilton.

On the way we detoured to Port Waikato, having a look at the waves, but there was nothing there. We spent the night in Hamilton at a friend of Brenda's and left this morning (Tuesday) for Raglan, where we are now. I also took my first shot at driving, which I haven't found bad at all, but sometimes you have to think about what's going on and how and where to turn. Don't want to turn into oncoming traffic!

Did a bit of surfing right when we got here in Raglan, on a point break that was all rocks. It's hard to get out into water deep enough not to wreck your board when you can't see where you're stepping and are constantly twisting your ankle and stepping on jagged rocks. After finally getting out, there were 30+ people on the points where it was breaking, all WAY better than I, and I never got a wave. At all. Spent an hour and a half out there just trying, but when other people can paddle faster, they get the waves. Oh well, I'm sure there is other places we can go where it's not so busy. Getting out of the ocean was the most interesting, with waves behind you pushing you on to the rocks, where again, you can't see where you're stepping. I cut up my feet pretty good from the barnacles, but at least I didn't ding my board, so I don't mind the cuts.

Going surfing here again in about an hour, hopefully somewhere with fewer people and a softer bottom.

New Board

I bought a new board on Saturday, a 7'2" tri-fin 'evo'. It's almost the same as a shortboard, but wider and with more volume, so it's easier to paddle and catch waves. Got it for a pretty good deal with a bag and leash combo, and it was shaped in New Zealand.

Auckland Museum

I took a walk down to the Auckland Museum this morning, took about a half an hour to get there. Admission was only $5.00, and that was only a 'suggested donation', turns out if you really didn't want to, or didn't have the cash, you didn't have to pay anything, they would let you in free.

The museum is divided into three sections by floors. The main floor was tribal and cultural history, outlining the Maori culture as well as that of other islands surrounding New Zealand, such as Tonga and Samoa. They have all kinds of articles on display, from traditional fishing instruments, to ceremonial dance outfits, to articles of war. One of the most interesting and imposing items they had there was a large war canoe, carved out of one giant tree. It was almost 100 feet long, and had intricate carvings all down the side, and across the front and the back. It could fit over 100 warriors at a time inside, and apparently was used in the ocean to transport between islands when invading. The front had a large carving sticking up about 6-8 feet in the air, reminiscent of Viking boats, which also had a large piece of wood at the bow of the bow, rising up high into the air. If you look up Ngatokimatawhaorua on the Internet, you can get an idea of how large these war canoes are. Ngatokimatawhaorua (say it three times real fast) is the largest ever built, and was launched in 1940. Apparently it is launched once every year, for ceremonial purposes.

The second floor of the museum consists of land and aquatic animal history and evolution, as well as geological samples and information on volcanoes. Typical museum stuff, they have all kinds of taxidermy, rocks, plants and minerals. they did have a rather impressive Great White shark on display, and outlined how if the shark is under a certain size (I think 2 metres or less) they tend to feed mostly on fish. However, over that size, they not only feed on other fish, but attack larger sea life and mammals (?), which I can only guess means surfers, schoolchildren, divers and tourists thrashing about in the ocean.

The third floor of the museum is where I spent the most time. It is committed as a war memorial, and has a large number of exhibits on display. They have lists of all casualties New Zealand suffered in WWI, WWII, the Korean war, Vietnam, as well as smaller wars most people probably have never heard of, including the Maori wars, and the South African war. They have two planes on display, Both from WWII, a Zero and a Spitfire, both completely re-done. Weapons - from long guns, machine guns, cannons, pistols, muskets, knifes, scabbards, swords and spears, they have a lot. They also have armour dating back several hundred years, including traditional Japanese armour that was worn by a samurai. Also on display are different types of war medals, what they were for and where they were from.

A definite must-see if you're ever in Auckland.

Gas Prices

I noticed here today - Gas is $1.77/L, Diesel is $1.29/L.

Amazing Auckland

I spent the day today touring the city on foot and by bus. They have an excellent bus system in Auckland, with regular routes and another set of buses that does a loop of a large popular area including Downtown and the Parnell district, which from what I've seen is higher end shopping and old renovated houses. It also went by the University here, the Museum, Hospital, Fine Arts Centre and various parks and theatres.

I also bought a wetsuit today and tracked down a few places I can get a second hand board. I'm also thinking of getting an epoxy board, due to the fact they are cheaper and more durable, perfect for lots of traveling. Or, if you know my luck surfing, perfect for avoiding dings in your board, be it as a result of a well placed rock, or your friend's head being in the way of your board flying through the air. (Right Cam?)

I was searching and searching and searching for a grocery store of some kind around where I am staying, but never could find one. I asked, but everyone's directions seemed to lead me to nowhere, so I ended up just wandering around all afternoon. Finally, about 7 pm today, I found a large chain grocery store and bought a bunch of food. Too bad it was about 35 minutes walk from where I'm staying. That's a long way to carry groceries let me tell ya. I have some new blisters on my feet from all the walking I did today.

