Dreaming of warmer, sunnier places :-)

Today I had a sick day and so spent the day in bed with my laptop. After exhausting the news websites I found myself on travel websites (yet again). I thought I might like to see Fiji next year. Two things on my travel bucket list are visiting as many different Pacific countries as I can and going diving somewhere at least once per year. I really wanted to spend my 25th birthday diving with sharks and Fiji's the place to do it apparently.

However despite a lot of google searching, I just can't seem to find what I'm looking for there. I'm sure it's there somewhere, hidden behind the countless resorts that all look much the same, with their included breakfast and probably extortionately priced other meals, and loads of families and honeymooners. I'm after something a little more low key and I like to spread my dollar (the little that I take with me) around the community. I'm a big believer in tourism being the key to development in the Pacific Region.

I'm also a fan of lists. Here's my current top 10 things I'd like to see in our Pacific backyard - it's ever evolving the more I learn (and there's a lot of learning about these places at school at the moment in my Pacific Studies paper).

1. Kiribati (pronounced Kiribaas) - both Kiritimati Island which is supposedly stunning, a direct flight from Fiji and the island the country is promoting as its tourism jewel. I'd also love to visit the densely populated and polluted Tarawa which is rich in World War Two history and to see the other side of life in the Pacific. The side with sky high rates of domestic violence, unemployment and a per kilometre population density as great or greater than the likes of Singapore - the side you don't see in the tourist brochures. http://www.kiribatitourism.gov.ki/
2. Diving with whales in the Ha'apai and Va'vau Island groups of Tonga. The whales rock up in late July and leave in October. Tonga's also renown for it's excellent drift diving. I might have heard a rumour about a family run restaurant in Tongatapu dishing up authentic cuisine on woven plates as well. http://www.tongaholiday.com/
3. Rapanui/Isla Pascua/Easter Island  - self explanatory really. Who wouldn't want to visit?!
4. Belau/Palau - have you seen photos of this place? Forested islands plunging steeply out of the ocean, a pond of jellyfish and apparently some of the best diving you can find. Still a little expensive to get there having to go via Asia I think... http://www.visit-palau.com/aboutpalau/index.cfm
5. The Solomon Islands - the must sees here are Tetepare Island. We watched a doco in class about the destructive logging that's happened across the archipelago. When the doco was filmed the local villagers were tossing up opening Tetepare, an uninhabited, unspoilt island up to logging too. Thankfully I've discovered they've instead set up an eco resort, basically camping with only a handful of people allowed there at a time. People also seem to overlook a lot of the accomplishments Pacific peoples achieved back in the day - it wasn't all grass huts and hula skirts. They even built and island from scratch. That is something I'd like to see. http://www.visitsolomons.com.sb/home
6. The Chatham Islands - for its Moriori history particularly the carvings done on living trees, Pitt Island with its rare birds and you can even get into a cage to dive with great white sharks - fun!http://www.chathams.com/
7. Vanuatu - an independent republic with an intriguing language, a mix of french, english and pidgin. On Tanna you can see an active volcano spewing lava at night, and it's the birthplace of bungy jumping (but with vines strapped around your ankles) and the happiest people on earth. I've heard the food at the market is to die for! http://vanuatu.travel/
8. New Caledonia - to visit Xapita where you can still find Lapita pottery scattered on the beach and for the French influence (especially on its food) and modern capital. It's also on the front line of the ongoing decolonisation of the Pacific with a referendum due on independence coming up in the next few years and a strong movement pushing for it. http://en.visitnewcaledonia.com/
9. American Samoa - it's cheap enough to take the 5-8 hour ferry over from Independent Samoa and so I'll probably go not next time I'm in Sa this November, but the time after that. It's got some stunning scenery but I'd like to see for myself just how American it is. http://www.amsamoatourism.com/
10. Ooooh toss up for final spot. I'd like to head back to Samoa and somehow arrange to go to Apolima Island. But, the lines of the Pacific are arbitrary so I'd like to redraw them and include East Timor. I would love love love to go here. Yes, the diving is good but there seems a lot else to see as well and to get a feel for a country so touched by conflict. http://www.turismotimorleste.com/

So that's my top 10. For next year I am leaning heavily toward Vanuatu. This kind of accommodation is my kind of style, similar to the fales in Samoa.

http://www.banyancastle.info/
http://www.tranquillitydive.com/
http://www.melanesianbungalows.co.nz/
And there are dugongs to be seen and wrecks to be dived. It just looks stunning, the culture(s) are intriguing and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to get there either.

Game on

Well the rugby world cup has kicked off and there are three teams in particular I'm supporting...

• The All Blacks - that's a given. And the two Richard/Richies in particular, for their sporting prowess of course, not just for their amazingly good looks. I missed the ABs first game working and am not a huge fan of Sonny Bill Williams, but let's just say, I won't be complaining if he removes his shirt again.

dug this shot out of retirement - ABs vs Ireland in 2008

• The Pumas. Fuerza Argentina!

watching the game last night at the waterfront FanZone

• Oh and Samoa of course in the pool of death. Poor sods have to play South Africa, Wales and Fiji. But, you know, anything's possible!

