HEADING HOME!

I have still not been able to upload pics etc for the South America leg of the blogs.It has been fantastic in parts, went to Macchu Picchu, the Trek nearly killed me but it was worth it! I will update the blog with pictures when I get home on Thursday. Sammie and Ryan are due to pick me up from the airport. I will go upto Birmingham with them to chill for a couple of days. Then onto Leeds to see family and collect some things. Before heading back to good old Tunbridge Wells!! Looking forward to seeing everyone again.
Treating myself to a couple of nights in a posh hotel in Sao Paulo before taking the long flight home.

SOUTH AMERICA

I am now travelling in South America with Maggie and Sinaid but it is difficult to get internet to upload fast enough to update blog ..I will have to do it when I get chance.Have been to Rio in Brazil, Iguazo falls in Argintinia, I am in Buenos Aires at the moment .Get overnight bus to border with Bolivia on fri, then head to lake Titicaca and onto Peru where we are trekking. will update when I can and thanks for all the messages from people wondering where I am and what I am doing..

loveSiobhan

MORE VANCOUVER

Aunty Helen was stung by a bee on the way home from Whistler and had an allergic reaction and she was not very well. But Stephen came over to look after her and I left to catch the train to visit cousin Bronwen and her family in Mission. (She insisted that I went !!!) It is about an hour and a quarter outside of Vancouver. Bronwen and Morgan were there at the station to meet me. I finally got to meet her younger brother Tosh who is so nice. He is convinced none of the family know about his existance. I assured him that we did and encouraged them both to plan a trip to England to meet the rest of their cousins!

Bronwen lives in a fabulous old house in Mission. Her husband Mark was at their beachhouse so we had lots of time to just hang out together and catch up on the last twenty years.





They took me to Tim Hortons, which is an institution in Canada!! Tosh, Morgan and her boyfriend Johnny are into Longboarding and they got all kitted up to go out longboarding. Morgan came back half an hour later with a horrendous cut on her bum from skidding along the road!!Do not think I will be taking up the sport!
Tosh is also an amazing tap dancer. I went along to watch him rehearse for a competition he is doing in Germany and he was FANTASTIC!!
(Morgan and Johnny in Lonboarding gear)
(Tosh tapping outside their house for me)
Mark eventually returned from the beachhouse with a very large salmon that he had caught.

He set too preparing to bbq it for us all to eat.

And their two large dogs returned from the beachhouse as well.



Bronwen and I went for a lovely long walk by the Fraser river , she told me what to do if a bear appeared. Stand still....I do not think I would be able to do that , I am sure I would run for the hills, so I was very glad we did not come face to face with a bear.

CANADA (VANCOUVER)

I got my flight at nearly eleven o clock at night from Nadi in fiji to Hawaii on Sunday the 31st of August.Even though I was in the air for hours, including a stop over in Hawaii,I landed in Canada four hours earlier than I had taken off on the same day!!!!! I am trying to get my head around all the time differences, but it is very confusing at times. I just set my watch at the time it is when I land and deal with it.
When I got to Vancouver airport I assumed that I would make my own way to Aunty Helen's house because I had messaged her to say I would. But I have to say I was thrilled to see her waiting for me when I got through customes. She lives in a lovely apartment in the Westend of Vancouver, near Stanley Park. It was so nice to be with family and to have my own room and a hot shower. I had a lovely nights sleep.

The next morning we met up with cousin Bryn and his partner Stephen, all four of us went sightseeing.

First we went to Cleveland Dam,which was very impressive.
Then we took the cable car up to the top of Grouse Mountain overlooking Vancouver. Even though it was very cloudy it was beautiful.

As we sat and had lunch in the restaurant overlooking Vancouver, the clouds began to break and we got some gorgeous views.
After the meal I realised that I had lost my cable car ticket from my back pocket !!! so everyone was taking the micky out of me.Thankfully Bryn found another one that I could use to get down the mountain. We went to the Grizzly bear enclousure to try and see the two orphaned bears that live there.
We could not see any bears for ages so Stephen and I got the giggles and decided to take close up pictures of the bears on the sign near the enclosure in a bid to convince people we had actually seen them.
Just as we finished, the bears DID appear and we saw them very close up. I was particularly excited because I had never seen bears before in my life.
We also saw a very good display by some lumberjacks. One chap did all kinds of acrobatics at the top of a very high pole before plummeting down on a wire.It made me quite dizzy watching it, but it was excellent.

