Dave & Margs' Travels

We disembarked at Tahiti but unfortunately our luggage didn't! After sorting out with the baggage people we were given an overnight kit including toiletries and an xl tshirt each and some emergency money and arrived at our accommodation about 1am. We are in french polynesia which we don't find easy but Vincent, our host is a god send and does his best with his English.

Luckily for some inexplicable reason for the first time I had put a bikini in my hand luggage so that was me sorted because basically everything is closed on Sunday. We found one supermarket open early, got Dave some shorts, got food, wandered round the museum which was quick as we only looked at English translation and walked back.

Spending time at the pool was nice but visibility was poor in the sea and we had borrowed ill-fitting masks so we lasted about 2 minutes. No alcohol for sale in the shop on a sunday so a dry night.

7am this morning, to our suprise despite their promise, our luggage arrived.

We got a lift in to the city from a guy who spoke little english when we were waiting for the bus and have just wandered around. It is ok, but nothing special, very hot and so much traffic compared to the last few weeks. Off on an island tour tomorrow, with an english speaking guide so they promise. We think we made a good decision to extend our stay in Cook by a few extra days, perhaps it should have been longer?

more on Cook to follow....

Cook Islands were fab and we didn't want to leave.
The mobile had no signal, the phones and internet often don't work and on one island there was no fuel. It was fabulous. The people so friendly and all very relaxing.

I will write more and tell you of our fun and adventures when I get a better chance but right not I am on a non qwerty keyboard and time is running out.

more later in the blog.

We left Otto and Fanny's for a night on Barefoot Island, a basic island with small bures on the beach, no electricty, just torches, but freshwater toilets and showers. It was another accommodation which was very quiet, just five of us during the day and another five joined from a sailing yacht at night. We were taken on a tour of the island which had three beaches and then we went snorkelling. The snorkelling was further out which we didn't like but it was much bigger and like a whole complete world of its own and more diverse than where we had been. Apparently you can see rare blue Nemo fish there but we weren't lucky.

We played a game of volleyball with the staff (6-a side) and of course Dave's team won. Dinner was unfortunately preceeded by another Cava ceremony but thankfully we didn't have to have too much. The staff sang as we ate and then taught some people dancing before they sat down and continued to get wasted on Cava. We left them to it.

In the morning we planted banana trees - one each and then the host showed us how they made traditional baskets etc from the leaves of the coconut tree. Next we had a demo on how to cut a coconut open with your bare hand. Mile the other guy with us couldn't do it in two attempts but Dave managed it fisrt go - should have videoed it rather than taken photos but I didn't think he'd do it that easily. We went for another snorkel and lazed around waiting for our transfer back to the main land and back to our accommodation. We walked along the road to another bar where we watched the cricket until Dave got too depressed and returned to our own bar and bed.

I am writing this in a small corridor near the baggage room with no view but about 100 yards from the beach. This morning we went into Nadi for a look around and to get stamps etc. We got harassed by a guy who wanted to take us to his friend's shop and guess what ... when we got there we had more Cava! Oh No! We made our escape fairly quickly and walked out of shops where we were pressurised to buy, bought a few things and got a taxi back. we are waiting now to go to the airport and a flight to Cook Islands.

It has been lovely here, beautiful deserted beaches, lovely weather etc but before you get too jealous remember this..

a) we have had Cava three times and that's three times too many.
b) There may not be many mosquitos but my legs are covered in swollen bites from sandfleas and they itch.

Wonder what will bite us in Cook.

