Sue has a fear of frogs. She is terrified of them. Out to get her, she will have you believe. So imagine Phill's relief when we opened the door leading on to our patio that there were no frogs to be seen. 'But their not frogs, they're toads Sue', Phill exclaimed. Twenty seven of them if truth be told. Apparently Cane Toads were introduced to the Fijian islands to takle an insect problem they were suffering. It didn't work and now any bird or creature which swoops down to eat on of the bouncy buggars winds up poisoned and pushing up daisies.

We are jumping ahead here though, as our first stop in the South Pacific was the southern Cook Islands. Rarotonga gave us a home for a few days. We whipped round the island in less than an hour on our scooter and experienced the laid back island life that you might well imagine. For several days the rain came down, forcing us to visit the towns picture house. The smell of damp failed to spoil our enjoyment of watching 'Omen'. The 15 minute interval to change the reel added some amusment.

The picture shown here was taken in Aitutaki Lagoon, some 260km to the north. This will be recorded as the closest we have come to a tropical paradise. The islands dotted around One Foot Island provides the location for the TV show Survivor. The finalists from the latest show were infact on the flight back to Raro with us.

When Phill was a wee lad, perhaps 12 years old, he visited a travel agent and asked for package holiday information for Fiji. Ah, the seeds were sewn at a young age. Phill recalls the softly smiling lady sending him off with a Hoseasons boating brochure instead. Fiji didn't really live up to the hype though. Yes, the small islands away from the main island looked pretty good, but were no match when pitted against the Cooks. We stayed on the tiny Bounty Island, this the setting for last years Celebrity Love Island. Abi Titmus was no longer around, though with the smile on Phill's face, you could be forgiven for thinking she was. The film set had been torn apart and the main buildings moved to another part of the island.

Without doubt though, the most thrilling experience in Fiji was our shark dives. Two dives, the first at 25 meters the second at 18 meters. Two wheely bins of food was taken down by the dive leaders. The first dive brought little curiosity from any shark life, other than a 5 foot Lemon Shark. The second dive was a different story. Phill suffered equalising problems and was stuck at 5 meters with Sue continuing down with the group and kneeling in the sand.  This turned out to be a blessing for Phill as he witnessed an 8ft Silver Tip Shark circling behind the unknowing group. Jaws had spotted Phill danging above trying to clear his passages and came closer to investigate. Not surprisingly, Phills blockage cleared and he descended quick smart to join the others. Two Silver Tips came in close, taking food and circling around us at very close quarters. It was quite a moment.  

Back on land, ehe inhabitants of Fiji are 60% Indian, brought in during the days of the Raj (frankly, the good old days) and now they out number the indigineous islanders. A military coup was gathering momentum as we departed for New Zealand.

Sue landed on the 'seventh soil' upon our arrival into Auckland and joins the travelling elite (Phill, Alan Wicker and most probably Her Majesty the Queen are already members).

PaS