Samoa was the country which triggered our idea of touring South Pacific Islands. We had already planned to visit PNG, New Caledonia and French Polynesia, but hadn’t really considered the rest of the islands until I came across a picture of the To Sua Ocean Trench in Samoa. As soon as I saw that picture, the first three months of our itinerary changed! And I am so pleased it did! Samoa, with its beaches, waterfalls, people and turtles, did not disappoint.

Our first stop in Samoa was Apia, the country’s capital city. On our drive from the airport to our accommodation, we saw many churches, of all different sizes, colours and denominations. Of all the churches we saw, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Apia was the most breathtaking. The outside was beautifully painted in blues and white, but the main ‘wow factor’ of the building was the inside. The ceiling of the Cathedral consisted of a series of wooden panels, placed together in such a way as to create stars, hexagons and squares, which ended in a stunning painted dome. The walls were filled with painted murals and archways and the floor was beautifully tiled. It may be the most stunning religious building interior I’ve ever seen!

After gawking at the cathedral, we headed over to the Samoan Cultural Village, to join their daily tour. We started our experience by weaving our own plates from long leaves, and finished by using those plates to eat traditional Samoan food (including palusami, my favourite South Pacific food!) On our walk around of the village, we saw a man getting a traditional tattoo, some wood carving, food cooking and the process by which they used to make clothes from the bark of a mulberry tree. Finally, we were treated to some Polynesian dancing and music.

That evening, back in our airbnb and we experienced our first ever earthquake! (It was a little one, so not scary – Raphael wasn’t convinced it was one until I went on the internet to check!) We had wondered if we would experience one on this trip, as we are spending the majority of our time in countries which sit along the Pacific Ring of Fire! Hopefully this is the biggest one we experience, as it was definitely more exciting than scary!

After our day in Apia, we picked up our rental car (which we named Moana) and headed to the south of the main island of Upolu. We were staying in traditional Samoan accommodation called beach fales, which are wooded huts built near the beach! The experience is somewhere between camping and glamping and we had a great time! As it was low season, it was pretty much just us for our whole stay in the Vaiula Beach Fales, which made the experience even more unique!

On the one day when other guests were staying at the fales, we all went on a snorkelling trip, organised by the fales’ bar owner, Nugg. We took a small boat out to the reef of the lagoon, jumped in the water and followed the current alongside the reef. The visibility was amazing! We could see down somewhere between 20 and 30m, the clearest water we have snorkelled in so far! We didn’t see anything too exciting, but the experience of being able to see so far was magical (and made me feel a bit motion sick!)

On our other days on Upolu, we visited most of the top sights of Samoa, including the To Sua Ocean Trench. It was just as amazing in real life as in the photos (so much so, we visited twice!) On our first trip there, we had the whole place to ourselves for about half an hour and we spent it playing on the ropes and swimming through into a smaller trench. On the second time, the tide was in, so I was able to jump off the platform into the water multiple times!

We also visited a couple of beaches (with stunning views of the most beautiful lagoon) and many waterfalls. We even visited one waterfall with no water! Just two small pools – one which you could swim in and the other in which we saw eels (I’ve been trying to convince myself there were no eels in the one we swam in…)

On our last couple of days on Upolu we visited a Giant Clam Sanctuary and a fresh water cave pool with the clearest water. The clams were super interesting and MASSIVE! They ranged in size from small (about 30cm) to huge (at least 1m) and were various different colours. We unfortunately could only visit at low tide, meaning the water was not very clear and we were quite close to the clams (a little bit scary when you think you might accidentally kick one!) We managed to avoid incident, however, and still get some good views.

After visiting the cave pools, we headed back to Apia for lunch, before setting off for our ferry to Savai’i. Or at least, that was the plan! Unfortunately, after eating lunch we got back to the car to realised we had a flat tyre. Even more unfortunately, we realised the car company had not provided us with any tools to change a tyre! FORTUNATELY, we were only a 10 minute drive from the car hire company and they were able to come and sort it out for us! Things got a bit stressful when we then had to go back to the rental place to pick up a new spare and tools (just in case!), but we manage to make our ferry and all was good!

On our first day in Savai’i it was raining quite heavily, so we decided to head to a waterfall in the south of the island (if we were going to get wet, might as well swim!) As with many of the attractions we’d been to so far in Samoa, we had the whole place to ourselves! The water was a bit chilly, but by now I’m used to just plunging straight into cool water, so it didn’t really bother me (Raphael still struggles a bit!) We had a great time exploring the three pools, sitting under the waterfalls and drifting in the currents.

The rain let up in the afternoon, so we visited the Sale’aula Lava Fields, which were just down the road from our accommodation (Regina’s Beach Fales – I’d recommend them to anyone visiting Savai’i). The volcano on Savai’i last erupted about 100 years ago, with the eruptions lasting for 6 years (between 1905 to 1911). During this time, lava flowed down the side of the volcano, towards the sea. The lava fields we saw show some of the destruction and the only building to survive in the area (a church). It was cool to walk on the lava field, and to see the swirls of the lava as they cooled.

