Month: March 2018

We made plans to head back to the US in mid-March, and Fiji is right there between Auckland and Los Angeles. So we made a stop. For a week.

After some research, it became pretty clear that a resort would be the way to go in Fiji. It’s not usually our thing, but it was pretty nice to have everything at our fingertips. We spent the days by the pool and at the beach. I tried some SUP (standup paddle) and did some kayaking. We swam a bunch. There was a silly 9-hole golf course that I played a couple of times. We hiked around the island and visited neighboring resorts. One was kid-free, and I must admit, that was a very nice dinner spot…

We did a three-hour snorkel tour one day which was a bit disappointing to me. We went to one decent spot (in view of the island where they filmed Cast Away), and after an hour of snorkeling they took us over to a resort and dropped us off for 45 minutes. We went to the pool and took a quick swim. Then they picked us up and took to another resort (on yet another island) and dropped us off again for 45 minutes. We again went to a very nice pool and hung out. I think we were supposed to buy the very overpriced drinks. I would have liked to snorkel more…

Fiji is quite beautiful and as you might expect from an island in the South Pacific, has a number of beautiful sunsets.

The main pool at Plantation Island Resort.

A sunset.

Small fish in the ocean right off the beach.

Local brews.

Not a sunset! Just a cool-looking evening sky.

Local gang of cats at Musket Cove, a neighboring resort.

Oh, another sunset.

It rained really hard one night while we were at dinner at Lomani Island (the other neighboring resort), and they didn’t have an umbrella to spare for our 15-minute walk home. So we got soaked and made sure to get an umbrella the next day. With that insurance policy, it hardly rained again while we were there.

I have that umbrella and a flower on my head. As you can see, I’m delighted with this arrangement.

More sunsets. These next two were taken just a few minutes apart (from our dinner table!) as the sky changed colors. No filter, as they say.

Oh look, another sunset.

We stopped at Castaway Island Resort on the snorkel tour, though it’s not on the island where they filmed the movie. That island was in view though.

Just after sunset on our last night in Fiji.

Your blogger, roughing it!

We returned to Auckland with a very long day of travel. We were up before 5a in Nelson to drive two hours to catch the 8a ferry from Picton to Wellington. After the three and a half hour ferry ride, all that was left was an eight-hour drive to Auckland.

We spent our last day in New Zealand taking a 40-minute ferry to Waiheke, an island with beaches and wineries east of Auckland. The view back to Auckland from the ferry.

Alex tasted lots of wine. OK, maybe some of this spread includes glasses for me and Leena.

The ride back to Auckland with a brilliant sunset sky.

We checked out the World of Wearable Art (WOW) museum in Nelson. The wearable art is pretty interesting, and you can see plenty of pictures with some Google searches.

The museum also has an amazing collection of classic cars. Some highlights; sorry, I don’t remember the make/model on many of these.

This car had some of the most elaborate fins ever.

An early VW Beetle.

Triumph Spitfire

Mini Cooper

This Mini Cooper set the land speed record for its class of car (not sure how the classes are determined). Apparently the idea was hatched by a couple of Kiwis over a beer. This article’s a bit out of date – they upped their record in 2016.

Project 64 (Mini Cooper)

Beyond the front showroom was a big warehouse with lots off additional cars. I like that a Smart Car makes the floor.

1971 BMW. My brother Steve owned a very similar (if not the same) car at one point.

Back to the Future.

1967 Ford Mustang; Steve McQueen car.

Future stars in the shop.

We had to get up early (what a chore!) to catch a ferry from Wellington (north island) to Picton (south island). The ferry actually goes west. Go figure. Anyway, the sunrise was lovely.

Some shots from the ferry ending with the arrival in Picton.

We took the scenic route on the drive to Nelson and did a small hike with a view.

Our AirBnB in Nelson said it had a panormic view. Indeed!

Nelson is the “geographic center” of New Zealand complete with a marker. It’s conveniently on top of a steep hill.

Our friend Alex joined us in Nelson after some travel delays made her chase us down to the south island. We were supposed to connect in Wellington.

We spent a day hiking in Abel Tasman National Park, starting with a water ferry to Anchorage.

Split Apple rock.

We saw a seal colony and as Leena pointed out, though this looks like a poop emoji, it’s actually a seal.

The hike starts with an ascent. A view back to the beach where we were dropped off.

A kiwi!

Some more shots from the lovely hike. We covered about 15km on the day.

It was low tide when the hike ended, extending the beach for hundreds of meters.

We spent a couple of nights in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. I plugged the address of our AirBnB into Google maps and we headed to a place on Beach Ave. We couldn’t find the lock box as described. I open the gate and circle the house. It’s like we’re casing it! Then Leena checks the address and it’s an entirely different Beach Ave 20 minutes away. Ha ha. Imagine, multiple Beach Avenues in a coastal town.

So the actual place was great. It came with a turntable and a stellar vinyl collection.

We went up Mt Victoria for some lovely views of the city. One of the information signs said that the wind blew 30+ knots on 174 days a year. They had a cyclone come through just a week ago. On Wednesday? Totally calm.

We headed up a funicular to get a few more views.