Helen and I had only been back in the flat for ten minutes when the door bell wrang. Helen let the person in and said "I do not know who it was". We waited expectantly by the lifts and we were thrilled when my neice Carmel popped out.

She had flown in from Sydney. She was going to the Toronto film festival and decided to stop over in Vancouver for a couple of days to catch up with me and the family. We were both so excited to see her. And it was just luck that we had got back in time to meet her.

The next day Carmel and I walked down to the seafront and took the trolley tourist bus to go and see the sights of Vancouver. We stopped off at Granville market.
This is a very interesting place comprising of all kinds of craft stalls and a fabulous food market section where we had lunch. We then hooped back onto the bus. But we had not gone very far before Carmel was calling out with delight because she had spotted the 'John Fluevog' shoe shop. Apparently she had planned to buy a pair of his shoes in Tornonto. She adored his shoes!!! I got the picture, so we immediately hopped back off the bus again to check the store out. And she was in seventh heaven because the guy actually worked at that store and designed his shoes there. Sadly he was currently on holiday. But that did not dampen Carmel's spirits. She took great delight in trying on various shoes before deciding on a fabulous pair to woo everyone at the Tornonto film festival.
(CARMEL HAS THE PHOTO'S SO WILL HAVE TO ADD THEM AT A LATER DATE)
We then got the tourist bus to the sea shore and walked the rest of the way around the bay and through the park back to Helen's house. I love the sights of Vancouver and the feel of the city.
(VIEW FROM THE TOP OF AUNTY HELEN'S APARTMENT BLOCK)

When we got back to Helen's house Stephen and Bryn were already there for dinner.
Helen had cooked a delicous roast dinner for us. We had a nice evening catching up on all the family gossip.
The next day Helen drove Carmel to the airport and we both saw her off. Stephen then took Helen and myself out for a lovely lunch at a restaurant overlooking English Bay.
Later that night Helen and I met up again with Stephen and Bryn and we went to a restaurant not far from Helen's flat for dinner.
We had singapore sling cocktails. And a good time was had by all!
The next day Helen and I drove to Whistler Mountain. My cousin Norman ,who I had never met, owns a place in Whistler and he had kindly said that I could go up there with Aunty Helen to stay. On the way Helen took me to Lyons Bay, where she used to live before she moved into her flat in Vancouver. We went down to the park and beach she used to walk the dog on.

The views of the mountains on the two hour drive to Whistler were breathtakingly beautiful. Cousin Norman's place in Whistler is lovely.
It overlooks a very peaceful lake. We had a picnic lunch on the balcony.


We then took the cable car and chairlifts to the top of Whistler mountain. It was a bit scary at times on the chairlift and aunty Helen made me laugh because she was trying to be brave for my sake.



It was well worth the ride.
At the top there is a giant model of the 2010 winter olympic symbol for Vancouver 'The Inukshuk'.


And we could see the mountain ranges for miles and the various ski runs. When we got down the mountain we had a coffee at a cafe in the village. We were able to watch the mountain bikers come tearing down the slopes at great speed on special courses they use in the summer months, it was great fun. In the evening we had a delicious meal at a restaurant in the village square in Whistler. Then after a very good nights sleep we drove back to Vancouver where I finally met my cousin Norman.
He was so lovely and he reminded me so much of my grandad. We had lunch with him and he kindly offered to take to sightseeing later in the week.

