2/2/2011 Update

Greetings from Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia!  It's been an amazing journey in the South Pacific so far and I'm due for an update.

FIJI

Fiji is an island chain made up of over 2,000 islands in the South Pacific with roughly 900,000 residents.  It is one of the most isolated places on Earth as well as one of the most friendly.  It was impressive how nice people were, and my "pinch me, peel me, eat me" shirt got a lot of praise from the locals.  Nadi, the location of the island's international airport, is roughly a 10 hour flight from LAX.  If you ever plan a trip to New Zealand or Australia and have the opportunity to fly Air Pacific with a stopover in Fiji, do it.

In Fiji I stayed at a place called Denarau Island.  Denarau is the location of 7 resorts and a world class golf course.  There is a Hilton here, so I used my points to get a room at the Fiji Resort & Spa which is managed by Hilton.  I had a beachside room with a great view of Nadi Bay.  Interestingly enough, they let me check in at 6 am and checkout at 1 pm the following day to accommodate my flight schedule.  I am grateful for that, because I really just wanted to relax after my plane landed.  I spent most of my time on Denarau hanging out on the beach or by the pool.  The weather was gorgeous at 85 degrees and the sun was intense (I have a sunburn to prove it).  The only negative was the wind which blew about 20 mph the entire time I was there (which led to choppy seas and no kayaking).

All in all, Fiji was excellent and I'd like to return one day to explore some of the other islands.

NEW ZEALAND

Where to start?  New Zealand is unlike any place I've ever been.  It's a lush, green, rugged, glacial, volcanic wonderland.

I started my journey on the North Island in Auckland.  Auckland was nice, but pretty boring for a city of 2 million people.  The highlights were Mission Bay and the Auckland Museum (which was excellent).  I met a couple of guys there that I ended up renting a car with and from Auckland we drove north to the Bay of Islands, Cape Reigna, and down 90 mile beach to Ahipara.  90 mile beach was a trip!  I can honestly say I've never considered how fun it would be to drive 125 kph (roughly 78 mph) on the sand.  The Bay of Islands and Cape Reigna were amazingly beautiful.  After leaving northern North Island, I made stops in a tiny little town called Te Aroha, a tourist trap called Rotorua, and the capital Wellington.  Te Aroha was fun even though there was nothing to do: the highlight being the liquor store where you filled your own 2 liter bottle with your preferred beer.  Rotorua is famous for it's geysers, but I'd been there, done that in Iceland (for free mind you while they wanted $45 to see it at Rotorua) so it was kind of a letdown (I snuck in and saw it anyway).  Wellington was awesome.  It's not a big place, but it's got an amazing harbor with some spectacular views from the surrounding hills.

After Wellington, I flew to Christchurch to start my tour of the South Island.  Christchurch was pretty lame, but the Buskers (street performers) festival was in town so that was pretty awesome/comical.  After Christchurch, I made my way to Queenstown which reminded me a lot of Interlaken, Switzerland.  In Queenstown, it's all about the extreme sports and the extreme parties.  I enjoyed it, but two days there was plenty for me.  My final South Island stop was a tiny little town called Te Anau; the gateway for the Milford and Doubtful Sounds.  I decided to cruise both sounds (heavily doped up on anti sea sickness meds) and each were stunning.  Milford is famous and it's always the one you see in postcards with Mitre Peak in the background, but I actually liked the Doubtful Sound better.  Both are equally beautiful, but you cruise quite a bit further in the Doubtful Sound (meaning some awesome wave action on the Tasman Sea) and it's not as crowded as Milford.

New Zealand was amazing.  I'd put it in my top 5 of places I've visited.  It's no Berlin or Cinque Terra, but the fact is that there's places to see and things to do in New Zealand that you literally can't see anywhere else in the world.