Last Leg of my trip!

I am having such a great time in the States, which I'm so surprised about as everyone seemed to say I would want to leave LA as soon as I can, but actually I really like it!
Its been non stop since arriving here, I have a big checklist of things to do and feel like I really need another holiday after all this madness!

So I arrived in LA to see my friend Emma who I met in the Cook Islands, we planned my last 10 days or so together to fit in what we could!
Emma arrived a couple of days before me and made a friend Claire who wanted to join us on our trip to San Diego.
I opened the door to Claire and you are not going to believe this, but I knew her from when I was in 1770 in Oz!!!
It was great and we couldnt get over the coincendence, it was so funny as it was months ago when we were both there! I knew from there on in we would have a blast!

The first afternoon was spent in Hollywood, walking down the wall of fame and I actually got down onto the pavement and kissed Tom Cruises star! The girls thought it was hilarious!
Then onto Kodak theatre and finally the Chinese Mann Theatre, we watched Harry Potter in the theatre in the evening, I wondered which famous celeb would have last sat in my chair!

Next day was full on at Universal Studios, there was a group of us from the hostel who all stuck together and it was a good day, but very tiring! In the evening we visted a nice area called
The Grove for drinks and a meal.

Then we headed to San Diego the next day! We hired a car and Emma and I agreed to share the driving, it was really scary at first, I have never driven an automatic never mind the wrong side of the road, but soon got the hang of it!
We spent the day at Sea World, main attraction being Shamu the Killer Whale, aswell as the usual suspects, dolphins, seals etc
Stayed in the Downtown area and it was a buzzing atmosphere at night, wished we had another night there as it seemed a lively city!

Next day it was an early start again, we crossed the border of Mexico, just because we could, unfortunately they dont stamp your passport but it was good fun to do!
It wasnt the real feel of Mexico, mainly souvenir shops and cheap pharmacies for the drugs!
Lots of men were leering at us and shouting at us, bit unnerving and we named ourselves the Three Amigos and we were glad we were together and safe!!!

Emma & I then headed to the bright lights of Vegas!! (Claire went back to LA)
It was a long drive throught desert like terrain, but felt so good to be free and independant rather than on a long bus journey.

We stayed at a posh hotel on the Strip, The Monte Carlo!!! Its unbelievable really as they sell the rooms half price mid week, so it cost us 20 quid a night, we were like big kids when we saw the hotel, valet parking and finally the room.....2 queen size beds and marble bathroom and free shampoo etc!! It felt so luxurious after a year of backpacking!

We had 3 nights in Vegas and saw most of the main hotels, I love this place too! It seemed so tacky at first but its such a fun place to be!
Highlights were a Gondola Ride in the Venetian Hotel, Rollercoaster on the outside of the New York Hotel, Bellagio Fountains, and a nice meal at the Paris Las Vegas.
We also did a small amount of gambling...just cos you have to!
We won 90$ on the Roulette table, lucky 10 on the red....so took the money and ran to the cocktail bar to spend it!!! ha ha!

The last day was a flight over the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam & Mead River and then last minute running around the Strip to see what we had missed!

Back to LA the next day and we stopped off at Rodeo Drive, we had a nice lunch outside and was looking for celebs, as we started to window shop, we noticed there was a bodyguard outside Chanel and a couple of mean looking jeeps with blacked out windows were parked....we soon realised someone must be inside, so we hung around away from the crowd and sat waiting!.............Arnold Schwarzenegger strolled outside and nodded in our direction, we were both completely stunned and then realised neither of us had took a photo! doh!
So we got to the side of the car and was totally uncool and started snapping photos of him behind the glass!
He didnt quite look like the terminator, he seemed older with bad ginger colour hair!! We were completely star struck though!

We then carried on shopping and then collected the car....another valet parking lot!!! Oh I could so get used to this luxury lifestyle!!!

Next stop is San Francisco for 3 days.......................Alcatraz here I come!!

