Niue

Pretty sure you haven’t heard about Niue before – we haven’t either. That is before we looked into Lonely Planet’s recommendations for Pacific diving. And according to them it was worth a visit. So, we decided to give it a try.

Niue is one of the smallest nations on the planet with resident population hovering just around 1500 people (triple that if you count in the chicken). We met some people in New Zealand who have been there and just like all the online reviews, not a bad word about Niue. There is no crime, no traffic lights and no crowds. Even Kiwis find this place unpopulated (in hindsight that should have been a warning…)!

Anyway, most visitors come for the pristine environment, but we had some additional  reasons as well. On top of best underwater visibility in Pacific (up to 80m), Niue is also one of only 3 places in the world where you can swim with humpback wales during their annual migration (July-October). Being late June we hoped for early arrivals – some years they come as early as May. Not this year we are afraid – water was still 2 degrees too warm for them and forecast was looking more like August for the start of the season. But hey, we already had the tickets at this stage and there was no turning back. Well, to be completely honest, Nives suggested changing the tickets and spending that time in Hong Kong and KL shopping, but Dejan’s bewildered look was the answer. So, Niue was definitely on.

Islands is actually a largest raised coral atoll in the world with nothing much but blue water for thousands of kilometres in every direction. Perhaps this isolation is the reason for the abundance of sea snakes in its waters – much to Nives’ “delight”. On our first swim into the warm waters, we practically jumped on two of them coming up for air. Have to admit that this was one of the shortest swims we have ever done – not even sure if we got properly wet before we were back on dry land. Dejan probably still has nail marks on his back when Nives tried to climb on him in the water! And yes, they are very poisonous, but not aggressive (even docile) and there have been no incidents yet.

So, with all diving here done in areas with snakes (hey, that’s what you come here to see after all), it was only Dejan who went for a dip. And as luck would have it – not a single snake on that dive (probably would have been hundreds if Nives had decided to go…). Verdict on diving – not good we are afraid; even Dejan did only one day and decided that there is no point in doing any additional dives. Sadly (or not J), our previous diving stop was in French Polynesia and our standards are now sky-high (spoilt would probably be the right word). Endless visibility, nice coral and warm waters were nice, but we wouldn't fly this far for it.

With water out of reach we focused on riding the bike around the island and walking all the various sea tacks (no snakes on land!). Chasms, caves, arches and cliffs really are in abundance here. After endless sandy beaches in other pacific islands, we found this change a delight and perhaps at times pushing too much while attempting the harder walks in our flip-flops (shoes have been sent home). Some of them require practically climbing thru the caves. This part of the trip was really enjoyable as the scenery is pretty much unique. It looks as if you are on another planet really.

But, before we could do any driving around, we had to stop at the police station and get a local driving licence. With islands relaxed atmosphere, this felt more like a stop in souvenir shop than police station.

To top it all we had a fantastic room with kitchen and fridge topped (brand new – we were the first guests!!!) up with duty free vino. Another good thing about the island is that they offer duty free prices for maximum allowed amount of alcohol on the island. Well, not really proud, but we did reach out quota – that was the last chance to drink New Zealand wine after all. After a while in various eco resorts we definitely appreciated electricity and drinking water from the tap. Not to mention that there actually are shops on the island!

Without water activities staying 11 days was perhaps couple of days to long. Had we had whales and dolphins I’m sure we would thought it was too short. It was a nice place to relax a bit after all the action in other Pacific islands and we did that in abundance as well. Reading a book and having a cocktail with fresh coconut water on a platform high above the sea with beautiful views is not such a bad way to spend some time either. The coastline is unique in its rugged beauty, but would have to say that it’s just too far from home to make a return trip here in the future. Then again, we have said this before for some other places as well.

With nothing more than couple of days in Auckland, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur before we return home this was our last travel stop on this trip. Soon we will be back on home food to recover all the weight lost on the trip. Home sweet home – here we come!!!!!

Some more pictures here.

French Polynesia

“Tahiti welcomes you” sign behind traditional dance performed for the arrivals was our very early first taste of French Polynesia. Nice gesture, appreciated even by somewhat dazed audience. It was well past midnight! And then the second pleasant surprise at this late (or should it be early?) hour:  on this magical island EU visitors have a separate queue. Finally a well-deserved relief from filling in little cards (getting easier by the way – we know all our details by hart now…). Quick passport check and we have now truly arrived.

Needless to say this, we would have appreciated  this swift pass thru immigration if we had a room booked for the first night. But expecting excruciating customs questions and officials (we have been way too long in New Zealand and Australia…) and to keep up with what is becoming a tradition on this trip, we planned to spend first night at the airport (we expected few hours only). At least this time we have been realistic that airport will not be huge and quite possibly closed during the night – and yes,  we have been right. We shared the space with other travellers and kipped for the night. But not before we cover as much skin as we can to avoid mosquitos eating us alive. Well, at least it was warm.

