Finally Fiji and a Bit of New Zealand

Hi folks,

Tomorrow we are due to fly to Santiago so just before we board the plane some leftover stories from both Fiji and New Zealand. Still have millions of pictures from New Zealand to upload (6 weeks worth) so we're still catching up with the backlog.

So the following photo albums have (recently) been uploaded:

• Fiji - some general impressions. The Manta Ray pictures are courtesy of our fellow diver Ferdi, aka the underwater camera and 4000+ diveman;
• Fiji comments - some hopefully make you laugh;
• South island comments - some (hilarious) pictures of New Zealand South Island
• Activities and Adrenalin - the pictures speak for themselves: NZ is the place where you have to be active so here are some examples of what we've done

FIJI

Fiji is an amazing paradise in the Pacific Ocean. The people are genuinely friendly and don't try to get hold of your money, the islands are amazing for diving and the environment is beautiful.

Highlights of Fiji:

• Diving: we dived at Waya and at Kadavu (the Astrolabe reef). Being 20 meters underwater amongst a bunch of Manta rays that can be as big as 5 meters wide is breathtakingly amazing;
• Hike to the top of Waya: a 4 hour trip on a challenging (muddy, slippery and rocky) path including some rock climbing (without ropes) and having a view over all the neighboring islands was amazing and a good workout;
• The locals and cava: the Fijians are amazing people always smiling and they are not trying to sell you anything. They love their Cava not the Spanish variety (this stuff looks like muddy water and is made from the roots of a pepper tree and is also apparently hallucinogenic) and the accompanying ceremonies (including music).

New Zealand part 1.

We've almost finished our stay in New Zealand and we managed to extend our stay here as we were running out of time (5 weeks was too short). It has been amazing and very different from what we've done so far. Spending almost 6 weeks in a campervan was quite an 'experience' too.

Both islands are beautiful and you never have to be bored here. So what have we done here: camping, tramping (trekking), mountainbiking, scubadiving, paragliding, helicopter ride, tubing (aka blackwater rafting) and last but not least skydiving. To make a long story short it's about time that we go to South America otherwise we will be broke before the end of our trip.

Again we promise to upload more pictures and stories, but that's for next time as we still want to enjoy our last day in Auckland without sitting in the internet cafe all afternoon.