NEW ZEALAND!!!

I'm in New Zealand!!!
well, it's not a new thing anymore (almost a month now) but I'm still excited about it!

well, on Dec. 24th, in the afternoon, i arrived to NZ.
i was picked up by Ruti, Yael's aunt who's doing a sabbatical in Auckland.

The next day Ruti, Yotam (her 7-years-ols-kid) and I went hiing in the "Waitakere* ranges" just out of Auckland. it was very nice - green and all, but i encountered for the first time what has proved to be a very typical NZ problem - we were walking along a stream, but could hardly see it. Even when there was a waterfall, you couldn't really see it - not more than a few glimpses here and there through the trees...

the next day, Sunday the 26th, we joined Bennett (Yotam's friend) and his mom to "Tiritiri Matangi" - a small island that functions as an open sanctuary for birds. we toured the little place, and it was really very nice. we saw a few interesting birds and heard the extraordinary sounds some of them make.

The next day i started out of Auckland, heading north. after 2 buses and 6 rides, including ~30 minutes tour of the country side looking for some keys and a guy that lived 1.5 years in Tel Aviv, I decided to stop for the night in Kawakawa**.

On the 28th I got a ride to Pahia - Bay of Islands. i went on a ~2 hours walk along the coast and it was very nice with superb views of the bay. i headed north again and tented in Pukenoi for the night.

the following day i started hiking around cape reinga - the northern most point in the N. island. but i found out that due to a very dry season, there are no water in 2 of the 3 days hike...
so i only did the last day of the hike.
it was potentially very nice walk.
potentially, due to the mentioned problem in NZ.
I started by walking along the coast. almost. there was a line of very low sandy hills between me and the sea, Just tall enough to block my view...
after that i climbed up a steep climb (very hard climbing for me, after almost 2 months with no hiking and especially no carrying my heavy backpack) and walked along the ridge line. and the views...
judging by the glimpses i had through the trees growing along the trail, the vies could have been great! rocky bays, clear-blue water...

next morning it was raining. that plus the lack of water along the reminder of the tramp and the fact that my stove didn't work last night helped me making my mind about heading back to Auckland... i got almost as far as Auckland, but finally i pitched a tent in Orewa, a suburb north of Auckland.

on Dec. 1st i arrived to Auckland, but didn't do much over there...

on Dec. 2 i went with Ruti and Yotam to the very nice volcano island Rangitoto (just off the coast of Auckland) and we hiked around for a couple of hours. it was really nice.

Dec 3rd we spent in Hunua just out of Auckland, and had a nice walk over there. it was the best place I've been to in NZ at that time. just a nice green area, with 2 dams creating 2 nice lakes.

afterwards i headed south, went to hot springs, met some dolphins, hiked, saw geisers did... but that will wait to the next post... have fun!


* a Maori name. It's quite annoying - I can't remember those names. Too often when I'm hitchhiking, someone will stop and ask where do i want to go, and after an embarrassing moment I'll answer "north".
** Again, a Maori name. sometimes they just sounds like the sounds you make when you try to make a baby laugh... try korokoro or aniwaniwa etc.

Fiji experience

well, if to summarize it, Fiji was a disappointment. i had fun, met nice people, saw beautiful scenery. but still, i was disappointed.
why did i go there in the first place?
because all i heard was good things. very good.
all i could find about it was that people had really had a good time over there.
beautiful beaches, very kind people, absolute freedom. lots of fun.
well, the beaches were really gorgeous - but i liked the Mexican Caribbean beaches much better... the people were friendly but i liked the Alaskan better.
and about the freedom - i felt really trapped. there's not much to do in the main island, so you want to go to the smaller ones. there are 2 main groups, each have only one boat going to (and among) it everyday, in a fixed route. so that means, that once you're off the boat, you're staying for the night - even if you don't really like the place you landed in - the next boat will only come the following day... so in fact you're booking your accommodation in advance, and you just hope you'll like it... and it's quite hard to get information - even when you're there. i went to some travel agent, and i couldn't understand what the difference between one place and another was. and eventually the place he sent me to was very nice, but no snorkeling or anything of that kind... unless you take a boat and go to some other resort

anyway, having said that - i did have fun, but not as much as i thought I'd have, and that's one of the few countries i don't want to go back to.

but what did i do in Fiji? here i go...

