31/3 - Korovou

Hi All,

Spontaneously we decided to stop along the way in this small town (300 people) and to get to know the real Fijian people (those who don't work with tourists).
Here we found ourselves as the only tourist people in the area, even the hotel staff were surprised to see us.
Yesterday we went by a bus to one of the villages near by, the place called - Wailatua, we entered the local church and heard the pastor preaching in Fijian language, no doubt we were an attraction for the locals who don't get to see tourists in their Sunday prayers at the church.
Later on, one of the young guys invited us to his home, it was a very basic place, build from wood and metal scratch, before we know it, we had lunch with his family - noodle soup with vegetables and chicken - Outch ! it was very hot-spicy but delicious, Efrat ate the TARO (a root that is being cooked and taste like a potato).
We were talking with these guys about the most important thing here in Fiji these days: The Rugby world cup tournament which take place in Hong Kong and Fiji team is consider to be one of the best in the world (as they proudly say).

Efrat and the Taro


At Korovou we found ourselves talking, singing, playing the guitar and having a nice time in a local family we met while walking around.



Generally we can say that Fijian people are very welcoming and friendly, they are well educated and love music. Although they live in a very basic conditions, some will say - poor, they seems to be very happy people, and this is something you can not buy with money.

Fresh Pineapples


Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

29/3 - Nananu I Ra

Hi All,

After a few hours of riding a Fijian bus which was quite experience (the bus almost falling apart but had a real nice music and TV with movies), we arrived to a town called Rakiraki - an intersection for us to hop on a boat and go to the island - "Nananu I Ra". Many Indo-Fijian (Indian people which brought to Fiji to work in the sugar cane industry in the 19 century by the British) taxi drivers surrounded and followed us trying to convinced us to take their service in a tourist price of course.
Eventually we arrived to the ferry stand, there we took a ride on a boat that takes school kids back to their home at the island.



Nananu I Ra is a small exotic island , here you can find a remote island atmosphere in minimum efforts and costs, since it is very close to the main island and the accommodation is not too expansive.
The sandy beaches, coconut trees and tranquil feeling did a good job making us feel relaxed and peaceful, specially when there were very few people around, although the humidity and mosquitoes were killing us.





Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

27/3 - Nadi

Hi All,

We landed at Nadi at morning time after a sleepless night, the flight was OK with Air new Zealand and took us 3 hours to get there. Since we arrived we ran into so many travel agents at the airport, every one of them wanted to sell a package tour to the touristic islands, we suddenly felt like we came back to India (India lite actually), we just wanted to get some sleep in our pre-booked hotel and that took us ages to get there. the heat and the humidity were so exhausting. The travel agent that was suppose to help us get to our hotel tried to rip us off as well. Eventually we crashed into our beds at 13:30 - 3.5 hours after we landed, good example to experience the meaning of "Fiji Time".



At the second day, we decided to allocate our time to arrangements and adjustment here at Nadi, We changed our money to Fijian Dollars, did some shopping and also were invited to drink their traditional Kava drink (mixed grounded Kava roots with water) with all the ceremony that comes with it, it tasted terrible but the cermony (clapping hands and saying BULA-Hello) was nice.



The local market was the only authentic sight we got to see in this busy town, the pineapple was great, we really missed that wonderful fruit from our happy days in Thailand.
When we left Nadi we were involved with a car accident. We took a ride with another 2 English guys we met and in a near by city some local guy bump their rental car from behind while we were in it, everybody went out of it OK and the only damage was to the car. It was the "nicest" car accident we ever had, the local Fijian guy smiled and apologised all the time, probably this is how thing goes here in Fiji.

The car after got hit: with Roger and Grahm


Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

24/4 - Auckland

Hi All,

Tomorrow is the big day, we are going to FIJI islands.

