Diving in Fiji

Hallo,

I am back from the diving boat! And it was great!
Fiji is a very beautiful country, consisting of hundreds of islands and I am very sad that I cannot spend more days here exploring the islands, highlands and villages.

Fijian people are the most friendly, welcoming, smiling and heart warming people I have ever met. So it is a real pleasure to meet them and spend time with them. They gather together, play music and sing nearly every night...just because they love to. And they have a "national" drink which is called "kava", which they drink every night. It has no alcohol ;) and serves as THE socialising part. And they love it if you join and take part.
I enjoyed their company very much and I will surely come back spending more time on Fiji and with the people. Made a lot of friends here already :-)

Diving was great as well! A lot of colours, corals, huge schools of fish and an incredible number of amazing animals. So much to see!
The sea was pretty rough most of the time, so diving was not easy...but every dive was more than worth it!

I am happy to present you with some amazing pictures, also underwater, which, thankfully, my fellow divers provided me with, as I have no underwater camera!
Please enjoy! :-)

Tomorrow is my last day here and I will continue to Rarotonga(Cook Islands) on the 23rd of April.
I hope you are all well and am sending you warm regards and hugs!

Renate

Leaving New Zealand

Hallo,

These are my last days in New Zealand. I will leave New Zealand on the 9th of April, continuing to Fiji. I will be on the diving boat for 10 days hopefully doing a lot of dives in warm, clear water and sunshine.

So saying "Good Bye" to New Zealand, what could my summary look like...?

New Zealand has:

• a very vast as well as beautiful landscape
• a lot of well maintained but also over-promoted tourist attractions
• too many tourists during the season
• a weirdly, restricted attitude to alcohol
• overpriced accomodation
• decent white wine
• a very impressing coastal scenery
• very expensive restaurants and food
• an unpolluted and carefully protected environment

New Zealand does not have:

• interesting food
• cheap and good kiwi fruits in the market :-) (though one might expect otherwise)
• a lot of public transportation
• a reliable weather forcast
• good red wine
• stable weather conditions
• any interesting culture to indulge, other than the culture of the Maori, which is not very visible and hard to find
• historical buildings in the european sense :-)

New Zealand on the one hand captures you with its natural beauty, vastness and emptiness, but on the other side challanges you with other things as e.g. very expensive food, limited public transport and limited accomodation or harsh weather conditions.
I personally think that New Zealnd was not the easiest place to travel, at least as a backpacker over a longer period of time. At times, this was more challanging than travelling throughout Asia.
I take with me many stories to tell, though.

I am sending you my regards!
I wish you that spring arrives soon and that you are all well!
Take care! Looking forward to hearing from you!

Renate