For two months Craig and I lived on a remote island in Tonga so that we could swim with humpback whales who lived in the waters surrounding us. We reached the island by taking an overnight ferry where we slept on the floor between local families. As the boat departed Nuku’alofa, bound for the Ha’apai…
Category: Oceania
Staying in a Traditional Fijian Village With a Chief | Yasawa Islands
After reaching the northern Yasawa Islands, our plan was to gradually work our way back south. So we left Nanuya Island and took a short boat ride across to Matacawa Levu Island. Our accommodation was set on a hill above a tidal inlet lined with mangroves, so it wasn’t an idyllic location because the water…
The Best Yasawa Isands To Visit | Fiji
The Yasawa Islands form a string of mountainous islands that rise out of the blue Pacific Ocean. I didn’t expect them to be so beautiful – in fact, I foolishly thought Fiji would be flat and a little boring. For day two in the Yasawas, we travelled on the Yasawa Flyer – a sort of…
Exploring the Yasawa Islands and Staying in Homestays | Fiji
After four long days of travelling from Mongolia to the Pacific islands, we finally arrived in Nadi, the capital of Fiji. As we queued at the immigration counters, two men in tropical shirts, sarongs, and sandals played ukuleles. It was late in the evening so we needed to get a taxi into town because the…
Cuddling calves, crazy roosters and taming horses | Life on an animal sanctuary
Our first few weeks volunteering at the animal sanctuary involved preparing food and cleaning which meant the only animals we were actually working with were the chickens and roosters – some of which had black belts in karate. Craig was attacked twice by two different roosters, the first attack was by Winter who was the…
The ups and downs of volunteering | Australia
We’ve done quite a few volunteering positions around the world and when we decided to revisit Australia we made sure to sign up to some. In the end we picked an animal sanctuary set on 650 acres of land and we had no idea what would be in store for us but living off expired…
Quokka’s, idyllic beaches and a dark history | Rottnest Island
Rottnest island as it’s commonly known was originally named Wadjemup by the traditional owners of the land. It translates to ‘the land across the sea where the spirits are’. Today it’s one of the top day trips to do from Perth and just an hour ferry ride from Fremantle so we whizzed downhill on our…
Goat sitting in suburbia | Fremantle, Australia
After our camping trip around the south western corner of Australia we looked into volunteering positions and the first one we signed up to was in Fremantle, just south of Perth. It was for two weeks and only required 10 hours a week so we could look after our hosts hens and goats while they…
Dolphins, rock pools and fascinating lakes | Western Australia
It was a crisp, cold morning in south Western Australia, mist was floating above the river and kangaroos were in the dew covered fields as the sun began lighting up the horizon. Our first stop today was Hamilton Bay which is said to be a great place to see huge stingrays that swim right along…
Giant Karri trees and witnessing the humpback whale migration | Australia
Today on our roadtrip around south Western Australia we temporarily said goodbye to the coast and made our way inland towards a forest filled with red tingles and karri trees. Our first stop was Walpole, home to the Giant Tingle Tree which had been hollowed out by fires, like many hardwood trees it’s adapted so…