          

And yet again, we didn’t really have a plan where to go and what to do. Well, we did know we wanted to dive with sharks, but the rest was an open ticket. Boy, were we happy to discover that Air Tahiti has obviously had enough experience with people like us and allowed for ticket changes without the fee (seriously, we did not think this was possible anymore!). So, we were faced with the alternative: one option was to do what majority of tourists do – hop from atoll to atoll and visit as many islands as you can (definitely guaranteeing best airports sightseeing) or the second to be picky and spend more time on chosen places. Being quite sick of packing and unpacking at this stage, we opted for later one. Decision was made: visit the highlight of the trip first: Tiputa pass in Rangiroa. Guidebooks describe diving here as religious experience and basically this was really the only firm point we wanted to visit after leaving Cyprus. Hey, this place is considered by many as top 3 shark dive destination in the world! We just had to validate that.

We couldn’t get the flight to Rangiroa on the same day, so we were forced to stay a day in Papeete – capital of Tahiti. Nives was deeply, deeply  (yeah, roysh J) depressed by this news and had to recover by spending a day pearl shopping. Papeete is nothing much to write about (if you are not into chasing pearl bargains) and is perhaps best avoided if not stranded here.

Before the flight we had to lose some luggage weight – Air Tahiti has 20kg limit (down from 23kg on Air New Zealand flight). Once again we had to rely on proven Ryanair tactics: stuff your with pockets full of heavy items. And practically all for nothing! We almost managed to be legal at 22kg a bag and were expecting additional charges after all, but A staff at Air Tahiti didn’t even blink! Looks like they are not as strict here (yet) and we had not problems boarding.

Even from the air  we  loved Rangiroa. Views of the atoll in water  as blue as it gets were amazing. Once arrived, we heard that the local dolphin population loves to play in tidal waves in the pass – caused by outgoing current. Definitely something to check out. Just 5min walk form pension we have been greeted to a full dolphin jumping spectacle and we didn’t even need to get wet yet! Looking at each other we just nodded in agreement – we were going to like it here alright!!!

Next morning driving out to do our first dive was a time of anxiety. After hearing and reading so much about this place it is an understatement to say we had high expectations. They were pretty much out there, and one might even say that we are quite spoilt as diving goes (Never! Right?). Five minutes into the dive it was clear that our search is over, we have finally found it. Place that is a fair competition to Palau. Only one so far and this one again had to be as hard to get to. Bummer!!!  What can we say except  majestic and that we will be back many times in the future. Quick summary of first dive: dolphins on the right, school of sailfish on the left and sharks bellow – which way to go? And that blue water did not disappoint – visibility was just out of this world! To all you divers we can confirm that anything you read about this place is not exaggeration. It just is that good. And again, we are not that easy to please when it comes to diving.

Back in the room after diving we had to replan. It was clear that we will do plenty of diving here, is there a point in wasting time on anything else, really?  Visiting more famous, but less dive attractive atolls and islands (like Bora Bora and Tahiti) has been immediately cancelled by mutual agreement. And yet again, time to change our Air Tahiti tickets. We ended up staying in Rangiroa for 2 weeks diving twice every day and loved every minute of it. What’s not to love about few hundred sharks around you? Or schools of stingrays? Passing manta ray? Dolphins playing with you? Or possibly 4-5 m great hammerheads cruising the waters below? There is only one minus to diving here thou – the best stuff is deep (and we mean 50+ meters deep), which results in little energy to do anything else. No issue at all we though, while hammock snoozing in one of the most picturesque dive centres we have ever been to. I mean one has to compromise, right?

All the diving aside, not sure why non-divers come here. There is little to do, but to watch dolphins surf on the waves and show off their jumping skills. We heard that there are nice places to visit like Blue lagoon, but we only thought “not another one…”. There is a blue lagoon is almost every country we have been to and we decided to skip this one. We would have to skip a dive to do that – not an option really.

Best thing about having no plan is that you can listen to local advice and visit places that you never heard of before. Quick call to Air Tahiti (yes, we know…) confirmed that we will be able to visit the much talked about Fakarava atoll (not sure who came up with the name?). Our dive guide Katy told us that its south pass is one of the most reliable places in the world to see the wall of sharks (school of hundreds of sharks) and that we will love it for sure. Well, since we are very sensible people you can’t not listen to advice like that.

Truly sad to leave, we ploughed on further. It was hard to imagine that we could do something as good as Tiputa, but we kept an open mind. Next stop was atoll of Fakarava. This one had two passes: North and South. Advice was that South was better for diving  but North had better amenities. Well, obviously we had to see both. So, we started with North. Bad weather has limited out diving to the reef only on day one. As a consolation,  a manta decided that she was fond of us and staid  around us for 20min – and we do  mean touching distance close. No need to mention probably, but Nives was definitely in the seventh heaven. Fine Dejan thought, but we are here for the sharks!!! Luckily weather improved on the second day and we have been able to do a single dive in the pass. With exceptional visibility we saw our first wall of sharks. Counting made no sense at all, as there were hundreds of them in front of us cruising the current!!!

Nives had to make yet another sacrifice. Pansion we were staying at was also a pearl farm. So, all sharks aside a visit was a must. Actually even better, Dejan was able to dive down and later pick a shell to get whatever pearl was inside. Lottery it was called, pretty cool, hey?

Quite romantic (and lucky) we thought as a nice pearl was found inside.

