Bula from the Pacific

In case you were wondering. No, I did not go crazy or started to make up my own language. Bula is the traditional greeting in Fiji :)

I left Hawai'i early on Sunday morning, realizing that even early flights have their charm sometimes. In my case, it was the beautiful sunrise over Honolulu. Aloha Hawai'i!

Air Pacific brought me to the island State of Fiji and back to the future as we crossed the date line somewhere over the Pacific :) I am now 12 hours ahead of European time... weird... Unfortunately, I didn't really have time to do anything in Fiji, other than check in my hotel and take a swim in the pool. I had less than 20 hours on the island, so here are some areal shots instead. The Islands are absolutely beautiful!

The heat was unbearable though. It sure is a tropical island... *phew* I don't like heat... AND stupid me destroyed my new sweatjacket! *grr* look what I did!

So, after an uneventful stay at the Best Western, I went back to the airport early on tuesday morning (yep, lost a day on my way...) to finally board my plane to New Zealand *yay* Sure enough, I found yet another "Hamburg Süd" container on my way there :) They are everywhere! I also figured out the best part of flying outside of North America: free food on board! Considering that I'm pretty much broke by now, the meal was highly appreciated ;) And then I landed in New Zealand and these nice ladies started talking to me (after they nearly tripped over my carry on) and when I told them, it was my first visit to New Zealand, they were over-enthousiastic and said I absolutely HAD TO take pictures at the airport *hihi* they were so cute... So, they positioned me in front of the Maori Gate and clicked away!

We also took some Middle Earth Shots, of course :) I'm such a geek...

I took the bus into the city and - believe it or not - it broke down at the first stop, so I had nothing else to do but walk through the city. Auckland is very hilly, I hadn't expected that... luckily, my carry-on has wheels... I went down to the harbor (always my first stop ;) ) and enjoyed the afternoon sun a little before I met with my next couchsurfing host Carmel at her house in Auckland. I'm gonna stay here for a couple of days and then I'm off to the Bay of Plenty! *yay* All I need now is my next host....