You&meTraveling2

 Tongariro Alpine Crossing, North Island, New Zealand New Zealand is a hiker's paradise. With hikes from five minutes to five (or more) days, there's something for everybody. One of the most well-known day hikes is the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, an almost 20km hike across volcanic terrain.  It's so popular, that in summer up to 1000 people a day walk the track. If it's that popular, it must be good. Right? How to get there The closest town to the trail is National Park Village (such a creative name). Coming from Rotorua or Taupo, one can either drive directly to the village or take a detour and drive the Desert Road. Desert Road sounded much more intriguing and adventurous so we took the detour. After Lake Taupo, the road winds its way through forest until it reaches a, really, desert-like plateau. Brown bushes and grass dominate the landscape. West of the road, as a backdrop to the brown colored plain, towers snow-capped Mt Ruapehu. The scenery, so different from the g...

North Island, New Zealand Rotorua is also known as "Rotten-rua" because of the smell of rotten eggs that hangs over the city. It's not that there'd be too many chickens and people couldn't eat all the eggs fast enough, it's because Rotorua lies in New Zealand's most active thermal area and it's the smell of sulphur rising from the many bubbling mud pools and holes and other geothermal features in the area. Looks good, smells bad: Wai-O-Tapu Wai-O-Tapu There are dozens of places to visit around Rotorua, including many spas and hot springs and other nice places to relax. However, since the weather forecast predicted only a few nice days that week and we didn't want to risk having to do the Tongariro crossing in bad weather we had to rush a bit. Our Airbnb host recommended Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland and, although we didn't visit any other place, I guess that's a great place to go if you can (or want to) visit only one site. Every day at aro...

Northland, New Zealand New Zealand's South Island may be more beautiful than the North Island (according to most travelers), but the North Island has some stunning scenery too. Bay of Islands A few hours drive north of Auckland, on the east coast, is the Bay of Islands. A bay with many islands, that simple. It's a major tourist draw but to be honest, we couldn't really see why. Sure, it's beautiful. But New Zealand has much more to offer in terms of landscape. For those who want to do activities such as cruising around the islands or skydiving, it's a good place to do that. Imagine flying over dozens of small green islands in a turquoise sea... If, however, you don't plan on doing anything the like, you can just as well spare yourself the drive to Bay of Islands. Cape Reinga Much more rewarding is the long but gorgeous drive to Cape Reinga, the northern tip of the North Island. At the cape, two seas, the Tasman and the Pacific, meet and looking out at sea you re...

Fiji What comes to mind when you hear "South Pacific"? Beach? Turquoise water? Snorkeling? Island hopping? Probably yes. Don't we all dream the island dream..? The Yasawas and How to Get There While dreaming is free, making dreams reality isn't. It's actually pretty expensive, especially in Fiji. But you cannot go to Fiji and not go to the small islands (on the main island, there are no beaches worth mentioning). Fiji is so far away (for Europeans, at least) and it's not like you'd go there all the time (that wouldn't make it any cheaper anyway) so forget about the money and live the island dream! One of the most accessible and affordable groups of islands in Fiji are the Yasawas west of Viti Levu. Once a day, the Yasawa Flyer, a yellow catamaran, sails up and down the chain of islands, stopping at the various resorts to collect and drop off passengers. Amazing Adventures, the operator, offers all kinds of packages from a few days up to three weeks - f...

Fiji Levuka Fiji should be all about lying at the beach and snorkeling or diving in this amazing turquoise water. However, if you have more time than money on your hands you're very likely to spend quite some time in Nadi or Suva instead of at the beach. Nadi The capital city of Fiji is Suva. However, the international airport is in Nadi, almost at the other end of Viti Levu, the nation's biggest island. Nadi is therefore the place where most travelers spend at least one night. Don't make it more unless you really have to, as there is nothing to see or do in Nadi. The beach is not particularly beautiful (unless you like grey sand and don't like coconut trees) and it's being built up with ever more hotels. As for now, there is only one tiny supermarket and a couple of restaurants in walking distance from the hotels; the town center is pretty far away. I won't try to embellish anything here; I didn't like Nadi at all and couldn't wait to get out of that pl...

By air, by land, and (better not) by boat Vanuatu. For so long we had dreamed about one day going to Vanuatu. It always seemed so far away, almost unreachable. From Europe, it really is a bit (no; much) too far to be considered a good destination for a two week holiday. From Australia or New Zealand however, it's only a few hours flight away. Traveling in Vanuatu We knew Vanuatu was going to be a bit expensive, especially the internal flights. Nevertheless we wanted to visit as many islands as possible, at least five or six. Once we had a look at Air Vanuatu's prices however (they're fixed and you can find a price list online), the list got shortened to only three islands. There are other carriers than Air Vanuatu but they're not much cheaper and if you fly to the country with Air Vanuatu, they give you a 20% discount on all their internal flights. However, you only get the discount if you book directly at an office or at the airport. Check-in counter at Ulei airport, A...

Vanuatu Did I say I was scared on   Dukono ? Or on the boat to   Bunaken island ? Well, back then, I didn't know what being scared was really like. What I felt on the boat from Ambrym to Malekula was a whole new dimension of being scared. I was terrified. No Easy Way to Get to Malekula Ambrym is beautiful and its people very nice but, to be honest, apart from the   volcano trekking   and a few days of relaxing afterwards, there's not much to do there. We wanted to see more of Vanuatu. The island of Malekula seems so close from Craig Cove on Ambrym, so why not go there? Not by plane, mind you, but by boat. Malekula is Vanuatu's second biggest island and home to about 23'000 people. Over thirty languages are spoken on the islands. The two major cultural groups are the Big Nambas and the Small Nambas, named after the size of the men's penis sheaths. Especially the Big Nambas were feared for being dauntless warriors; cannibalism was a common practice on Malekula. So...