SUNSET WAYA RESORT&WALU BEACH RESORT

I left Melbravo and got the big yellow boat to my next island. Waya island was two hours further south. It was nice getting on the boat because I met up again with people that had stayed at Melbravo during my time there. I took the little transfer boat from the yellow boat to Sunset Waya. As I approached there were locals on the beach singing to welcome the newcomers to the island.
It was really nice and although I was sad that I had left Nacula I was looking foward to my next adventure on this island. They soon taught us the songs and we used to join in with the welcoming singing and do the bula dance when the little boat brought the new visitors to the island. We had a great time doing it.
Waya has rugged hills and beautiful beaches and lagoons. There are four villages on the island and lots of walks through the hills to the villages. Sunset Waya resort is set on a wide curved beach with a tidal sandbar that connects it Waya and Wayasewa. You can walk over it at low tide.
It was great fun watching the locals trying to cross it in their little boats before the tide got too low.They would literally pick up speed and shoot across the sand path in the boat and land at the other side. The snorkelling around the beach was fantastic. Some of the German guys saw sharks, but I am glad to say I only saw very colourful fish and Coral.
Sunset Waya was very small and quiet with a no frill serenity. The perfect place to relax for ten days. This time I was not so lucky with my room because there was a dorm. But it was really nice and the first few nights there were only three of us in it.
Some nights it was nearly full, but as people came and went that varied, but I slept well. They did tell us not to have any food in our bags because the rats would get it. I was nervous at first, but after the first night I just put my earplugs in and went to sleep. Meals were very basic. They would summon us all to the table by blowing a big shell,around eight for breakfast, midday for lunch and seven for the evening meal. We would then eat whatever they had prepared. It was usually rice or roots with veg and meat. And we got afternoon tea around three.(again I only paid 40 fiji dollars a day !!about 13 pounds)
Most days a crowd of us got together to play volleyball on the beach. I was useless at first, but eventually I seemed to get the hang of it and if I do say so myself I ended up being pretty good at it! hee hee.
(MOSES, WHO WAS THE ENTERTAINMENT ORGANISER,SHOWING US HOW HE COULD BALANCE TEN SPOONS ON HIS FACE!)
There was a lovley man called Moses who organised all sorts of activities including walks to the villages to go to church.
I also joined the local women to learn weaving. I was thrilled with myself because I managed to weave a lovely bracelet. It was surprisingly relaxing sitting round with other women chatting and weaving.


I spent a lot of time lounging around in hammocks by the edge of the sea reading my books. I saw some incredible sunrises.

There was some entertainment if you wanted to join in, one night they did crab racing which was fun and another night we did silly dances and games.

They also did fire dances for us,but one of the guys burnt his nose and sat for the rest of the night with ice cold cans of coke under his nose!!!
Some nights crews from the yatchs sailing around Fiji would come ashore and join in the fun with us. It was interesting to hear their tales of how easy it is to crew ships to get around the islands.
Every friday all the villagers got together and they played rugby. I went to watch the tournament in a couple of the villages and it was great fun. It is a great social gathering and the standard of rugby is very good.
The ground is so hard and they just don't think anything of it when they are tackling one another. The local women were shouting out "Forget the ball , kick the man!!"which made everyone laugh out loud.
On the last morning on the island I went on the Shark feeding trip. For ten days I had been saying I would go the next day. But on my last morning they all said that I had to go. We were taken out in a boat for about forty minutes to a reef and then we jumped out with our masks and snorkells.
I was so nervous and I kept swimming back to the boat with problems with my mask. But eventually when I calmed down I swam out to the group and we saw FIVE reef sharks and it was amazing watching them swim around us. Our guide was feeding them and diving down to be near them. It was a fabulous experience.
After eleven days on the island it was time to leave and I got the Yellow boat to "BOUNTY" island.
This is where celebrity love island was filmed. It took me twenty minutes to walk around the island. I was just there one night and I stayed in the large dorm.

It was fun sitting by the pool where all the celebrities had spent nights arguing about who fancied whom!!

I had to text Sammie to let her know where I was and she was jealous.

The next day I got the boat to Malolo Island in the Mamanuca Islands. I was staying at Walu Beach Resort for five days.

I was in a lodge at the top of a very very steep set of steps!

The view from the balcony was lovely and I was lucky to be on my own in the lodge.
I spent most of the time there just reading my book and chilling on the hammocks by the beach. I spent a lot of time thinking about Jonathan and how he died. And I think it did me good to take time out.
There were some lovely sunsets.
There was also a group of Americans who were staying at the resort and they had lots of organised activities. One day they asked me to judge the boys cross dressing competition and that was hilarious.
On their last night the staff put on a traditional dance show for them and it was very entertaining.
The last night they upgraded me to a fantastic Bure by the beach.
I left Malolo Island feeling very relaxed and I really enjoyed my time in fiji, the staff were all so friendly.
I stayed one night back in Nadi at the Travellers Beach resort. They had let me store my winter clothes there so I spent ages sorting out my rucksack and getting ready for my flight to Canada the next night.