Location: Cologne, Germany
hi everyone,
can you believe it, i am actually back home since yesterday evening (first cologne beers have already been sampled ;) )!
the sightseeing in seoul did not work out too well, as when i had a look at the subway plan etc it just all looked SO big and confusing and busy and foreign, that i felt too overwhelmed to go out really.. seeing as i would most definitely have gotten lost and that always frustrates me, i just had a walk around the area in which i was staying, which was totally sufficient! other than that, i chose to chill out at the hostel in front of a fan, as it was so hot and close/humid.. and a lot of smog in the city as well!
i have now started a big tidying up session in my room, seeing as i will be staying with my parents for a while, until i have cleared my debt and/or found a job, at least ;)
off to ireland on thursday till the 10th august, as my cousin is getting married on the 1st.. looking forward to seein everyone again now!
well, until i go travelling again, this might be my last blog entry for a while.. unless of course i find myself unemployed for a significant amount of time that i get so bored that i decide to blog about everyday life as well.. ;) we will see!
thank you everyone for following my blog, for being interested in what i was up to, for looking at my photos, and for posting messages! i loved hearing from you!
take care,
love,
Ciara xx
Location: Seoul, Korea (South)
hi people,
just to let you know i have arrived safely in seoul, and i had no problems finding the right bus, bus stop and way to the hostel.. i surprised myself a bit there^^
tomorrow the real challenge for my sense of direction awaits, sightseeing is the task of the day! :) will let you know how it all went..
by the way, my phone doesnt work over here, they seem to have a much more advanced technology than the rest of the world, hence this update to let you know i am good!
see you soon,
Ciara xx
Location: Melbourne, Australia
hello all,
i am leaving oz tomorrow and absolutely devastated about it :(
have a 12 hour flight to seoul tomorrow and spending a day there, so wish me luck for my korean adventure!! :)
will be back in germany monday evening!
see you all soon, hope you're well,
Ciara xx
Location: Nadi, Fiji
Bula* from Fiji! :)
(*Bula is the traditional fijian greeting, it means hello, welcome, and a lot more, that just expresses their kind nature and warm hospitality)
I am sitting around in the Nadi Bay Resort with a few hours to kill before I make my way to the airport and back to oz, and seeing as it is raining (the first rain i have seen in fiji!) I thought to myself what better to do than update my blog and tell you a bit of what i've been up to..
so, after a lovely week in a 4 star hotel in sydney and a tearful goodbye to dan at 5 in the morning last saturday (4th july), i made my way to the airport to board a plane to fiji.
3h40 min later i was greeted by hot weather, sunshine, and friendly people sayiing Bula - a phrase i was going to hear and say a lot for the next week!
after one night in nadi on the main island, i started my 7 day island hopping tour with awesome adventures fiji. that day i spent 5 hours on the boat cruising up through the yasawas (an island chain with 20 ancient, mostly volcanic islands), until i got to mi first destination, coral view. the islands all have fijian names as well, but are more commonly known by the resort name. easy enough seeing as there is only one resort per island. some islands will have a fijian village population on the other side of the island, but not all. and some islands are not inhabited at all. the fiji islands comprise a total of 333 islands, but not all of these are populated.
anyway, my first destination was coral view, where we spent 2 nights.
when we came ashore we were greeted by all the staff with a big friendly smile, a handshake, and of course a "Bula"!
i had met some nice english girls on the boat, and was fortunate enough to be told that the dorm was full, and did we mind sharing a double bed? seeing as that meant 4 people in the bure (the fijian word for hut) instead of 30 in the dorm, and an ensuite bathroom as well, sophie and i obviously said yes!
the next day i joined a trip that took us to the sawailau caves (only form of transport by the way were small motor boats. from the big boat you also had to transfer to a small motor boat that took you to the shore, so we got used to it quickly). the scenery on the way to the caves (and also up to coral view) was amazing, beuatiful white beaches, so clear turquoise water, and green islands with mountains, some of them rising up to 1000m. other islands can be flatter. we were able to swim in the caves, and then, from the main cave, we had to swim underwater to get to a smaller cave, which was pitchdark inside, without the guide's torch we wouldnt have been able to see anything, but it was really exciting! that trip was well worth it!
in the afternoon we got a small motor boat over to the famous blue lagoon (a beautiful beach - seriously, thats how paradise must look like-) for some snorkelling and sunbathing. the snorkelling there was unbelievable. the coral start in such shallow water you sometimes have to be careful to have enough room to swim over them! the visibility was absolutely amazing, have never seen such clear water in the ocean in my life!