The days at Otto and Fanny's were spent lazing around, reading (we have never read so many books one after the other), chilling out and snorkelling. The food continued to be good (one meal was a fresh cod-type fish in a sauce - very yummy) and the conversations at dinner with our fellow guests were interesting. One girl left and so there was just 5 for dinner and 3 of us rattling around during the day - well just us two when Jennifer was at her diving course. We went on a trip to an island which had a cave in it which had formed underwater and over loads of years had risen up. You could swim under a bit of rock into a darker cave so we did that with the help of the guides torch. The trip was possitively crowded with about a dozen of us there. The boat trip was interesting as there are reefs all around and so waves break in the middle of the ocean for no apparent reason. You would see a small hump on the horizon which may at first look like a distant island and then you would see it rise up and change to white as the distant wave had broken.

We continued to get up for sunrises but we were unlucky with the clouds. We also went snorkelling as often as the tide was suitable. We found more reef and enjoyed our time snorkelling around looking at the varied fish until we went snorkelling on our last day. We were chased by a fish of a kind we had seen before. We swam away and were further up when we were chased by the same fish again. Dave laughed and nearly chocked as I paniked as it came towards me and I headed to the beach. On our final trip ourt, again at a different bit of the reef it came for me again and I laughed as I headed for shore. Shortly after I laughed even more as I saw Dave make a mad dash for the beach. We can only think he was protecting it's young as we did see minatures of it around. And how big was this fish...?

About 6 inches!! :-)

If you didn't notice the comments from Darren there are more photos on the blog.

Go to "CHRISTCHURCH" and check out Darren's comments and follow the links.

Don't forget to answer the questions - any will do if they haven't been answered. I will get round to doing an update when I get a chance. Be good to hear from a few more of you.

have fun...

I wasn't sure that I would bother with email or blog whilst at Otto and Fanny's on Tavewa Island in the Yasawa Islands. However, Neill did ask that I describe my setting whilst writing the blog and most have been tucked out the way in a back room at a backpackers (Franz Josef and Stewart Island excepted). This is superb. I can look out the window and see the sea less than 100yards away alon a narrow sandy path with palm trees either side. The sand is pale and the sea is tropical island blue with coral and other reefs in patches. The other bonus and the reason Dave is with me is that it is airconditioned and a welcome cool from the heat outside. Where are the cocktails?

Before more on our current whereabouts, a mention has to be made of our exploits after my last entry which invloved the two of us trying to get on a double hammock. You have never seen anything so fun as the second one of us, regardless of which one it was, sent the first falling to the sand in their attempts to join them. Eventually an Ozzie guy held onto it to prevent anymore laughter on our part and we clambered on. We were too lazy to go for a walk to see the nearby hostels and bars and just chilled out and ate in.

We caught the boat yesterday (Monday) to our current island. The boat is a bus service rather than a cruise dropping and collecting people all along the route to the far north of the Yasawas. It was 4.5 hours the beginning of which we spent in the sun but ended up downstairs in the airconditioned area. At first the islands were interesting, one very small you could walk round in about 10 minutes, another quite mountainous, some with several resorts on, but after a while we ceased to take much notice of other islands.

We arrived on a small boat just after lunch and were shown to our beach bure. A typical thatched building made from palms and bamboo and with a high roof it looks the most traditional of the accommodations we can see and has both toilet and shower inside. It is only a few feet from the beach but with a few palm trees between the two to protect us from the winds. The Lonely Planet has described the island as windy but in truth it has so far been nice that it has been breezy as it is a warm breeze. The window behind our bed looks over the sea.

We have lazed in the hammock, read our books (ironic that in this heat I am reading a book on the events on Everest in May 1996), slept and chilled (?) out. We have been for walks on the beach and today went snorkelling in the warm sea. At first we were a little disappointed as the dark areas that we thought was coral turned out to be grassy areas under the sea. There was a fish about 20inches long, small this yellow fish, a clown fish that foraged in the sand and then dispersed the excess sand and food extra from its body as it swam along so it had a cloud follow it along as it swam and a few shoals of white fish. There were small white fish that seemed so swallow sand and spit it out to move the sand from pile A to pile B and a few other fish around. Then we stumbled on the coral (not literally and we are very impressed by our reef shoes, a cheap purchase in NZ so it would have been ok if we had done). The fish were colourful and interesting, bridesmaid-blue coloured ones, swarms of zebra like fish, green, brown red ones and a variety of colours in between. (Not so nice is the large (more than 1cm) ant just crawling across the keyboard!) We enjoyed our morning.