We thought everything would run smoothly, on Monday (today) we will arrange our procedures prior the flight and leave New Zealand, thinking to sell our camping gear to a second hand store, send a parcel to Israel, burn all of our photos and movies from the north island to DVDs, draw all of our money from our bank account, etc.
BUT - today is Easter holiday here (lucky us) and everything is closed so we are not able to do anything but to update the blog and complaining about it.
Fortunately we are staying at an amazing family here, except being nice and kindly host us they agreed to store our parcel and camping gear until we return from Fiji.
Betty, Diane, Henry and Amber give us the true feeling of home, it is well worth to mention Dian's cooking which is delicious.



We will remember New Zealand as fields of green grass covered with white sheep, turquoise blue lakes, strong waterfall, amazing fjords, wonderful tracks, cold slippery glaciers, extreme sport, whales, penguins and seals, sandy beaches, thermal pools, crazy weather, perfect blue sky (when it's not raining) and nice people. We definitely will not forget the Promite spread.

See you in FIJI !!!

Have Fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

21/3 - Cape Reinga

Hi All,

Cape Reinga is the northwest most tip of the Aupouri Peninsula, at the northern end of the North Island of New Zealand. Cape Reinga is located over 100 km north of the nearest small town of Kaitaia. It is generally considered the separation marker between the Tasman Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. From the lighthouse it is possible to watch the tidal race, as the two seas clash to create unsettled waters just off the coast.
Here we met a nice Israeli couple - Amiad and Hilla, they are also at the end of their journey in New Zealand and about to fly away to Thailand, Nepal and India, Yoni helped them with some tips and sorts of information, it was nice to remember about some places over there, they really brought Yoni good 8 years old memories.



The good fun started when we arrived to the sand dunes, The biggest sand dunes in New Zealand, the climb to the top of the dunes was a challenge with sun, heat, loose sand and a long steep slope. We finally experienced the different views. Combination of Blue sky with green forest, deep blue see and yellow sand dunes all together made the efforts of driving here along the 90 mile beach.



Sunset a Cape Reinga:


Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

19/3 - Bay of Islands

Hi All,

Whangarei
One of the biggest cities in northland (the part of New Zealnd which is northern than Auckland), here you can find the picturesque Whangarei Falls is 26.3 metres high and falls over steep basalt cliffs, The two viewing platforms above the waterfall give spectacular views of the falls.





The Bay of Islands is an area in the Northland region of the North Island of New Zealand.
It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations.

In Paihia town as usual we covered 2 view points and 1 waterfall, we are so full of it since looking at the same views over and over again, no doubt it's was very beautiful, but we couldn't see anything that was special in those places, kind of like: "been there, done that..."



for those who traveled in New Zealand and heard about Omri, it is worth to mention we met him at his so called "backpacker" and had a "nice conversation" (better to say a debate) about HIT etc...

A little bit of history: at Treaty of waitangi we finally found that unique place we were looking for, it has a great deal of history for the locals here, it was very interesting to explore it and learn a piece of history for a change.
This is a treaty first signed on February 6, 1840, by representatives of the British Crown, and various Māori (native land people) chiefs from the northern North Island.
the English and Māori language versions of the Treaty differ significantly, and so there is no consensus as to exactly what was agreed to, it caused some problems between the 2 sides, but generally it seems that two of those ethnic groups were able to solve their problems along the years.

House of Treaty:


Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

17/3 - Coromandel

Hi All,

Framed by native Pohutukawa trees on the western side, beautiful white sandy beaches on the east and divided by ranges cloaked in native rain forest, the Coromandel’s 400kms of coastline offers the visitor a truly distinctive blend of experiences.
The peninsula is steep and hilly, and is largely covered in subtropical rain forest.

Hot Water Beach
Some volcanoes develop huge underground reservoirs of superheated water. Over time, this water will escape to the surface — cooling on the way. There are two fissures at Hot Water Beach issuing water as hot as 64ºC at a rate as high as 15 litres/minute. This water contains large amounts of salt (NOT salt water), calcium, magnesium, potassium, fluorine, bromine and silica.

Well, we went to this wonder with lots of expectations thinking how lovely it would be to lay down in the pool we will create to our self relaxing in the hot water, but unfortunately the waves were too strong at that time since the strong wind and it destroyed our plans. the only thing we could have done is to shove our feet in the sand underneath the water and to feel a little bit the hot stream coming out.



