A small part of the USA

I flew from Fiji into Los Angeles and confusingly because of the time difference I arrived before I’d set off. So the main question on my mind when entering America was ‘is it still Monday?’
I’d heard so many stories of people being held up for ages by immigration questioning them no end as to their motives for entering their country. I managed to escape this though thanks to a very nice guy who after taking my finger prints (we almost came to the conclusion that one of my fingers didn’t have any prints) and my photo, let me through without any real questions asked.
I stayed in LA for a few days where we went to Hollywood and saw the Kodak and Chinese Theaters, the walk of fame and the foot and hand prints of the stars. We went on a tour of some of the ‘stars’ houses. I wasn’t particularly excited about all of this but it was quite interesting seeing where the famous people live or more to the point where they buy one of their many homes so as they can say they have a house there. The one place I was pleased to see was Ozzy Ozbourne’s house but in reality I only saw the gate as the house was covered in some huge plastic sheet, supposedly as it was being fumigated! On one of the days I was there we went to Venice Beach. It wasn’t the prettiest beach I’ve ever seen but quite possibly one of the largest and for what I think was the first time in my life I saw many pigeons wondering around on the sand, all of them looking rather old and dirty.
From LA we got the Greyhound bus to Las Vegas. This was quite an interesting journey through the desert but it was more some of the other people on the bus rather than the scenery that made it so interesting. We had a lady sat behind us who literally talked non stop for all of the six hours we were on there. Although I’m sure she was a very nice lady I felt extremely sorry for the pore guy she had chosen to sit next to and was really very pleased that I wasn’t me. She did have some interesting things to say but towards the end of the journey the sound of her voice got a bit much to cope with and I had to resort to listening to my music as loud as I could to drown it out. Another lady on the bus was like many of the people we saw in Vegas – quite strange. It was really hot and yet she had a full length fur coat on and another one with her as hand luggage. She really didn’t look like someone who had got up that morning and decided not to take copious amounts of drugs. Half way through the journey she went to the back of the bus where the toilet was and when she returned a smell of smoke followed her. As we neared Vegas we could hear some sort of argument going on at the front of the bus. The voices got louder and it turned out that it was the same lady ordering the bus driver to stop so she could get off to have a smoke. She was informed that if she got off she wouldn’t be let back on but apparently that was fine and off she got still an unwalkable distance from Vegas.
I was in Vegas for my birthday and during the day time I went to the Grand Canyon where I had a helicopter flight down to the bottom of the canyon. I’d never been in a helicopter before and it was amazing. We lifted up from the ground really slowly and hovered there for a minute then suddenly just shot off at top speed towards the edge of the canyon. We flew along quite close to the ground which then disappeared showing the river at the bottom of the canyon far below. We landed at the bottom and went on a short boat ride down the river. It was about 5 degrees hotter at the bottom than at the top and being well over 45 degrees Celsius had the river been blue rather than brown it would have been very nice to have a swim. After our boat ride we got the helicopter back up to the top then went to one of the lookouts where you could clime to the top of a rocky hill and have amazing 360 degrees views of the canyon below. In the even we celebrated in style with a bottle of Baileys (thanks Conny) and a night out on the strip. The hotels there are so, so, so big. Thousands and thousand of people must be able to stay in each hotel at one time and I really don’t understand quite how all the hotels survive. They’re like little cities in themselves with shops, restaurants, swimming pools and casinos. One of them even had lions in the middle of it (thankfully in a glass enclosure). We didn’t gamble at all but a kind man tried explaining the rules to us which at that time of night were a bit hard to grasp so we just cheered him on every time he won something and watched everyone else gambling their money away. One of the hotels had a huge rollercoaster all around the outside of it which the following day I decided to have a go on. Being years since I’d been on one I’d forgotten how fun they are. I was sat next to a lady who screamed the whole way round. It was very funny! Later that night we got a flight out of the US to Vancouver, Canada.

