The land of the long white cloud

New Zealand with so much Maori culture and history before the so called Pahika (white man) claimed the land for the British Crown, courtesy of James Cooks discovery in the 1700's. Now you could argue that the Dutch actually had discovered NZ prior to Cooks landings, courtesy of their own Mr. Tasman who was too scared to land (long funny story) and that the Maoris did not actually own New Zealand anyway as they were immigrants in their own right, but this would be a long complicated digression from our travel blog :o)

So, back to New Zealand and what the Maoris refer to as the Land of the Long White Cloud - this from their own stories of canoeing over the horizon from their own remote islands in the Pacific and seeing the white clouds hanging over the mountains (which stretch the length of the South Island like a spine) of a remote land which they then went on to land and populate.

With Christmas being the peak period for all travel in New Zealand I had already decided that we would start our trip in the South Island and had pre-booked our Ferry to the South Island for the 30th December, giving us three days to travel the length of the North Island to be in time for the ferry.

Our first night after arriving was in a local caravan park, in the suburbs of Auckland, so we could both start to get used to Vivian and sleeping "in her". Luckily it was also a transit park for people returning their rental vans back to the airport the following day and gave us a great chance to begin 'acquiring' things for Vivian that people did not need anymore ;o)

With our first night over we hit the road heading South and with a stopover at some amazing caves for a bit of 'canyoning'.

We then headed further South to visit some old friends of mine, living near to Wellington, and from where we would catch our ferry the following day.  This also gave us a chance to experience our first bit of 'freedom camping', this is something which we will talk more about later on in our blog...

View from our "bedroom window" whilst freedom camping

Although a whirlwind road-trip so far, Monika had begun to get a feel for New Zealand. With the sun shining, early morning of the 30th, we boarded the ferry for the South Island and were treated to some amazing views and sights as the ferry sailed through the 'sounds' as we got closer and closer to our arrival port of Picton - I have said this before in the past, but this is still the most stunning ferry crossing I have ever experienced anywhere in the world.

Our new friend Vivian

Now I must admit this was one of the harder surprises for me to keep...

As some of you know, en-route to Tahiti to meet Monika I flew through New Zealand and stayed for a few days with the task of trying to find us a car at the car market with which we could travel through New Zealand with. What Monika did not know was, that even before I had landed in New Zealand, I had already found and purchased a small camper van which I then picked up during my few days in New Zealand. I then arranged to park this in the long term parking at Auckland airport before flying off to meet Monika in Tahiti...

For the next four weeks I had to tell Monika I had failed in my quest to buy a car at the car markets in Auckland and how useless I was! ;-) ... I also told her that the car rentals were way to expensive, as this was peak season in New Zealand, and I was not sure what we was going to do. I did, however, tell her that I had found a small 'rent-a-dent' rental company who had an office close to the airport on the far side of the long term car parking area and they had told me they might be able to help. You see where this is going now ?? :o)

Upon our arrival at Auckland airport and declaring all of the shells and coral we had "stolen" from the beaches of French Polynesia we loaded up the luggage trollies and headed for the car-park and this rental company. Half way across the car-park, with Monika scanning the horizon for this rental company with no success, I stopped and suggested that we took this van we were standing next to instead and handed her the key.

May I introduce you to Vivian, our 'home' for the next 3 months. The look on Monika's face as she jumped up and down screaming like a lottery winner was definitely one to remember. I think I earned a few "brownie points" with this one! :-)

The Christmas Day that never was

After a wonderful time on the islands of French Polynesia it was, with some sadness, that we took our last flight from the remote Motu of Rangiroa back to the main French Polynesia Island of Tahiti where we had begun our journey 4 weeks before and from where we would take our international flight to New Zealand.

... and yes, we spoiled ourselves once more with this lovely beach bungalow in Rangiroa!

So many special memories from the last 4 weeks but one magical moment was when diving in the Tiputa Pass of Rangiroa, with the sharks keeping a safe distance from us a dolphin twice as long as me and 3 times as wide (no sarcastic comments please) swam through the middle of us and spent a minute exploring who these strangers were in his world - just amazing!!!

OK, back to Tahiti. Having arrived there on Christmas Eve this was perfect for the Austrian who, of course, celebrates her Christmas on Christmas Eve. Having spoke to other travellers it was recommended that we head down to a Chinese food court near the harbour. With our Christmas cards exchanged this is probably the first time I have sat on a plastic chair eating Chow Mein (and drinking beer from a paper bag as alcohol was officially not allowed) on Christmas Eve - as always, it was a very special and memorable time!

 A lovely but very "different" Christmas :-)

 Our waiter (or waitress???) ;-)

As some of you know, Christmas for the British side of this couple is celebrated on Christmas Day itself (Christmas Eve is normally down the pub). 07:00am Christmas Day morning we were checking in for our flight to New Zealand and at 9:00am, to the roar of the 747 engines, our plane lifted off headed for New Zealand.

