Last Day of Vaca!

Fiji Weather: HOT

Today is our last day of vacation. Our flight doesn't leave until 10 pm tonight, so we booked a day long sailing trip. The boat first took us to a snorkeling spot. Peter & and the other people on the trip (Australian newlyweds) went snorkeling, but due to my fear of fish I did not. I got taken out on a dingy to a sandbar & then over to a reef to feed some fish. I'm happy with my decision.

Sailing

Out in the ocean

Not a cute pic, but it allows you to see our boat, and if you look closely my horrible sunburn!

Typical Fiji Scenery

Typical Fiji Scenery

The sandbar I'll be dropped off on

Happy snorkeling Peter

They give you a "shower" when you get out of the ocean 'cause it's so salty

Enjoying his shower

After the snorkeling they took us to Plantation Island for lunch & activities. After lunch Peter & I kayaked for a bit. Then we headed back on the boat & back to Port Denarau.

Plantation Island

Plantation Island

We returned to our resort, showered in a hospitality room & then headed out to the airport.

Our resort, The Westin

Farewell Fiji

And that's where we conclude this vacation recap. We had one last beer in the airport & then started the long treck home.

Our last vacation beer

Denrau Resort Island

Fiji Weather: HOT

I made Peter get up early today so that we could make it to our complimentary breakfast. This was no ordinary continental breakfast, this was a hardcore breakfast buffet extravaganza! I may have eaten my weight in bacon, hasbrowns & pineapple. I finished with a mimosa. Happiness.

We had no real plans for the day, so we took a long walk on the beach & checked out some of the other resorts. When we got back we were ridiculously HOT & took a dip in our nice, cool resort pool. Then we ate lunch poolside & just soaked up some sun.

Ocean

Denarau Island

More beach

and more beach.

Ferns

The view from our balcony of our "ocean view room"

We decided to head to Port Denarau to check out some shops & restaurants. We grabbed a few beers at Lulu's Cafe and stayed there longer than anticipated 'cause the rain hit. It's the end of rainy season here in Fiji. Rainy season means it rains for an hour & then goes back to being just as hot & humid when it's done. After the rain stopped we decided to have dinner at BoneFish which is an Australian restaurant that we read about in a magazine on our flight. They use all locally caught seafood. I got the most amazing spicy prawns. It may have been my favorite meal of the trip!

I wanted to buy this crab

Clouds rolling in to port

Rain!

Drinks at Lulu's

Local trying to stay dry

Rains gone... let's move on out

Upside of rain... a beautiful rainbow

another super sweet sunset

More yummy drinks with dinner

Awesome dinner at Bonefish

Walk back to the resort

Apparently we got a little too much sun. I'm incapable of applying sunscreen.

Hard to see, but I have some BAD sunburn

Bula!

Nadi, Fiji Weather: HOT. partly cloudy, 95% humidity, high 80's. Like I said, HOT.

We woke up early & stopped at BK for some breakfast. Croissainwiches & tater tots just make mornings so much better. We headed to the Queenstown airport to drop off our car & catch a flight to Auckland.

BK breakfast

Queenstown Airport

We had a layover at the Auckland Airport. Let me just say this- the international terminal at the Auckland Airport is about 100 times better than the international terminal at the Los Angeles Airport. LAX needs to seriously step it up! We had a couple beers at Blue Bar while waiting for our flight. We used our remaining New Zealand $$ to buy a few souvenirs, including a small sheep for Muffin & Hallie (seriously).

Once again, allow me to rave about Air Pacific. They rock. We got sandwiches, cookies, a glass of wine and coffee. It's only a 3 hour flight!

Finally, we arrived in Fiji. Bula! (That's Fijian for "Hello," or "Welcome" or something like that) After a short delay at customs we headed to our hotel, The Westin Resort on Denarau Island. (Ask Peter about the delay in customs... He was the one who decided to try to smuggle an apple over from New Zealand!) Thankfully we were each handed a bottle of Fiji Water upon our arrival, 'cause we were already sweating our butts off!

Coconut

Taking in the scenery

Crabs

We saw what appeared to be an infestation of frogs at the resort! The were everywhere!! Upon further inspection we saw flying ants at the bottom of a bunch of trees. Apparently flying ants were hatching & frogs had come in from near & far for a smorgasbord!

Frogs!

We witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets:

Sunset begins...

continues...

and continues...

not a good pic of us, but the sunset was gorgeous!

Beautiful!

Fire!

Yum!

Frank, our friendly neighborhood gecko

FIRE!

Milford Sound

Lumsden to Milford Sound to Queenstown Weather: mostly clear & sunny; low 60's

We woke up early on the farm 'cause we needed to get an early start to make our 1:15 pm Milford Sound cruise. Before heading out we had a lovely breakfast of cereal, yogurt, toast, jams, peanut butter, etc. We even got a chance to try Vegemite! Peter decided to just go for it & slathered it all over his toast. I was a bit more cautious. I've heard that Vegemite is just plain disgusting, so I was not too eager to give it a try. I finally caved at all the pressure & took a bite of Peter's toast. The verdict? It was the saltiest thing I've ever tasted in my life. Not the worst tasting thing ever, but definitely the saltiest. We then took a quick tour of Ted's vegetable garden & got to see some chickens & more sheep. Then, we said goodbye to our wonderful hosts & headed out.

Fawn in Ted & Shirley's foyer (I wanted to have my picture taken with it, but I didn't want to be disrespectful)

Ted & Shirley

Chickens!

On our way to the Sound we stopped at some more scenic spots including Te Anau & the Chasm

Pretty views

On our way to the Sound

Peter & some mountains

Walk to the Chasm

The Chasm (trust me, this is SO much more impressive in person!)

Chasm

We made it to Milford Sound. It was gorgeous before we even got on our boat. So, you may be asking at this point, "What is a sound?," or "What is the difference between a sound and a fjord?" Well, my friends, let me share with you what I learned! A fjord is "a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity." A sound is the same thing, except it is created by a river as opposed to a glacier. So, Milford Sound is actually not a sound at all. It's actually a fjord. Apparently Milford Fjord didn't sound as nice.

Milford Sound before our cruise

Pretty berries

I bought him some New Zealand candy

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

SEALS! (I was so excited)

Out to the Tasman Sea

Milford Sound

More seals

Lots of waterfalls

Milford Sound

My model pose

Milford Sound

More Milford

and more...

Us on our cruise

more waterfalls.

After our cruise was done we needed to drive back to Queenstown were we'll be leaving for Fiji tomorrow. We booked it off the cruise & to our car so that we could try to beat as much traffic as possible. The drive out of Milford Sound is just a two way street with no passing lanes. Add to that the number of mini vans & campers on the road, and it's a recipe for a disaster (ie long, painful drive). Despite our speedy departure we still got stuck behind two campers. I enticed my husband to pass these campers by telling him he could have this bag of chips when his mission was completed.

The bribe

Once we made it back to Queenstown we got fish & chips at a place Shirley recommended. We ate them & drank our last bottle of wine while watching Castle and Bones. Castle & Bones are seriously on TV all the time in New Zealand. I've never seen either of these shows in the states, but perhaps I'm hooked on them now... probably not. I have Real Housewives of Miami, NY, and OC waiting for me on my DVR at home... not to mention Teen Mom and my current fave Bethenny Ever After! But for now, Castle will have to do.

Classin' it up on our last night in NZ