New Zealand - North Island

Landed into middle earth in the morning and promptly checked into ACB in Auckland. We watched Harry Potter and left for the bay of islands and Paihia on our very first Kiwi Experience bus. The town was sweet and we took a very fast tour of the bay on a speedboat - our first flavour of kiwi craziness. Cooked for ourselves as well which was great as we had not done this since home (and possibly even longer). The next day was spent taking another bus up to cape Reinga at the very top of the north island and see the merging of the Tasman sea and the Pacific ocean. Also drove all the way down ninety mile beach (which is actually 65miles long). Spent the evening watching the all blacks muller the springboks and met some people that we are still travelling with now, nearly four weeks later. The bus we took up to the cape was big and yellow, just like our big yellow boat we travelled on in Fiji. The next morning it was raining so we watched movies and headed back to Auckland where we dined on fine Pizza Hut pizza and beer.
The next day we joined Cheese's bus that would take us all the way to queenstown - didn't have any idea what an adventure we were about to start on. We travelled first to Mercury Bay where it rained constantly but we got to meet some of the bus. The next day we ran in the pouring rain on a hot beach, that had lava under it - was great until the tide came in and we nearly drowned! The next day we were in rotorua where the thermal lakes and geysers were. Also went on a walk through an abandoned gold mine. Rotorua stank because of all the sulphur from the volcanic vents - all looked very surreal bubbling up from under your feet everywhere. The evening was spent at a Maouri culture evening which was incredible. We saw dancing, music, the Hakka and finally ate the biggest meal ever with lamb, beef, mussels, yams, potatoes, greens, carrots, bread, chicken, salad and three puddings. It was all you can eat and I ate all I could, including a toilet break in the middle to free up some more room. Had two helpings of main and three helpings at dessert. Great to see some Maouri culture though - really eye opening. Next day we travelled to Waitomo where we saw rabbits being shaved - it was the most disturbing thing I've ever seen. Their coats are the softest material in the world and are used to make clothes. The rabbits have to be shaven as they would suffocate otherwise. Next two days were spent in Taupo - the lake was beautiful but we couldn't skydive because the clouds never budged. But we did get smashed whilst wearing bin bags, even though we went to the bar that wasn't having the bin bag night. Also played crazy golf that was moderately crazy. Saw the pool where Golum eats the fish in LOTR and also saw Mount Doom covered in snow - awesome. Next was River Valley where we watched rugby and stayed in one huge twenty bed dorm. Made a trampoline out of mattresses and jumped on to it from the roof. The next day we travelled down to wellington and spent the night in the only welsh bar in the southern hemisphere and "The Establishment" - the bar where the all black drink after games in Wellington. It was quite nice. Woke up early the next day to take the ferry to the south island. Got some great view from the ferry of Queen Elizabeth sound. Have just been blown away by how beautiful the whole of the country has been so far, but the south island was about to be even better...

Hong Kong and Fiji

First of all I have to apologise for not updating this for ages, I've just been having so much fun and doing so much. But here I am now so we'll see how far I get. Hong Kong seems a very long time ago but here goes.
After leaving the Wendy house Bangkok for the very last time we headed to the airport after staying up all night, watching die hard 4 and keeping the receptionist awake all night. Upon reaching Hong Kong we settled into our accommodation, run by some big British lads at the top of this huge tower block. We slept the morning after our all-nighter and woke to the streets being flooded with locals all marching down to Victoria harbour to watch the fireworks. The celebration was ten years since the handover of Hong Kong from the brits back to China. The fireworks were pretty awesome and we spent that night in a few bars and ate some yummy Cantonese food. It was great to feel part of the celebrations and funny to hear the ooos and ahhhhs from the Chinese every time a big firework went up. The next day we had our first journey on the legendary Star Ferry across the harbour and took the cable car up the peak, even though we couldn't really find the cable car so ended up climbing half way up the mountain. Got some quality views of the territory from up there. Also found dads old apartment up on a very classy street with great views out over the sea. We then went to buy tripods for our cameras, i don't think we've used them since! We spent that day looking around Hong Kong island, checking out all the shops before heading over to get a pint of actual ale from a random tavern that took ages to find. That night we trekked up the peak again to get a view of the harbour by night and went to an Irish pub for overpriced drinks. Last of all we visited one of the best Cantonese restaurants in the city and ate the house speciality - roasted goose. We also drank lots of jasmine tea. The next day we arose late and took afternoon tea at the Peninsula, which was incredible - all little cakes and pastries and proper English tea. Me and pie nearly exploded with excitement at the sight of tea AND cakes. Chris had a Hot dog and a milkshake - at the Peninsula for heavens sake. With bellies full of awesomeness we headed over to Causeway bay to shop and play on Wiis, much to the annoyance of the shop owners. Chris bought a really cheap TV for the camper van. In the evening we visited Temple street night market and ate noodles before frequenting the Irish bar and heading back to the room. The next day we ate Dim Sum, which was amazingly cool, so many flavours, especially liked the pork buns - savage. after Dim Sum we dossed about a bit before heading to the airport.
we spent the next day travelling and did land in Australia but never legally entered the country, just Brisbane airport.
Fiji started off badly, we had to spend a night in Nadi, trying to book our island resort with the most intolerable man I've ever met, which was horrible. Completely different to the rest of Fiji as we were about to discover. Ran about frantically trying to buy a phone card to check this guys prices and ended up getting a mobile top up card!
The next day we scampered to the port to get out to the islands. Our grumpiness and disappointment quickly melted away as we saw tropical paradise emerge before our eyes. Our island was Waya, which was heaven on earth. We ate great food cooked by a very friendly Fijian lady called Mary who became our mother for the three days we were with her - helping her set the table and collect wood for the huge bonfires we made every night. One night we went to a traditional Kava ceremony and danced and ate a big meal that had been cooked traditionally, underground with hot rocks. We spent our days lying on the beach or in the hammock. Occasionally saying "Bula!" to the locals (means good health/welcome/anything) they say it all the time! Lay in the sea, collected coral and just generally did nothing at all. Did watch a local rugby match which was enjoyable. Waya was so quiet, we never shared with more that ten guests and had the whole beach to ourselves.
Our next island was Bounty which was the set of celebrity love island - if anyone watched that, i know i did. The pool is now in front of the bar at the resort. Bounty was pretty good, but much busier and less pretty. We did met some nice Danish girls and had all you can eat buffets - which i very much appreciated. Boated back to the mainland and escaped to the airport, already missing the chilled out islands.