Few days passed quickly and we were off. South Fakarava is not (yet!) a very touristic place as  the only way to get there  was by boat. What should have been an hour sail in centre of atoll turned into 3 hours of “stay close to reef” sail due to very windy conditions – nice to see that our ‘weather luck’ is still holding (at least no cyclones this time!). We went past the French Polynesia president’s villa. He has chosen the place well and we have to agree that Fakarava is indeed a postcard kind of place.

Our pension was basically on the pass itself. You finished the dive in the center. Not bad, hey? Not to mention all the sharks circling around the on the water built restaurant and bungalows. After couple of days here we can truly acknowledge this as one of the premier dive destinations in the world – mecca for shark enthusiast. You cannot not look at sharks. They are around when you eat your meals, sunbathe on the pier, snorkel on the reef and obviously when you go diving. For the true shark spectacle you must go underwater and face a wall of hundreds of sharks (truly beyond counting) – majestic doesn’t come close to describe it. We have visited plenty of places, but this one is one of the best as long as you stay on the pier or in the water. Rest of the options are limited. Keep in mind  that the only accommodation option is basic, which makes long tropical nights even longer. And darker as this is eco resort. After 5 days here we were very homesick for any kind of civilisation (actually, Nives was pretty much flipping). This magical place would be in its own league if it wasn’t so remote and well… basic. There was one more sad thing we will remember this place for - our camera broke the moment we arrived! Some things really don’t change…

After all the re-planning we have been lets with only 2 days to see the remaining of Polynesia (this obviously included one more flight change with Air Tahiti – they probably have us black-listed by now!). There was really only one choice left – visit Moorea. It’s only 20min by ferry from Papeete and one of the most beautiful islands in Polynesia (so the brochure goes). Have to say that we chose well and the island is extraordinary beautiful combination of reef, lagoon and steep volcanic interior. After watching nothing but blue water for 4 weeks island’s intense greenery was a much needed sight. Well, for a short while anyway. Us being water baby’s, it was only few minutes before we booked a stingray feeding tour. There will be plenty of green colour once we return home we figured.

After chasing sharks and rays for a better part of our stay (now there is a change!) it was time to look at the only thing that grows in abundance in Polynesia – coconut. Everywhere you stay there will be plenty of them about and locals are happy to show you how to pick, open and consume them. Happy to report that we will be able to treat our guests to homemade coconut milk in the future.  Well, providing that we can buy fresh coconuts anyway…

And in a blink of an eye it was time to leave. All in all, we loved our time in French Polynesia. The diving is up there with the best; and if you are into sharks this is a true paradise. Price is really the only negative thing about it. Everything from accommodation and food to internal flights is expensive. For some reason diving is cheaper than Fiji, Australia or New Zealand – at least something! Also this place doesn’t really cater for travellers, people come here on a honeymoon or short holiday and thus all transportation is centred around moving guests to / from airports. Will we come back again? Now there is a certainty. As soon as it is possible!

Some more pictures here.

Fiji

Welcome to paradise, said the sign on the airport that greets tourists along with some live Fijian music. Promise of endless sandy beaches, vast blue seas and some of the cheapest diving in the Pacific await. Well, what can we say… we couldn't wait to dive into Fiji. Couple of minutes later we are already pleasantly chatting to customs officials who seem to have forgotten that this is a serious no nonsense kind of a job. We mean, chatting to middle aged tourists! As first impressions go, this place is a true gem!

As soon as customs is cleared, obvious first stop: Vodafone shop.  Well, we do have to stay on the grid.  Having a local data SIM is by now a tradition and Fiji didn't disappoint. Moments later, we are loaded with tons of mobile internet data and we are ready to go. Only question left is where. You see, the flight from New Caledonia being so short and the fact that we didn't have any time to plan Fiji between the heaps of French vino there, we were without a plan. . Luckily, this time it was middle of the day and we were had time  to avoid getting stranded on airport (which kind of happens a lot lately).

So, ten minutes later we are on the bus. At this point we have to admit that the key reason for us to come to Fiji is for one of the best shark dives in the world. And so we thought, let’s do best things first, right? Decision made – first stop: Pacific Harbour.   Ten minutes later we are on the local bus towards our destination still trying to book a place to stay. We managed to completely confuse the poor driver when we couldn’t really tell him where we will be stepping off the bus. Catch is that there are not  a lot of big towns around and buses stop at resorts of your choice. Still everybody was super nice. Surely government must be mixing something into the water???  We hoped that place known as Fiji adrenaline capital, would have plenty of mid-range accommodation. You can guess, right? Of course, we were wrong. Soon reality hit and we learned that you can do Fiji two ways: honeymoon style in luxurious rooms (called bure) with all the trimmings or The Dorm. No perks included here. Quick check of our finances confirmed that yes, we will be sharing our Fiji experience with plenty of other people. Young people mostly.

Dorm in the resort was in fact very nice and you get to share all the amenities of the resort with the properly “paying” guests. To top it all, you even get the same breakfast. Which was excellent news for us, but perhaps not up to Hilton level. We even decided to skip lunch in the effort to lose some of the brie and wine weight gained in New Caledonia. Again, locals were unbelievably friendly.