On our last day in Savai’i we drove around the whole island (a total of about 3h30, with multiple breaks!) The main sight we wanted to visit was the Alofaaga Blowholes, which were located on the other side of the island to our accommodation! The blowholes are the result of when lava has previously flowed into the sea, resulting in lava tubes connecting the sea to a cliff top. When a large wave comes in, some of the surf shoots up through the lava tube and sprays out on the cliff top. It was a cool sight to see, and we had lots of fun taking silly photos!

In the afternoon, we stopped at the western most point on Savai’i – Cape Mulinu’u. Prior to Samoa changing their time zone to be on the west of the international date line (rather than the east), this was the last beach in the world where you could watch the sunset. It was cool to see, even if it no longer has that title! After visiting the cape, we went on a small canopy walk-way, leading to a tree top view, which was very nice.

Whilst in Samoa, although particularly on Savai’i, we saw A LOT of pigs running around! The pigs are free-range, and allowed to wander the streets in search of food, meaning you often see piglets and their mum running across the road, bathing in mud and snuffling around in the grass! It was adorable!

The beach we stayed at in Savai’i is known locally for it’s sea turtle population. They come every morning and evening to feed on the sea grass which grows near the beach. We had the pleasure of seeing them everyday whilst we were there, and getting to swim with them multiple times. Best experience ever.

Samoa is an amazing country and one I would highly recommend – especially if you love green scenery and jumping into water at every opportunity! It’s small enough that you can see the main sights in 10 days, but varied enough that you wouldn’t get bored spending more time. The people were super friendly and the food is delicious. We had the best time!

Bula from Fiji! We have had a great time here over the last two weeks. Our expectations were not super high, as we didn’t have the funds to do the ‘traditional’ Fiji experience, but we have been pleasantly, and thoroughly, surprised. Over the two weeks we have split our time between the Coral Coast, Suva and Levuka, experiencing three very different sides to Fiji.

After arriving by plane from New Caledonia (having woken up at 3:30am to drive to the airport, ugh), we hopped on a bus to the Coral Coast. The Coral Coast is located on the southern part of the main island of Fiji, Viti Levu, between Nadi and Suva. The bus took around 2h30, leading us to arrive at our hostel, The Beachouse, just in time for afternoon tea! We stayed six nights at The Beachouse and we had the best time (if we hadn’t already booked flights for later in the week, we probably would have stayed the full two weeks here!)

The Beachouse is located on the beach (of course) and has a very laid back feel. They organise some activities (snorkelling, island trips, waterfall trips, etc.), as well as having access from the beach to snorkelling, paddle boarding and surfing. It is a classic tropical paradise place! Whilst there, Raphael decided to complete his Advanced Open Water diving course, with Coral Coast Divers, and I relaxed, sunbathed and went on a shark snorkelling tour!

Originally we had both planned to do the shark snorkel, but as it didn’t run every day, I ended up going by myself (whilst Raphael went diving, with a different group of sharks!) This was a really brave moment for me, as I am terrified of open water and sharks, but I wanted to challenge myself (and maybe work up the courage to get my diving certificate later in the trip!) I am so pleased I went! On the trip we saw at least five (probably more, as they kept coming and going – five was the maximum we saw in one go) white-tip reef sharks, named for the white tips on their fins. They were pretty un-fussed by us, allowing us to get quite close, but not too close! There were a few scary moments when they would start to move towards me, but I kept calm and quickly realised they were just changing direction to maximise their fishing opportunities! Overall it was an amazing experience and something I wouldn’t hesitate to do again.

After a relaxing few days at The Beachouse, we caught the bus further along the coast to Suva. Suva is the capital of Fiji as well as being the economic and cultural capital of the South Pacific. It is not a typical destination on a trip to Fiji, but we were curious about life in Fiji and so decided to add it as a stopping point.

As we arrived in Suva, we were quickly accosted by a taxi driver, who took us to our B&B. He was a very enthusiastic man, who gave us many tips on staying safe in Suva and not being ripped off as well as some suggestions for things to do. He gave us his phone number, and we ended up using his taxi more than once in our two days in Suva! (He also invited us to come and celebrate Diwali in his village and gave us the number of his family in New Zealand, in case we needed it!) The people in Fiji were generally really friendly towards us and curious about our trip, what we thought of Fiji and where we came from!

Our first stop in the Suva area was Colo-i-Suva, a small forest park just north of the city. It has some lovely forest walks and some pools in which to swim. We spent a half day there, wandering around and swimming. It was very pleasant! After our swim we decided to make the most of being in a big city and headed to the cinema! We went to see Abominable (for £2.70!) and I had a great time watching the sights of China flash across the screen.

