Cairns and Diving the Great Barrier Reef

Arrived in Cairns on the 8th August to find the town buzzing with Saturday night revellers, a definite party town, as the YHA was situated in the centre of town, needless to say sleep was somewhat difficult!
The course started on the Monday, lasting 5 days, the first 2 in the classroom and Pro-Dives' pool, followed by 3 days on the Great Barrier Reef on their boat. Our instructor, Dave, was very good in his role and were it not for his superb efforts many of us would not have got through the course. The first 2 days proved to be a steep learning curve but I was considerably relieved to pass both the medical and the water tests, the first hurdle. After an exam at the end of the second day, all 16 of us were ready to go to the reef and continue the course in open water, and what a truly amazing experience it proved to be. The weather conditions were perfect, and over the 3 day period we had 7 dives, including a night dive (quite daunting). After dive 4, having passed the Open Water Course allowing us to dive to 18 metre depths, we had the option of completing the Adventure Dive Course. This enabled you to dive to 30 metre depths, particularly useful if wanting to dive to wrecks, so for relatively little cost , only 3 further dives plus study, decided to take this extra challenge and 24 hours later became a certified PADI Adventure Diver. Returning to Cairns in the afternoon of the 3rd day at sea was quite sad as we had all worked well together, particularly my dive buddy, Jonathon (also from England). We all met that evening and had a night out on the town, though I was pretty exhausted and left fairly early, especially after the long day that started at 5.45am with the first dive at 6.30am!
To recover from the intensive work of the past week I booked a 4 day visit to Cape Tribulation starting Sunday 16th August, though managed to squeeze in a chinese massage before leaving for the cape. (unfortunately am unable to upload all my photo's onto the blog until returning to Yandina)
Photo 1. The green turtle we were able to photograph on our last dive.
Photo 2. Again the final dive showing the variety of coral, and fish on the reef.
Photo 3. My last dive though it would have been better to have taken the photo on an 'in' breath!
Photo 4. Jon and I before stating the last dive on the dive deck, all booted and suited ready to go.

The beginning of the Australia experience: Brisbane

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I arrived in Brisbane, Australia on the 20th July to be met at the airport by Lesley, an ex-nursing colleague from London. It was a tremendous relief to see a familiar face and catch up with her news. She had kindly agreed to letting me use her home as a base in Australia, travelling out from her and , her husband Jez's home, to distant parts of the country, usually by plane as the distances are so very great. Their home is situated 100km north of Brisbane, and about 15km inland from the 'Sunshine Coast' and on my arrival, despite being winter in Australia, the daytime temperatures were in the low to mid-twenties, though the night temperatures dipped often into single figures. Travelling to Brisbane for a few days and staying with Lesleys' cousin, I attended bellringing practice nights at the 2 churches in the city with ringable bells, the cathedral, St Johns and St Andrews, south of the main city. The days in Brisbane were spent visiting the very fine botanical gardens, some retail therapy and finally a visit to the south bank centre which boasted an artificial sandy beach , with pools, as well as an arts complex not unlike the Southbank Centre in London. Sadly the beach and pools were closed for maintenance, but most of the restaurants were open and I had a couple of reasonable meals in the area.
Most of the first two and a half weeks were spent at Yandina, Lesley and Jezs' home village/ town, relaxing and planning the Australian journeys. My birthday was well celebrated by dinner at a Turkish restaurant followed by a visit to see the new Harry Potter film. The next day a surf lesson at Caloundra beach, generously given by Lesley for my 61st. Inbetween times I visited the local Astronomical observatory named after nearby Wappa Falls, run by an eccentric 'Patrick Moore' character and entirely privately owned. It had a surprisingly good series of telescopes, and was also very informative, particularly as it was my first opportunity to see the southern sky.
Hiking each day, exploring the local places of interest, for example, Mount Nindary, gave a focus to the days , and also insured I was fit enough for the diving course and more tramping in Tasmania. Yandina is renowned for its ginger farming and has a factory processing the ginger, much of which is exported to the UK. I duly paid my $10 (senior citizen rate!) and joined a group touring the 'Ginger Factory' which included the opportunity to sample some of their products including, of course, their excellent ginger beer. Other sightseeing included a visit to the macadamia nut factory, another homegrown industry in the area. Part of each day was spent arranging the visits to other parts of the country and arranging to meet up with people I'd tramped with in New Zealand, especially people in Tasmania. Having met a couple of groups of travellers in Fiji who'd recently been in Australia I decided to visit some of the places they'd been to, including bush walking in the Northern Territories, near Alice Springs, this latter journey was planned after the Tasmania visit.
The PADI diving course , starting from Cairns was booked for the 10th August, and assuming I passed the medical and the water tests, was optimistic about completing the course. The actual diving would be over the Great Barrier Reef, and for me this was probably one of the best places in the world to learn to dive, and would fulfil one of my ambitions for this journey!

