Cook Islands - backdated!

We arrived a few weeks after several cylones had hit the islands so everything was looking pretty battered with lots of debris about. People had tied down their roofs with huge ropes attached to cars and anything else heavy they could think of and were busy most days clearing their gardens and burning what they could. After just the couple of weeks we had there everything was looking more spick and span and you could see how house and garden proud they all are.

We had a few days exploring the main island Rarotonga. We started off on a motorbike (helmetless, short sleeves and mental stray dogs leaping out at us soon put a stop to my fun - although James was having a whale of a time), moved down to a moped and gradually I got my way as we progressed onto a mounain bike. Then I started to have girly fun - enjoy the scenery as we cycled round the island stopping off on the white sandy beaches!

We headed off to Aitutaki (the world's most beautiful lagoon according to the book of things you have to see before you die) for my birthday!! Lucky me!! And - despite not really being an expert in lagoons, and not having much to compare it with - it was bloody beautiful!!

We stayed one night in a dodgy crumby place with the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life sharing the shower with James, and swiftly moved on to Paradise Cove - much more my scene! We had ten days here and once we'd explored the island we did very little indeed. It would have been rude not to have loafed on such an idyllic deserted beach scoffing coconuts when thirst hit us and plunging into the warm waters when we broke out into a sweat.

For my birthday we were a little more energetic and went on a logoon tour with four others. It was stunning - we stopped off and snorkelled around giant clams and black pearls before having a fresh tuna bbq complete with fresh coconut cocktails with the table set in the water for us. Then we wallowed in the turquoise waters, James played water rugby with a few locals and a coconut before heading back for coconut birthday cake and a cold beer to watch the sun set! Fab! I felt very spoilt and could't help wondering what I'll be up to on the 31st of March next year!!?

Fiji - backdated!

A totally tropical haven!! We spent an amazing 12 days here living in very simple way - but who needs flashy hotels and big posh restaurants when you've got your own little palm thatched beach bungalow in a coconut plantation, all your meals being prepared with homegrown goodies, a dive school hut as your next door neighbour and lovely lovely people? (although a fresh water shower would have been nice as the water bore hole left us a bit minging and sticky each night!!)

Otto and Fanny's (the place we stayed) was just like staying with a Fijian family - everyone there was really friendly and we were even invited to join in the cava drinking celebration session after they won the rugby 7s world cup roud their little garden table - ukeleles were being strummed and the singing was fab!

We learned to dive here and had such a great time with our local instructor Niko, who is related to Otto and Fanny, and three other lads. The snorkelling around the island was like nothing James or I had ever seen before - the corals were flourescent, great bright blue star fish loafed alongside enormous sea slugs and the fish were every size and every colour and pattern you can think of. After that we did wonder why we were bothering to go much deeper and learn to dive - but once we got going we knew why!! More and more, getting bigger and bigger!! It was like Niko was showing us round his back garden as he searched out purple inking octopusses, turtles and Nimo! The only time I had bit of a moment was when he announced that we may see Hammerheads as we were going down from our first boat dive, mopping up blood from his leg at the time - funnily enough it was the only time I didn't stick right by his side. I was quite glad when we surfaced having only come face to face with pretty looking colourful things!!

By now James and I were well and truely hooked but, despite knowing the theory, we were both still a bit unsure about how we would actually react 18m down if/when we did spot a shark lurking in wait. Even though most are supposedly harmless they still look mean and the old theme tune does seep into your head as you're getting deeper!!

We were sad to leave the island and all the people there - even more so when the next island we went to was filled with uber-cool traveller dudes. "Yo Yo Yo! Whatz happnin'?" Felt like we'd stumbled into a cult group of extras for 'The Beach' who hadn't managed to go home yet. God I'm getting old! Still, we couldn't really grumble as we were still in paradise and we couldn't hear them when we were out in the water!! Still amazing snorkelling but no diving here as we thought we'd save it for our next stops.