The food is great, lovely breakfast, lunch dinner and if you need it afternoon tea - including chocolate cake. There is an Irish girl doing a 6 week diving course and a girl from Vancouver staying here and a couple that are staying nearby but join us for meals so it isn't very busy for a place that can accommodate around 20. Last night we played cards for about 3 hours with some of the staff whilst unfortunately being plied with Cava. Thankfully I learnt that low tide - mean only a little and eventually they understood, "No more thanks." (Big ant fallen on floor near feet!).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Can someone from DVC email us the results of the mixed games at the weekend?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So the latest questions:

Q We have 3 nights here and are heading back for one night somewhere else - which island are we going to?

We pretty much know where we are staying for the rest of the trip, so won't be influenced by answers.

Q During our trip how many times have we spent 4 consecutive nights in the same accommodation?

Q During our trip how many times have we spent 3 consecutive nights in the same accommodation?

Q During our trip how many times have we spent 2 consecutive nights in the same accommodation?

I'm cool enough now so off to see how the tide is doing or more baking!

We are now in hot, humid Fiji. Bliss!.

This is where I have updated the last few bits, in a small room in a place by the beach near Nadi. We are of to some islands for four days tomorrow and we are keeping well away from Suva. In the meantime there is tanning to be done. So till next time... I'm going out to baked.

Back in Auckland we had an admin day, washing, internet, changing flights, booking accommodation etc. We went into the city and did a bit of shopping and got our hair cut... the shortest number 1 I have ever seen Dave have. We had a BBQ in the garden with Matt and Rebecca and Andre and Jan and it was a lovely evening catching up with them.

To make up for the lack of activity the previous day we cadged a lift with Rebecca and took a ferry to Waiheke Islnd, 30mins from Auckland, with lots of secluded beaches, high property prices as they have sea views, rain water collected on the roof as a water supply and about 11 vineyards although we were slacking and didn't visit a single one. We took the bus tour round the island. The driver said they had 20% less rainfall than Auckland so it must of been torrential there as it was chucking it down where we were and we got soaked.

We took the ferry back to Devonport where Dave had stayed with his sister many years before, and spent an hour in the naval museum avoiding the rain. In a brief dry patch we walked up to the view point although visibility wasn't great. We whiled away the rest of the day in pubs, enjoying Happy Hour and cheap games of pool. If only Dave didn't pot the black so often before the end of the game (ha ha). Our chosen restaurant was abandonned as too many of the things in the eat as much as you can buffet had cheese in them (found it a bit of a problem, even a harmless chicken sandwich had cheese in it when travelling around!). We ate elsewhere got the ferry back to Auckland, and a bus back 'home' and was disappointed to find the local pub was shut at 10.20pm. Out rage.

Rebecca and Matt took us for a drive on our final day and we went for a walk through the bush to a dam. Guess what... we got soaked on the way back ;-) We drove to a surfers beach and then a coffee shop before returning to their home in Royal Oak. Dave and I then took our four hosts out to dinner in a nearby restaurant that used to be a library, and after dinner whipped them at pool doubles. All those games en route paid off.

So that is it 6 weeks in New Zealand at an end. The weather could have been better, but we saw great places, superb scenery, had great fun, meet some brilliant people and had some great food.
To use on of Dave's favourite NZ sayings it has been... "Sweet As Bro"

ii na - in Japanese!

I / we did!

