Tourists that we are, when we spotted “longest footbridge in the Southern Hempisphere” marked in a random middle-of-nowhere town on our map of NZ, we decided to head there. Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn without realising and ended up in some other middle-of-nowhere hick town, which was severly lacking when it came to long footbridges. The road there did, however, come with some free free-range cows and sheep.
The longest footbridge in the Southern Hemisphere
November 4th, 2008Whangarei, and The Lion Man
November 3rd, 2008Our main reason for stopping in Whangarei was to visit Zion Wildlife Gardens, home of the Lion Man – a wildlife park full of big cats like lions, white lions, tigers, white tigers, and some smaller cats like leopards and cheetahs (as well as a retired performing babboon, randomly).
Waipu Cove, Northland
November 2nd, 2008The first overnight stop in our trip around Northland.
Auckland
October 25th, 2008New Zealand, at last! We are staying with Jill and John (Charlotte’s family) who have been amazingly helpful. They have taken us sightseeing in the Waitakeries, to the west of Auckland to see waterfalls and beaches and helped us get our van (called Molly) sorted!
Fiji
October 17th, 2008We flew into Nadi on Viti Levu, the biggest island out of the hundreds that collectively make up Fiji. Unfortunately, we had to stay in Nadi for the night due to our flight landing at such a time that we missed our boat out to our island resort – the Octopus Resort on Waya Island, in the Yasawa Group. Nadi is, unfortunatley, a bit of a dump, and threw us off a bit at first. The ‘public transport’ was a bit confusing (rattling old buses that always seemed to be going in the wrong direction, and would stop anywhere, supposedly) and the town itself seemed to be full of people trying to rip you off (most tourists will have to travel through Nadi at some point). Other than the people trying to rip you off, though, the Fijians are really friendly people and will stop and talk to you in the street. We stayed at Dee’s Homestay (literally a house belonging to a Fijian lady and her sons), and they were lovely and welcoming.