The next day we went into central Suva, to see the Fiji Museum, Cathedral and Markets. The Museum was super interesting and gave us a good understanding of the traditional ways of life in Fiji, as well as information about the European settlers and the spread of Christianity. We also saw the last Fijian Canoe on display, which was impressive. After the Museum, we went to get some lunch at an Indian restaurant which had excellent reviews on tripadvisor. The meal was amazing – possibly the best Indian food either of us had ever had! If you are ever in Suva, visit the Yellow Chilli Restaurant! Once our bellies were stuffed, we waddled over to the markets and the cathedral. They were interesting to see, but similar to others we had seen across the Pacific. We then headed back to our B&B to pack for our early morning flight to Levuka.

Our decision to go to Levuka was based purely on the price – it was the only place on another island (Ovalau) were we could both get there cheaply and stay in reasonably priced accommodation! I am glad we decided to go though, as it had a very different feel to both the Coral Coast and Suva. Our adventure to Levuka started with a 15-minute flight from Suva airport on an eight-seater plane, the smallest we had been on (and possibly the smallest on our trip – but we shall see!) It was noisy and quite cramped, but otherwise not too scary!

The landing strip in Ovalau was small (I think they only have one flight a day) and only one taxi was waiting to take all the passengers to town (four of us in total). The taxi also took all the mail, newspapers and other supplies to the town, so it was a bit squished! Once we had arrived and settled into our hotel, we went for a walk about town. It was a bit rainy, but we were still able to see the main sights.

Levuka is the original capital of Fiji and the place were the first Europeans settled. It was designated a World Heritage Site in 2013, the first in Fiji. There are many examples of Colonial buildings in town, and the high street looks like something from the Wild West! After walking around the town, we headed up the 199 steps to see the view of Levuka and the sea from Mission Hill. The next day, we stopped off in the library/tourist information centre, where we found some information about a village tour and viewed the Islands collection of historical items and shells.

After lunch, we called the person who organises a village tour and we arranged to go on Friday. The organiser, Joanna, came to our hotel to speak to us and to give us further details of the tour. She also recommended we walked about an hour north of Levuka, to see the aftermath of Cyclone Winston (2016).

We took the walk the next day, following the coastal road. Along the way we met many Fijians, the majority of which greeted us with ‘Bula, where are you from?’ We chatted to quite a few people on the way, all of them curious to speak to us and eager to invite us to their village. After about an hour walking, we saw what we had come to see – a grounded ship. During the cyclone, the waves and wind were so strong, they lifted the ship and carried her inland, before dumping her on the beach. The crew of the ship thought they had landed on the reef, but upon lighting their flares, they realised they had been grounded on the beach! It was a fascinating sight to see, especially as the sea beyond the reef was at least 50 metres out. It struck us to see how devastating Cyclone Winston must have been.

On the Friday, we set off early on our village tour. We were picked up and driven around the island and into the extinct volcanic crater, where the villages of Lovoni are located. We were met by our host Joe, and taken to his house. We were given an overview of the day, before being taken on a tour of the village. We were first taken to the Chief’s house, where we would normally ask for permission to visit the village (the Chief was, however, out of town that day). We then saw the Church and school, from which we got a view over the whole village. On our walk, Joe showed us all the food they grew in the village, including cassava, taro, water cress and a type of spinach. They also grew kava, and we saw some being chopped and dried.

After the tour of the village, we went on a walk in the surrounding area, where Joe showed us all the plants they use in traditional medicine. He showed us which leaves to use when we had a cut, needed to wash our hands, had a cold or needed to induce labour! It was really interesting to see all the plants, especially as they still use a lot of them today (there is only one hospital on Ovalau and it doesn’t store a wide variety of medicines). After our walk, we had a quick swim in the river, which was very refreshing.

We then headed back to Joe’s house, where we were treated to a traditional Lovoni village lunch. We were given taro leaves, cassava, fried aubergine, water cress and papaya – most of it prepared with coconut cream (and for Raphael, some fish!) The food was delicious! After we had eaten all we could, we were given lemon leaf tea (also delicious) and told the history of the village. We were also able to chat with Joe and discuss the differences between France and England and Fiji. It was a fantastic day and one of the most authentic activities we have done in the South Pacific.

We are now back in The Beachouse for the weekend, before heading to Nadi for our flight tomorrow. I will be sad to leave Fiji, but I am excited to see all that Samoa has to offer!

We traveled South from Vanuatu and arrived in New Caledonia. As with our previous destinations, we didn’t know much about it when landing: it used to be a penal colony of France, it’s in the middle of some independence referendums, it has reef and lagoons, etc. We learned a lot.