Photos 1 and 2. The local observatory, surprisingly well equipped despite its ramshackle appearance!
Photos 3 and 4. Lesley and Jez's lovely home, set in a semi rural area and part surrounded by forest.
Photo 5. Post-surf posing with the surf instructor....
Photo 6. Post surf photo.
Photo 7. An Ibis at the botanical gardens in Brisbane, also seen in the fields near Yandina.
Photo 8. A view of the recently completed bell tower at St Johns' Cathedral, Brisbane. One of the few stone built churches seen in this hemisphere, a very fine building that has taken 150 years to complete, and this is being celbrated in November this year.
Photo 9. The view from the rocks on at the top of Mount Nindary. The coastline is visible, about 12km away.

Fiji and nursing on Vatulele

Finally left for the island of Vatulele on day 12 of my stay in Fiji, with Taina, the Fijian nurse practitioner. The one and a half hour journey from the mainland to the island in a small boat was marred by seasickness, which was quickly forgotten on arrival. The 10 days on this island were absolutely amazing, we worked hard at the health centre seeing patients from the 3 villages on Vatulele and we had some great experiences outside working hours. The local village chiefs made me welcome in their traditional ceremonies of drinking of kava and the very talented local church male choir adopted my after having congratulated them on the high standard of singing. The 'adoption' involved their visiting us at our residence in the medical compound and giving an impromptu concert, as well as an invitation to a beach picnic near the locally famous 'prawn pools' on the other side of the island near the very expensive resort. Other celebrations included a lunch in the next village where the local women were having a lunch as they had reached their church money raising targets for a young peoples project. Food consisted of locally caught fish and locally grown vegetables, such as cassava, breadfruit, yams and vundi (a banaana-like plant). Fruit such as papaya, banaanas and coconuts were falling from the trees as you walked passed, and no villagers were without food. Cooked dishes of fish would appear on our doorstep resulting in 4 meals of fish on the Sunday, feeding us 'til Tuesday! The last night on the island saw us attending 3 kava ceremonies as part of various celebrations in the local village. The final one was held at our residence where my 'adopted' choir presented me with gifts of a fine piece of masi (the local art form made from tapa tree bark and stencilled using natural dyes) and a local sulu, all followed by the inevitable drinking of kava. Various villagers brought gifts of masi to the house in the final 24 hours, their generosity of spirit unmatched anywhere else on my travels, I felt very honoured to receive all the gifts. It was with regret we left Vatulele on day 10 due to my inability to practice alone (Taina was returning to the mainland to teach on a 5 day course) as the Fijian nursing service had not delivered on my nursing verification certificate despite numerous attempts to contact them. The return journey, in the larger of the 2 ferry boats was much smoother and we then made our way to Loatoka by bus where I stayed for the weekend at Taina's apartment where nI met her family,yet again the hospitality was generous and warmly given.
I booked 3 nights at The Beachouse, on the recommendation of a fellow backpacker in Nadi, a budget resort which proved to have excellent facilities and most meals of good quality food included in the price. Spent a total of 4 nights at the resort meeting many fellow travellers over a few local beers in the evenings. Much of the days were spent snorkelling, seeing my first live coral reefs with their array of amazingly colourful fish, but sadly did not see any reef or tiger sharks as I'd hoped.
Apart from 24 hours back in Lautoka visiting the senior nurse manager to exchange some information about nursing protocols in England, I spent most of the last week of my stay in Fiji at The Beachouse relaxing on the tropical beaches.
My final nights stay in Fiji before flying to Australia was at the friendly backpacker 'homestay' near Nadi airport where I met Emily again, my young hostess from Suva.
Flew to Brisbane early on the 20th July and stayed with my nurse friend I'd worked with in the UK. It was so good to see a familiar face at the airport and am able to use her home as a base for my Australia visit.
Photo 1. Sunset on Vatulele
Photo 2 and 3. The Beachouse resort, apparently used by in the tv series "celebrity love island', though this did not affect the enjoyment of the resort!
Photo 4. Emily, m indispensible hostess in Suva.
Photo 5. The Lautoka hotel, a comfortable and relaxing few days spent here.
Photo 6. The village chief, Taina and a village elder after the greeting ceremony on Vatulele.
Photo 7. The celebratory lunch held in the village meeting house.
Photo 8. Standing outside the after the welcome ceremony with the chief .
Photo 9. Leila, the village health worker, working on a piece of masi, in her home.
Photo 10. A red prawn in the pool, Visitors who see many prawns are regarded as being blessed with good luck - there were many.
Photo 11. Swimming in the second prawn pool, a tidal pool.
Photo 12. The return journey, by boat, after the picnic.
Photo 13. The formal gifting ceremony conducted by the choir.
Photo 14. The formal thanks (on my behalf) given by Manasa, the chorus master.
Photo 15. The giving of gifts was finally celebrated with kava.
Photo 16. Drawings of Vatulele man on the cliff face close to the prawn pool. When they were drawn is unknown.