after Nov. 14th, which was a very short day (only a 5 hours day - i crossed the date line), i landed in Fiji on the morning of Nov. 15th. the information guys directed me to some other guy who took me to some lady who led me to a travel agent in the airport.
after spending more than an hour trying to understand who's who, i eventually booked for 4 nights camping on Adi's place - a resort on waya - one of the islands in the Yasawa group.
and i secured a place on the boat.
the travel agent took me to the bus station, and told me to wait for the bus that'll take me to the marine.
when finally a bus came, i was told it's the wrong bus, and the right one passes a few minutes before i was brought there by the travel agent. but if I'll be quick enough, and take a cub i can still make it to the boat.
well, i was quick enough.
a little annoyed with the travel agent, but i made it to the boat. with even about 2 minutes to spare...
anyway, i had a nice ride to waya - the island we chose ("best hiking in the yasawa").being me, i almost missed my drop off (they had to call the little boat to come again for me). as was expected from this over-touristic place, they tried to charge me more money for the little boat that took me from the big boat to the resort i was going to. surprisingly though, i refused to pay them. eventually they stopped talking about it, but one of them carried my bag ashore, and i expected to be charged for the boat by the resort people. but i refused again, and Tema, the nice woman handling me said she'll deduct it from what i've paid her... by the way, later, i asked all the other tourists, and apparently, they charge quite arbitrarily - sometimes it's 10$ per person, sometimes it's 5$ for all the boat, sometimes they don't charge...anyway, after that i just relaxed. it was hot. very hot. and there was the nice beach, and mango trees, and other trees. and a hammock. and i was really tired after the flight. so i read, and slept, and ate and slept again... later, an Italian guy named Dario came, and we went on a short hike ("the best in the yasawa..."). we climbed some peak, and the views were quite good, and it was fun. on our way we also picked some mangoes!! when we got back, dinner wasn't ready yet, and since Dario skipped lunch (sailing from one resort to the other), we spent some time picking mangoes and even a papaya (nowhere to buy food). the local saw our passion for mangoes, and promised we'll have a basket full of mangoes the next day. after dinner we talked a little, and went to sleep.by the way, since they had very few guests, they just put me in the dorm...next day we certainly got a basket full of mangoes along with breakfast. yummy! after a short morning run i spent most of this day - how surprising - relaxing, reading, lying in the hammock and not doing much. though i managed to have a nice talk both with Dario, and with the John and July - the British couple that came soon after Dario left. and the highlight of the day - when i was swimming a little with Dario (well, not actually swimming - we were just relaxing inside the sea) - we saw a flying fish! he actually got out of the water for a couple of seconds and flew/bounced about 7 meters! cool! next day i was still mainly relaxing, though i wandered along the beach with July, and i explored the little village that was just 20 meters from the resort. i even managed to play a little with the kids. and at some point, i took out my camera to take a photo of the colorful (though somewhat poor) village, and instantly a nearby mother called all her kids to stand around her (and her husband to lift the baby up)... so i took their picture too... the following day we (me and the British couple) felt quite adventurous, so we wanted to take a kayak out to the next resort and do some snorkeling. we talked to Tema about it, and it took time (Fiji...) but eventually she told us we can take 2 one-person-kayaks. but we were 3.so after a while we got to a solution - I'll have a kayak, and John and July will have a tin boat that can hold 2 people. and so we rowed to the next resort. it was quite fun for me, but John and July had only one paddle, so it was very hard for them to get there... it took us about half an hour during which the tin boat got stuck in some place and we had to drag it (the sea was very shallow in that place) but we made it to the other resort. we snorkeled a bit, and it was nice. much less exciting than in the red sea, though. and then we started back to our place. only this time my kayak felt heavy, and water kept coming in. in some point, it felt so weird that i turned to look at the back of the kayak, and it started sinking, making the front of the kayak rising up in the air... well, John and July tried to help me, but there wasn't much they could do, so i tried to swim to the nearest shore, grabbing the sinking kayak, and they just hurried back to the resort, to get some help. well, after a while, some local guy came with another kayak, and got me to the shallow water, and took the kayak with him. apparently he was called Apakuki (or something like that), and he was Tema's brother. I hurried back to the resort, and when i talked to Tema, telling her what had happened, she just asked me "but you know how to swim, right?" and seemed very calm about it... it turned out that July got there panicking, telling Tema what happened, and for 2-3 minutes people ran around, and then they stopped... maybe they called Apakuki... i don't know. well, it was quite an adventure after doing almost nothing for quite a while... i spent most of the next day reading, and took the boat back to the main island, and found some hostel to stay in. i joined a big table with a whole bunch of British. most of them drank quite a lot even before i got there, but kept on drinking the whole time. with us sat this local guy named Tony, and he told me that his grandpa told him that the first people to arrive to Fiji were Israelites. and they carried with them "the box from the bible" but it slipped and sank into the sea... and he kept saying we're brothers, sharing the same religion. at first i tried to tell him that i was Jewish, not Christian, but he was very drunk, so i gave up quite quickly. it was funny though - he accused the British of not knowing their ancestors... well, next day i went to the capital - Suva, and spent some time wandering around. Suva is the capital city, and it has quite a big Indian population, and is very multicultural - beside Fijians there are Korean, Muslims, etc. next day i wanted to stroll around, but the car pollution was so bad that i avoided being in the streets, and didn't do much other than reading and sleeping. but i did change my flight dates - i brought it 4 days forward. after that i went back to nadi, spent another day there, and flew to NZ... i felt so good flying out of there and even much better flying into NZ!!!three more points i wanted to addthe first:
they say there's something called "Fiji time". well, I'm not sure what they mean, but i can tell you that what ever it is, it's very expensive - for every night on the small island i paid 45$F (~30$US). for camping!!! it included all meals, but still - camping. and in a relatively cheap resort. Dorms are 55-80$F and sometimes even more... the second:it seems that on the small island they just burn all their garbage. plastic, paper and all.the third:on the whole, the Fijians are very kind. they keep saying "bula" to you, asking you where did you come from, shaking your hand and stuff like that. but there are Fijians, mainly in Nadi, that try to take advantage of that. they start the usual conversation with you, and after 2-3 minutes they will give you a gift or lure you to their "village shop" - just look, it won't cost you. and they even invite you to have kawa with them (the local drink). well, i met a guy that bought necklaces he didn't want for 45$ Fiji (~3 times its worth) just to get out of there. and he thinks that the couple that were there before him paid hundreds of dollars... some Fijian-Canadian woman that owns the Internet place where i met him said that she's considered to be wealthy, even rich in Fiji - making more than 100$ a week. one of these scamming guys told her once he makes 500-600$ a week...
Oh, and here are the pictures:
http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/?a=0AbNGzFq3Ys2LCVA