Aitutaki - Paradise Island

I have just returned from a few nights away at Aitutaki within the Cook Islands.

It was just less than an hour flight away from Rarotonga and it was nice to break up the 2 weeks in Raro for a change of scenery.

Aitutaki has become famous due to the TV series Shipwrecked & Survivor and in fact they are back filming here next month.


I took a lagoon cruise around the mini islands, aaah you should have seen the colours of the lagoon, so many different blues, greens, aquamarines...hard to describe and hope the photos do it justice. Stopped off at Honeymoon Beach and One Foot Island where you can have your passport stamped from the smallest post office in the world!


Did two lots of snorkelling during the day too, the water was so clear and the colours of the fish was amazing, I fed them bread and I was suddenly surrounded by them all!

Other than that, I just relaxed and sunbathed, crept into a posh resort on the island and used their facilities for the day! So cheeky these days and I dont care!

Now off to LA tonight, met Emma here in the Cook Islands so we are planning a road trip for the rest of my days left! Yeeha!! Hopefully we will spot some stars!! Keep you posted

Rarotonga - Cook Islands

Inlet where I spend most of my days!
Main Beach
Palm Trees...love em!

Sunrise at Muri Beach, right outside my bedroom! Had to get up at 630am but think it was worth it!
Sunrise again, trying to be arty with the palm trees!
Inlet island that you can wade through from the main beach....a real suntrap!

Simone & Cesca....we love playing Uno!!!!!
The gang! Most nights we played Cards and drank Vodka! Thats the life!

A wedding had taken place a few days earlier, so decide to pose under it!

Another paradise place, Raro is such a small island, 33 km around, so you can drive around it in about 40 minutes or jog around it in 2.5 hours!

I met up with 2 girls, Francesca & Simone from Fiji here, so spent the week with them before they flew to LA& then home, we are staying at a place right on the beach and its soooo relaxing!

There isnt much to do around the island, so its just sunbathing, snorkelling and more sunbathing! Finding it a little boring if thats not too bad to say! Its gorgeous but think Im used to seeing and doing things now after all this time, its good to chill and relax but now keen to move on, although there is a big clock ticking away and I'm keen to enjoy every last minute of my trip!

I have booked a few nights away on a nearby island for a change of scenery! Its supposed to be even nicer than here and its where Shipwrecked was filmed...so watch this space!!

Fiji .....Island Hopping....Bula!

At the school, how cute are these kids, they just loved having their photo taken!
My first couple of nights stay in Fiji, look at the colour of the water! Bliss!
Smallest Island I saw, South Sea Island!

Bounty Island : This is where Celebrity Love Island was filmed and Im actually stood on the jetty where Patrick & Kelly sat!!
Bounty Island! Paradise!

Bounty Island again! This was my last 2 nights in Fiji, the best island I stayed at!


Celebrity Love Island House, do you recognise it? The pool was just outside on the veranda overlooking the ocean, I remembered it soooo well!

Its such a relief to get back in the sun again after being freezing in New Zealand! Seems really weird being in a bikini again and not wearing a coat, scarf, gloves and boots! What a contrast!
I stepped off the plane and the heat hit me and I realised that I much prefer sun to snow!

I landed in Nadi and spent the night there and then I booked a weeks trip around the islands as the mainland isnt anything special, it felt quite dirty, polluted and very poor.

I went into the local shopping mall, which in fact was smaller than a corner shop at home and the woman was standing behing bars and mesh and I actually couldnt see what stock she had! Scary!

So I booked a trip called "Lazy Threesome" which suited me fine, it was 3 islands over 6 days, not too much planned, so it was more of a chill and relax session. Whilst queuing for the ferry on the first day, I bumped into the Irish girls who I met in NZ and managed to have a good catch up until they had to jump off to their island. Such a small world indeed!