For those who haven't been to NZ mention must be made of the food. The supermarkets do pick and mix dried fruit and at the start we were healthy with rice snacks, dried pineapple, banana, apple, soya bits etc. But as we spent more time on the bus we were eating less fresh friut or our dried snacks and more pies. Every morning stop seemed to have a shop with a hot cabinet of pies.. steak, curried steak, chicken, venison, beef, mince, seafood .. just a few of those we tried. Pies were great, only to be surpassed by .... icecream.

Icecream...... As we travlled further south they tended to get cheaper and approx 60p for what we would call a double scoop was irrestistable. My favourite was Hocley Pokey - sort of vanilla with caramel bits in it, but it has now been over taken by Banoffee flavoured ice cream.

Needless to say I have put on weight this holiday.

We just about kept awake for the flight back to Auckland which was good as it was nice weather. We stayed at a backpackers in the City and met Nemo and Scoobs (another of our drivers) for a quick drink. It turned into a late drink including bright blue shots.

We carried our bags up to the bus station the following morning and took the intercity bus to Opua, in the Bay of Islands and found our motel. We walked down to the sea and met Cindy from Great Escape, the company we were sailing with, and then went into town for supplies for 5 days. We cooked fish at the motel and had a sensible early night.

We met our instructor, an 18 year old English lad the next morning...

Q What was his name?

Q what was the name of our boat? (named after a New Zealand bird)

We left the mooring and went out and practised motoring around before heading out to space and putting up the main sail and then the genoa. The day was spent steering, tacking, gybing and generally going around. We stopped at a nice bay for lunch and learnt how to anchor. The weather was ok, the winds not too high and I got a sunburnt neck and lips (ooch). We moored again at 5ish and had a beer before cooking on the boat - we thought we should try it in dock before trying it at sea. The battery didn't work so an early night at 8.30pm!

The following day we learnt to moor against a wharf, I went in at too steep an angle the first time and a big boat went in instead of me the second time. huh! We did man of board (we learnt from that it was better if I went overboard than Dave) and reefing the sail which you do if it is too windy to make the sail smaller, but of course we did it in a sheltered bay not where it was windy. We did figure of eights round a couple of posts and generally sailed around in the nice weather. We were passed as competant and would be allowed to take the boat out on our own.
Dinner was a bargain at the local yacht club which was having its 30th birthday do so we got free birthday cake too.

Next day.... the boat and us on our own.

We set off and got the sails up and headed on a straight course for probably half an hour. Great we thought until we had to turn and by then it was rough water and a howling gale. We didn't manage it very well and so a few practices in the more sheltered water would have been good. We managed to turn to more sheltered bit and Dave, wearing life jacket, bravely reefed the sial, but in a windy spot and in rough water, not how we had practiced the day before! The turning didn't go well and bending didn't happen and the sea got rougher, and it got windier, oh and did I mention that it was cloudy?

We tried to get out round the headland to the interesting bit where there are lots of islands but we decided it was too rough for us and turned back. i find the angle that yachts can achieve bizarre at times but with me in charge of it - it was madness! We found a Bay to helter from the NE winds which turned out to be 30-35 knots(!) and had lunch. Half way through sorting it we decided that we weren't properly anchored so had another go. Whilst Dave had a nap, i did some homework and worked out why we weren't turning very well and did myself some drawings of what to do steering wise where-ever we were in relation to the wind. We intended to go out an practice in the sheltered area, but by this time it was late afternoon, the wind was still strong, sea getting rough even in the bay and it was raining and poor visibility. Not the weather we had hoped for. As we were safely anchored we decided to give it another go the next day. I didn't manage to catch anything when fishing off the boat so we had vension sausages for tea.

We slept ok considering we were bobbing up and down and swinging arough the anchor point, there were howling gales and heavy rain. We wrote lots of postcards but as it was still rough conditions and poor visibility with rain at times we stayed put. The forecasted winds were 35-40 knots so we decided to call it a day and go back to base rather than spend another night in the bay bobbing around.

Luckily before we set off Dave spotted a fin and we were treated to the sight of 8 or so dolphins swimming around out mooring - that saved money we'd have had to spend on a trip. it sort of made up for the weather.

