February 2016

Sydney

Wake up! That is the name of the hostel where I stayed in Sydney. I really got up early every day so I could spend all day exploring the city. Although I visited Sydney for only 4 days I think I have seen pretty much all of its highlights. The famous Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Hyde Park and the Rocks.

Darling Harbour was a pleasure to be on Saturday evening. I watched the fireworks and some live entertainment. It was a bit crowded but the atmosphere was great. I enjoyed the sun in Manly beach. I had to take the ferry to get there which was a very nice experience. I was able to see the Opera House from different points of view so I took some great pictures. And I walked from Coogee to Bondi beach, the most famous beach of Sydney!

Effects of cyclone Winston

I feel so lucky that I was safe during and after cyclone Winston hit Fiji. Only the past few days I got to learn what has been destroyed. Thousands of people lost their home, especially the eastern part of the island Viti Levu got affected. The number of people that has been killed is still unsure.

Still, the eastern part and the city Suva, are not that far from Nadi where I stayed last week. To realise that it could have turned out way worse is just…

I haven’t really searched for any footage of the cylone. I’ll do that when I’m back home and have easy access to the internet. For now I feel sorry for the people who got affected…

Cyclone Winston

My first night at the Barefoot Kuata Island was actually my last. Unfortunately all people had to be evacuated from the Fiji islands back to Nadi due to cyclone Winston the next day. The ferry would probably be out of order untill Tuesday. I really wanted to continue my vacation in Fiji the way I was supposed to, but well safety first…

Winston was a category 5 cyclone and was heading straight towards Fiji. That’s why we all were evacuated to Nadi. Things went fast then. We had to find accommodation right away and there was no time to be picky. I also emailed the travel agency and insurance company to inform them about the situation. From now on it was just go with the flow.

That night everyone was waiting for cyclone Winston to hit. I haven’t really seen much, I just witnessed the first signs. I went to bed early because there was nothing to do. Also the power was cut off by Winston.

The next days I hopped from hostel to hostel and made the reservations when wifi was available. Since the power was down, daily life got messed up. Stores were closed, ATM’s are still out of order and the nights are very dark! And due to Winston flights were cancelled. I wanted to leave Fiji 3 days earlier but all flights were completed booked and probably no chance I can finish my travels as planned…

Fiji

My journey to Fiji was a very long one. I had to travel by bus, plane and boat. I don’t know how many hours it took to get here, cause I crossed the date line so I kind of lost track of time, data, days and hours.

I’m island hopping and the first island I stay on is Barefoot Kuata Island. It’s a beautiful island with a small beach, a lot of palm trees and big rocks. I wanted to fight the jetlag and got very active after my arrival. I went snorkling and saw really colourful fish.

It really is in the middle of nowhere. You can’t get off the island, only by boat which stops twice a day to drop off or pick up people. There’s no store, no nothing. I’m completely dependent and I’m not used to that!

Venice Beach

I traveled to Venice Beach where I would stay for 3 nights. I caught a bus which was one big adventure. The public transport is so different and the service of the drivers as well. Disabled people can easily access the bus and the driver is there to assist in any way. The guy even helped me storing my luggage!

I explored Venice Beach with its beautiful Venice Canals, I did some shopping at Victoria’s Secret in Santa Monica, visited the Santa Monica Pier and walked all the way to Fisherman’s Village.

The weather was great, close to 30 degrees Celsius. So I definitely enjoyed staying ‘on’ the beach these last few days in Los Angeles!