Fiji was our last stop on our big journey  and it was quite a nice end point. From Fiji we had to make our way back to New Zealand for one more night, before our final flight home to San Francisco and Denver. At the airport in Denver our friend Petra picked us up and it was a wonderful feeling to be home !

Since then we have spent a bit more time on… guess what… traveling . We will only be able to move back into our home by August 1st, so we are using the month of July to get re-acquainted with Colorado and Utah.

For now we are very happy to be home.  In the future we will keep this blog updated with specific (noteworthy) updates, but will not write as frequently as we have before.

Thanks for reading about all our adventures and have a great summer !

We went to the famous Blue Lagoon (where the famous 80^ies movie “Blue Lagoon” was filmed).

At the Blue Lagoon

The blue lagoon is actually a reef area surrounded by several islands and it is quite large [unlike the depiction in the movie]. Several small islands lie on its edges and lay claims to its beauty. Snorkeling is the best way to see the reefs with their amazing coral and sea life. At high tide there are just a couple of meters of water over the reef, at low tide the reef is right on the surface. As with all of the reefs around Fiji, we saw exceptionally large schools of tropical fish. In addition, the coral itself was more colorful and healthier looking than others we’ve seen.

Manta rays

These giants of the ocean are easily the most incredible creatures I have ever seen in their natural habitat. Very little is known about these animals. The only institute that studies them is in Hawaii. Fortunately, they frequent the Yasawas.

Our resort offered a snorkeling trip daily for about $13 USD, well worth the experience.

Unlike many of the shows you see on television about the rarer creatures of the sea, this journey seemed very simple. The guides drives about 15 minutes out from the resort in a motor boat. When he can spot the manta rays from the boat, he takes you up-current and dumps you off in the middle of their feeding path. The strategy for viewing them is to drift in the current towards the mantarays until you spot them, and then turn and swim into the current as long as you can to keep up with them and view them. The depth is around 15 meters in their feeding channel. The strategy works! We were lucky to see over 10 of them. Measuring anywhere from 4-6 meters across, they look huge when you’re swimming with them. They barely exert any effort while cruising up-current and feeding but it takes all of your effort to keep up with them.

Sharks

We snorkeled with White Tipped Reef Sharks to be precise. Supposedly safe for divers to be around, they definitely have an appetite for meat. This was a really cool trip and we watched as 4 or 5 sharks circled us as in their corner of the reef. Measuring only around 1.5 meters, these were not intimidating sharks. In fact, I got hold of one by its tail after being passed to me from the guide and was able to do so for 5 or 10 seconds before it wriggled loose. Our group spent about an hour repeating the process of enticing the sharks into close range for viewing, followed by their retreat after being touched and handled by each person in turn. It was a short and focused trip and we enjoyed the experience.

Evening entertainment

Winter? NO! As much as we wanted to see New Zealand, timing is everything…and with our winter clothes en route to Colorado via Thai Post, we were just not willing and able to face the Southern hemisphere’s winter…not in June. So, our backup plan is…Fiji !

Tiny Fiji island

Less than 24 hours after arriving in NZ, we had purchased a flight to Nadi, Fiji and were off to this island paradise in the middle of the Pacific. This would be the location of the final chapter of our travels this time around…12 days on the islands. Since there are 333 islands in Fiji, we had to make some difficult choices. We chose to visit the Yasawa group, just off the coast of Nadi [pronounced Nandi]. There are around 25 different resorts on these tiny islands. The islands are so small that they have no roads or vehicles. Like most places, accommodations vary from deluxe resorts to rustic huts on the beach. All lodges include three meals per day, since often there are no others dining options available.

We alternated between some beautiful outstanding properties and some simpler ones and chose to spend 2 or 3 days each on four different islands. The deluxe resorts offered 24 hour electricity, hot water, a menu with choices, laundry services, activities, window screens, door locks, available staff, etc. The a rustic resorts, in short, offered only a hut on the beach. In either case, you are on a beautiful island in Fiji…hard to complain!

Snorkeling is world class right off shore, the weather is usually sunny and warm, and everyone is there to have a great time.

Budget accomodation

Whitehaven beach

Maybe you can tell…we have seen a lot of beaches on our travels, but… the Whitsundays are some of the most amazing islands ever! Access is from the town of Airlie Beach, a sleepy town at this time of year, usually it is supposedly a big party town. Since the tourist numbers were down, prices were more affordable (Australia is still VERY expensive, especially compared to South East Asia).

We booked a day trip that included some classic views of the Hill Inlet on Whitsunday Island (one of many islands in the group) and a few hours at the Whitehaven beach on Whitsunday Island. Whitehaven beach is famous for having the finest and purest silica sand in the world. It is so fine that it was used to polish the lens of the Hubble Space Telescope! We used it to polish our wedding rings and our feet. It was beautiful… truly one of the finest beaches we’ve ever seen. Lunch was followed by yet another Great Barrier Reef snorkeling visit. It was a great day and we were really happy to discover yet another gorgeous location.

View over Hill Inlet

Bird Kisses

Originally thought to be magnetic by the first explorers who discovered it (a theory later debunked as a myth), this island is none-the-less very attractive. Just a short ferry ride from Townsville on Australia’s east coast, the island has the largest koala population in the wild in Australia and has many small beaches. We stayed a couple of nights near Horseshoe bay at Bungalow Bay resort, which had a small zoo on site. The beach was just out of season for stinger jellyfish so we spent our days walking and swimming there. It was small enough that you could walk it end to end in a couple of hours, yet big enough to give you a sense of privacy. Aside from the occasional stingray, the bay was just blue water and white sand…not bad! We also intended to walk the ‘Forts’ trail – a nature walk full of koala bears that takes you to some old WWII gun placements but it was closed for prescribed burning. Apparently, the trees need a little fire to produce optimally and the Australians are keen on taking care of their koalas. As an added attraction, the island has lots of tropical birds. Just walking to the beach we could see cockatoos and large birds of prey like falcons and eagles. Every evening around 5:30pm, our hotel did a feeding of the local lorikeets who showed up by the dozens and shit on me while in a feeding frenzy… MIST!