Auckland and Coromandel Peninsula and on to Fiji

Rangitoto Island, is a volcanic island created 600 years ago and is situated a 25 minute ferry ride from New Zealand's largest city, Auckland.

The 11k tramp around the island included the hike to the top of the volcano. The coastal path section of the tramp was by far the most interesting with some unusual alpine flora normally only found at alpine heights, also the photo's clearly show the piles of volcanic outpourings of 600 years previously. The weather for the previous 2 days had been very wet and cold but the day at Rangitoto was under brilliant blue skies and a warm sun. After having rung the bells at the cathedral on their practice night, where I was made to feel very welcome and spent a happy hour in the local pub with the ringers.

With only 5 days left in NZ I hired a car for 3 days and drove to the Coramandel Peninsula for a last opportunity to hike in the very beautiful countryside and practice my driving skills on narrow, twisting, unpaved roads. I found a 3 hour long tramping track on the Pacific side of the peninsula, again on a beatiful day, and did not see another person other than the camp site warden. Staying for 2 nights in a YHA which was more of a motel than hostel and very quiet given the time of year. The last night was back in Auckland, in a motel where I could pack in peace and also enjoy a swim in their outdoor lap pool.

The journey to Fiji was uneventful other than some turbulence in the middle of the 3 hour flight, though the food was poor, and I was convinced that we were suffering from Air New Zealand cutting their running costs! Arriving at Nadi on the main island was very reminiscent of conditions in Nepal though as I found out over the next week or so Fiji did have a reasonable infrastructure in place, unlike Nepal. For 2 nights I stayed in Nadi at a homestay run by Dee, a lovely Fijian lady, who then booked me to stay with her son and daughter in Suva. I was immediately made welcome, particularly when I made enquiries about the local anglican church which I attended the next day. It was very obvious that the Fijians were avid church goers, to all different denominations of Christian churches. Most of Sunday afternoon was spent in Dee's lounge being regaled with the loudspeakers blaring out across the road at the Church of God!

Travelling to Suva by bus (the main form of transport here) was on unpaved roads at times but arrived their safely to be met by Dee's 21 year old daughter, Emily and taken to her home in the suburbs of Suva, by public transport, bus. I visited the nursing registration department at the Ministry of Health and as half expected paid my 10$ dues but had to wait for the director to return from holiday to sign the authorisation for me to practice nursing in Fiji. All rather frustrating as I'd originally emailled her three and a half weeks previously.....

A journey back towards Nadi to the town of Laukota enabled me to meet the medical director of the Western Divisional Health district who at the time of our meeting (day 6 of my 30 days in Fiji) was in panic mode dealing with the latest cases of H1N1 virus so he quickly passed me on to the district senior. Sister Marisia was delighted to have me work in the district and quickly arranged for me to work with a nurse practitioner, Tiana, on one (or more) of the remote islands for the remaining two and a half weeks. The plan was for me to travel back to Lautoka on the 17th July and work with the senior nurse on some nursing protocols used by my ex-team in London.

I joined Tiana at one of her clinics on the outskirts of Lautoka where we had a most interesting time dealing with the sick patients of all ages, one of whom was quite challenging in their behaviour.

The 4 days in Lautoka were spent in relaxing at the quite luxurious (for me) hotel with a room next to the pool, finishing final arrangement details for nursing. The Fiji v Samoa rugby match for the South Pacific Cup was on only 300 yards from the hotel, so for the princely sum of one pound ten pence(!) I watched from the sidelines. Everyone was very friendly and easily answered my queries re the match , a great occasion and atmosphere.

Tomorrow, the 30th June I travel, by boat to Votuele(?) and stay at the island health facility.
Photo 1. Bellringers at the cathedral, Auckland.
Photo 2, 3, 4. Rangitoto Island.
Photo 5. The view whilst at the summit of the tramp, showing Kennedy Bay on the Coromandel Peninsula.
Photo 6. The beginning of the final tramp on the peninsula.

