New Zealand

It was great to be back in New Zealand after 14 years.  I started my trip in Auckland with a visit to the ferry building and the marina. The electrical steps are a good way of transportation. The hop on-hop off bus will bring you around town. To me, Auckland is not the most interesting city. Devonport, however, an island quite close to Auckland, was nice. There are some old volcanoes like Mount Victoria and North Head. Also in Auckland itself there are remains of old volcanoes, now used as playgrounds or parks. The return ferry to Devonport is inclusive if you buy the complete bus package.

 

 

 

 

The trip by rental car via Waiwera and Langs Beach to the Discovery Settlers hotel in Whangarei was beautiful. You can see that autumn had started and lots of trees were already nicely coloured. The hotel was lovely with a nice garden and great food in the restaurant, e.g. lamb shank.

 

Paihia at the Bay of Islands is a nice little town especially with the beautiful weather I had on my way to Mangonui. Lunch and the next day dinner with Judi, Pete, Janette and Greg at the Waterfront Cafe and Bar there was a big success. It is quite close to Cable Bay where their dad and father-in-law and my friend Phil lived in a wonderful house with a great view over Doubtless Bay.

 

 

 

 

 

With Judi and Pete we drove to the most northern point of the North Island of New Zealand, Cape Reinga. You can drive over the 90 Miles Beach sand road, but over the paved road is a safer option. In 2005 I saw the most southern point of the South Island near Bluff, this time the other end of the country :-)

 

 

 

 

Time to go back to Auckland, but not in a hurry. The first capital of New Zealand, Russell, near Paihia (oh what a stormy weather; even the ferries stopped in the afternoon), the dunes of Hokianga Harbour near Opononi and the biggest Kauri tree, Tane Mahuta in the Waipua Forest had to be seen. Dargaville is more or less the only place where you can spend the night in this area. It looked like coming back to the sixties or seventies of the last century.

The next day I drove from one coast to the other along Paparoa and Matheson Bay. One night in Warkworth, a fine little town with the nice Bridge House Lodge and its nice garden at the river.

Back to Auckland to the Maori Aranaki museum and a short visit to Piha Beach. It is a longer drive than expected, but worth it. My last day, 15 May 2019, in New Zealand was over. The next day I flew to Fiji.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fiji

The first few days I stayed in the very nice Uprising Beach Resort at the south coast not too far away from the capital Suva. It is a long, 2 1/2 hours drive from the airport in Nadi (say Nendi) to the resort in Pacific Harbour and traffic can be heavy. The beach bures are really on the beach, about 15 meters from the ocean with a nice terrace. The sea is nice and warm, though the weather was not always nice. Quite some showers and it turned out that the south coast is also the wet coast. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful time there.

A guide drove me to Suva and showed me a lot of things. E.g. the museum garden with an old clock, changing of the guards at the presidential palace and the market. On another day I took a taxi to closer by Navua, where you can see a Hindu temple, a small market and the river where the movie Anaconda II was taken. By open window bus back to the Uprising Beach resort. That was a nice experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A cruise with Captain Cook Cruises is very special. The vessel leaves from Denarau harbour, not far from Nadi. Right at the start of the trip I met some kind people, Coco, Donna and Marge. The Yasawa group of islands is one of the trips you can make. This is a 4 nights' cruise along a lot of these islands. We visited e.g. Tivua island, we snorkeled at Naviti and Gunu Islands and had there a very nice feast and dinner with the local people. Included in the tour also is a short stay at the Blue Lagoon at Sawailau Island where we also visited the Ratu Namasi primary school. Swimming and snorkeling as well as diving can be done every day. All meals are inclusive, not the drinks :-) For some of the excursions you have to pay extra as well. We were very lucky to have a beautiful sunset on our last evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last couple of days at Fiji were in the First Landing Beach resort near Lautoka, north of Nadi. Another fine resort with nice bures, a lovely restaurant, where I had some very tasty dinners, and a small beach. Stay close to the boats, otherwise you will get stuck in the mud and stones :-)

A very kind taxi driver took me around a few of the islands that are connected by causeways. What a great views and splendid beaches they have there. Even when the car broke down and the battery had to be recharged I loved every minute of the trip.