The elusive Cassowary...Birds can get up to man high

Beautiful Morning at the Marina

Cairns is the gateway to the great barrier reef…or at least it was for us! We booked a day trip on a catamaran that took about 20 people per day out to this famous reef to snorkel and dive. Since we had already done a lot of great snorkeling this year, our expectations were high. It took about 2 hours to get out to the reef and the ocean here was definitely rougher than anything we have been on this year. With waves swelling to nearly 3 meters at times, the ride alone was exciting.

The reef is huge, stretching over thousand of kilometers and with over 2500 individual reefs, it is the only living organism visible from space! We dropped anchor and got in the water…and it was a little cold for Christina. She opted for a wetsuit and we went on our way. The reef was impressive, most notably the giant clams and sea turtles. Giant clams here are almost a meter long, can weigh up to 575 pounds and live up to 50 years! The turtles are also quite large and I was able to swim with one for about 15 minutes as it ate from the reef in about a meter of water. We really enjoyed this trip – it’s always nice to get out on the ocean for a day in the sun!

Going snorkelling

Koala Cuddle

The difference between Sydney, Ayers Rock/Uluru, and Cairns is similar to the difference between New York, Utah, and Hawaii. Cairns is located on the Northeastern Coast line of Australia and we decided to fly there and then road-trip back down to the Whitsunday Islands along the coast. Most of the area is a tropical rain forest with beautiful coastline and beaches.

Spending a couple of days in Cairns, we first wanted to see some of the wildlife from the area. Kurunda is located about 30 minutes north of Cairns and has a wildlife zoo with koalas, wallabies, kangaroos and the like. It’s also well known for its Aboriginal arts and crafts. All of the local critters are in the little zoo there and we got a chance to see them and even feed some kangaroos! For an extra $16 you can hold a koala and get your picture taken with it. We passed, but they were tempting little guys.

We walked through the arts and crafts markets too and got a look at some original Aboriginal artwork. Afterwards we headed further up the coast to Port Douglas, a high-end tourist destination. Port Douglas’ beach is a 4 mile long, wide stretch of sand and looks picture perfect, except for one thing: you cannot swim when there are jellyfish in the water. This area has some of the tiniest and most poisonous jellyfish in the world, and for about 9 months a year, it is extremely dangerous to swim. Such a shame because there are miles of gorgeous beaches along this coast!

Kangaroo feeding

Ayers Rock

After a few great days in Sydney, we boarded the plane for a 3 hr flight into the Outback, to Uluru (better known as Ayers Rock). Ayers Rock is truly in the middle of nowhere. It is the lone rock jutting out of the Australian Outback – the famous image of the tourism ads one typically sees of Australia. The stone is thought to run nearly 6 kilometers below the surface and is a red sandstone conglomerate composition…it looks a lot like the stone around Red Rocks, Colorado. Because it is a sacred Aboriginal site, one is asked not to climb it or photograph it from certain vantage points. That said, there is a climbing route with a steel bolted-cable where dozens of tourists make the climb daily. We found the mixed message a little strange but opted not to climb as we were informed that the human impact of all of the climbing had made the rain-collection pools stagnant and that the animals would no longer drink from them.

The first evening, we watched the sunset over Ayers Rock from one of the many viewpoints and took some great photos. The next day we hiked around Ayers and then headed off to Kata Tjuta (also called the Olgas), a similar formation about 45 km away. The Olgas were a bit more interesting since one can hike in between them and all around them and there was a lot more to see. We saw lizards and huge grasshoppers – both the exact color of the red earth, a beautiful parrot in a tree and even two kangaroos. It was great to be out in the desert once again and do some hiking! Next Stop, Cairns and the rain forest coast !

Outback Lizard

Beautiful Bondi Beach

Bondi is an incredible surfing beach just south of the mouth of the Sydney harbor, and Coogee lies to its south. The two are connected by a pedestrian walkway that follows this rough coastline. The busride to Coogee is only about 30 minutes from Downtown Sydney and leaves you off right at the water. We strolled along this 6 km walk, taking in the incredibly rough surf. It happened to be extra rough while we were there due to high winds and the beaches were closed to swimming. Since the temperatures were quite cool, we weren’t disappointed. The coast line is also prime real estate with beautiful properties lining the ocean and parks everywhere. It took us about 3 hours to get to Bondi where we had lunch at a beachfront restaurant before heading back to the city. If you ever make it to Sydney, this is a great way to spend a day and see some of the coast.

Rock pool at Coogee

Vines in Hunter Valley

There is much more to Sydney than just the city and we took advantage of the opportunity to visit Hunter Valley, Australia’s wine producing regions, just a couple of hours north. The tour was arranged by bus so that you can enjoy the wine without driving. This was a nice treat since you can’t get a decent bottle of wine in Asia, at least not often or affordably. Australia’s climate allows for the production of just a handful of varieties as temperatures in the region can reach 48 Celsius in mid-season. Shiraz and Semillon are their best wines and we tried many of them as we made our way through the valley. Of course, while the tastings were free, they were intended to help make selections and purchase wine directly from the cellar. Most of the producers we visited do not sell anywhere but at the cellar door on their location. Almost all of the wines were good, some were excellent. The prices were quite high however so we limited our buying to just a few bottles.

Proud wine maker