Fiji - Day 228

What a pleasant change staying with friends rather than in hotels! I feel almost as if I have lost the power of speech after talking just to the family for what seems like ages. Margaret, Kefle and Senai opened their home to us and Zac and Maxi sank immediately into homely bliss and yet again refused to move anywhere for the first day.

Maxi was pleased that there was a kitchen in the house as he seems to get very confused in hotels where the kitchens are invisible to him -between an obsession for kitchens and his ever growing collection of plastic vegetables and tea sets I truely wonder where he is heading. There was extra excitement in discovering all 10 year old Senai's toys - a complete Lion King collection for Maxi and Bionicles and lego for Zac. Happiness indeed.


We just happened to catch Marg in between jobs so she was free to take us sight-seeing so we headed off to rain tree forest cafe, a waterfall walk that was a bush walk along a river with about 20 pools and waterfalls - beautifully landscaped and manicured - apparently very advanced on the Fiji scale of things.

Other delights included a trip to Pacific Harbour and an in-town experience to see the best that Suva had to offer. Marg had convinced us by email that we needed to go to a back packers resort half way between Nadi and Suva for our last few days. They managed to come with us as well which was fantastic. The resort was basic but fun with lots to do from coconut jewellry-making, massage in the bula hut (yes I did have more than one!) and ultimately for me horse riding on the beach.

The riding was great, fast and furious gallops along stretches of white sand, past little villages sitting on the beach complete with villagers passing the time under shady trees watchihg the mad white foreigner trying desperately not to fall off - or lose her bikini top for that matter! Zac took to the riding as well and managed a few trots and canters, even Maxi stayed on board riding with the guy who owned the horse, who managed to turn Maxi over his shoulder before galloping down the beach (at least that way Maxi couldn't see how fast he was going and kicking up a fuss!) Afterwards Maxi said he didn't like all the bouncing and regaled us with reliving the horse riding experience on land - for hours!

Martin chose a more sedate life lounging around in hammocks that were strung between palm trees at the top of the beach or taking snorkelling trips out to channels in the reef to look at the amazing fish.

Finally, we said good bye to Marg, Kefle and Senai and spent our last night in Raffles a stopover hotel by the airport which has a fabulous pool which the kids loved. And so we head for Auckland, in some ways relieved to be on the last journey, and looking forward to seeing everyone and everything again (I have been amazed at how much I have missed my garden and house!). But at the same time we were trying frantically to hold onto all the good things about our holiday and really reluctant to go back to 'normality'. And so with mixed feelings our trip is over and we head home.

Pia Mckay's Blog

Rarotonga Day 220

Rarotonga is a tiny but beautiful island completely catering to the whims and fancies of tourists. Most of the hotels are fantastic and the beaches just long stretches of clean white sand, the sea is clear and warm with heaps of fish and giant clams which I find fascinating. Life is spent wandering on beaches, leisurely searching for delicious food in new and interesting restaurants, snorkelling and swimming and generally cruising arond. Sounds like heaven...

There is a down side, All of us are a little travel weary; all the kids want to do is stay in the hotel room and laze around with their toys and the TV. Trying to tempt them with exotic beaches, colourful fish, coconut palms and all things tropical is greeted with a weary response - oh but we have done that, or we don't want to keep going out, we want to bod around and not "go out". Sigh. The other down side (yes there are two) is that the hotel is cruddy and we have signed up and paid for the full 8 days. The pool is tiny (and cold - how is that possible?) the room small and stark, the hotel cramped and gloomy, the food dreadful and the beach is rocky with waves (unlike the rest of the island where the beaches are fab and the sea calm and tranquil. Towards the end of our stay I realise that there are also no views to speak of and I can not see the sky from my window and this jaundices my view about the place. Fortunately the staff are lovely which helps a little, and happy hour exists each evening, so cocktails at sunset become a favourite ritual whilst the kids swim in the pool (again).

Another night flight to Fiji awaits us and soon we set off at midnight for the airport and our penultimate destination...

Tahiti Day 212

That's it. I've died and gone to heaven for three whole days. This place is exquisite - calm, clear, warm water teeming with fish from tiny electric blue minnows, 3 foot long blue pipe fish and angel fish the size of dinner plates. Our rooms open onto a beautiful garden surrounded on three sides by the sea, the children rush out each morning to feed the fish and the many crabs that creep around. Our days are spent floating in the pool - which we have mostly to ourselves - or bobbing around in the sea - Zac goggling (i.e. snorkelling without a snorkel) for hours on end, Martin kayaking around the bay and me toasting myself in the sunshine.

Our hotel is well equipped for self catering, which makes a welcome relief after so much time having to eat out continually (I may have to remind myself of this thought when I am home and having to cook every night!) and also because it is quite expensive here (about double what you could expect to pay in most expensive places around the world).

We rented a car for a day and did a trip around the island (about a three hour non-stop trip) but the kids were not really into a car trip and it was too hot with little to see so we went back to the luxury of our hotel and chilled out some more. I could definitely get used to this.

Disneyland Day 209

Arrive 8.30ish in the evening of the 20th January. The boys travel remarkably well now, making friends easily - this time with a man and his puppy dog, and cope amazingly with the general boredom and tedium of air travel.

This part of Los Angeles is completely dominated by Disneyland it seems. The streets on the way to the entrance are lined with hotels (one of which is ours) and restaurants. I was told later by an American (in Tahiti actually) that she had dubbed these chain restaurants as "fat restaurants" as the servings are enormously humoungously gigantic - a meal for one is enough to feed our entire family quite easily (they do however frown on this kind of practice so we didn't do it - much). This American woman assured me that there are normal restaurants in America - obviously just not around here!

Disneyland - the Mecca of children's entertainment - is actually one extended lesson in queueing interspersed with momentary rushes of adrenaline so extreme you need the next queue to steady your heart beat and recover some dignity after screaming so protractedly on the last ride. Zac was completely in his element and demanded a repeat of each ride as soon as it was over. I had wondered how Maxi would take the whole thing but after the first ride he too screamed for more so he is obviously fits the family mold. When not on rides Maxi pretended he was a roller coaster so we could never quite get away it all! Martin and I secretly (well not so secretly now) love the whole experience - I like the rides that go upsidedown or very fast and Martin likes the scary ones so we are well suited for accompanying Zac on everything - can't wait for the day when Maxi reaches full height of 102 cm and we can all go on everything!

In between rushing to the next ride the kids were under the influence of full on child-targetted advertising, so we had to put up with constant "I want...I want..." from both of them which was quite wearing on the nerves. Many Americans obviously cannot say no and their weight is testiment to that. We were amazed at the levels of obesity that was so prevalent - frightening indeed. On the plus side we did not meet one American who admitted to voting for Bush (so who were they?) and many freely acknowledged that the world hates America (is this progress?)

Three days however was more than sufficient for all of us - the third morning was spent frantically rushing to the big rides for one last whirl and Maxi reached a peak of three consecutive laps on Heilmichs Chew Chew Train ( A ride on an overgrown caterpillar with a strong German accent and a trip through a giant garden complete with watermelon spray!) and Zac totalled 7 rides on Thunder Mountain over the whole time.

With a sigh of relief we packed (again) and left in the dead of night for tropical Tahiti paradise...