Nouméa

The most populous city and the administrative center, Nouméa is South of the main Island. We went there directly from the airport and met our Airbnb host who showed us our apartment for a bit.

We went for a walk in the city center of Nouméa, 30 minutes away. There are palm trees and boulangeries that sell sandwiches of fresh baguette. And a bit further, right up on the sea front, we went to the tourism office to ask about all the activities we were considering.

Parc de la Rivière Bleue

One morning we drove to the Blue River Park, inland, in the more mountainous area East of Nouméa. We parked the car there and caught the shuttle that dispatches visitors to different points of interest in the park. We were dropped off at the very end of the shuttle route, all the way out.

From there, we hiked through the forest, roughly following the river that gives its name to the park. We saw a lot of flora and fauna that we had never seen before.

Most of the hikes were not very strenuous, with one exception: a hike that took us quite far up. It was worth the effort though. At the top, we got a good view of the valley of the Blue River as well as the drowned forest, a place where the river expands onto a lake from which dead tree trunks jut out of the water.

Koghis

The Koghis are a set of hills at the base of the mountain that spans the length of the main Island. We drove to the Koghis to a heavily forested adventure park. We swung from tree to tree, walked on rope bridges, zip-lined across the forest, etc.

By the end we were tired. But we got to see some more trees and it was fun!

Diving

I went out to the reef to dive with Abyss Plongée. We had two beautiful dives. The first was all corals and fish.

Between the dives, people on the boat started to talk about all the shark attacks that had happened in New Caledonia recently. The conversation started because our second dive was supposed to take us to shark waters. And it did!

During the second dive we saw around 40 sharks and one big manta ray!

Amédée

Because we had a limited time in New Caledonia, we decided to skip the famous Isle of Pines (which is further away and requires a few days to explore fully) and go to the closer and smaller Amédée Island instead.

We took a boat in the morning and had a smooth crossing. Once there, we walked around a little bit. The island, and the water around it, is full of venomous sea snakes. They are very shy and scared around humans, but the Australian tourists were arguably more scared around them!

Then we went to the Amédée lighthouse. It shows the way for the boats trying to reach Nouméa. We climbed all the way to the top with a beautiful view and a lot of wind.

The outing we had joined included a meal with Polynesian specialties (even though New Caledonia is a Melanesian country, there is a large Polynesian population from Wallis, Futuna, and French Polynesia).

We swam around the Island and there were turtles! They come nearby to eat the sea-grass that grows on the sandy shallows.

Parc des Grandes Fougères

We drove North along the coast towards the Giant Ferns Park. This park is further inland, higher up in the mountains than the Blue River Park, and our small rental car with its old and overused gear box had a lot of trouble getting us up there.

We still made it! We parked the car and set on a long walk. The forest kept changing: sometimes we would be surrounded by giant-ferns and palm-trees, and other times we would be surrounded by pines and kaoris. There were also many trees we didn’t recognise at all.

Tjibaou Cultural center

Just outside of Nouméa, we went to Tjibaou Cultural center. It is named after Jean-Marie Tjibaou, a leader of the independence movement of New Caledonia. The center displays traditional Kanak sculptures (with explanations about symbolism and cultural significance) and huts (with explanations on construction techniques).

Because we were based in Nouméa and didn’t travel very far from there, it was interesting to learn about Kanak culture which is more prevalent in other parts of New Caledonia.

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We enjoyed having a break from lodge and hostels, being able to unpack our bags in an apartment, shop from supermarkets (which have cheese and on-site bread ovens), cook food easily in the kitchen, wash our laundry in the washing machine. But we most enjoyed the wild-life, spending time hiking in the strange forests, and swimming with turtles!

Vanuatu was a late addition to our trip, being a country neither of us had heard of before I started researching the South Pacific. I am so pleased we decided to add it, as it is one of the best places I have ever been. If you are ever in the area, or can cope with multiple flight changes to get there, it is worth going. The people are super friendly, the islands are varied (from coral reefs, lagoons and white sand beaches to active volcanos and fields of lava) and we were made to feel safe and welcome. In our short time there we were only able to visit two islands, but these two places gave us a great insight into life in Vanuatu.

Our first stop was the capital, Port Vila, located on the island of Efate. It’s a small, but lively, city, with a variety of shops, restaurants and beach access. On our first day we visited the National Museum, which gave us a good understanding of the people and more recent history of the country. We were both surprised to discover that Vanuatu was under joint British and French rule from 1906 to 1980 (the year of Vanuatu’s independence). The most amusing part of this joint rule (at least according to a document in the museum) was that the Monarch of Spain was given the deciding vote in any disagreements! As well as discovering this detail, we saw many amazing examples of Vanuatu art, weaving and pottery. Like the tribes in PNG and the Solomon Islands, the tribes here have an amazing array of costumes for many kinds of ceremony. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the museum.