Once settled, we just had to immediately book our shark diving. And this is where the confusion started – there are actually two companies that do the feed and both have declared themselves as original product with plenty of best in the world to go with it. Life is just never easy and looks like we will have to do the shark feed with both to be sure not to miss out on something. I mean, that is the only logical choice, right?

First we went with Aqau-Trek and loved it. South African owner is a shark enthusiast and a delight to be on the boat with. Sharing some of our favourite dive sites in South Arica got him home sick and we really got a special treatment. We were allowed to stay down with the sharks after everybody else was already gone. That seemed like a fantastic idea until we felt quite small being alone with big bull sharks. And we do mean big here. Boy, these girls and boys looked as if they were on steroids! Let’s just say that we didn’t stay too long. Fantastic experience overall and we saw also nurse sharks, silvertips, lemon sharks on top of the usual white and black tip ones. We loved every minute of it and decided to do it again – with all the money saved on skipped lunch.

Second company (Beqa Adventure) that offers shark feed was quite different. The Swiss American owner’s only job seemed to be to yell at guests – sit down, do this, do that. With typical American over emphasised safety he was annoying to say the least. Luckily the staff didn't catch on his approach to customer service and were at their best always happy Fiji selves. This dive is all about bull sharks – up to fifty of them this time of the year. Such a treat! We thoroughly enjoyed both experiences so much we had to repeat the dives… yes, with both of them… Seems there will be quite a few lunches to skip…

Next stop is either third of fourth largest barrier reef in the world (seems decision is still pending): Astrolabe reef. Only way to get there is either with plane (too expensive) or by boat (yep, definitely right choice for us). We were warned that ride is not for faint hearted. But hey, we have survived some pretty bad rides in our days and we decided to give it a go. Armed with plenty of water and snacks we were ready to survive the night on a cargo boat. To our delight ferry turned out to be a very modern ship in excellent condition. Even the toilets were usable! The trick is that everyone in the passenger area had to take shoes off. And that definitely did the trick. Last shock came when we were offered a bed for extra 5 EUR with clean sheets and pillows. Bring it on! It was one of the best rides ever.

So, Kadavu was another tropical island with beeches and coral reef (seriously, at this stage they all look same…). Diving was OK, but nothing to write home about. Except Manta Rays of course (and yes, Nives had that grin again…). Resort on the other side was really nice – we treated ourselves this time and had a private room. Food was unfortunately already in the price and to our complete horror absolutely delicious. And they just kept bringing it. How is one supposed to lose weight here?

Six days passed quickly and it was time to head to our last destination close to a town of Rakiraki. This time north of the main island for some more diving. Or so we thought. When we got to the resort we realized that they were charging extortionate prices and settled on doing some snorkelling / free diving after seeing footage from another dive group (at fraction of the price). We actually quite enjoyed the free diving experience and got quite good at it after a few days with regular dives down to 15m or deeper. Diving was OK, but nothing spectacular and definitely not worth the money they wanted. The so called soft coral capital of the world didn’t convince us. While it is nice, we saw same or better soft coral in many other dive destinations.

In the end, our reflections on Fiji.

Diving. Not up there with the good ones really. It is OK, but that is it. Only exception is a shark feed dive, which is superb. But that is not a dive really, more of an underwater show. This one definitely worth doing and flying to Fiji for. The rest is… well… not (unless you live close by). To top it all they are allowing the Chinese to fish in the Fijian waters. And that is never a good thing. One can already see that the see is overfished and there is not a lot happening to improve the situation.

General. Very expensive we thought. Obviously there is double economy here: one for locals and one for tourists. Guess it is fine if you are here for a fortnight and don’t mind spending a buck or two extra. However, if you are on the budget, maybe not the best place to be. Reality is that they are not in the same league as honeymoon heavyweights as Maldives or backpackers heaven like Thailand. But, obviously close enough to Australia and New Zealand.

Next stop is really our final destination on this trip and main reason we are here: Rangiroa in French Polynesia. And yes, probably one of the best shark diving in the world. We are on our way!

Some more pictures here.

Nouvelle-Calédonie – New Caledonia

Now, if there is a gem in the world we just stumbled on it! As you probably remember we had to decide when to leave NZ and where to go in 45 minutes in Brisbane airport. Verdict: we definitely blew it with the length of stay in NZ, but boy did we get the NC part right!

In one sentence: heaven on earth. And we even saw capital only, Noumea. Apparently nicer beaches are on islands on the north, but not as good diving. And is it the case with the two of us, diving takes precedence… well, pretty much over anything.

So, NC is a foreign territory of France. Not 100% sure what that means politically or economically, but in reality if you are from EU you don’t even have to fill in the customs card. Pretty neat! And even better, you have French shops with French food and wines (finally the good stuff after 6 months!). We had best croissants and pate since Paris! Not sure if this was a healthy thing (yes, we gorged), but definitely enjoyable.

General feel is as if somebody picked up a little piece of France and placed it in the Pacific over sixteen thousand kilometres from France. You get real towns with real roads, working public transportation, solid buildings and beautiful walks next to the beach. Local have it figured out for sure. Tons of speed and sail boats just prove the point. Almost too good to be true!

