Been living out of my suitcases for over 12 years |
seafarer | traveler | spiritual gangster | ancient gladiator of joy | warrior of light | adventurer | music lover | dreamer | in love with life and all things bubbly & shiny.
I am Natalia and this is my story.
Fiji is an interesting place. We stopped in two ports twice each; Port Denarau and Suva.
Port Denarau is a stunning and gorgeous resort island. My mates and I spent the day exploring it with a tour of a typical Fijian village. It's interesting to see that these traditions have not died over the years. Men are in charge of the village but they also wear skirts. What I learned that long ago a Fijian went to school in England and saw a Scotsman in a kilt and when he came back he decided to instill a bit of that in Fiji. They don't call it a skirt, they call it a pocket sarong and it's even part of the boys' school uniforms.
We watched local performances and were offered the local Kava drink but I opted out since I am not so sure if I would pass a drug test after sipping it. Fiji is hotter then the sun and we were caught in the rain in a matter of minutes as we were leaving the village. The remainder of the day we spent in the botanical gardens.
Port Denerau is green and lush, Suva was more like a hardcore city. There was a cool market right near the pier where you could buy fruits, veggies and other local products like coconut oil and frangipani oil. It was so unbelievably hot we ended up going shopping for a quick minute and then off for an ice cold beer. My friend introduced me to this store that had these stunning local prints in gorgeous dresses, shirts and sarongs. If you ever go through Suva you must stop at Pacific Island Art
So I have been at home for two months. Well when I say at 'home' I mean off the ship. In that time I have cruised Alaska, cruised with my other half, gone to Miami, Las Vegas and tomorrow I am off to Amsterdam.
Still working on putting together posts from Fiji, the crossing and Alaska and the vacation adventures.
I know it may seem like a glamorous life but honestly all I want is my backyard, a book, my hammock and a strong coffee.
For real... I have clocked 97 650km in the last 11 month.
There is something so spiritual and serene and calm about New Zealand. We only did one cruise there but we all deeply enjoyed it. There was minimal crew onboard and anyone who had a chance to go out was out. We had on opportunity to see Wellington, Akaroa, Dunedin and the majestic Fiordland Park.
Wellington was our first stop, seems fitting as its the capital of the country as well. The weather was a lot cooler (lets say a good 15-20 C cooler than Sydney) than what we were used to. My friends and I decided to explore on foot. We took a cable car to the top of Wellington and spent some quality time in the botanical gardens and greenery of the city and admiring the vista of the port. We ended up walking down instead of taking the cable car back down. We paused for a hot minute to have a coffee and a snack in an open air cafe and got attacked by a duck. We screamed so loud (and in unison) that we gathered some fame for it and were commended for it later in the day by some non-ship out of town visitors. We took a local bus around town and spent some time in the museums. What I really like about NZ is that all the museums are free an open to the public which is really nice for some of our crew members who send all of their wages home and spend little on their own enjoyment.
The day was quite enjoyable but the cherry on top was the Maori performance from the local artists once we came on board. It was very memorable and had me walking out of the theatre like I was partaking in a Haka.
Taking the Wellington Cable Car all the way up
RIGHT before the duck attack incident
This is one of the better clips that I took of the Maori performance of the local artists. Unfortunately I didn't get a good one of the men performing.
Buuuuutttt....basically my mates and I walked out of the show like this:
Our second port of call was Akaroa. Akaroa means long harbour and Maori and that indeed it was as we had to tender to and from land and the ride took a while. My mates and I took a stroll through the adorable town. It has a very small town English feel to it, later I found the population was less then a thousand. There were some cute markets and food outlets as well as mom n' pop shops. We wondered around for a bit and my peeps started climbing trees and picking cherries. We scored $5 touques (that's beanies to the rest of you) for souvenirs and climbed in some pots for a photo op. It's a very pretty and scenic port and very walkable even if the walk takes all of half an hour to get all around town.
The last port that we docked in was Dunedin which is known for it's Scottish ancestry. The port facility was actually quite far from the town itself so I didn't get to see a whole lot. My mate and I managed to take a stroll about town and all the crew members were ranting and raving about the world's steepest residential street. We then followed the rest of the crew to the Cadbury factory as everyone seemed to be spilling out of there with kilos of the good stuff. The choco was cheap as chips and a hell of a lot cheaper than Australia. There ended up being a crew medical disembark so I had to rush back but I had about three hours of sightseeing before the call of duty.
Scenic route to the town of Dunedin
World's steepest residential street
Cadbury!
Perhaps the part of New Zealand that I enjoyed the most was the Fiordland Park. It's the largest of NZ's national parks and one that the ship can navigate through. Although it was quite chilly for me I spent majority of my day on the open deck taking in all the sites. I felt a deep spiritual connection to the area and I was overwhelmed with gratitude for being given the opportunity to witness it all. The majestic fiords reminded me of a cross between Scottish highlands and Hawaiian landscapes. Just so green, mystical and beautiful.
We actually set our own record as the only ship in the fleet to travel to the most southern and northern points than any other ship (New Zealand's South Island and Reykjavik, Iceland). Look how amazing this place is!
I go around the world admiring and taking photos of ports, harbours and cities. Sometimes I take my own city for granted and I don't stop to admire it's beauty and uniqueness. Yesterday I was invited to a post wing ceremony for a friend that flies for a local airline and I had the opportunity to stop and take in the city for a bit.