Cahedral Cove
This section of the Coast is a popular area, accessible from the Stone Steps Wharf at Ferry Landing and from the highway.
It took us about 30 minutes walking on the coast line to the cove to see and admire the hole in the limestone cliff. the sandy beach looked peaceful.



Kauaeranga Kauri Trail
At the bottom line we didn't like this trek since we couldn't see much other than bush and trees, which is great but not for us anymore, we are so bushed out, and this walk was a good example for it.

Generally, the peninsula offers a lot, there are several waterfalls and lookouts from the top of some mountains or hills, which view of beaches and other parts of the peninsula, but we felt after the first lookout the rest looks a bit the same.

Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

15/3 - Waihi

Hi All,

Waihi
Waihi is one of the most famous gold mining towns in New Zealand, the history of this period is apparent everywhere her, with production hidden behind the leafy slopes close to the main street.
here we met super-mom, Toya is a mom to 8 children, she raise them by herself and home-schooling them as well.



Karangahake Gorge:
The Karangahake Gorge region near Waihi town combines gold mining history and natural beauty, much of it accessible through a variety of walks.
we choose to do the windows walk trail, this spectacular walk passes through tunnels high up on a cliff face, with window-like openings which look down on a river gorge far below. to go inside the tunnels we had to use a torch.





Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

14/3 - Tauranga

Hi All,

In Tauranga city we didn't do much except climbing on the Mount Maunganui which observe the city and the area along the beaches.



It is well recommended to stop at the strand and to try the great Hokey Pokey Ice-cream, Yoni found it delicious, he ate it like there is no tomorrow.

Have fun,

Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

13/3 - Rotorua

Hi All,

Rotorua’s premier geothermal attraction is in New Zealand’s most colourful volcanic area, Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. Colours of every tint and hue are displayed in pools, lakes, craters and steam vents.
This place surrounded with sulphur hot springs. Ohhhhhh, they stink !!!!!

We arrived breathless 1 minutes before the biggest show here began: Lady Knox Geyser, the geyser persuaded to erupt every day with the aid of soap, which triggers an eruption, everyday at 10:15 A.M





it was nice walking around the thermal area, we slowed down at some colorful pools and sulphur steams which come out of the ground, but beside that it wasn't something special.





Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

12/3 - Taupo

Hi All,

Taupo is a town on the shore of Lake Taupo in the centre of the North Island.
We will remember this town because of the extreme sport activities we did, of course we didn't skip the nice short walks, to Huka falls (2 hours) along the waikato river which was very impressive.



In Taupo we were lucky to find Ray and Robyn who hosted us, we got to meet them and Yoni (another Israeli guy who live with them and work in town). we had a lovely time with them and shared some nice conversations.

Bungy:
In a spontaneous way, after noticing this Bungy place and after realizing here is much cheaper than in Queenstown (the famous bungy place), Yoni decided to take the chance and do it, as you can see in this video:







Skydiving:
At the same day, after waiting for the wind to die we finnaly skydived later afternoon from 12,000 feet (=3600 meters). Efrat was the first one who jumped from the airplane, she thought she would be more scared than what turned out in reality, we really liked the free-fall which took us 45 seconds, while gliding with the parachute open was nice but not that thrilled.







Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

10/3 - Tongariro

Hi All,

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing track passes over varied and spectacular volcanic terrain. In the presence of active volcanoes you can experience some of Tongariro National Park’s special gifts. A cold mountain spring, lava flows, an active crater, steam vents, emerald-coloured lakes and magnificent views of lake Taupo combine to make this an enjoyable and memorable trip.





It is consider to be the best one day walking track in New Zealand, now we can understand why. This track is so popular that at some point we felt like walking in a class trip because of all the people around us.
people say it is a very tough track, we found it not that bad, probably we are in a good shape, after doing lots of tracks in the country, it was total of 8 hours brilliant walk.







Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

8/3 - Mt. Egmont

Hi All,

Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. The 2518-metre-high mountain is one of the most symmetrical volcanic cones in the world, the volcano Mt Egmont rules supreme standing tall above the surrounding landscape.
In good weather it is a challenging climb for the fit and well prepared.

At first we planned to walk for a short walking trail in this national park, but after meeting a local guy (in the middle of the short trail) who recommended us to climb over the top, we decided to change our plans for a bit and to go with full power all the way to the summit of the mountain, and it was definitely worth the efforts.



It was not an easy climbing, 5.5 hours ascend from 940 meters above sea level until the top (2518 m), at some parts we were sliding down a bit since the surface was sliding gravel, at the end of the climb we had to use our hands to grab the rocks because it was so very steep.
At the top we were able to see above the cloud line some parts of New Zealand which were so far away like the south island.





the way down look us 3.5 hours and looked like an eternity and we can say that some time we skied without snow (on the gravel) and fell down a lot.
That was one of the hardest tracks we did in this country, but also one of the rewarded ones.



Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

5/3 - Kaikoura

Hi All,

we decided to diverse from our route and go 130 km out of our way towards Kaikoura town, just because we've heard some good things about the cruise for whale watching over there.
On the way we picked up a hitch hiker from Christchurch which turned out to be a really sweet girl.

Kaikoura is a lovely town on the coast line and in a distance to the snow capped mountains, while driving towards it, we really enjoyed the scenery.

The whale watching cruise turned out to be an awful one, we have seen one sleepy whale and the second one just dive when we came, the winds got stronger and the waves got bigger and bigger, we felt terrible, both of us got the motion sickness and couldn't move without had the feeling to throw up. Yoni got it pretty seriously, he vomit most of the way and felt really really bad.
Eventually, we didn't see much whales and we ended up sick from this trip, you can't really say it was worth the 260 dollars we spent, now can you ?



anyway, now we are feeling much better, we drank a lot of water and had a good rest. tomorrow we hope that it will not get as windy as today since we are about to go on a ferry which will take us to the north island of New Zealand. Yes, tomorrow we are leaving the south island, we spent here a wonderful time and hope to do so in the north part as well.

So, wish us luck, and have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

4/3 - Queen Charlotte

Hi All,

The Queen Charlotte Track offers a spectacular trip through the Marlborough Sounds, it passes through lush coastal forest, historic bays, and along skyline ridges with unsurpassed views of Queen Charlotte and Kenepuru Sounds.
Most of the track is wide and benched, and all major streams have been bridged.
For walkers, boots and a good level of fitness are required, and the 71 kilometre trip can be done in 3-5 days.

We did a one day trip in this walk and climbed to a lookout which was breath taking, it was a shame that the weather was cloudy and sometime a bit of rainy but nevertheless, this walk was a brilliant one.



Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln

2/3 - Farewell Spit

Hi All,

This is the most spectacular coastline in the region, with its caverns, islands, sand dunes and long stretch of beach. The walk passes over farm paddocks and through a section of coastal forest.



At the beach we got to see 4 baby Sea dogs playing around, they were so cute, although we wet our shoes and feet because of the high tide, it was worth every moment.



At this day we travel with Noa and Yaniv, a nice couple which we met at Abel tasman track, it was real pleasure to travel along, we took the time slowly during that walk, enjoying the difference view of this area.

2 other short trips were to Pupu Springs, which are consider to be the biggest natural coldwater springs in the southern hemisphere, and to the grove - a narrow chasm which was cracked under a big rock some many years ago.



The last couples of days we are sleeping in HIT and Chiburim families which hosts Israelis, we discovered this type of accommodation is very popular and we needed to book at least few days in advance.
we were really lucky to get hosted by Rob and Kirsten who were reached after so many "dead end" phone calls (they are not in the book, we got their number through other couples which were fully booked), although we didn't speak with them a lot since both of them were so busy, we found very nice people.



Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.

---

Our Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/yonifln
Our Movie Library: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=yonifln