So we motored home. We considered putting up the sail for a bit of it but the few other boats on the move, either motored or had their jib out and we were told to always use the main sail so we were a little confused. Also the dinghy which were towing and hadn't used was filled with water and we were in danger of sinking it. We returned to base, unloaded, still got our certificate (!) and took a taxi to Paihia, a ferry to Russell and a lift to our accommodation - a stationery room which didn't bob about and we weren't sleeping on top of the toilet.

Russell was the original capital, described as a hell hole with brothels etc. Nowadays it is a relaxed chilled out place we like immensely. We signed in as visitors to The Swordfish Club - for game fishermen (well with my sun burnt neck I looked the part) and had cheap drinks - champagne for me.

Q We saw info on a possible relative of ours. Who was it and what achievements did that person have?

We had seafood chowder there, and moved on to a restaurant before ending up in the Pub Round The Corner where a pub quiz was on. As we walked home we got soaked - it was raining very hard - the weather had not improved.

The next morning was clear but by the time we had visited the museum and oldest church in New Zealand it was raining again. After games of pool in a few of the pubs, including the Duke of Malborough, the first place in NZ to get a liquor licence, we got the ferry back to Paihia and waited for the bus back to Auckland and Rebecca and Matt's home. We were pleased we had tried the sailing but were needless to say disappointed with the weather.



Tbc...........

It was our final night with everyone in Christchurch and the driver took us to an Irish bar, Mickey Finns, where it was nearly as cheap to buy a 2 pint jug as a 1 pint glass. We had a random night and with team Japan an Bryony we were up dancing to the live band.

The following day Dave and I went on the tram, went to the local museum and saw an exhibition on the Anartic and we climbed up the Cathedral Tower which I found a nightmare and suddenly decided jet boating wasn't so bad after all! We caught up with Wayne (from the east cape) and his girlfriend and with team Japan and Bryony we went to Dux de Lux, NZ's best pub for dinner (and it has it's own brewery), another couple of pubs and we ended up in Mickey Finn's again, dancing to the same band who acknowleged our return. We got Bryony up on stage playing guitar an keyboard which was good. Poor girl by the time we let her go she was only going to get a few hours kip before her flight to Sydney.

We left Christchurch on 3rd Jan with Nemo's cousin taxi and drove north to Kaikoura. The weather had been so bad that they hadn't been able to do whale watching or dolphin watching tours for five days and we were unlucky too. It was a nice town and sunny but colder than anyone place shown on the weather forecast - just our luck and we were pleased we had change our plans and were no longer staying two days. We did get a chance to catch up with friends of our friend Dee.

So here we are now in Christchurch again, after getting a shuttle back down. We are flying to Auckland this afternoon and then getting a bus up to somewhere near Paihia, the bay of islands.
We are going sailing ....! We have two days being trained and if we pass we get to take a 20ft yacht out on our own for 3 days. Should be fun. There is also no internet on board - so this is us signing off for about a week.

Happy New Year to all of you. :-)

We were expecting to catch on on sleep on the minibus transfer to Mount Cook on 31st December but we were the only two booked on the tour and it was actually a sightseeing tour with stops and commentary. The driver, Stewart, kinly decided to give commentary if one of us was awake but not bother if we were both asleep. First stop was the World's Steepest Street which overall wasn't that steep at all, there is just one bit of it which was 1 in 2 or something like that.

Q what is the name of the World's Steepest Street.

We continued on and stoppe for morning coffee and a wander around an old town with relatively histoic buildings which were being restored, could have been Oamaru. We stopped at Elephant Rocks - big bolders and the location of some of the filming of Narnia, and then on to see old Maori carvings before reaching a view point for Mount Cook. We were in luck and although it was cloudy we could see the peak of Mount Cook in the distance.