Lake Waikeramoana Tramp and afterwards

The roundabout journey to the lake was worthwhile and the New Zealanders description of the place as one of the countries best kept secrets well founded.There were only 2 people staying at the DOC owned and leased lake motor camp, so very quiet, as was the walk itself. The whole tramp of 50km over four and a half days, involved staying in 4 huts around the lake. The toughest part of the hike was climbing the Panekiri Bluff, a climb of 600 metres, a steep ascent characterised by muddy degraded pathways which were snow covered at the higher altitudes, and needless to say the cold northerly wind added to the chill factor. The Panekiri hut itself was situated next to the trig point (at an altitude of 1185 metres) and given the clear, cold weather the sunset was quite spectacular. This hut was the only one of the four where I shared the minimal facilities with any other trampers. Given the drop in temperature at nightfall we all slept by the gas fire and were thus able to keep relatively warm. The solution to dealing with the early morning cold on this tramp was to start moving asap and would quickly warm up to be able to negotiate the mainly wet and slippery paths of the next few days. The whole tramp was very similar to the Abel Tasmin Walk, the difference being the views were of a lake as opposed to the open waters of the Tasmin Bay. The forest walking was broken by sudden amazing views of this beautiful lake with its small sandy bays and inlets. Sadly, unlike the Abel Tasmin experience it was too cold to swim in the lake but there was an abundance of wildfowl to be viewed, including paradise ducks and black swans with their families of cygnets, surprisingly the cygnets were the same colour as white swan cygnets. Despite the lateness of my shuttle back to Waoroa I was able to complete all the cleaning of kit at the motel I stayed at in the town, in plenty of time to catch the bus to Rotorua the next morning. Peter, the motel owner very obligingly threw all my luggage into the back of his pick-up truck and took me to the travel centre in the town centre.
Rotorua was an attractive town located by Lake Rotorua, in a very active area of volcanic thermal springs, where the smell of sulphur was very pervasive. I stayed 2 nights in the town, the main intention being to visit the most popular of the local hot pools. Here I had the most relaxing massage you could wish for, spending the remainder of the day in the hot pools and then finally the larger pool, suitable for swimming.
After Roturua, Hamilton, was not the most attractive town to stay 3 nights at the YHA. Due to a miscalculation on my part I had great difficulty booking a bed as it was the week of the NZ equivalent of the county show in the UK, here given the label 'Fieldays' . The weather was atrociously wet so apparently the whole experience was the usual mudbath to definately be avoided in those conditions. I was able to ring the bells at the cathedral and attend my first Maori church service afterwards. It was a well attended service with an even mixture of Europeans and Maoris, very reassuring to think the anglican church can get something right for once.
As ever I located the local swimming pool and completed a further training session and was able to use the pool the half price of 2$ for a senior citizen swim! The pool was empty and not nearly as well used as the New Plymouth equivalent, particularly at the weekend.
I discovered the local museum was hosting the international Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition, an interactive exhibition of his many inventions, including a model of his helicopter design. The guided tour was excellent, and included people of all ages, and was presented by Leonardo's 'senior apprentice' who had everyone completely rivetted for the whole hour of his presentation. Again I was able to buy my ticket at the senior rate of half price.
My time in NZ was sadly nearly over and I made the penultimate journey to Auckland on the 15th June, though the final place visited will be to Ahip Ara and 90 mile beach, for 24 hours, before flying to Fiji from Auckland on the 20th June.

Photo 1. The cabin stayed in the night before the tramp, at the Lake Waikeramoana Motor Camp.
Photo 2. The view of the Panekiri Bluff from above the motor camp.
Photo 3. Lake Waikeramoana from the near the DOC Visitor Centre.
Photo 4. The forest at the outset of the tramp, before the climb to the bluff. NB no snow at this altitude (560metres).
Photo 5. The lake from a viewpoint near the top of the bluff.
Photo 6. The lake viewed from a point near the first hut.
Photo 7. The trig point, usually constructed of wood, not as attractive as the stone trigs in England!
Photo 8. Sunset at Punekiri Bluff.
Photo 9. The frost covered forest, a forest with an abundance of mosses and lichens coating the trees of mainly black or mountain beech at this altitude.
Photo 10. Marautui Hut. The onle hut with a log stove, had to cut timber to feed the fire, as luck would have it a saw and axe were provided.
Photo 11. Unusual (?) purple mushroom on the side of the track. Unable to identify it in available literature.
Photo 12. Looking down at a stream close by the final hut, the Whanganui hut, by far the worst hut of the tramp as the gas fire died at 7pm and it was extremely cold, so walked around the area to keep warm, and came across this attractive small waterfall and stream.
Photo 13. Many paradise ducks at the lakeside, sadly unsuccessful in getting a close-up of the black swans.
Photo 14, 15, and 16. Relaxing in the hot pools at the Polynesian Spa in Roturua. This spa is rated as one of the top 10 in the world, and worth every penny.
Photo 17. St Georges Cathedral in Hamilton.
Photo 18. Overlooking the Waikota River at Hamilton.