the following day, after having said goodbye to all the staff on the beach, who gave each of us a hug as we left (they consider their guests as part of the family and make a big deal of welcoming them warmly and singing them a goodbye song as well) we transferred to the next island and resort, korovou. the food there was by bar the best (all the other islands had basic food, you could eat it if you were hungry, but it wasnt great). sophie had met an australian family on the main island who we met at korovou. the guy, a retired scuba instructor, knew the reef in the region and took us on a guided snorkelling trip, which was amazing! the resorts always have some nightly entertainment, which often consists of the staff singing a fijian song, doing a fijian dance, and then wanting us to join in for the last bit, which was always fun! at coral view the first night (a sunday) the local school children came in and sang and performed for us.
unfortunately we only had one night there, and the next afternoon, i was seperated from all the girls i had got to know, as they were staying at wayalailai, and me on the island opposite, at kuata. unfortunaetley i couldnt change that. i decided to have a full day of not being in a boat, and just chilled out in a hammock, reading my book and enjoying the views. the next morning i had arranged to go diving, but the wind that had struck up in the afternoon had gottten worse, so i cancelled the dive, which left me with nothing to do, having finished my book, and no internet and no mobile phone reception (the other islands always had one of the two options) until the late afternoon, where i met up with the girls on the boat again.
one very rough crossing later, having lfet the yasawa region, we arrived at our last island, south sea island, which is part of the mamanuca island chain. it was a very small island but unbelievably cute. we had a nice dinner (fish, which wasnt as common as i though it would be, and potatoes instead of rice, thank god, as i had had rice every day with both lunch and dinner). after dinner there was a crabrace which sounded fun so i decided to enter.
they were miniture crabs in shells which had numbers on them, it was 3fijian dollars a crab to enter, so i picked crab number 7. in 2 exciting first rounds my number 7 qualified for the final and won that easily as well, leaving me to collect a nice ice cold bottle of white wine from the bar as a prize! :)
we shared that then in the evening, and then retired to our 30bed dorm (pretty common on the islands). the next morning i had arranged to go diving. unfortunately the wind had followed us down, but after talking to the instructor i decided to go anyway, as i hadnt been diving at all yet in fiji. i had done a good bit of snorkelling though, which was always amazing. one morning at korovou i joined a snorkelling with the mantarays trip, and i saw a massive one just 5 meters below us, it must have been about 3 meters in diameter, absolutely amazing!
anyway, me, another girl and the diving instructor went diving then (challenging for the motor boat to drop us off at the buoy in those high waves, but once you're underwater, no more of those troubles). we descended then, and explored a sunk shipwreck which was awesome, i had only ever been coral reef diving before. the shipwreck was really cool, and we dived along the bottom of the ocean a bit, looking around, until i stupidly stupidly didnt see the anemone (nemo's home for those who've seen the movie, and poisonous to everyone but him. clownfish are immune to the anemone's venom and are safe from predators if they stay in the anemone. the anemone's poison numbs other fish and thats how they get their food). anyway i stupidly didnt see the anemone, turned around, and brushed my whole leg up against it, which instantly started stinging like hell. jellyfish stings are nothing against that! obviously being underwater it is harder to communicated, so jason the dive instructor first thought i had a cramp, but when i made him understand that my leg had touched the anemone and that i was in pain, he took my hand and i held my leg with the other hand, and we ascended to the surface then. by the time we had reached land my left leg (from my shin up to above the knee) had red spots and big bubbles on it, pretty disgusting, but some first aid with vinegar and hot water made the bubbles go away thank god. i had been planning on spending the whole day on the island going back to the main island with the last boat at 5, but they told me i had better get on the first boat at 11.30 (i still had to wait 2 hours) to go to a doctor. so i did that. with constant vinegar and hot water the pain had got a lot less though! the diving company arranged for me to be picked up at the marina by one of their staff members. this girl had organised a doctors appointment for me and put me in a taxi so i could get there. taxis are confusing here because not all cars have taxi written on them, so i was glad she did that. she said it was a good doctor she was sending me to, so i was a little relieved. bit freaky not knowing how this sting will affect you, and being sent to dr. ram raju in a strange country, but luckily everyone speaks english as its their official language. the taxi driver waited for me while i was at the doctors, who gave me a prrescription for antihistamine tablets and a cream, and told me i'd be fine. the taxi driver also waited for me while i was at the pharmacy (everything is in fiji time over here which means no one is in a hurry) and then drove me to the nadi bay resort where i was staying, and only took a pittance for the whole journey, which was amazing!