The main two islands of Samoa are Upolu and Savai and the capital Apia is on the first mentioned. It is a modern city with a huge food and clothes market as well as a flea market, old open air busses and a nice clock tower. To me not a very interesting town, but nice to have visited it. The easiest way to go to the centre is by taxi and then of course some walking to see the highlights.

 

 

 

 

To see the whole island a rental car is a necessity. There are busses but they take a lot of time and it is nice if you can stop where-ever you like. Apart of many churches, Samoa also has a lot of open meeting rooms where sometimes people also can sleep. The southeast coast of Upolu is very beautiful, especially in the Lalomanu area. People are not always very kind there, they want money even if you only want to take a picture, but the views are amazing and stunning.

The climate can change from day to day; one day it is very sunny, the next day it is windy, cloudy and raining. But even then it is interesting to drive across the island, see e.g. the southwest coast, be careful for the dirt road in the far southwest corner of the island, and have a look at the very nice Coconut Beach resort where they have a great restaurant. It would have been nice to stay in this resort in stead of in Apia, but I didn't ask for prices :-)

The fifth day of my stay in Samoa was a long driving day. First to the Mulifanua wharf in the northwest corner of the island for the ferry to Savai and then over this island along the north coast, where you can find a church that is covered by lava during the volcano eruption of 1905. At the very nice Vai-i-Moana beachside resort I stayed in a sunset fale. During the trip I met some very friendly New Zealand people who stayed in the same resort and with whom I had dinner every night. Thanks Fiona, Joan, Nicola, David and Murray for inviting me.

 

 

 

 

At the south coast of Savai there are a lot of blowholes. Sometimes it is like the water comes out of pipes. The road along the blowholes is a narrow dirt road, but if you drive carefully it is easy going.

Already Thursday 13 June 2019. A day with a tour with waiter Peter and the Kiwi friends to the turtle farm. Peter and his family invited all of us to his house for a very special Umu meal. Veggies, fruit and even a small pig were cooked for us in this ground oven. Every member of the family had his or her task. We enjoyed it a lot and were very grateful that we got the best pieces of everything.

 

 

 

 

 

After this lovely day it was time to go back the next day to Upolu. A short three to four hours stay in the Sheraton hotel near the airport and then the evening flight to Hawaiï.

The plane left Samoa on 14 June and arrived at Oahu, Honolulu late at night on 13 June, since it passed the date line. A strange experience :-) What a difference in life style, buildings and the number of people. It sometimes was a bit busy at the South Pacific islands, but there it was quiet compared to Honolulu and especially Waikiki. Of course not at 02.00 hours at night :-) The next day there were many people on the beach and in the water, swimming or trying to surf.

The busy city of Honolulu has some nice buildings like the Iolani palace and a statue of King Kamehameha.

By hop on hop off bus to Pearl Harbour, the place where World War II started for the USA in 1941. It is an important memorial place. It is not allowed to take bags inside the museum and it costs USD 5 per bag to leave it at the storage. Entrance to the museum is free. If you like to visit the big ships like the Missouri you have to pay.

A tour over Oahu and along the north coast was interesting, but unfortunately the excursion bus was one hour late and we could only make a few stops, but not at the north coast. We saw, however, the Dole Plantation where you can also make a tour by tourist train over the plantation, the north coast from the bus and the nice Byodo-In temple. Lunch at a shrimp kiosk with a soft drink is included.

Maui was the next island. After the beautiful resorts and hotels I stayed in, the Maui Beach hotel in Kahului at the north coast was a bit old and worn out. The weather was not cooperating either. Neither the tiny and dangerous beach.

 

 

 

 

Luckily the next day the weather was a bit better so the helicopter flight did go. We flew over a part of the 52 miles long Hana highway, 617 turns and 56 one-lane bridges, at the north coast and over the Kula jungle. Great views, fine heli and good pilot named Andy who explained a lot during the flight and in the jungle at the private Maverick heli landing spot. Even a glass of champagne was offered.

 

 

The more beautiful beaches and hotels are at the south and southwest coast . It is called the Ka'anapali coast and one of the nice villages there is Lahaina. A lot of tourists, no big hotels, just a tiny small town with a nice Pioneer Inn close to the big Banyan tree. However, it was also nice to go to one or two of the big hotels in Ka'anapali to lay on the beach and sit at their pool. But also the pool at the Maui Beach Hotel was nice when the sun was shining.

last revision:6 October 2019
 
Marion Fahrenfort-Nietfeld