On our second day, we explored some of the natural delights near to Port Vila; a waterfall and an island with a decent stretch of coral. We had hesitated over which to visit first, due to a cruise ship being in town that day and not wanting to visit anything too crowded, but our helpful share-taxi (know as a bus in Vanuatu) driver advised us to visit the cascades first. After arranging for the bus driver to pick us up from the boat wharf later, we headed up to Mele Cascades. On the way, you pass by a number of smaller falls and pools, all with beautiful emerald water. Towards the top there is lots of water to wade through, so we donned our swimwear and reef shoes and continued up. The waterfall was beautiful and we had lots of fun swimming in the pools and even visiting a cave just behind the falls.

Part two of our day was just as relaxing. We walked from the cascades to the boat wharf, having lunch along the way. The boat ride to the island, known as either Mele Island or Hideaway Island, took only a couple of minutes, and at low tide the distance can be walked. Other than the coral, our main reason for visiting the island was the underwater post office! A cheesy tourist attraction, but so much fun, we managed to post a couple of waterproof postcards from there (whether they will arrive or not is yet to be determined). The coral around the island was not as beautiful as what we had seen in the Solomon Islands, but there were hundreds of fish in the water, that were really not scared of humans (much to my dismay, as they would swim quite close to your face). We saw a huge variety, including some which were half a meter long! It was an interesting experience!

On our final day in Efate, we took a ‘round the island’ tour. It was a jam packed day, the highlights of which were a culture show and a visit to the Blue Lagoon. The cultural show was at the Pepeyo Cultural Village, where we were taken on a tour of ‘traditional’ life in Vanuatu. The Chief of the tribe showed us their methods for housing, catching fish and animals and preserving food, before we watched some ceremonial dancing and walking on hot coals. It was a good insight into how villagers lived in the past (although on some of the other remote islands, many of this traditions are still commonplace).

After the cultural show, we headed over to a small waterfall for swimming. It was another stunningly beautiful place and we thoroughly enjoyed splashing around in the water! Next up was the Blue Lagoon, where we also spent time swimming surrounded by dazzling water and wonderful scenery. Efate is not short on natural beauty! The day was very relaxing and we arrived back in Port Vila refreshed and ready for our flight to Tanna the next day.

The next island on our trip, Tanna is very different to Efate. Our main reason for choosing Tanna is due to the highly active volcano located on the island, Mount Yasur. It is one of the world’s most active volcanoes and possibly the most accessible volcano of its kind. As soon as we arrived at our accommodation, we booked a trip to see Mt Yasur for the following day.

Our accommodation was well located, and we had a lovely few days there. The sunsets over the sea were beautiful, as was the visibility of the stars at night. We spent our downtime reading and relaxing to the sounds of the sea!

Our trip to Mt Yasur started at 2pm, as the volcano was located on the opposite side of Tanna to our accommodation. We arrived at the base an hour and a half later and had some time to walk around the ash-filled plain. The ash was very unstable and we kept getting blasted in the face by it, as the wind was starting to pick up! After exploring for a while, we headed to the Mt Yasur tour centre, where we would start our ascent of the volcano.

The safety briefing before our ascent was minimal, although we were advised to put on sunglasses to protect our eyes and to cover our mouths/noses if possible (we were also provided with hard hats, although mine blew off my head at the top). We proceeded up the volcano in 4WD trucks, finishing the climb on foot. We arrived as the sun was setting, allowing us to get into position in the remaining daylight. The experience of standing on the edge of the volcano is fairly indescribable. We could see two small lava vents within the caldera, through which you could see the glowing interior of the volcano. Every 5-10 minutes, these vents would explode, with a loud BOOM and a spray of molten lava. In between explosions we were pelted with the wind, sulphur and grit from the volcano, often causing us to have to turn away and brace ourselves. There was no safety barrier where we were standing, just a slope down into the open crater. It was both terrifying (mostly due to the wind!) and spectacular! We came down off the volcano dirty, smelling like sulphur but elated! It was truly a once in a lifetime experience.

The other activity we took part in on Tanna was the Black Magic Tour. The Black Magic Tour gives an insight into the traditional beliefs of the people of Vanuatu and the ‘magic’ which they used. We were asked at the end of the tour not to tell others about some of what we saw, so I will omit those things. After arriving in the village by walking through an ancient banyan tree, we were shown our first magic trick. The men of the village layered large ‘magic’ leaves on top of each other, before proceeding to pick up one of the men using these leaves! We were then shown how they could make fire by rubbing together two sticks. The magic we saw was impressive, if explainable(!), and we had fun watching the tricks. To end our tour there, we were treated to a ceremonial dance and got to taste some of the traditional drink kava. I did not like it (imagine bitter, herby, earthy water and that is sort of what it tastes like), but was pleased to be able to try the smallest sip!

