Off To See The World

Well, I guess the overseas part of the trip is officially over. We made it to California yesterday afternoon, traveling back in time a little (we left Fiji at 10pm and got to L.A. at 1pm the same day). At the airport, we saw the chaos that America calls “security”. John and I both didn’t have an address for where we were staying but of course, only the Asian gets sent to the reject line… John got through… interesting….

Anyway, before I continue on with America, I’m going to write a bit about our last day in Australia. On our last day, we went on a tour with a company called “Wonderbus”. It was a good tour since it covered 4 places in one day! We got to go to the Blue Mountains, The Wildlife Park, A Winery, and then take a ride on the water to Sydney Harbor. It was Mother’s day so we headed to the Blue Mountains first, before the crowds got big. First stop, a lookout point (where I lost Fathead 🙁 )… then we went out to one of the main attractions there where we rode a cable car down part of a mountain, walked around the rain forest, and then came up the steepest rail car in the world (apparently)…. it was pretty darn steep. The whole area was beautiful… very lush and green with beautiful mountains and valleys. Next, we headed to echo point for lunch. We had packed lunches so we ended up having sort of a picnic on Echo Point. There, we had a perfect view of the “3 sisters”, the famous rock formation there. It was nice, but after going to Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain) in China, it didn’t seem as spectacular as everyone made it out to be. After lunch, we headed to a winery in the countryside. The drive was nice as we passed a few vineyards… and then we pulled into T-… Tr… I forget the name… it sounded Italian. Anyway, we stopped there for a while, tasting quite a selection of wines and munching on cheese and crackers. I was still moping about Fathead so I was being a downer. After we were done eating and drinking, we headed off to the Featherdale (not sure of that name) Wildlife Park, where we got to pet Wallabies, Kangaroos, and a Koala! Yeah, it was another one of those wildlife stops for us. It was a pretty fun zoo though… we got to see some of the Australia wildlife including the Tazmanian Devil, Wombats, Kangas, etc. It was a good time but the time flew and we were on our way again in no time. On the way to the pier, we passed through Olympic Village, which was pretty big. Made me realize what Vancouver is in for in 2010. We boarded a ferry that took us to Sydney Harbor, where we took some night pictures and then made our way back to the hostel. Phew, it was a long day but a good one (aside from losing Fathead that is).

So that’s what happened in Australia… in Fiji, we basically spent our time snorkeling and relaxing. We decided that we didn’t want to move our stuff around too much so we stayed at a hostel near Nadi but we made a few day trips. On our first day, we did a “Robinson Crusoe” tour thing that took us out to a small island. It wasn’t a great island but the day itself was fun. They had a lot of fun activities set up. First, was snorkeling… however, since this island wasn’t exactly in the best location, we took a boat out just beyond some smashing waves on the reef… for someone who doesn’t exactly know how to swim well, that was a little scary. To add to the freaky situation, the water was deeeep. It wasn’t like snorkeling right over the reefs where you could see everything… the water was probably 10 meters deep at some points! The water was crystal clear though so I could still see the bottom without swimming down. The currents there were pretty strong so I spent a majority of the time just concentrating on not drowning. When we got back to the island, we enjoyed a lesson about Lovo (like Fijian BBQ where they cook stuff using hot rocks under the ground), followed by a firewalk show (where they walked over the rocks that cooked our lunch). Impressive… as was the delicious lunch that we had. Surprisingly, there was quite a large selection for me (vegetarian) since it was buffet style. After lunch, we were treated to a series of traditional dances, some with knives and fire… then we got to go out to do some hand-fishing (however, we sucked and didn’t catch a thing)… followed by turtle viewing, and then a crab race (where we each got a number which corresponded to a crab). It was a packed day but really fun. The smiles here are sooo contagious and the people are soooo friendly and fun. Joe, our host for the day had the most amazing smile… not to mention his beautiful short red-flowery skirt and the hibiscus in over his ear… haha.

The next day, we did a day tour to South Sea Island, where we actually got to do some INCREDIBLE snorkeling. This time, the reef was so close that we had to be careful not to touch it. I actually brought my camera with me this time so I have about 100 pics and some video of the dive under water. I will put them up on Flickr as soon as I get home. We also got to take a ride on a cool glass-bottomed boat so we got to see some of the deeper reefs in the area… that was really cool. The afternoon was spent eating another DELICIOUS BBQ buffet lunch before boarding our ferry to go around and look at some of the other islands in the area. Another great day.

On the third day, we too a day trip to Mana Island… a BEAUTIFUL island. There is a big Japanese owned resort there… so for those of you who don’t like to rough it, I recommend the resort on Mana Island. It’s incredible there. We basically wanted to spend the day snorkeling so that’s pretty much all we did there. We would have gone Scuba diving but that is quite pricey in Fiji. I got another hundred pictures or so (will put up on Flickr). The buffet lunch on Mana Island was another GREAT one (It was prepared by the resort). I think in total, we were in the water 3 or so hours… our backs got a little sunburnt. By the time we got back to our hostel, we were famished. “Ma” at reception is awesome, she has been helping us order pizza for the past few days… the pizza we had there was addictive… soooo goood.

After 3 very busy days, we took it easy on the 4th day… only heading into Nadi town to get some souvenirs and check out the town itself. We had all day on the 5th day before catching our flight at night and we spent that mostly poolside or beach side. I already miss the laid back and happy culture of Fiji…. I hope I will get to return soon.

After a 10 hour flight, we made it to California. Now we are at my friend Jack’s house just maxin’ and relaxin’. Don’t think there will be much to report from now on since California isn’t much different than Alberta in terms of culture. We will probably enjoy as much of the beach as we can and what not. Will let y’all know when I get the pics up.

Well, I had a little bit of time so I thought I’d put up a quick post. I still have to write about the last day we had in Australia since that was the day that we did the most but I will do that when I get to California.

For now, I will write about Fiji cause that is really what I am feeling now. Fiji… wow… the Islands are beautiful, the reefs, are beautiful, the people are beautiful… isn’t anything about Fiji that isn’t beautiful. We’ve been here for only 4 days I think but we have both fallen in love with this country…. so much so, that John even went out an bought a Zulu today! I think that’s what they are called but to the outsider, we see them as skirts… haha. That’s right, John actually went out a bought a skirt today… but in all honesty, it looks great! I think we need to adopt more man-skirts into the Canadian culture.

Anyway, the past few days, we’ve just been doing day trips out to various islands and snorkelling and taking in the sun… it doesn’t sound like much but it was perfect. I think I might actually be able to swim ok now since I did it for like 3 hours yesterday in some wavey water. I guess I wasn’t really perfect since I did get bashed up against some sharp stuff but it was still awesome. I got lots of good pictures this time and I will put them up soon. I even got some video under water of some big schools of fish! I must say, my waterproof camera was probably one of the best things I brought on this trip and I recommend everyone who is going snorkelling to get one. I hear that Olympus even has a new one that goes up to 10meters!

Ummm, I know that doesn’t really describe much but I am enjoying Fiji way too much to be sitting indoors on the internet. When I get to the states or back home, I will do a recap of these beautiful Islands… and have pictures to go along with it. That’s all for now…. tomorrow, will officially end the overseas part of this trip :(. That’s right, we are flying to California tomorrow… man, this trip has really flown by!!

Can’t wait to show people all the pics and help everyone and anyone plan their next trips… I know some of you must want to go somewhere now?

Bula! Is hello in Fijian or something like that... or else they are all swearing at me. Anyway, sorry haven't blogged in a while. There is very limited internet here so this post will be very short as well. We are ... [Continue reading this entry]