25th - 28th Feb - Beth and Stew's in Dunedin

Knowing that we were heading to civilisation after 3 days of tramping we had a long hot shower in Queenstown and scrubbed our bits ready to be able to hug Beth and Stew without feeling like totally stinky traveller types - I even did my arm pits and James combed his dreds! After that we hopped in LT and she speedily took us through the stunning sunny and hot Otago fruitlands to sunny(?) but very beautiful Dunedin!

We arrived at 81 Manor Road with excited tummies as we hadn't seen them since our exploits in Hong Kong! After big hugs and a cold beer pressed firmly into our hands we had a grand tour of their totallly lush new home. Three stories of Victorian Englishness slap bang in the city centre with 'awesome' sea views from bedrooms, kitchen and 'smoking room'. It's a beautiful place with loads of character and plenty of exciting DIY to keep them busy - although it looks v. cool already!!

Before long we were huddled into the Carisbrook Stadium for the Highlanders (yeah) v. Auckland (boo hiss). Fantastic to be there and defo worth the early start! Having said that Beth and I were too busy gassing over several cans of Speights and didn't even notice who won! We were pleased, however, not to leave the stadium with pockets full of wee - we had been warned that this is common practice in the terraces but not tonight! Maybe it was something that just Stew used to do when he was a student here!?! Hee hee!!

A good pub crawl was rudely interupted by a diversion by me as my zip had broken - I couldn't hit funky Dunedin with my pants showing! We were then sidetracked in their smoking room with their hubblybubbly shisha imported all the way from Friendly Kilburn - lovely apple which Beth enjoyed imitating dragons with. Photos to come!

After this we hit the town for our belated pub crawl and had a fantastic night (our first caipirinias this side of the equator!) - crawling into bed at some ungodly hour!

The next day was 'a great day for a crate day' so we headed to Gardies (a dodgy but v. cool student bar) with a good crowd and knocked back several crates in the sunshine. This was after we had been treated to an Italian Job styleee tour of Dunedin in their lush new mini!

Sunday was a cultural day - seeing Royal Northern Albatrosses - and Beth's lush new school. How different can you get from Colindale!? As it was a school night for some we had a chilled evening home, scoffing on Stew's yummy homemade cuzza!

Monday morning was show and tell for Beth's class. She brought her English friends to show and we were seen! Her class are amazing - all so 'nice and normal'! They were lively and chatty, telling us where to go and where not to. Strangley Bluff kept coming up as somewhere to skip! (see next chapter when we get round to it - it's quite hard spending a sweaty hour or two in a crumby internet cafe when we could be drinking cold beer, watching seals and the sun set!)

All in all a fab time with Beth and Stew in Friendly Dunedin - so much so we planned another stop the following weekend!

20th - 25th Feb - Queenstown, Glenorchy and the Routeburn Track

Passing through Wanaka we booked up long awaited Christmas present from the Bev folks - a jet boat ride up and canoe back down the Dart River at the end of lake Wakatipu (the longest river in NZ - yet another bloody superlative!). Before levaing Wanaka we treated ouselves to a pie on the lakeside - as if to be punished for this diversion from our health concious diets I returned from the loo to be stung in the folds of my belly by an angry wasp! - better he got me then than 5 minutes earlier in the gents!

It was with some intrepidation that we rolled into Queenstown - a number of Kiwis had warned us that the once beautiful alpine town had been ruined over the last few years by mass tourism and ill spent money from Christchurch yuppies. We were pleasantly surpised and happily whiled away a few hours strolling the streets and stocking up on some extra camping gear for the upcoming Routeburn track tramp.

About 45minutes up the lake from Queenstown is Glenorchy - a sleepy village/hamlet where we experienced the biggest pizzas known to man or beast! We watched the sun set over the mountains reflected in the lake and would probably still have been there to see it rise if we had tried to finish the pizzas.