Diving. Nouvelle-Calédonie has second largest reef in the world (after Barrier in Oz) and apparently largest lagoon. Best diving spots are passages where all this water goes in and out: Boulari and Dumbéa passes. Coral is nothing really to write home about, but there is fish there. Not in abundance, but nice. Even some sharks and last but DEFINITELY not least, manta rays (yes, Nives did have that grin on her face). Down point is that water is cold, well by our standards now anyway – 24 to 25 deg Celsius. Not the best place in the world we dived, but definitely nice.

Beaches are nice, sand with palm trees and NO sand-flies. Soon we realized why – every single night they have a tractor that combs all beaches. Result: no tiny blood-sucking monsters. Where there is a will there is a way, we say. A lot of places could learn a thing or two from these guys.

We thoroughly enjoyed out time here and only thing we were sorry about was that we planned to stay only one week (damn!!!). We actually wold like to come back one day, it is just that good. Advice from Nives: if you ever by mistake buy a ticket for NZ you don’t need to actually stay there – just buy another one to Noumea and you are sorted.

Some more pictures here.

NZ Recap

Well, completely mixed feelings about this one: Dejan liked and Nives didn't.

Bottom line is that NZ has a lot of natural sights that Dejan enjoyed, while Nives really didn't  Positive is they are close by, pretty, sometimes possibly spectacular, but definitely don’t deserve all the hype. And hype there is…

On the other hand there is no history really. Real one would be Maori only anyway. But sadly seems a lot of it got destroyed. Integration in the society is better that in Australia, but we feel there is still space for improvement. Even thou the deal they made with colonialists was far better than one in Australia, it still is not good. Apparently translations of the treaty they signed were not exactly the same. Guess, no other explanation required. However, sites that are still there are really special and definitely worth seeing.

What REALLY irked us both is Kiwi approach to their sights – everything is best in the world. Well guys, wakeup call – it isn’t! We are not saying it is not pretty or worth seeing, but a bit of perspective would be welcomed. It gets only worse with historical sites. Seriously, anything 100 year old in decay is not a historic site – it is just a ruin. Actually was funny at first, but then it just got annoying. NZ tourist board is the most imaginative body we have ever seen. We are positive the people from Coca-Cola go there on internships to learn how to sell. Seriously, things these guys are selling and for what price… Feels like a bad joke. Only, you are on the receiving end of it and that is where it stops being funny… At start you have your postcard picture goggles on, but soon you realize that there is something seriously wrong with the picture.

Some of the types of vistas we enjoyed more than others (like fjords, glaciers and volcanic thermals), but more so because we haven’t seen many of them during our travels (as always, Dejan more so than Nives – we are talking nature after all!). We have to fit in Norway , Iceland and some glacier skiing on some of our future travels.

What they should do is concentrate on the infrastructure. Which is in shameful state for the first world country. Tunnels are concepts that have obviously eluded Kiwis. Not to mention mountain passes. A little bit of advice: you don’t need to reinvent the hot water, just go to Austria, Germany or Switzerland. These things have been in use for a while now lads. So, instead of making it easy, one has to zigzag the country over and over again. Without all the promised vistas! We were offered helicopter flights to see mountains that are readily available just by driving in Europe. And that was another thing – helicopter scenic flights. Not everything you see from the chopper is scenic, you know and too much is really too much.

There is one thing that Dejan hated more than Nives about NZ – the 10am checkout time, which is strictly adhered to everywhere. We had to beg all the time to get late checkout (got extra 30min at most!) – we do carry lot of get that takes time to unpack and repack after all. Guys, not all people wake up at 6 am to start a day!

Only thing we both liked were wine regions. Memories are a bit hazy, but hey, that’s the point!

So in the end, are we happy to have been there? Mixed verdict: one yes and one no. Best site for Nives was the customs officer stamping the passport on the exit. Would we go back? Well, this one is a definite no from both of us – you can get better outdoors landscape closer to home If you take away the adrenalin rides (ok, NZ is probably world capital for it and all adrenalin seekers should pay homage) and wine tasting (with not as good winos as in Europe) you are left with empty landscape full of tourist board’s scenic/historic signposts (and 10am checkouts!).

NZ north island

Very picturesque and REALLY windy (seriously, we have been living in Ireland here) ferry ride later we landed in Wellington – the capital of New Zealand. And since we totally avoided Canberra we didn’t expect a lot. Basically,  more of the same type of towns as we saw in south island: quite empty (where was everyone???!!!) and tailored for solitary type of people (word Nives would like to use is bland).  It came to a fantastic surprise that Wellington was not only nice, but actually felt very liveable kind of place. Arriving for a hustle and bustle of weekend helped to seal the perception, no doubt. But still, not only is there a pulse to the place (which is a rarity for New Zealand!), but it is a pleasant one!  Looks like towns in north island will be quite different to their south counterparts.

Above all, Nives was delighted to be in the city again and some much needed retail therapy was the thing. Katmandu 70% sale came (again) at the right time and we bought some fantastic clothing at hand-out prices, while blissfully ignoring how we will get all this gear back home (ups, but more on this later).