We were disappointed when we got to the hostel that the trip to the glacier which we had tried to book previously was now full and wasn't an option so we went for a walk. It was chilly but mostly sunny and was quite pleasant. We could hear many avalanches on one of the nearby mountains but couldn't see any of them. Mount Cook was hidden in cloud.

Dave's favourite pub of his first trip to New Zealand had been at Mount Cook but where the pub had been was now a visitors centre and so we found another pub to spend New Year. It was a lucky find as we had a cheap meal, lovely pudding (more expensive than dinner), games of pool and then there was a live band playing till 2am. Just before midnight there were free glasses of champagne an the landlord being Scottish had arranged for a bagpiper an he did the ode to a haggis and we had free haggis too - nicer than we had expected. Later there were free nibbles too. The people watching was great - lots of random people on bus tours and some very drunk people. A good and fun start to 2007.

Q I had my best night yet playing pool against Dave. We played 3 games. Guess how many of my balls were left on the table in total from the three games.

The morning trip to the glacier was also full so we went for another walk before getting the Intercity to Lake Tekapo. We had a couple of shots there over looking the picturesque lake courtsey of Scott, (thanks for that one) and was then picked up by the Stray bus to continue to Christchurch.

After the others left on the Stray bus Dave and I wandered and then booked ourselves on the Twilight Tour out to the Otago Penisular to see Yellow-eyed Penguins ann Albatross. First stop was the Albatross Centre. We had seen them in the Galapagos islands so didn't bother to see them on the nests but did see two or three of the unattached Royal Albatrosses flying about the headland.

Next stop the penguins which come in from the sea at the end of a long days swimming and then slowly walk up the beach to their nest. We were still a bit early to see many of them walk up the beach to their nests but we did see a few chicks waiting for the parents to come home. I think these were the rarest penguins in the world - I am not sure though.

Q so what were the names given to the pair of penguins that made their home in a tyre?

We returned to Dunedin, ate in the hotel bar and made the quick walk for another drink at the Brewery bar.

Four seasons in one day ... just happens to be the opening line of a song by Crowded House, a Kiwi band, (and the first song the band played on New Years Eve but more on that later). I don't think we would mind if we got four seasons in one day but despite the time of year at the moment we are definitely lacking summer. If I survive my stay in NZ with out buying a fleece or coat it will be a miracle. I worried when I came out that all the photos of our holiday would have just 6 different tops. That has been reduced to three - the number of jumpers I have with me. In fact I am using the layer system quite well grey is my fleece, red sweatshirt on top of that if needed and navy windstopper on top when even colder. Of course if it is really bad I can add purple rain coat, woolly hat and sheep skin gloves. It is apparently the worst start to a NZ summer for 40 years and I think we noticed it most en route from Stewart Island to Dunedin.

We left clear skies in Stewart Island and after the ferry journey to trhe main land we hit rain. It was supposed to be a scenic day watching wildlife by the cold temperatures and gusty winds didn't help. We did see sea lions and one large male in particular did come quite high up the beach and onto the grassy area. No sign of the dolphins but we did see the best example in the world of a petrified forest - a very ancient forest covered by volcanic lava and then the trees absorb the minerals and become rock (or something like that!).

Possible highlight on route was teaching Jana, the lovely girl from the Czech Republic how to play Pooh Sticks and we taught her well as she won!. We arrived in Dunedin, a Scottish city to be told Nemo had managed to wangle a honeymoon suite for us complete with whirl pool bath. That brought a smile to my otherwise cold and miserable face. It was bitterly cold and definitely a 4 layers place. They said it was 10degrees but I think they were lieing. A good night out with the guys (our last with Jana and a few others) and a brewery trip in the morning made up for the bleak conditions.

For those of you who haven't read the comments, go to

Christmas Day - A special Birthday & Maori Dancers

look at comments and Darren has very kindly attached some of his favourite photos to the blog for us.

Thanks Darren, much appreciated.