We safely landed 5 hours later on Boxing Day (26th) in Auckland!? ... Hang on a minute I cried, where is my Christmas Day??? ... International Date Line - we had just fast forwarded 24 hours. This has to be the first time in my life I have never actually had a Christmas Day - I spent the next few days in protest, wearing a Christmas paper hat everywhere we went in public. (Comment from Monika: You will not believe how often James cried for his Christmas Day and how many strange looks we got when James walked around with his bright red paper Christmas hat...! ;-)

French Polynesia - Parts 1 through 4

First of all apologies for not updating the blog sooner but we have been 'busy' :o) ... it is unbelievable how quickly time flys and hours blur into days which quickly then blur into weeks. And ps: This is James taking over the writers pen for a while whilst Monika is responsible for selecting the pictures :-)

Part 1 - Robinson Crusoe

After a lovely reunion at Tahiti on 1st December we finally had the chance to be in each others arms again. Unfortunately we had also decided to spend this night on the airport floor and take the 6am flight out to one of the remote islands (Huahine) the following morning ...

And for our first introduction to French Polynesia - Wow!!! ... our accomodation was on a small remote island (Motu) which contained just two guest huts along with the owners own hut. This was truly a Robinson Crusoe moment without our own servant 'Friday" though. The island offered lots and lots of peace and quiet with the option of snorkelling on all sides of the island as well as having a kayak available for our use at any time.

So, thats exactly what we did - had lots of peace and quiet, lots of snorkelling and plenty of kayaking! We even kayaked acrossed to another Motu which had the remains of an old hotel along with beach and overwater bungalows - it was a very eerie place to be as you could see the rotting remains of an exclusive holiday resort with not a single person to be seen apart from the wild cats sleeping on the reception desk in the foyer.

Part 2 - Mayday Mayday, We are Sinking

What are you thinking !??? ........ After a few days of soaking up the sun on our own little island it was back to the mainland. We parked ourselves and our backpacks at the local jetty and scanned the horizon for a Catamaran which would eventually come along and pick us up. After a short while my stomach got the better of us and we decided it made better sense to sit and eat whilst waiting so off we went to the local food van which was conveniently parked next to the harbour - Bife avec pomme frite sil-vous-plais. Typical, Murphys Law, no sooner had the food been ordered and arrived and a small Zodiac boat come speeding along the harbour with two European looking types with their long hair blowing in the wind. After some quick kisses between Monika and the couple I could only think she had either taken this French thing a little too far, or this was indeed her friends and our pick-up for the Catamaran.

It seemed thay had already moored the Catamaran further long the beach so, after a quick bite, we threw our back-packs in the boat and off we sped towards the Catamaran to meet the rest of the people we were going to spend the next two weeks with.

It was a great experience to live aboard the Catamaran and explore the Society Islands of French Polynesia. To put it in perspective we explored one small part of a group of islands which in total covers an area of the globe the size of Europe!

Lots and lots of sunshine, yellow sands and many many different blues of water - truly truly beautiful!!!

James in the middle of endless shades of blue!

We got invited by locals to join their family party on their remote island! :-)

Yummi! ... and fresher than fresh!

Beautiful Bora Bora!

PS - With regards to the title of this part of the blog, check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zkZ3f8DnKs  .... was worth a laugh or two when on board :o)


Part 3 - Living like Kings

They say that pictures speak a thousand words - well this is very very true for French Polynesia - See below.

French Polynesia has to be one of the most expensive places to travel in the world. As much as you try and fight it, and get frustrated by the price of even a beer, there comes a point when you just roll over, accept defeat, accept it for what it is and remind yourself you only ever live once and might never be coming past this place again. Once you are over this hurdle, you just sit back (with credit card close to hand) and let French Polynesia wash over you .............

The stunning atoll Tikehau from the plane

Empty beaches, pink sand and turquios water

Our "special" overwater bungalow! :-)

Snorkeling with sharks

Part 4 - 'Yes' !!!

They say that you know when you know - from my perspective (and cannot speak on behalf of Monika ;o>), from the day my eyes met hers, I knew!!! ............ 4+ years later, with a few hurdles to challenge us, it was time to show her what I really felt for her. And what better place than one of the most romantic places on earth.

With a little prior planning all the pieces were safely tucked in the bottom of my rucksack waiting for the 'right' time. Now, what exactly is the right time when you are in French Polynesia - every sun-set is more romantic than the previous, every patch of blue water even more special than the last and every white beach more pure than the one you sat on that morning.

21st December all of the planets seemed to be aligned (there had even been a full eclipse of the moon the night before so this metaphor was actually technically correct too!) and an early wake-up call had me out of the room, before Monika could wake, to make the final preparations.

With the help of the housemaid everything was set for our return from breakfast ............

Happy to say, with a few tears shared by the both of us, she said Yes !!!!!!!!!!!! ..... most amazing and happy day of my life!