After a weekend in the city it was time again to head back to nature and vineyards – would we have it any other way? Tiny wine region of Martinborough (established by an Irishman) was on the way and we just had to stop there – for a couple of days. What Martinborough has is close proximity of all the wine cellars and we were able to walk the wine trail and try wine together at the same time. It was the time of harvest and it brought back many happy childhood memories for some of us and pretty hazed student memories for all . Luckily they all close down at 5pm and we were just about able to find our way back to hotel. Looking at our tasting notes, we found north island wines are more fruity and less acidic than their Marlborough cousins. They also try to get that Europan flavour more than in the south as well. Hey,  we do take this tasting seriously you know.

We repeated the known wine tasting pattern shortly,  just a little bit further north – Hawke’s bay. It’s New Zealand's oldest and second largest wine producing area. They even did the new world unthinkable – they granted one area an appellation. Gimblet Gravels it is then! We just had to stay and validate the quality of the produce (surprised, hey?)Up until the late 1980's the area was regarded as the poorest and least productive land in Hawke's Bay. It’s comprising of stone and gravel deposited by river before it changed it course in late 19^th century. Then somebody decided to plant a vineyard on it. Today is some of the most sought after piece of land in New Zealand. Guess that people who gave it away then are now either crying daily or being quiet about it in shame. Well, we sympathised a bit while sampling some of the best New Zealand red wines (not for long thou).

Sadly, we started to feel the time pressure of rent a car return date and the pressure was on to leave the wine behind us (and this is a said point – Nves felt this is the best part of what this country has to offer!) and head north east into Maori populated area (and promise of scenic costal drives). We put common wisdom that the north island is not as pretty as the south island to the test. And we can confirm that east cape costal route was indeed not very picturesque at all! Once again we felt like suckers played by the New Zealand tourism board (but this happened so many times by now that we just got used to the feeling). So,  we shifted our focus to Maori population. This is supposed to be part of the country with strongest Maori influence. Well, it wasn’t like in the movies with tattooed warriors on every step. But still, you could see that they are very outdoorsy people. Most of Maori we saw have enjoyed riding their horses and fishing. We did see one “proper” Maori warrior with face tattoos riding past us on his horse – it was a beautiful if slightly scary sight and we froze without taking a single picture.

What we did encounter on the way was some beautiful Maori art. It is part of everyday life: in meeting houses, schools, churches… And every single peace is a story. As Maori didn’t have a written language before the Europeans came this was a way to preserve heritage and tradition. And it indeed is exceptional and beautiful. To be honest, probably only art worth looking for here (and that it definitely is – one of the highlights of New Zealand). And this includes the famous Maori dance. Yes we did go for the show… and liked it! Warrior dance Hakka didn’t have the intensity and emotional charge of the All Blacks version (New Zealand national rugby team), but still a very enjoyable experience.

One thing that North island has in abundance are thermal pool, geysers and volcanos. With winter approaching (what the Hell are we doing here???) we appreciated the free hot pools in the camping sites. And if you were wondering - Yes, we are back to sleeping in the car to keep within the budged. Definitely not as pleasurable as Oz (temperatures are in different part of scale here!). What camp sites do have are nice bqq areas. Needless to say, we were obliged to use them and match steaks with some local wine – just had to be done. We were surprised how hard it was to get anything not beef/lamb/pork or chicken in New Zealand with all dear farms we passed on the way. We are missing Skippy (kangaroo) very much indeed (and yes, we do feel bad about liking it so much).

After being cooked alive (or as close to it as possible still to survive), it was time to head north past Auckland into north of north island. This is where Auckland people come for their summer holidays. Blue water and sandy beaches on every corner. As you probably guessed best viewed from the car. It is all very nice, but water temperature doesn’t rise much above 20c, way too cold for us to enjoy any water related sports. But this being a thermal island, we soon found a solution: hot pools on the beach – not really on the beach, but under the water at high tide. So, you have to wait for low tide and then dig (yes, sadly you did read this correctly) a hole for you own personal hot bath with sea view. Well, anyway this is what they said in brochures. In reality, hordes of people (apparently it is even worst in the high season!) fight for their little patch of sand. In reality, you don’t  need hot water after 30minutes (at least!) of digging in the sand. It’s the ultimate play in the sand for adults experience (Nives hated it, Dejan loved it). Anyway, water comes out at about 60c and is way too hot to enjoy – you are boiled from the bottom and chilled by the wind on the top. Perfect combination to go crazy. Somebody should  have told us (well, warned us, really)  before we went on a digging expedition. With red bottoms and sniffling noses we ploughed on.

We ignored the cold water and booked a day diving at premier diving location of New Zealand (probably all the sulphur in the springs somehow impaired our sanity) – Poor knights. Totally mixed felling about this one. Dejan actually really enjoyed the experience, Nives could only agree on that indeed it is Poor. Water is 19/20 C (definitely not warm enough for Nives), visibility not bad (15-20 m), fish life so so. Worth the effort of putting on the full wet suit on – definite yes from Dejan and absolute no from Nives. We both agreed that it is NOT one of the best places to dive in the world (probably another stint by over-productive local tourist board). We have been very fortunate and our dive guide was a local legend who has been diving here for over 50 years. She actually named most of the dive sites. Final decision: diving here is very much like in the west coast of Ireland (but no good pubs to go to instead of diving – regular practice in Ireland). Plenty of kelp, but perhaps better fish life. And adding a stingray or two made some of us  forget the cold water (perhaps that is a bit of an overstatement).