Overall we had a fantastic time in Vanuatu (I feel like I’ve said that about everywhere so far!) In the future we’d like to come back and see some of the other islands and what they have on offer. But for now, we are off to New Caledonia!

Arriving in the Solomon Islands, we went straight to Gizo. There, I learned to dive and then it started raining. We huddled in the lodge and spent some time reading (we each carry an e-reader) and playing games (we brought a few card games and board games and we have our phones).

I did get to visit Kennedy Island during one of the diving trips. It was one of the rainy day and Pippa stayed in. This small island is where JFK, along with a boatful of marines, got stranded. It was within Japanese-controlled waters. After a couple of days, he, with the help of some locals, managed to contact allied ships and organise a rescue mission.

The rain kept pouring. It filled the lodge’s rainwater tanks, the main source of tap-water around here. It also caused some landslide a bit further East on the island.

We went to the airport, which is located on its own island. The rain was still falling and the boat was breaking waves, sending splashes of water in every direction. We got wet. But we got to the small 17-seat airplane.

Then we arrived in Honiara where a car picked us up to get us to our next lodge: the Dolphin View Beach Resort. It’s a simple few huts in front of a black-sand beach.

We went to a World War II open air museum, showing a collection of aircraft, ship and artillery pieces, some recovered from wrecks under the sea, others transported overland. The Solomon Islands was a major battle and there are so many wrecks that the sea is named Iron Sound Bottom.

We snorkeled over some coral and sponges. And we got to see a lot of fish of many colours. On one of the snorkeling outing, we got stung by jellyfish. Still, it was worth it for all the beauty of the sea.

As we were about to leave Rabaul (in Papua New Guinea), we saw an advertisement for a diving certification and started talking about it and I decided to do it. (Really, Pippa convinced me to do it! She doesn’t like fish, nor sharks, nor being unable to not see the bottom the sea, so diving is on hold for now but maybe she’ll be convinced later.)

We looked up our next destination, the town of Ghizo on the island of Gizo, and it has a dive shop! So now that we arrived, I’ve taken up the PADI Open Water Diver certification, and it’s been a lot of fun.

We’ll make a regular blog post for the Solomon Islands (which Gizo is part of), but here’s an unplanned post about diving.

NOTE: This blog post is a bit late because we had very limited internet access.
NOTE: All the photos in this post are by Salvador, an employee of Dive Gizo who came to some of the dives with his camera.

Training at Dive Gizo

There’s only one dive shop in the whole of Gizo: Dive Gizo. They offer diving certifications and outings, island trips, etc.

I contacted them via email before coming over, and so, as I set foot on Gizo, I was handed a thick book of diving theory and told to start studying. My diving lesson were to start the next day.

At the shop I met my instructor and we went through the equipment (what’s it all called, what does it all do, how to check it’s all working, how to use it all, etc.) as well as a briefing for the day (where we’d go and what we’d do there). Gizo doesn’t have a pool so the first dive was in sandy shallows on a island off of Gizo. I learned basic skills: clearing my mask, recovering my air-intake in case I ever let it go, etc. Straight afterwards, we went for a short dive.

I had to go through the whole of the theory book and complete “knowledge reviews”. I haven’t had homework in a while! The book, a standard publication by PADI, is a third safety (dos and donts), a third knowledge (pressure-density-volume of air at different depths, pressure equalisation, decompression limits, etc.), and a third information about other PADI courses.

I did multiple other dives. Mostly training and looking at the fish hiding in the coral, but also a well preserved plane wreck.

And in the end, I got my certification!

Under the sea

I enjoyed diving a lot. There’s the strangeness of it all: the sounds, the light, the movements… everything is different from the surface.

And there’s a lot of new things to see: aquatic plants that look like trees, fish of many colours and shapes, etc. We even saw two different shark and a manta ray.

I particularly enjoyed the learning: how to control your buoyancy in the water and how your breathing affects your buoyancy. It’s a skill that takes practice, which I’m looking forward to getting.

PNG…the first stop on the island hopping part of our trip, and one of the more remote. It receives only a handful of tourists every year and is one of the hardest places to travel around. There are very few roads connecting the towns and cities in PNG, with the best, and often only, way to get from A to B being via an internal flight. Due to its remoteness, we only had the budget for two stops on our trip here, but have since made (theoretical) plans to return to see more of this fascinating place.

We landed in the capital, Port Moresby, early in the morning. We had read lots of conflicting information regarding the ‘visa on arrival’ process and weren’t really sure what to expect (some people said it was expensive, some said it took a long time, others pointed us in the direction of forms to fill in which were multiple pages long). In the end it took about two minutes each and involved no filling in of forms or handing over of money. We were both quite relieved! We proceeded to grab our bags and head through to the domestic terminal, to take our 9am flight to Goroka.