One year ago

Fruit salad with cheese at the San Gil market

It's the 11th September and all the news media seems to be reflecting on the anniversary of the terror attacks. Me, I was wondering what I was doing on this day just last year. I knew I was somewhere in Colombia because I remember waking up to the news of the Christchurch earthquake in a hostel in San Gil. Facebook tells me that 5 days later I hadn't moved on - the fruit salad at the market for breakfast, shared dinners with new Dutch friends and its claim to fame as Colombia's adventure sport capital meant I found it exceptionally hard to move on.

Tasty dinner of ants...yeah right! Could feel ant legs stuck in my teeth for hours afterwards. Ew!

This day one year ago I was underneath an upturned raft in the middle of a class 5 rapid. Today I slept in (a fair few ciders were downed last night while watching the Pumas play), cooked breakfast for the flatmates, did the weekly Pak n Save dash and made fish pie of peace a la Cheryl West. How times have changed. My feet are itching to hit the road again, but another (but smaller) part of me is happy in our cosy flat, doing much the same thing week to week. I am very much looking foward to a taste of freedom in exactly 10 weeks time - back to Samoa again for 5 nights. And I've opened another account to start accumulating some funds for next year's holiday(s) too.

Gorgeous view over the tobacco plantation

bus ride back to town, on the back of a truck

If only I won Lotto... if you did, where would you go? I'd head straight back to South America but fly via Tahiti - Easter Island - Santiago - Chile's vineyards. Although the new flight route that's just opened between New Caledonia and Reunion in the Indian Ocean would be equally exciting. Imagine the kind of around-the-world trip you could do with the Bank of Lotto. Sometimes it is fun to daydream!



the nearby village of Barichara

 

Postcard from Auckland: In pictures

During the uni break I headed home to the farm for a couple of days. Somehow amongst the knitting, making empanadas, playing with the bunny, sneaking the cat inside at night and going out for a yummy dinner of wild rabbit hot pot and cheese souffle at Huhu, I forgot to take any photos.

I flew back via Auckland so I could go to the Otara Market and guess what?! I was so busy stuffing my face with pork buns, watching Winston Peters trying to drum up votes and keeping my eyes peeled for the elusive breadfruit that I didn't take any photos there either!

What I do have photos of are the Buddist Temple, the just-reopened-that-day art gallery and most importantly, the All Blacks. And because it's gone half midnight and I have a busy day of watching Bro Town tomorrow (it's for homework, I swear) that is all you are going to get. So...enjoy

Here's one I took 2 years earlier (more hair)

cute wee calfies

It's official, I'm a right nana

I have a tidy bedroom! My flatmate bets it will last until Wednesday but I shall prove her wrong. it's been one week already (5 days of which I may not have been in Wellington). I've always been just a little on the messy side and having a tiny bedroom with no wardrobe doesn't help. However, it was uni holidays and so it got spring cleaned from top to bottom, storage containers were bought, photo frames that have been sitting there for months finally got filled and hung on the wall and a mountain of paperwork got sorted through and disposed of. And now I have a clear path from my bed to my door. Very handy!

Spot the hopelessy tangled ball of knitsch I've spent
 hours already trying to untangle

And I finallly hung up the photoboard I made with material I found at Fabricabrac
- sorry for the shoddy photo, too cosy in my bed to move!

I made lemon curd and jam and lemon curd over again while at my mum's. Not only is lemon curd delicious eaten straight from the jar, but also atop some homemade muesli with a little greek yoghurt fresh out of the new easiyo maker (can I give myself a gold star?! And it's even better in a trifle. With blueberries. Oh yes, I did!I also came back from the Waikato and got stuck into some gardening. Zoo Doo (number one for number twos - how's that for a slogan?!) delivered some dirt to our door and so I've planted lots of little seeds which I'll now need to find pots for. We even purchased a lemon tree before discovering the pots we gleaned are the indoorsy type without any drainage holes - need to track down a drill to fix that one. 

The pot garden

Flags have been hung in preparation for rugby world cup. I'm not letting an English flag get anywhere near the house though. Most importantly Maori TV has been tuned in, ready for some serious rugby watching from the comfort of my couch with a white 1987-style steinlager and a bowl of onion dip and salt and vinegar chips. Let the fun begin!

Postcard from Wellington: Wellington Zoo

$5 entry to the zoo - how could I pass up that?! It seems every mum and her buggy had the same idea one Wednesday in August, but aside from dodging the prams (those things are like mini-tanks - do you really need something so big to carry such small children?) I had a great day out at the zoo. Mojo has not one, but two cafes there so with latte in hand I had a lovely stroll around in the sunshine - my jandals even got to come with me - so strange to think only a couple of weeks before it had been snowing.

I watched the tigers being fed and then spent most of the time mesmorised by the baboons who were thankfully better behaved than last time. My last zoo visit left me traumatised after seeing a wee baby baboon getting raped by one of the male ones. So icky. This time one of the mums was keeping a tight hold on her baby - by its tail. After the aforementioned previous incident, for good reason too.

The giraffes are my other favourite. The kiwis too.  It was too hot for Happy Feet to be swimming in the pool but I did see him via the live cam.

The new upgrades are looking great and I cannot wait for the petting zoo to be finished. A close encounter with a llama, now that will definately win me over!