The Jet boat ride from Glenorchy up the Dart, past Paradise (that is the real name of a place here!) and much of Middle Earth was superb. We were lucky to have a mad driver called Toni who seemed to have a magnetic attraction to any obstacle on the river including large rocks and trees! Polly had faith in her as she was a woman driver. I want a jet boat. The journey back down the river in inflatable canoes was stunning - made more pleasurable by the fact that the current did all the work and I just steered!

After chilling out around Glenorchy for a day or so we committed ourselves to the three day Routeburn track (supposedly the second best tramp in NZ to Milford Sound - more superlatives). We questioned our wisdom on this one as we stumbled through the darkness in Queenstown, laden with packs, to catch the bus at 6:50am! Strangely, we were the only two people on the bus - luckily there was a third person to drive. This was pretty cool as we got a personal commentary all the way on local history etc - I say 'we', I mean 'I' as Polly slept and dribbled for the 3 hour journey!

The tramp itself was fantastic. The weather wasn't in our favour for the first day but with hoods up we trekked through dripping rainforest and passed cascading waterfalls. Our bush camping was now down to a T after our Abel Tasman adventure and coming to terms with the pesky sandflies which had managed to find cracks and crannys (and fannys for that matter) we never knew we had! Polly seemed to be far more attractive to these little beasts than I did - although in retrospect I think was due to my protective covering of anti sandfly hair. I knew it was there for something.

We were in bed and asleep before it got dark and didn't get back on the track the next day till about 11!! We had slept the clock round and the weather still hadn't improved. By lunchtime, however, the clouds parted as we crossed onto the other side of the ridge and saw the Routeburn river winding down the valley. Finally we saw the views that everybody had raved about - well worth it.

On the final day we were up at 6, head torches on packing up our gear and heading for the end of the track to catch the 10am bus we had ambitously booked ourselves onto! - all so we could get to Dunedin to meet Beth and Stew for the first game of the Rugby Super 12's...and a beer or billion.

17th - 20th Feb - South Island West Coast

We trundled towards the west coast to begin our jaunt around the South Island with Little Tinker as our home - not a tent!

We kept our legs in walking shape with a stroll around Cape Foulwind (we found the name particularly amusing for some strange reason!) to see our first New Zealand fur seal colony. Getting over excited by the browny black distant lumps we first laid eyes on, I took too many pics as we soon discovered more but slightly less distant lumps to watch. Lots of babblers larking around in the 'nursery' pools bugging their mums to join them.

Further on down the coast we stopped with all the other White Maggots (Carrie's description of the camper vans which block their roads up all year round!) at Punakiki to see the Pancake Rocks - a curious rock formation that all tourists have to stop at! However, it was well worth it as it was quite stunningly strange and very exciting to watch massive waves hurl themselves at the layers of rock and blow holes.

Later on we passed through Greymouth and Hokitika, both major Greenstone areas. The views all along this coast line were amazing - extremely rough and open wide stretches of desolate beach. Beatuiful and totally lush!

We stayed in a little DOC campsite beside a small and isolated lake - isolated until two cars of noisy adolescent Germans arrived. We were serenaded with poor guitar renditions of vaguely familar tunes and a drowned cat. They continued well into the night so we enjoyed making lots of our own noise early the next morning knowing damn well they had hangovers and their tents would not have kept our noise out!

We walked up to the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers - defo chilly wind coming off these! Wrapped up, James went up as close as he could as we weren't going to have time to do any real glacier walks. Dipping his little fingers into the icy waters he wished the Germans were here now to give a good dunking.

Later we strolled along a blustery beach to stretch our legs and were treated to a personal show from a pod of Hector dolphins - not pervin' old Hectors though! (Foster relevance).

The continuing journey went inland to real Lord of the Rings country, crossing over the Southern Alps through Haast Pass towards Lake Wanaka and Queenstown. The land changed dramatically from rainforest covered mountains to stunningly bare craggy Gandolf mountains as we headed south east to the other side.