Goroka is a small town located in the Eastern Highlands of PNG and is a hub for further exploration of the area. The town only has a handful of accommodation listed on the internet, so we ended up staying in one of the more expensive places on our trip, with two nights at the Bird of Paradise Hotel. It was undergoing some renovations whilst we were there, probably in preparation for the upcoming Goroka Show (a cultural show in which tribes from all over the Highlands come and perform), but otherwise was a fine place to stay. Our main purpose of coming to Goroka was to visit the Asaro Mudmen, one of the tribes in the Eastern Highlands, and the Bird of Paradise was a good place to base ourselves for this.

The next morning we woke up reasonably early and, after breakfast, headed downstairs to meet our guide for seeing the Mudmen, Cody. He was from the Asaro Village and so would be providing us with some detailed knowledge of his tribe. Before heading to the village, Cody, and his cousin Oiz, took us to a view point above the villages of the area. Looking down you could see how sparsely populated the valley was, still filled with trees and beautiful flowers. I was mesmerised by the wildflowers here – so many varieties, including wild lilies! After finishing at the view point, we headed down into the village for one of the highlights of our trip!

Once in the village, we were taken to the village square – an expanse of grass – and sat down on some benches. Across the square could be seen a hut, in front of which were plumes of smoke, rising from the ground. After a couple of minutes, we saw four figures – three men and a boy – emerge from the hut. The four of them were painted white from head to toe and wearing only a loincloth and a grotesque clay ‘mask’. They crept towards us silently, moving with exaggerated steps and strange head movements. The men were carrying weapons – one pointing an arrow straight towards us. They performed for a few more minutes, before coming closer to shake our hands and make ‘friends’. Once the show was finished, we were given the opportunity to try on their ‘masks’ and ask any question we wanted. We were informed that their dress and the way they moved were to convince their enemies they were ghosts, so as to frighten them. We got to look in closer detail at their weapons and buy a much smaller version of the masks before heading back to Goroka.

The next day it was time to head to our second destination in PNG – Rabaul. Rabaul, in East New Britain, has an interesting history. It was colonised by the Germans during the 1800s, before being taken over by the British around WW1. It was then taken by the Japanese during WW2, before becoming a colony of Australia upon their indepedence. In 1975, PNG, and therefore Rabaul, finally got its own independence. However, Rabaul is on a highly volcanic island and during September of 1994 it was destroyed by an eruption of the Tavurvur and Vulcan volcanoes. Parts of the town have been rebuilt, but much is still buried under layers of ash and vegetation. Due to this, most people now live in the town of Kokopo and this is were we stayed for our time there.

Whilst in Kokopo, we decided to take a tour of Rabaul’s Gazelle peninsula, being shown around by our fantastic tour guide Lawrence. We started by exploring some of the tunnels left by the Japanese during WW2. They had come to Rabaul due to it having ‘the best natural harbour in the South Pacific’ and therefore being an excellent place to base themselves. They built a long and elaborate tunnel system into the hills near the harbour, as a place to hide themselves, their boats and their supplies from the Allied Forces. Our first stop was some tunnels in which they had hidden boats, with a handful of boats remaining there. After this, we were taken on a tour around the underground bunkers and hospitals, in which Japanese men were treated. The tunnels were very impressive and it’s easy to see how well the Japanese would have been able to protect themselves. Later on in the tour we were also taken to the bunker of General Yamamoto, were he hid for a few days before heading onto the Solomon Islands (during which time he was shot down by the Americans).

During the tour we were also taken to see some of the more natural history of the peninsula. We were taken to the Volcano Observatory, with its stunning views of both volcanoes and the natural harbour. We then had the pleasure of seeing the hot springs near Mount Tavurvur. These hot springs are around 75 degrees hot and are located right on the beach, next to the sea. We could see the water from the hot springs and sea combining, and steaming as it did. The locals use the hot springs to cook megapode eggs, as a gimmick for tourists. Finally, we were taken to the museum in Kokopo, which contained lots of WW2 artefacts and a number of costumes from the local tribes.

Overall, our time in Papua New Guinea has been amazing. The sights have been beautiful, the history and culture has bee fascinating and the people have been some of the kindest and most helpful we’ve met. I am very much looking forward to returning in the future to this wonderful place!

The bulk of our trip is in the Pacific and South America, but before we get there, we are stopping briefly in two South-East Asian port towns.

Hong Kong

We arrived in Hong Kong after a long flight with some delay. We were a bit tired by the end.

We met up with Pippa’s sister and then, later in the day, parents. We’re catching up with them here because they were away when we visited England.

There were huge rain showers so we spent some time indoors. It’s ok though: we’ve visited Hong Kong a few times and seen many of the outdoors sights already.

Before Pippa’s parents and sister left, we all had hot-pot together. I think Pippa missed it a lot… we used to have it often in Shanghai.

