Just a quick one as I am terribly behind with this blinkin' journal!! After a bumpy flight from Rarotonga, we arrived in Nadi at 3am, got taken to our hotel by the meanest taxi driver ever and went to bed in our room which stunk to high heaven of Toilet Duck. The next day, we arranged a couple of day trips, the first to "Treasure Island", which was a great day out, we felt like the only ones on the island. The sun shone, we saw loads of fish when sn...

Boy, confused was I, we set off at 9am Monday, flew 5 hours and arrived 2pm Sunday due to the international date line. I spent several minutes trying to work out if I was a day older. It was raining when we arrived, but my spirits lifted when we were serenaded in by a man on a little yukelele type guitar. We had a great place to stay right on the beach, on the sunset side of the island. We played "spot the honeymooners". The island is only 32 km round, ...

We arrived shaking into Auckland, having become unaccustomed to anything more than B roads it felt like we were driving into central London. After checking in to our student halls (and my have they come a long way since the Macmillan Halls in Bradford- ensuite and a separate lounge!) we went to the Skytower to look over the city and at a crazy man jumping off the top. We tried to get into the casino but were turned away because of my flip flops. I think it was an...

Hamilton was a stopover for us to go to Waitomo caves, about an hour south. Hamilton itself is a bit dreary, so we headed out of the city to Waitomo, and by God the caves where dreary too! We went on a tour of the "glow worm Cave" which was fully paved, and then on a boat on the underground river to see the glowworms-which are like fairy lights! Not very impressed. However on our way home I spotted "angora rabbit shearing" and we stopped in to see the biggest b...

Now I dont know about you but there is something quite unsettling about thermal areas. Quite randomly you will see a steaming crater in the ground, or come across a stream that will literally melt the skin off your feet if you were so careless as to pop a toe in. We stayed on a campsite right by the lake called Cosy Cottage, occasionally catching a faint whiff of egg as you do in thermal areas. Mmm. Disguises Stephens bottom burps though. We went to Agrodome an...