The camper van is booked, have to pick it up before noon on Saturday. Then comes the fun part - driving through downtown on the opposite side of the road in a vehicle I am unfamiliar with with the steering on the wrong side from what I am used to. Yee-ha.

Other than that, just killing time here until the weekend. Now that I know how the bus system works and have tried it out with some success, I'll try to head around to some spots like the museum and other historical places tomorrow.

New Zealand

It sure was the right decision to get out of Fiji and on to New Zealand. I'm in downtown Auckland right now, and is it ever a nice city. Vibrant, bustling, nicely laid out. There is some great architecture here, and everything is clean. Buildings - clean. Cars - clean. Streets - clean. Garbage - clean. Well, maybe an exaggeration on the last point, but there sure is not a lot of garbage floating around.

I got up early today to catch the flight, but then whizzed through check in and security, so I was way early for the flight. The flight was then delayed by about an hour because the plane we were leaving on didn't arrive from Japan on time. I got into Auckland and headed off to a hostel/hotel I am staying at for the next 2 nights. You have your own room with facilities, but they have shared laundry and kitchen. It was a little more pricey than a normal hostel, but well worth it to do some laundry and sort some stuff out.

It appears that I have a camper van booked for the 17th until the end of the month to tour around the north island. That should be interesting, driving on the opposite side of the road from what I'm used to. It's hard enough crossing the road on foot without getting hit by a car (which has almost happened a few times), never mind driving in traffic at 100 kmph. Guess I'll get the extra insurance on the camper van. Ha ha ha.

I'm still having issues with uploading photos for some reason, which I don't get because it has worked before. The Internet at my hostel is down right now as well, so I am at a cafe, and wont upload them here unless the 'net at the hostel is down again tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

Surfing

For those wondering about surfing, i haven't been able to do it here in Fiji. Rentals are not readily available,and unless your at a surf resort, where it is major $$$ to stay, you don't really have access to waves.
The closest I got was when I took an ocean kayak out in some waves near Koravou. It took about 15-20 minutes of paddling to get there, and the waves spun me around and flipped me pretty easy, as there is no fin on the kayak. I got pushed into some dead coral, but only got scraped a bit. It was fun.

Bounty Island-Nadi Bay

Bounty Island was decent, but not the best place I was at. The food wasn't so great, but there was lots of it if you wanted it. The rooms were air conditioned at least, which was nice for a change. It was full of people from Japan as well, which was odd as they weren't at any of the other islands. Apparently students from Japan come to Fiji to learn English and vacation on the weekends. Weird I thought, seeing as most Fijians don't speak English all that well.
I left bounty on the 9th, headed back to the mainland to stay at Nadi Bay hotel. I was put in a dorm there that was full of Swedes. Noisy Swedes. A few people went to bed around 10, but they kept on going until late, not exactly sure of the time. Again in the morning when they got up, no regard for anyone else, just doing their own thing. I'm not too sure that hosteling in dorms and I will get along too well if this is the norm. Maybe I should do it anyway, test my limits and hopefully increase my tolerance of things I find annoying.
Lots of people have suggested buying or renting a small caravan in New Zealand, and then driving wherever you want to go. The upside is you have your own space, and are free to do whatever, the downside is that you wont meet as many people as you would while staying in a hostel. I think buying is out, just due to the fact that if it doesn't sell when I leave, I'm stuck with it, and then have to move on to Australia. People say it can be just as cheap as hosteling, but usually only if you find someone else to split it with. I think it would be great for surfing, being able to drive to spots every day.
I have also changed my itinerary, so now I am leaving Fiji on the 11th (tomorrow), headed to New Zealand.. Originally I was slated to go on Saturday, but now that I'm out of the Yasawa Island chain and back on the mainland, I am a little bored and a little antsy to move on. I had to head to the airport this morning to change my ticket, which took 2 hours, as I couldn't phone anywhere because everything was closed. I had to sit there until someone showed up and was willing to help me out. Everything runs on Fiji time.
There's not a lot going on here at the moment. Today is a national holiday, and I asked if there was any Rugby going on in Nadi that I might catch, but everyone says there will be nothing. Too bad, after lots of lounging around, I was looking for a little more excitement.
I figure it's time to go anyway. I have blisters on my toes and sore feet from walking everywhere in flip-flops.

Next post will be from New Zealand.

Koravou - Manta Ray

So I spent 2 days at Koravou resort. It was nice but I opted to start heading back south in the Yasawa island chain, heading to Manta Ray resort. Manta ray is another step up in quality. Food is more buffet style, so you can determine your own portions rather than being served a plate. They have a small desalinization plant running here, so you can drink the water rather than buying it for 5-6 bucks a bottle like everywhere else.

They use composting toilets, which saves water and this resort is more carved out of the side of the mountain than others, where things appeared to be cleared away so the resort could be put there.