my leg still has red spots on it, but hardly stings anymore, so i am on the mend! nothing like a bit of excitement on your last day, eh? ;) anyway, no need to worry, i am absolutely fine!
that was my awesome adventure in fiji anyway, i am flying to melbourne via sydney later today, and am looking forward to spending another couple of days in oz, before i have to head back home.
hope you are all well, i will upload photos as soon as i have time.
take care,
Ciara xx
Location: Sydney, Australia
hi everybody,
just a quick update on my whereabouts and travelplans..
i am leaving sydney for the last time on saturday (never coming back and VERY sad about it), to fly to fiji for a week (with no internet, so don't worry if i don;t answer, i have not been kidnapped, but will rather be busy diving/ snorkelling/ sunbathing ;) ).
i'll then be in melbourne from the 12th july and i fly to seoul (south korea) on the 18th, have a look around for a day, and arrive back in frankfurt on the 20th.
2 days in cologne then for doing laundry ;) and on the 23rd july i will be flying to ireland until 10th august.
after that planning to hang around for a while, so see you all then!
hope you're all well,
take care,
Ciara xx
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
hi there people,
here's a quick update of my and dan's long weekend in new zealand!
it was amazingly great, and we really really enjoyed the hotel which was smack in the middle of the city centre! 5 star was great! :) although we obviosuly had to resist the temptatioins of the very expensive minibar, room service, and all the other great things they had to offer..
we were very busy all weekend, as our flight to auckland was delayed by about 90 minutes due to the incoming plane from auckland not being able to start because of fog.. but we got there in the end, exchanged some money, picked up our rental car and drove to the hotel. friday night we went out casually for a lovely mexican meal, and they ended up charging us too little for the wine. we had ordered a bottle but only paid for a glass! we were out of there quite quickly before they could notice their mistake! ;) we then headed into father ted's (most authentic irish pub i've seen in a long time) for a couple of drinks, there was live music there as well which was great!
just a little sleep in on saturday, got up at 8, and took a ferry over to rangitoto island, a volcanic island. spent the day there exploring, walking up to the summit for amazing views back to auckland, and walking through the dark lava tunnels which formed during the eruption (and i bumped my head although we had a torch, bit clumsy.. ;) ). in the evening we got dressed up for dinner at a lovely malaysian restaurant, and then back to the hotel for a chilled out evening as we had to get up at 6 the next morning for a long drive.
we drove 3 hours to rotorua, where we looked at geysirs (one of them was still erupting!) and mudpools etc. with amazing nature views there and on the way there, had nice lunch along the way and then drove to the waitomo caves, a cave with glowworms living in it as well as obviuously having stalagmites and stalagtites.. our tour through the cave also included a boat ride through it, with the glowworms overhead, which was very nice. headed back to the hotel then and enjoyed our room with a takeaway (the bed was sooo comfortable and we had amazing city views out of the gigantic window) and a few drinks before going to bed earlyish. we only slept for 4 hours though as we had to catch an early morning flight yesterday (we had to get up at 4!) but that meant we had the whole of monday back in sydney!
after the cold of new zealand (5 degrees celsius, good thing i had brought a warm jacket!) we were greeted by lovely warm sunshine in sydney, and went whale watching. we had great views of the migrating humpback whales, they actually jumped out of the water a good few times! we didnt just see only a tail or a fin like we thought might happen, but they actually leapt right out a few times, amazing! and the small fasty boat was an extra thrill, the ride was fun!
cooked a nice spaghetti bolognese in the evening/late afternoon and went to sleep veeery early at 7.30 as we were so tired, but we had a great time!! :)
hope you're all well, will try and upload pictures asap!
Ciara xx
Location: Sydney (again, haha), Australia
hi there everyone,
just a quick update to let you all know what i'm up to these days..
well i'm back in sydney (again) and staying in 790 on george (again :) ), so no surprises there! other than that, i'm spending my days working in a takeaway juice and smoothie bar near central station, which is 5 min from where my hostel is, so very convenient for me! other than that, i'm hoping to get a few bar shifts at strike (same bar as before, different venue).
and other than THAT, i'm enjoying life and spending time with dan, although i have been informed that the weather is warmer in europe at the moment than over here! unbelievable! i have taken to jeans and cardigans, (but also had to buy a scarf! and some very pretty boots :) ) for quite a while now, but its mostly still sunny, which makes it very nice!
i will give you more info on my definite homecoming date very soon, so stay tuned!
cheers,
Ciara