First stop was an island called Nanuya Lailai at the top of the Yassawa Islands, about 4 hours from the mainland. The ferry anchored and then little speedboats/banana boats came from all the various resorts to pick us up and take you to shore. Very well organised.

Stayed at a place called Sunrise which was the most basic accomodation I stayed in whilst being in Fiji. They had outdoor cold showers, electricity was turned off at midnight until the morning and the food was rice, rice and more rice! The best thing about the place was the location, right on the beach, hammocks to chill so that made up for it

The owner was a gay as you like, even called himself Queen and carried a handbag around! Funny! He always ended up singing in the evening and generally entertaining us.

I met a great crowd here and most of us managed to stay together throughout the week, it all depended on the package you had selected as to which island you went next.
So I met 3 Bristol Girls who were great fun, Sylvie, Ashlynn & Jenny, also Kat from London and we played lots of card games, drinking games & Spoons which we will play on my return!

The first evening we all had to take turns in standing up in front of everyone..about 50 people and introduce yourself, say what your best /worst experience has been whilst travelling. I hate doing these sort of things, but so did most people so grinned and beared it!
Then we were given the traditional drink Cava which basically tasted like Muddy Water! it was so disgusting!

Next day I visited a school on a nearby island, it is one of the most enjoyable memories I have in Fiji.
The kids were so friendly and very well behaved. On arrival we met the teacher who sent the children out of the room to collect coconuts so he could have a chat with us.
He explained its a boarding school as many islands don't have schools, so generally the children arrive on boats on Monday and go back home to see their parents at the weekends.
The school had children from the age of 5 to 11, imagine being away from your parents as such a young age.
They had no electricity in the school, water was tight too, school is the first place to close when there is a drought in the area.
I asked the teacher about the childrens behaviour, he asked them to do something once and they did it! What a difference to our kids today, he shrugged his shoulders and said its just their culture! What we could learn from this eh!
The four of us then sat in the classroom and the children sang to us, "You are my Sunshine!" & a fijian song, they loved it, afterwards we were free to walk around the different classrooms, all the kids were the same, they all wanted to talk to you and have a photo taken.
Later we were invited into the headmasters home, we sat on the floor with a tablecloth to eat from, served us tea and peanut butter crackers!
It was a truly amazing day and one I will always remember

Next day I walked over to the other side of the island and did some snorkelling, the beaches over this side were even nicer. Had a lazy day with my friends and then in the afternoon we were back on the ferry to our next destination...Naviti Island

On arrival Naviti was a lot nicer accomodation from the last two nights, there was 4 of us stopping here for 2 nights, so as we got off the boat we were greeted by all the staff, playing guitar and singing to us. Then they shouted Bula to us....soon learnt this word! Means "Hello or Welcome"

Again it was right on the beach and they also had a really nice swimming pool too! So again we were lazy and started sunbathing again!
In the evening, they showed us the Bula dance, they were all dressed up in grass skirts and we all had to get up and dance...bit like the Macrena Dance and then we did a Conga all around the restaurant! Later we sat on the beach with a bonfire whilst the staff played the guitar and sang! Great night!

Next day we visited "Honeymoon Beach", it was a private beach and had to pay a dollar to visit it, nice beach but nothing too special! Did some crab racing there and some more relaxing!

After Naviti was Bounty Island, this is where Celebrity Love Island was filmed! It was a gorgeous place, just one resort on there and I walked around the whole island in 20 minutes!
Again a swimming pool overlooking the ocean and a lovely beach right outside our door!

Celebrity Love Island house was still there and the jetty where Patrick Kielty & Kelly Brook stood!
The house had been spoilt, lots of graffiti on the walls from Brits mainly and all quite recent, the earliest I spotted was Feb 07.

Spent 2 days on the island and then back to the mainland for my flight to the Cook Islands.

Remember Fiji Time! Thats all they say when things are running late, time doesnt matter to them!

Will add some photos when I can, the technology is not the best here!