Fiji

I had a good start to my trip to Fiji with a beautiful sun rise out of the plane window and a glass of wine (courtesy of Air New Zealand) in my hand.
I arrived at the airport on Viti Levu Island in Fiji and was picked up by one of the many people working at the hostel I was to stay at. It wasn't the best hostel I've ever stayed in but it did have some interesting things happening. There were more staff per guest than any place I've seen before. All of them wanted you to book a package through them to one of the little islands off the main land. One guy was so keen that I booked through him and not anyone else that he came up to my room to discuss it with me. I was happily catching up on a bit of sleep when he knocked on the door and came in. He sat down on a bed opposite me then asked if I was sleeping. After establishing that I was he continued to try and persuade me to book my trip through him. Unsurprisingly he didn't succeed. A couple of other things the hostel offered were free internet (when it worked) and free breakfast – two pieces of toast and jam handed to you ready spread, may be on a plate or may be not.
Conny, my bungy jump partner in New Zealand flew to Fiji on the same day as me and the following day we set off to an island called Waya. It was an hour and a half boat ride passed lots of other islands, some so small that it looked like you could get from one side to the other in just a few minutes. Waya was bigger with four villages and volcanic rocks / hills inland from the beaches which surrounded its edge. There were no roads at all so everyone just got around on foot or by boat. We stayed in two different places, one where we had a few hours of electricity in the evenings and the other where there was no electricity at all. It was so peaceful. Our time was spent reading and lying in hammocks, eating, swimming and snorkeling and exploring the island. We tried Kava, the local alternative to alcohol. It's made from the roots of the Kava plant which are wrapped in cloth and squashed in water against the side of a bowl making a drink that looks (and tastes) like mud. It's supposed to have a relaxing effect although we're not really sure that it worked for us.
There were hardly any other tourists on the island so we really got to see how the local Fijians lived their lives. We met some of the men from our local village who had just come in from a mornings fishing. They were spearing their fish through the gills and mouths with strips of palm tree leaves so they could be carried easily back to the village. They then planned to smoke them before taking them over to the main land to sell. A lot of the men carried around huge machetes one of which came in very useful when we were struggling to open a coconut. The guy held the coconut in the palm of one of his hands and repeatedly chopped at it with the other until it opened, amazingly managing not to loose any of his fingers in the process. If any of us had tried it, we no doubt would have lost our whole hand. We also passed a group of ladies sitting down eating paw paw. They’d been out collecting fruits from their plantations which you could find by following little paths into the jungle where a clearing had been made and their fruit trees grew.
We spent an afternoon snorkeling around the reef with the constant fear in the backs of our minds of being eaten by a shark or killed by the killer snakes. We survived though and although it wasn’t quite the amazing colours I was expecting we did see lots of different fish, lovely blue star fish, many sea cucumbers and lots of coral.
There was a boarding school on the island with a huge sports field where one afternoon a rugby match between the team from our village and a team from another island took place. It was really good to watch. Although my cousin Jack and Uncle Ian both tried to teach me a few of the rugby rules when I was with them I still was none the wiser to what was going on or what the score was. I did find out that our team won though so that was good. We were told that the winning team gets $100 (Fiji) which is put together by the village of the losing team. We were also told that the last match our team played ended early in a big fight. I was very pleased that in the match we watched everyone seemed quite happy and friendly towards both each other and us.
After our week of complete relaxation Conny and I set off for Los Angeles.

New Zealand - The North Island

We got off the ferry in Wellington, New Zealands capital city where we stopped for a few days then headed north towards some warmer weather. I stayed with a couple of my mums friends in a little town called Napier on the East coast. In 1931 Napier was almost completely destroyed by an earth quake and fires that followed it. It was really interesting to walk around and see all the different designs and patterns on the buildings which were all rebuilt in art deco style. Not something I'd seen or at least recognised anywhere else before.
From Napier I went further north through a little town called Taupo which is set on a beautiful lake. A short walk out of town there are waterfalls and hot springs flowing down into the rivers. It's also apparently the cheapest place in New Zealand to do a bungy jump but I decided to give it a miss!
Further north still is the stinking town of Rotorua. This is the most visited town in New Zealand due to it being full of, and surrounded by, hot springs and bubbling pools of mud. These give the town it's distinct smell - one minute you'll be walking along thinking that it doesn't smell so bad, then the next a huge wave of the sulphur smell will hit you and make you feel quite sick. I spent a day at one of the near by thermal parks and even got to see a geyser going off. The particular geyser I saw goes off at 10.15 every day. It's amazing how predictable nature can be sometimes, especially with the help of some soap powder! Yep as prisoners doing their washing on the land years ago found out, a chemical reaction with soap sets the geysers off. I think really I would have been happy to take the chance of seeing it naturally or not at all but apparently soap powder is what the tourist want so that is what we get. Rotorua is also the home of Zorbing - rolling down a hill inside an inflatable ball. Absolutely amazing! You can either do it on your own strapped to the inside of the ball or with up to three people not strapped in but with a bit of (thankfully warm) water in the bottom so you all slide about. It's the best fun, I hadn't laughed so much in ages. You have no idea where you are or when the ball's going to come to a stop. It's something everyone should have a go at!
Off the coast straight up from Rotorua is an active volcanic island called White Island. You can take a boat trip there and actually walk right inside the Crater of the volcano. I spent a couple of days in the little town the boat leaves from but both days it was poring with rain and very windy so the boat wouldn't go which meant I couldn't go either. Instead I went on to Auckland where I spent my last few days in New Zealand. After being 100% sure that I would never do a bungy jump again I found myself on the Auckland Harbour Bridge strapped to my friend with a bungy cord attached to our waists. This time we only had to fall 47 metres but it still wasn't easy jumping off. I actually enjoyed the whole experience and am very much looking forwards to doing another one at some point. I've heard that there is now one taller than the one in South Africa so may be I'll have to try that.....mmmmm or may be not!