Singapore

When we arrived in Singapore, we went straight from the airport to dinner with a friend that lives there now.

It’s the first time I set foot in Singapore. Pippa had already been and was eager to show me some things. Mostly the light show near the newbuild fancy hotels on the recently reclaimed land. It’s like fireworks but it uses LEDs instead of explosive powder.

We went to the Singapore City Gallery which has a permanent exhibition about the urban planning and development of Singapore. It had old maps of the city, then-and-now photographs, and a scale model of the city of Singapore and one of the whole island.

We had good Thai, Indian, and Vietnamese food. There seems to be a lot from everywhere here, food and otherwise.

Anyway, our next stop is going to be in the Pacific: in Papua New Guinea! We’ll have a very short night flying there.

We’re just out of Turkey. It was the first time I ever went there; Pippa had already been a long time ago.

Istanbul

We landed in Istanbul and made our way to our airbnb near Taksim square. It’s a very lively part of the city with pedestrians, taxis, buses, metros, and trams all shuffling around. On our way we saw the street cats of Istanbul: they are many and they are taken care of by local residents who leave food and even set small shelters on the sidewalk.

We went to visit some historical sites. Istanbul, having been a major city in the long history of the Mediterranean empires, has many. The Haggia Sophia was on the list, along with the Grand Bazaar, the Blue Mosque, the Basilica cistern. These are grouped together in the Old Istanbul, the peninsula just South of the Golden Horn. We also visited the Galata Tower, conveniently placed between our lodging and those other places.

The food is good and relatively cheap. I discovered a few new dishes, including midye dolma: mussels stuffed with rice and herbs – delicious!

Cappadocia (Kapadokya)

We flew to Cappadocia, a central region of Turkey. Cappadocia has some interesting rocks: some very crumbly sedimentary rock and some very sturdy volcanic boulders. The combination of which creates fairy chimneys: a volcanic boulder on top protects a column of sedimentary deposits from erosion, leaving very vertical formations.

The soft/crumbly sedimentary rock also lends itself to being easily hollowed out to make dwellings. A lot of those dug-up dwellings and churches, dating back over a millennium, are open to visitors.

Hot-air balloons are a very common activity in Cappadocia. All year round, at dawn, the sky above the town of Goreme fills up with many many hot-air balloons. We got up early to see it.

There are a lot of things to visit in the region and we are planning to come back to see more!

Back to Istanbul and away

We went back to Istanbul for a day before our flight way. We visited the Topkapi palace. The palace is now a museum with a lot of information about the imperial kitchens and the dishes they prepared which built up our appetite for lunch. In the afternoon, we explored a bit more of the city, walking into non-touristy neighbourhoods.

The day after, before sunrise, we took the airport shuttle, onwards to the next leg of our trip: Hong Kong!

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We both loved Turkey! The never-sleeping, always-bustling area around Taksim, the delicious high-spices, low-heat food, the cute cats at every street corner… We’ll definitely come back! (Which will be easier once we live in Europe.)

As many of you now know, Raphaël and I are just days away from the start of our Round the World trip! To keep everyone up-to-date with our travels, we have started this blog as a way to share our trip with you all. The plan will be to write in it at least once per place we visit, or as often as we are able. This first post will give you an idea of where we will be heading on our trip.

We start our trip on Wednesday 14th August (so soon!) from Gatwick airport, heading to Istanbul. We will then spend 8 days in Turkey, exploring the capital and the beautiful region of Cappadocia. We will then head over to Hong Kong for a few days to see my family (who will also be transiting through on their travels) before spending a couple of days in Singapore. After Singapore, the real adventures begin!

We will spend the next 3 and a bit months travelling the South Pacific Islands, with the route as follows:

Papua New Guinea → Solomon Islands → Vanuatu → New Caledonia → Fiji → Samoa → New Zealand → Cook Islands → French Polynesia → Easter Island

We will spend one to three weeks in each country, exploring their islands and spending LOTS of time snorkelling! From Easter Island we fly over to mainland Chile, from where we will start our Antarctic cruise.

The cruise is for two weeks, starting and ending in Chile. From here we spend the next 4 months in South America. During this time we will visit Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, spending two to four weeks in each. We will try to hit the main sights of each country (Iguazu Falls, the Salt Flats, Machu Picchu, Galapagos, etc.), whilst also spending some time ‘off the beaten path’. Raphaël is looking forward to practising his Spanish there!

After South America, we head into the USA for a wedding in Texas. Whilst there, we will also visit Orlando (DISNEY!!!), New Orleans and Albuquerque (to visit a friend), before heading to Hawaii for a month (we’ll be missing the Pacific by then!) We then finish our trip with a visit to Costa Rica, with us heading home at the beginning of July 2020 (date to be confirmed).

It’s going to be a lot of travelling, but we are so excited for it and cannot wait to share it with you all!