We made a quick stop in beautiful bay of islands (this one was actually nice) and sand beach heaven of 90mile beach (which is in fact only 60mile long – yeah, we know… tourist board again) during our quick circle of north. All this last minute rush to get all the sights in before departure started to show wear and tear on us. We ccouldn’t wait enough at this point to return the car and slow down – at least for a few days.

But before we did that,  Dejan just had to try local surf on the outskirts of Auckland – Piha. Seems  surfing lesson was a way to go, and for the first time Dejanenjoyed significant time on the board (previous record was about 2 seconds now increased to 5 seconds). Surfing could become Dejan’s new addiction (totally supported by Nives! Time for R&R!).

Last thing we just couldn’t resist before returning the rent a car is visiting – you would never guess, our last New Zealand wine region. Just on the outskirt of Auckland lies Kumeu, which is Croatian expat established wine region. Nives did try the Croatian language, but that didn’t get us far. Looks like seconds and third generation has already blended into New Zealand. We noticed one exception, 90+ years old grandmother of one of wine owners was flying a Croatian flag. As wines go, this area reminded us of Hunter valley in Australia. Many big producers are present here, but no wine is grown locally. We heard that the conditions are to humid and grapes are imported from other part of New Zealand. Cheating? Perhaps, but we loved the vino.

We spent too much time outside of Auckland that we ended up with no time for anything. Well, almost no time for anything. We did a 5 hour whale tour out of the harbour (no whales seen obviously) with fantastic vistas of Auckland city and some playful dolphins. Nothing else left, but to pack 4 months’ worth of accumulated junk during our road travels into our limited backpack space. Or we thought we would. In the end,  we had to send a package full of Kathmandu clothing to Ireland (as you can see packing was relaxed and easy) and we had to let go of all our essentials: eski cooler bag and many cooking utensils and plates. Back to street food! With no more car, we are after 20000km driven in Australia and New Zealand, back to our backpack. It feels fantastic! We have really been sick of the car for the last few weeks.

Enough of cold climate – South Pacific here we come! First stop: New Caledonia. 

Some more pictures here.

NZ South island – Marlborough and North

Back to Christchurch. We did a full circle and returned for a game of rugby. And what a match it was. Local team the Crusaders (home of the most of All Blacks we have been told) played one of best South African teams - The Bulls. Kiwis re-confirmed their obsession for rugby with packed stadium and atmosphere to match. But guess what – we actually sat next to some Irish folk living in new Zealand (yes, they all do work in construction) and to our surprise (yeah, roysh) finished the night off in a pub. A bit of craic and a pint kept our homesickness at bay at least for the evening. Was back in the morning with the vengeance thou – it was St Paddy’s!

No point to dwell – we pressed on to Kaikoura and whale encounters. Well, the weather finally stopped us a bit. Due to high seas our trip was cancelled. We drowned our sorrows in the local Irish pub and celebrated the holiday in stile. With no trips in site even the next day we decided to give in and drove on Marlborough – our favourite white wine region.

Next few days we sampled and debated over the local wines, absolutely loving some and being smart about others. Bottom line – we just love NZ Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in general. Plan to take it easy and have holiday from holiday here was not really working. Too much good wineries around. So, to save our heads and tummies in short run and our livers in long, we decided to go back south again and give Kaikoura another go. Wind was with us this time. We were exceptionally lucky and have seen not only Sperm whale but also Humpback whale (even to our guides astonishment!). Trip was great, although overpriced again (same story repeating in New Zealand). 

Only thing left on the South Island was the Marlborough sound. It was such a disappointment that it is not really worth writing about. However, little town of Picton was an absolute surprise. Although a big harbour, it is a lovely touristic gem – one out of only few in the South Island. We enjoyed our time here, but were also glad (Nives was bordering on ecstatic) to board the ferry and move on to more populated and richer in history North Island.

Some more pictures here.

NZ south island - Otago and Southland

And here we were, self-proclaimed adrenaline capital of the world - Queenstown. Bungee fanatics, paragliding gurus and jet boat aficionados have been expected (testosterone levels in the air were reaching self-igniting limits for sure), but what we didn’t expect was a cute little town. Yes, it is touristic and dolled up, but after definite lack of any nice human settlement in New Zealand this was a gift from heavens. For the record, we have stopped comparing down under towns to romantic old (that actually means more than couple a hundred years) places in Europe. Set in beautiful location surrounded by crystal clear lakes and rivers, deep gorges, mountains and vineyards. Even Nives had to agree that this is a nice place (some Pinot Noir arm twisting was involved). But the biggest surprise was once we actually checked into a motel and walked down to town centre. Bars, pubs, restaurants on every corner. In unison we agreed to push out a ferry date to north island for a couple of days and extend our stay here.

