Fiji 3rd September 2005

Today was the first day of really fabulous weather. Previous days have been wonderfully warm with a bit of cloud or maybe a bit of wind. But today, the weather was a nearly flawless sky with a slight breeze to stop it from getting oppressively hot – fantastic!

After relaxing the day before today was another active day exploring the other fantastic opportunities available at Beachcomber. To start with I had a blast on the jetski. I used to think that they were horrible noisy things that spoilt the peace and calm at beaches. That was before, a few years ago, I had a go on one of them myself. Those things are great! It’s like riding a motorcycle on the water. With a few waves in the morning remaining from the previous day I managed to have a hugely exhilarating time blasting around up and down the waves, becoming momentarily airborne, and spinning around in circles – wohoo, what a rush!

Mike went wakeboarding later (like snowboarding on the water in the same way water skiing is like snow skiing on the water). I jumped in the boat and took a few photos, it looks like fun, but then again, he actually knew what he was doing!

After that I went on the snorkeling trip. It was just the boat taking us out to the edge of the reef at the northern end of the island, near the dive site of Jackie’s Reef. Although this was great, you could see a lot of the fish and coral that we encountered whilst diving, you could also see how much more there was to explore further down and it just in no way as good as open water diving. Still, I amused myself by skin diving down 2 or 3 metres to get a closer look. Swimming in the tropical waters is fantastically warm as it is and it’s hard not to enjoy yourself around the reef!

Throughout the day we generally lay around in the sun as well as playing a bit of mini-golf. The highlight for me was in the afternoon when I went parasailing! If you’ve not encountered parasailing, this is when you’re basically strapped to parachute which is dragged behind a boat which sends you soaring in the air like a giant kite. It was absolutely fantastic! It was the closest I’ve come to really flying and an unforgettable experience. As you can see from the photos I took my camera up with me (securely tied to my wrist) and had some amazing views. Definitely the second best experience in Fiji (after scuba diving).

I used my camera to take a time-lapse photography sequence of the sun setting, it was picture perfect and came out really well. If anyone want s to see it I’m afraid it’s 12MB so I wont put it on the internet unless I find a way to make it smaller.

In the evening we watched the All Blacks triumph in the Super 12 by beating the Aussies – always good to watch. During the game we met Dane, from the North Shore of Auckland, and Canadian Mike. Mike’s a software engineer and we had a great time discussing life in engineering schools in New Zealand and Canada. The whole evening turned into a big party and we did the Bula Dance again that evening. It was the last night we had in Fiji and we made it memorable!

Fiji 2nd September 2005

After a busy couple of days completing our dive course and discovering the underwater world Friday was a much quieter day. We lay about on the beach, played a bit more mini-golf and, despite having a having a severe lack of talent, I still had a great fun playing beach volleyball.

In the evening they had another display of Fijian culture, this time a little different and with fire dancing which was really cool to watch. The fire dancer at one point had the two burning ends of his fire-stick on the undersides of his feet whilst he lay on his back, very impressive!

So the entire day was just a great big day of nothing as we soaked up the sun and generally relaxed on the beach – lovely!

Fiji 1st September 2005

This time we had a properly early start and were on the boat by 8:30am heading out to our dive site , Jimmy’s Reef. This dive site is part of the reef surrounding Beachcomber Island and was another fantastic experience! Yet again, fish in abundance and magnificent colours all around us. We spent a lot of the dive completing exercises required as part of the training, but still had plenty of time to just swim around looking at all the abundant life that exists on the reef.

After surfacing we went straight into shore, grabbed new tanks, logged our dive and headed straight back out! Our next dive was the best of the holiday. We were at a place called Jackie’s Reef, located at the opposite end of Beachcomber Island, and this place was just overflowing with life. If we thought we’d be amazed by the variety and sheer volume of colours, fish and coral branches we had another thing coming - Jackie’s was just vibrant!

As well as all the fish we’d seen before there were other, less common species including vivid blue schools that lived in a single coral and exploded out at you on mass when you approached to make themselves look bigger. As well as larger fish swimming around with two smaller fish almost attached to it’s mouth whether this was a symbiotic relationship or parasitic I don’t know.

The only fish we’d hoped to see was the Titan Triggerfish which Keli had nicknamed Tyson as it had "kicked the crap" out of him. These things are vicious when nesting and even sharks avoid them. They can grow to nearly half a metre in length and are an approximately circular shaped fish, so it would have been a monster to see!

After the most exciting dive so far we headed back in and, because of other dives heading out, we ended up having lunch before our next dive. I won our little mini-golf championship in the mean time so they day just kept getting better!