Today I am heading further south to Bounty Island, which is next door to the most expensive place to stay in Fiji - Turtle Island. Apparently rooms start at about $3000 US per night. After tonight, I am heading back to the mainland to the Nadi Bay hotel, and see what I can do with myself until the 15th, when I fly out to NZ.

Sunrise Resort/Koravou Resort

Sunrise resort was nice, but 'rustic' would be the best way to describe it. Meals are served, there is no 'eat when you want' here. If you miss out, you're screwed. The dorms are simply that. A large room full of bunk beds an mosquito nets.
The water here was amazing, really warm and clear, no hard reef on the bottom, only sand. Things are nice and relaxed, and everyone is pretty laid back. Lots of people here from England, Switzerland, and I've even run into a few from Canada. All the Canadians I've met to this point are from Saskatchewan for some reason.
Deciding to leave Sunrise, I got back on the boat and headed down to Koravou, about an hour's ride south.
Koravou is much larger, and caters more to creature comforts, having Internet, some air conditioning, and more space to move around. The water isn't as clear, and the bottom is rough coral, but overall it is much nicer here, and they have more activities to keep you busy and pass the time.
After arriving and again getting settled, they put on some traditional dances and we basically wasted the night away playing cards and sitting around a fire.

Hot Hot Heat

The one thing I can't get over here is the heat. It's hotter than both Mexico or the Dominican, and by about 10 a.m., I have had enough. Sleeping at night with no fans is real fun too, as they kill the electricity from the generators around midnight. Most of the day and night, I am soaked.

Fiji is a beautiful country, but man, is it hot.

L.A. to Fiji

Got on the flight from L.A. to Fiji around 10:30 as scheduled, and as luck would have it, the plane was only half full. I managed to get an entire row to myself, after moving around, but it didn't do any good, I still didn't get any sleep.
Upon arriving in Fiji, I started looking for a place to stay, and was booked in by a lady there at the Downtown Backpackers Hostel in Nadi. Upon getting there, I realized that this was one of the places on my list that I did not want to stay after looking at it on the Internet, and checking inside, I remembered why. Dirty ripped mattresses, sweltering hot in a three story concrete oven in the middle of a muggy city. Pass, thanks.
I managed to book a 'Bula Pass' and 5 nights stay in the Chain of Islands running up from the northwest side of the island. A Bula Pass is a boat pass for transportation between the islands.
The first place I booked was way up north at the farthest island at Sunrise resort, a 5 hour boat ride away. Got there, settled in, had supper and went to bed at 7. Being up for 36 hours, I was pretty exhausted, but had a good sleep that night.

Photos

I'm having issues uploading photos here in Fiji, so it will probably have to wait until I hit New Zealand before I can put any on here...

I can't drive 55...

Well, the flight to L.A. was decent, took off on time, landed early. I hopped a shuttle bus and grabbed a room at a nearby Motel for the night. In the morning, the plan was initially to go to the airport, find a locker and store my bags, then head out on the town for the day.
Got to the airport at 11:30, and started to look for a locker. After searching for a bit, I went to the information booth and found out that since 9/11, there are no lockers in the airport, and for some reason, no mailboxes either.
Thinking about my options for a bit, I went and struck up a conversation with one of the airport police there, and exchanged flashes with him. I asked if he had anywhere he could store my bags, but he said there was no real place to keep it at the airport. He offered to put it in the trunk of his car for the remainder of his shift, but he was off in an hour, so that made no sense anyway. He suggested I go rent a car and drive around.
I had thought about this earlier, and decided what the heck, why not. Can't be too bad to drive in L.A., so I headed out and caught a shuttle to Hertz.
At Hertz, I got a car and headed outside, looking for my Hyundai Sonata they had given me. They had several cars on display, Nissan convertibles, Mitsubishi convertibles, and oh, what is this? Convertible Corvettes, brand new. I stopped and looked at it for a while. The sun was shining. There was a light breeze. I was in L.A. for one day. Who knew when I was coming back?

Why not?

So, I went back inside and switched it around. 15 minutes later I was cruising around in a new Corvette, top down, having a REALLY good time. Those cars really have a lot of oomph.
I headed over to Venice beach and hung around there for a bit, and eventually found a mall where I needed to pick some things up.
Lastly, I wanted to take it out on the freeway and try and wind it up, so I took an exit, came flying around the corner................................and right into gridlock. Luckily, I came in from the right, which also exited right, and I headed off that way. Driving around a bit more, I found a nice wide open industrial area, where there was nobody around at all. Let's just say I got my money's worth.

After that, it was back to the airport for the long flight to Fiji.

L.A. bound

Well, finally off. Just heading to the airport in Calgary to fly out at 7:30 p.m. to L.A. for a one day layover before the long, long trip to Fiji. Get there tonight, find a hotel, then figure out what I am going to do with myself for a day in L.A. There is public transit from the airport area to all over, so I will probably do that. Looking at the lines and routes for the trains, it runs through some rough areas, but nothing ventured, nothing gained I guess. Hopefully there will be internet access at the airport somewhere, and I will re-post tomorrow night.