Nacula Island: Bula Combo Pass

Friday 3rd March - Saturday 4th March 2017

It was a super early start this morning, and I fully hadn't slept well at all in the night which sucks! But we grabbed breakfast at 6:30 and  then the coach came at around 7:15. It was only whilst we were sitting at reception that it dawned on us that we had no idea what we were doing on the Bula Pass. It took us a while to find someone to even make sure we were going on the right coach!

When we got to the Port, we went to check in our luggage and we were asked what our destination was. We had no idea! So we went to check in and eventually found out that you can book as you go on the Bula pass on the boat, and just change where your luggage is going as you go. So after twenty or so minutes of pouring down the list of resorts, we decided to stay at Oarsmans Bay Lodge on Nacula Island. This meant we wouldn't be seeing the others, as they're all going to Beachcomber Island which is a shame, but it works out easier for us to do it the opposite way round. But this also meant we had 4 and a half hours to kill on the ferry!

We passed all the beautiful islands and time surprisingly went quite quickly! We got in a little speedboat and someone took our bags (thank god!). The sea is crystal clear and shines a beautiful shade of turquoise - the whole island is idyllic.

We were greeted by the staff members and a complimentary juice which went down a treat! The owner then went over meal times and things before giving us our room key. We are in a bule just the two of us which is amazing! It's been so long since we just shared a room together!

So I can't imagine my blog posts being overly interesting from now on but I'm going to keep going anyway and include more pictures! We spent the afternoon going from sunbathing to swimming, the water was a perfect temperature to cool down in - not too cold and not too warm! There were loads of fish swimming around as well.

I then went for a short walk to the rocks at the end of the island. The sand is so hard to walk on, it just consumes your foot with every step you take. There were loads of hermit crabs on the beach, and one showed a lot of interest in my GoPro! I had a look in some rock pools but there wasn't much there, a few crabs and fish!

The resort next door has an inflatable slide in the sea so we snuck on it... I managed to not die after going down the slide which was great! (I have zero confidence in my swimming skills especially after the snorkelling!) We then bumped into a couple of girls one of whom came from a nearby village, the other from Nadi. They had been snorkelling and then we got chatting about life! They work here in their uni break, both studying tourism which seems perfect for Fiji!

After showering and putting on moisturiser (I'm finally getting a tan yay!) we chilled out in the room watching Grey's until it was time for food!

Dinner was some sort of chicken broth with sweet bread,the broth was super yummy but the bread was a bit weird! Then we had Fish, chicken and sausage in some sort of BBQ sauce with coleslaw and one potato! I'd filled up on the broth so wasn't overly hungry but it was pretty good, just a bit random!

After dins we just chilled in our room, these long days are making me feel exhausted! But it feels so good to just be chilling for a change!

Coromandel Island and Waiheke Island

Thursday 2nd February - Friday 3rd February 2017

This afternoon Pauline, a girl Lisa met through Facebook, hired a car and we all went to Coromandel island to see Cathedral Cove and the hot water spring beach. It was about a two and a half hour drive and the roads weren't overly busy so we made it there in good time. Once we got there, we stopped off for lunch at a burger van and I had Kumara (sweet potato) fries and they were honestly the most delicious fries I have ever eaten!

Cathedral Cove is about a 35 minute walk from the village, but what we did not realised is how steep and winding the track is. In just under 30 degree heat, the walk was a killer.... but so worth it! We didn't get to stay there long, as we had to get to the other beach for low tide but we did explore the cave and managed to squeeze in a few photos before we left!

After the sweaty hike back to the car, it was about a ten minute drive to get to the hot water beach. This place is famous for the hot volcanic rocks that heat up an underground river up to 60 degrees, and people come to dig there own hot tubs. Honestly, it's one of those things you can only believe when you feel it yourself, but the water gets burning hot a small it trickles out of the sand. It is now my new favourite beach! 

Unfortunately, the weather turned and got pretty cold and rainy so we decided to make a move back to Auckland.

The following day, Emma and I met Sam, a guy on our Contiki tour, and went to Waiheke Island, about half an hour away from Auckland on the ferry. We made our way to the end of the island is thinking we would make our way back to the ferry from there. The weather was still pretty miserable and Waiheke had really been hyped up to us - most of the people we met in the hostels had been there and said it was one of the most beautiful places they had seen. But the beach we went to initially could've been any beach in England!

We then made our way up to the vineyards for some wine tasting, which was pretty awesome, and in the hour we were there the sun came out... finally!

On our way back to the ferry, we stopped off at Palm Beach... and I am so glad we did! It was honestly one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to!

Anshun City, Part Two.

Saturday 15th September 2012

This morning we went on a little excursion to Huangguoshu waterfall, the largest waterfall in China... I think. It was an early rise again, but definitely worth it!

If you read my previous blog post, you will be aware that James had an unfortunate incident with his shoes. They had not dried off this morning so, instead of just braving the damp, he thought he would wear the complimentary hotel slippers. Well I say slippers, they were pretty much a sole with a flimsy bit of papery fabric to make them into some sort of flip flop. 

Whilst we were walking towards the waterfall, Georgia thought it would be absolutely hilarious if she trod on the back of James' slipper. Of course, this led to the flimsy thing breaking, a James having to hop his way around.

The walk between the entrance and the waterfall was just over half an hour, and we were given some rather dashing waterproof ponchos to wear so we wouldn't get wet when we got there. The walk was very picturesque and when we finally got to the waterfall it was an incredible sight.

We then walked down some steps to the 'rhinoceros pool', which is the pool at the bottom of the waterfall, and managed to get a group photo! This normally proves difficult as there are twelve of us and we never seemed to be in the same place at the same time.

By this point, James' other slipper had come off and Humphrey was starting to get concerned. The only shoes available at the gift shop where crocs, James was not willing to pay this and kicked up such a fuss that Humphrey ended up buying them just to get him to shut up. Classic James.

He seemed to really like James, as when we were on our way out, he decided to dare James to climb up some rock. This wasn't doable with crocs on, but it was rather funny!

For lunch we went to a restaurant nearby the entrance to the park. Tiny cages containing various birds and animals in cramped conditions. It was sickening. To make matters worse, half way through our meal, James decided it would be hilarious to put a chicken's head and some dried fish into my bowl. My appetite left me completely. So gross.

We then went to another part of the national park  I can't remember what it was called though!  There was a smaller waterfall and 365 stepping stones over the water, each with a day of the year on it. We followed the stepping stones around until we reached what we thought was the end of the park, but there was plenty more to see!

We passed through various rock formations, where Georgia, Josh, James, Ben and I thought it would be a great idea to pretend to be die hard tourists and take photos every five seconds, trying to get as many Chinese tourists in the background as possible. 

The five of us caught up with the others at a building where we all had an ice cream. We were so lucky it was such a beautiful day.  Humphrey told us to have a twenty minute rest before we started off again and ended up walking through some beautiful caves. The photos I took were pretty bad and do not do the place justice, so I'm just not gonna bother putting them on here.

We then drove home for two and a half hours and passed the time by singing songs off of pop party two and now 57. I literally have the best iTunes.

We got back to our apartment at around 6, so Georgia, Josh, James and I decided to go to Dico's and then to the market. What we didn't realise was that the market closed at 7:30pm on a saturday, and they started to lock up. It was quite scary as it is really easy to get lost in there, luckily we found our way out before getting locked in!