We also discovered that New Zealanders are world experts in selling (we are sure big US corporations are having team building and learning selling seminars here). Everything you see is best and greatest in the world. And when we say anything we mean it – these guys are on the next level. Every view is scenic, every place a national park and every activity severely overpriced for any rational being. Anything and everything is around 120-150NZD, which we felt was about 100% more than it should have been. But hordes of Asian tourists are coming and are willing to paying for it. So, in the end, fair play to the Kiwis. Milk it if you can. So, we didn’t do most of hundreds of things on offer (and it was beyond us what was on the offer and what people were paying for!) with the exception of jet boating. We skipped the best known company, which is offering a ride for about 80EUR for 15 minutes (and we thought Oz was bad!) and went for the other guys on the block. Same dosh, but lasts an hour. Good decision it was too – the boat ride was fantastic at 85km/h speeds at times over 10cm deep water.

Some of the NZ best red wines (please, bear in mind we are thinking locally now and are not comparing to our favourite French wines here!) are just a 30min drive away and yes, you have guessed correct, we made a day out of it. Just around the corner of Queenstown is central Otago, which is technically a desert. And it would still be, if not for the first class irrigation system. Even vineyards are watered – a big no-no in traditional European vineyards (can already hear some French farmer crying out in despair). We visited the southernmost vineyards in the world (Blackridge) and also the maker of the winner of “best wine of NZ” award (bannock brac).

Not to spoil the sunny weather (reported as one of the biggest droughts in history of NZ) we headed out to one of the tourist heavyweights of NZ (and the world, surely partly due to unbelievable and efficient NZ tourist marketing tactics) – Milford sound. It is actually a fiord not a sound, on the west coast and accessible by one way road the is a highlight in itself. Do we need to say it is sold as the best experience in life, most beautiful fiord in the world with the most breath-taking road to it? Well, it was really beautiful for sure, but we would possibly restrain from any ‘best in the world’ remarks. Road to it was highly enjoyable and absolutely worth the trouble. In our opinion, definitely one of the most spectacular in New Zealand. Sound itself is home to some of the highest sea cliffs in the world (Mitre peak at 1692m is one of them – left peak on the above picture) and some spectacular scenery. It is surrounded by high cliffs from both sides with narrow entrance – which made Capitan Cook miss it completely on his survey of NZ. Can’t miss it these days with hordes of tourists neatly packed on number of pleasure boats that go out in a row and all stop at the same stops and enjoy the same views. That are breath-taking for sure. Couple of hours on the boat passed way too fast and it was time to drive the scenic route back inland again. Now last but DEFINITELY not least – whole experience was severely diminished by your best buddies in Milford – sand flies. This is definitely a world capital (haven’t seen that advertised thou) of those little annoying blood-suckers. We were ecstatic we decided not to spend a night here!

We ploughed on further down south towards the most southern point of our journey – Bluff. It is a town on south of NZ, which is the furthermost point away from home (its 18000km to London from here). Bluff is definitely not a place to write home about – one of the ugliest harbours we ever saw. It’s all north from here thou, back into the warmer climate and boy are we looking forward to it. Its bloody freezing down here! Probably not in terms of winter in Europe this year, but for the record we are a wee bit spoiled at the moment. On the way here we discovered that Bluff is also a home to world famous (can it be any other way in New Zealand?) Bluff oysters. We have not heard of them before, but were definitely willing to try. And so we did. They were excellent – delicious with the taste of the sea. We were definitely ready for our seconds and thirds, until we were told they are wild oysters. This definitely spoiled the experience, but the final blow was a discovery of how they are harvested – by dragging the nets on the bottom of the sea. Absolutely horrified that something like this can be happening in civilized world (hey, we are avoiding Chinese restaurants for shark fin soup!) we cancelled our order and left Bluff with bad taste in our mouths.

Driving thru the Catlins costal road and past Dunedin and Omaru on south east coast, we came across a lot of scenery we are used from Ireland, but definitely not as nearly as beautiful or spectacular. Plenty of wild life thou with seals and penguins galore.  If anything, wild life is something to be enjoyed here. With no pretty towns around (Dunedin was a huge disappointment, especially for Nives) we headed back towards west coast and the glaciers.

By this stage, we were ready for remoteness and wilderness. Or so we thought. This place was something else. Kilometre after kilometre of nothing really. And that includes mobile signal! Just for the record, we are not talking 3G here, but your regular 2G one. Absolutely bewildered that this actually can be happening in first world country we arrived to Fox Glacier township. This is also concept that was probably invented here. Means few houses, hotel and general store most of the time, and tourist traps galore. Mobile signal included. But hey, we are at one of the lowest glaciers in the world here! So, we did a fill tourist shebang – walked to both Fox and Franz Joseph and topped it all with a helicopter ride. And that was amazing! Views of glacier blue ice, crevasses and ravines was just amazing. Theory of relativity was definitely proven during the 20min flight – felt like 60 seconds! We opted to miss out on ‘exhilarating experience’ (as sold by tourist operators) of helicopter landing on a mountain (not a glacier!) and standing in a real snow for extra 100 NZD (you would be amazed how many people are actually going for this!). Considering we come from ski resort that hosts World Ski Cup race and host of the Winter Olympic Games and have moved to Ireland to avoid snow in the winter was probably a reasonable choice. All in all, glaciers were spectacular – silent (when they are not breaking off J) reminder of ancient times. Definitely something that should not be missed here.

Some more pictures here.