We returned to the dive shop for our last dive just after 2.00pm and headed out to another apparently empty spot of ocean at a location called Passage Reef. After completing our final skills underwater, navigating underwater with a compass and hovering (a bit of a challenge in the mild current!) we spent our remaining half hour or so taking in as much of the reef as we could as this was our last dive of the holiday. The whole experience learning to dive with Keli and Subsurface Fiji was fantastic and without a doubt a recommended holiday activity to absolutely everyone. If you ever have the chance to learn to dive, especially in tropical waters, I strongly encourage you to give it a go. The experience is like nothing else and has be felt to be believed! We finished off our last dive following Keli through the short cave that gives Passage Reef its name.

After returning to the dive shop we went straight into our last theory exam. Since both Mike and I had just finished university exams 7 or 8 months earlier this was nothing challenging to us and we succeeded in getting the highest results Keli has ever had under his training – 48/50 (Mike) and 50/50 (Myself). Feeling thoroughly chuffed with ourselves we went down to the bar for a drink and then spent the remaining afternoon discussing our dives and relaxing from a full on day.

In the evening, after dinner we watched a tug-of-war competition between teams of different nationalities and then went and had an evening drinking Karva with the guys and girls from the dive shop to celebrate our new qualifications. For those of you who are not acquainted with Karva it is a traditional Fijian drink made from the root of a plant similar to pepper. It was a similar effect to alcohol if drunk in excessive quantities but is entirely non-alcoholic and tastes like peppery dishwater – not exactly a sweet sensation but sitting around looking at new photos taken with a professional underwater camera was a great finish to a great experience.

Fiji 31st August 2005

We woke up early and headed down to catch the start of breakfast for our first open water dive at 8.30am, however it turned out that the boat we were going to take out had mechanical problems and it was back to the classroom for the morning. So we finished our theory modules other than the final exam in the morning as well as completing our final confined water dives in the pool. We had some lunch, played a round of mini golf and then headed back to the dive shop for, this time, our first open water dive!

For our first dive we went to a site called ‘Golden Patch’. We were in a boat with some other divers and the location was an apparently bare area of ocean about 15 minutes from Beachcomber. It turned out that the mooring line had detached and sunk to the bottom, but the dive instructors knew the area so well that they found it anyway. After doing all our pre-dive and pre-descent safety checks we were on our way! Keli began the dive by somersaulting in and thus nearly losing his dive knife, but we entered via the more traditional backward roll.

Basically, it was awesome! I can’t really begin to properly describe what it’s like down there. You have to see it to understand the feeling of swimming within shoals of fishes, gliding around amongst such vibrantly coloured coral and other sea life in a seemingly weightless environment. Watching intense tropical colours dash past or gently glide along as you slowly drift by. It’s absolutely magical and the photos from my underwater camera do it no justice at all. So whilst I’ve included some of my photos you have to imagine that the colours are much more vibrant and so much more real.

So, excited after our first dive we returned to Beachcomber. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and looking forward to three more dives tomorrow! In the evening Beachcomber had a concert of traditional Fijian dancing and singing called a Meke. Whilst I’m very familiar with this sort of thing since I grew up in Auckland (the biggest population of pacific islanders in the world) it was still great. Another fairly early night as tomorrow was an early start to try and cram in three dives in one morning!

Fiji 30th August 2005

At 8.45am we started our dive course. We met our instructor, Keli, a white Fijian and a hilarious guy, lots of fun and an excellent instructor. We went through the theory parts of the first three modules and other than a couple of silly mistakes, both passed with flying colours. Just before lunch we then both had to swim 400m to prove that we were competent swimmers. I have to say that my general lack of fitness, especially as I’ve not been swimming in months, made it rather exhausting.

I’ll take this opportunity to describe meals on Beachcomber. They’re all buffet and included in the price of accommodation. All meals have about 5 or 6 different ‘mains’ with lots of fruit and salads and things as sides. I, personally, found the food excellent and, believe it or not for those that know my taste in food, almost always hoed into the fish dishes. Mike, however, prefers simpler food and it wasn’t quite to his liking. Every evening there would be some roasted meat (usually pork, beef or lamb), a curry (often fish), a vegetarian option and a couple other choices. I also discovered that pancakes and pineapple syrup almost rivals maple syrup and fresh pineapple juice must be what the gods drank with their ambrosia!

Anyway, back to the diving! In the afternoon we started on the confined water (in the pool) dives. We were both kitted out with double wetsuits as the pool was a mere 27˚C! Although it did drop to around 24˚C before we got out. Breathing underwater through a respirator for the first time was an amazing experience. It feels completely normal and is similar to, but even easier than, breathing through a snorkel. Whilst we were fine in the water, Keli was freezing as 24˚C is a water temperature that is to him like a mid winter dip is to us.

That evening we decided to sample the local beer. Result: Fijian beer is not good, do not go to Fiji for the beer! Had a rather early night in the end after a fairly busy day and went to sleep looking forward to our first open water dives tomorrow!

