A View of Fiji From Auckland

We arrived at 3am local time after a mammoth 11 hour flight from LA on which I had about an hours sleep! I even watched the whole of "Failure to Launch" and "Casanova" and still didn't nod off which wasn't too happy about! However, the Air New Zealand flight was pretty nice and the food was good so no complaints about the airline itself, just my insomnia!

From there we had to get a little domestic flight out to the island we were staying on - Malolo Island - at 9.30. Thankfully the airport had very comfy sofas where I managed to catch a couple of hours sleep while we waited to check in for our flight. Had I known quite how small our flight was going to be, I might have caught the boat instead but having survived it I'm very glad we did it! The plane was barely bigger than my Nissan Micra and only fit 6 people plus the pilot but the views from the plane were unbeatable...Andrew even managed to take pictures! It only took 15mins to fly from Nadi airport on the mainland but the airline kept us waiting for an hour before they actually took us (word to the wise, if you ever find yourself in Fiji, avoid Sun Air like the plague!) This was our first introduction to the concept of 'Fiji Time'. Things basically get done when people can be bothered to do them! While annoying when you're waiting on others, the principle was highly enjoyable when applied very long lie-ins!

When we got to the island (which wasn't Malolo but Malolo Leilei which means small Malolo and is, unsurprisingly, a smaller island just next door) we were met by Rick from the Funky Fish Resort where we were staying and he took us by speedboat to the next island over! It was an amazing ride...we could see right to the bottom of the crystal clear water and even see the fish is the shallows! It totally made me forget I was exhausted!

The whole of the week was just a jumble of incredible experiences...we kayaked out into the sea along two coral reefs, stopping to spot fish along the way. We saw sun fish, angel fish and these cute ones that looked like little black nemo fish! We went snorkelling along the inner coral reef too and got up close to the little guys. Despite being convinced I was about to be eaten by Jaws the entire time, I'm so glad I did it...it was just breath-taking to be doing it, I'm only disappointed we didn't have an underwater camera to capture just how beautiful it was! To fill time between sunbathing and eating, we walked to the nearby resort that actually had a shop (ours didn't) and bought some gorgeous Fijian art plus we hiked up a hill to get pictures of the island and the sunset. The only bad thing about the week was the bugs! I ended the week with between 55 and 65 bites all over my legs and arms which itched like crazy! But my tan makes up for it I guess!! We also learnt loads about Fijian culture from Rick, the events organizer, and Joe the barman...it was a fantastic experience! It was sad to leave. The resort was so friendly as there was only about 20 other guests and the people who worked there were so fun! At the airport we stocked up on reminders before we headed off to a new city in another new country!

New Zealand is brilliant! It's winter here so it's raining a lot but that can't stop me loving Auckland! We're staying in a hostel in the middle of the city and everything is dirt cheap! As we're back to real life, we're back to living on Subway sandwiches and here they're even cheaper than America! Our first one cost $17 NZ for 2 foot longs...that's about £2.70 per sandwich! THEN we found a little food mart that has a Subway in that gives you vouchers for a free 6inch upgrade...so now our two 12inches cost $9.70 which is £3.30 FOR 2!!!! It's the greatest place in the world! We shopped at a supermarket and got some ready meals, bread, beers, chocolate and crisps for about £15! I want to move here!!

We went to the travel agent this morning and we've booked some great things for round the country... horse riding round the Lord of the Rings locations, white water rafting and whale watching to name a few...

But we'll have to tell you more later as my noodle ready meal has arrived courtesy of Andrew and I'm starving!