Location: Auckland, New Zealand.
Time 20:05pmFinally an update to the blog! As I mentioned in the previous post my lap-top charging cable was stolen in Lima Peru back in June. My efforts to replace it were unsuccessful and so finally I bit the bullet when passing through Los Angeles last Sunday week and purchased a new net book. Thus at last I can begin posting to the website again!
Its been 3 months since a proper update and what a 3 months it has been, more of South America and the States have been visited but those blog updates will come over the next few weeks. As mentioned above I am now in New Zealand, I am here for the Rugby World Cup but that blog as with the championships themselves will begin tomorrow! First up is my blog on Fiji where I had the privilege of spending all of last week.
In Feb 2010 when I began all this traveling I made a mental note that it would be great to travel long enough to make it to New Zealand for the Rugby World cup which at the time was almost 600 days away, today its only 1! With that in mind I booked my flights last March (2011) from LA to Auckland and was given the option of a lay-over in Fiji for either 2 hours or 5 days! I jumped at the 5 day layover option and so after a 10hr flight from LAX last Sun week I touched down in Nadi, the tourist capital of Fiji. Although just a 10 hour flight it was in fact Tuesday when I arrived as I had crossed the 180 meridian and thus the international dateline. I had seen the sun set in Los Angeles and as we landed in Nadi I could see it slowly rising on the horizon - it was 5.30am! Once through immigration the sun was up and so I decided to take a strol from the airport to the hostel which was 7.5kms away! I figured I had just spent 10hrs sitting on my a#s so I could have done with the exercise and regardless I couldn't check into the hostel until 8am. An hour and a half stroll later and I checked into the Sugarers Cove resort hostel which had a pretty spectacular view as I sat down for breakfast......
My Breakfast view at Smugglers Cove Fiji
I booked into the hostel for Tuesday and Wednesday night and basically chilled out! On Thursday I took the bus to Suva, Fiji's capital city which was an great way to see the country as the bus followed the coast road across the country. The bus stop in Suva was right outside the court house which intrigued me as for a country with such friendly people I was amazed that they had any criminals at all! On Friday morning I took a ferry to Beachcomber Is resort which lies among the Mananuca island's off the west coast of Fiji which also include the famous Treasure Island and Bounty Island which was the setting for the very classy "Love Island" with Abby Titmus and Calum Best & Co a few years back! Beachcomber is very much a party island and although only the size of a preverbal postage stamp it certainly didn't disappoint.
Beachcomber Is Fiji
I had traveled to the Is with 3 English girls, Laura, Julie and Carly who were there to celebrate Laura's birthday and I could tell as soon as we had arrived that they had made a great destination choice. Accommodation was a combination of a hostel dorm and private beach huts called "Boure's" much to the amusement of the 4 irish women who were already on the island, all meals were included in the price which was one small consolation of having to spend $122 a night to be there in the first place. As we had arrived early and finished lunch I decided to spend the afternoon attempting the Beachcomber Is challenge which is basically a 2.8km swim (1.4km each way) to Treasure Is and back!!! I set off at 2.30 and touched land on Treasure Is 45mins later after what was a tough swim to say the least, im by no means a strong swimmer but im really stubborn and stubbornness won the day!. I had packed some coins into a zipped pocket to bury as "treasure" on Treasure Is (when in Rome and all that!) and once I had finished and marked the spot for future reference if I ever return or a child of mine returns in years to come I walked to the beach bar and ordered a much needed bottle of water only to realize that the only money i had to pay for the water I had just buried deep in the ground! To be fair to the bar man he laughed when I explained that I had just swam from Beachcomber and poured me a glass on the house instead. The swim back took even longer and more stubbornness than the swim out but the thoughts of the party to come that night kept me going and it didnt disappoint but as always there I cant write about everything here! Lets just say I certainly wouldn't be swimming to Treasure Is on the Sat..... I did however do some kayaking with the English Ladies (A very loose term considering their antics the night before!). On Sat evening another boat load of party goers arrived and that nights party didn't end until I got on the boat on Sunday morning when my sore head and I got on the boat back to Nadi and on to the airport to fly hear to Auckland.
Beachcomber was defiantly a backpacker haven and I hat the privilege to meet so many other interesting travelers there including a guy who recognized my Carlow jersey and instantly asked if i knew a guy called "David Phelan"?? To which I answered that I certainly did and it turns out the this guy Richard Phillips from Northampton was a college friend of Davids and have even been drinking in my local bar in Borris!!! It certainly is a small world!
Finally a quick story about New Zealand Immigration..... Air Pacific refused to board me onto the flight to Auckland because I didn't have an onward flight from New Zealand at the time of check-in... Now under normal circumstances I would totally understand the logic behind this but as I explained to the check-in lady.... "Im going to follow my national team at the Rugby World Cup, so how could I possible know when Ill be leaving???" Much as she agreed with me the New Zealand Immigration official didn't and insisted I buy a flight for whenever I thought Ireland would be finished with the world cup........... so I ended up buying a flight to Oz departing on October 26th.... 3 days after the world cup final....... Well a man has to be confident dosent he!!!......
The Rugby World Cup according to Eddie begins tomorrow - until then......