Fiji 29th August 2005

We got up and checked out in time to catch our bus transfer to Port Denerau where the boat departs for Beachcomber. The bus picked us up at 8am and dropped us of at 9am after taking a circuit around the hotels to pick up others. Once we were all on board the half hour boat journey took us out past other islands to arrive at Beachcomber at approximately 10.00am.

Beachcomber, what a place! It’s basically your castaway island paradise with the creature comforts of home – fantastic! You can stay in either the dormitories (cheap and nasty) the lodges (comfortable but not flash) or the Bure’s (the nicest accommodation, Bure is Fijian for house). We stayed in a lodge, Coconut lodge to be precise which was perfectly adequate, cool at night and we weren’t there much during the day.

After a complimentary pineapple juice to welcome us we had a little bit of time on our hands before we could move into our room. So we went down to the dive shop and signed up for the dive lessons we had organized from New Zealand – that’s right, we’re going to go diving in Fiji!

We spent the day wandering around the island, played a bit of mini-golf on the 9 hole course they had there and generally oriented ourselves.

The weather was a little overcast and the water was a bit choppy on the non-sheltered side of the island, but still fantastically warm - and this was as bad as the weather got all holiday!
We also started the studying that was required for the first three of the five modules in the dive course. So relaxing start to our holiday throughout the day.

At lunch we meet a Bulgarian called Vlad who lived in Japan (probably the most unlikely combination of nationalities possible) and spent the evening playing cards then at the bar with our neighbors at the lodge and their friends. The later part of the evening was spent at the bar where we were taught the ‘Bula Dance’ (bula is Fijian for hello/greetings) which is basically the Fijian Macarena – a touristy gimmic, but a lot of fun.

Fiji 28th August 2005

As with all my trips I did, as always, forget something. This time, however, it turned out to be rather more crucial than my toothbrush. I had driven from Hamilton to Auckland the day before on Saturday 27th and awoke on Sunday morning in Auckland with the sudden realization that my passport was not, in fact, in my possession.

With panic beginning to creep in, I called my flat and discovered, to my great relief, that a friend of my flatmates’, Felix, was just about to depart for Auckland anyway and could bring my passport with him. Crisis averted, Felix, I owe you one!

So with Mike’s girlfriend Michelle kindly driving us to the airport we were once more firing on all cylinders and arrived at the airport in plenty of time. After a brief stop at duty free to buy a wee bit of Glenfiddich 12 year old scotch whiskey we were soon on our way. After a three hour flight, mostly uneventful other than some spectacular views, we arrived at approximately 8.30pm in Fiji!! Wohoo!! Fiji!!



Our first destination was Tokatoka Resort which was located walking distance from Nadi airport, where we landed. We caught the free shuttle (not realising we could of walked) settled in and went straight to the pool! We made full use of the bar which we sat at whilst still in the pool, yes we could swim right up, drinking a fruit cocktail. Whilst the cocktail had no mini umbrella in it, it was still great. So off to bed and the prospect of Beachcomber Island Resort tomorrow!

Fiji 2005!

Alrighty, now that I have my blog back up and running I'm going to use it to publish the exploits and adventures encountered on my recent holiday to Beachcomber Island Resort in Fiji!!

That's right, we stayed here:

Needless to say it was afantastic holiday and I'll publish what I did one day at a time. That's one day's worth of holiday at a time, hopefully I'll be able to publish a post every day, but I'll just have to do my best.

In all situations I'll be publishing significantly smaller photos that I actually took and if you want to see further detail just let me know. You can, as always, click on the photos to see a bigger image, but I do have even better ones stored on my computer.

Without further adue, Fiji, baby!

Maketu and The Slice of Happiness

Today's job was a few intestigations in Maketu (in the Bay of Plenty somewhere between Tauranga and Whakatane). I had to dig through a gravel road with a pick axe that was broken. Fabulous weather, nice bit of exercise and, best of all, Maketu Pies!

I had lunch by the ocean (see pic) munching on a chicken pie from the Maketu Pies Factory Shop and it was honestly the best chicken pie I've ever had! I almost went back and brought another one to continue sampling the delights! So, my advice is......

GO TO MAKETU AND EAT ALL THE PIES!!!

However, the best was yet to come......well, maybe not the best, it was a damn good pie, but still very cool. I picked me up a slice of happiness! How does one do such a thing you ask? Well as you probably already know because you're already looking at the picture, you just have to drive through Te Puke!

Te Puke, Kiwifruit Capital of the World, get a slice of happiness

Test

Trying to remember how to post stuff

Can you see the pretty picture?



http://img397.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn03813tq.jpg

And now.....

Thanks to ImageShack for [URL=http://imageshack.us]Free Image Hosting[/URL]

Test 2, but it came after Test 1!!

How did I do it? Yeah, turns out you can back date this stuff, not quite so exciting, huh?