A Walk Among the Beaches

Around Easter, A. and I took a long weekend in Wilson’s Prom. The Prom, as it’s known here, is one of Victoria’s little secrets. Well known in Melbourne as a getaway and a gorgeous spot for camping, quiet beaches and rugged hikes, it’s little heard-of outside of Australia- and I’m okay with that.

We were blessed with beautiful weather- neither too hot nor too cold, and (a rarity in Victoria) no rain to speak of. Patches of cloud made photography a little more interesting, and we spent several days exploring beaches, cliffs and walking trails up and down the coastline. We also got to know the local wildlife a little better- here, A. made friends with a Crimson Rosella, but the campground at Tidal River is also known for its population of semi-tame wombats, and there are roos and wallabies up and down the length of the trail. Not to mention Tiger Snakes. Oddly enough I didn’t pause to take a photo of the one I nearly stepped on, as I was busy scooting back down the track in a hurry, looking for a large stick.

Wilson’s Prom has been struck with a series of natural disasters over the last few years, including devastating bushfires that damaged much of the park and made many tracks unsafe to walk on. Flashfloods more recently have equally left much of the park’s infrastructure in disarray, and when we were there, many walks were still closed to the public and under repair. It was somewhat disappointing, and we were unable to walk some of the trails we’d been hoping to, but we still found some gorgeous scenery and some great hikes, so we can’t complain. Really, it just gives us something else to go back for. Not that we need the excuse.

I have to confess, we were a little cheeky. Some opportunities were too good to miss, and we ended up scrambling up a couple of closed tracks to find ourselves on secluded beaches and little coves that we had entirely to ourselves. The Prom isn’t exactly crawling with people outside of peak season, but it’s still a popular destination. However,  being the only people in some of these spectacular spots was really quite special, and we relished it.

The coastline at the Prom is rugged- rocky and wild, with coves and beaches interspersed by tall cliffheads and rocky outcrops. It’s a dramatic landscape, and one of the most beautiful along Victoria’s southern ocean shore. The Prom juts out into the Bass Straits, a long and jagged peninsula that is one of the most exposed parts of the state. Once upon a time, a land-bridge joined Tasmania to the rest of Australia, and the Prom is its last vestige. When you look at some of the rocks around the Prom and compare them to, say, the rocks of northern Tasmania, you can see the similarities.

Our favourite walk was the one that led from Darby Saddle to Tongue Point. It’s listed as a moderate hike, which is a fair assessment- lots of ups and downs. Starting well inland at the high point of Darby Saddle (always ominous, because it means you need to end the walk with a climb back to the car), it took us a good chunk of the day to complete- five or six hours, when we factored in the exploring. The views along the way were magnificent, however, and it was well worth the effort.

Towards the end of the walk, the path splits and there’s a little scramble down to Fairy Cove. We were pretty much the only people on the track that day, so we had the spot to ourselves, and it was magnificent- a glorious and footprint-free beach where we could scramble onto the rocks and watch the breakers dash themselves against the headlands, and even a little tidal pool we were able to take a little swim in- still freezing cold, but not as hostile as the ocean itself.

One of the loveliest things about the Prom is the constant drama. With the winds coming off the straits, the clouds are ever moving and shifting the light on the scenery. The sea is restless, and you can sit for hours just watching the waves pound the base of cliffs or swash up around fallen rocks in great foamy charges.

Three things I’m keen to capture on my next trip to the Prom. First off, the night skies are magical out there, so taking a tripod to do some starlight photography is a must. Second, a spot of time-lapse to catch the movement of waves and clouds would be magical. And third, I am busting to get myself a nice telephoto lens and do some nice wave photography. The above shot is about the best of the bunch I was able to get, but I’m only shooting on an 85mm, which doesn’t really have the reach necessary to get those lovely creamy breakers at their best.

Next time.

Seriously, it’s a spectacular spot, and I can’t recommend Wilson’s Prom enough. If you’re coming through Victoria as a tourist, or if you’re just a local Melbournian with a weekend to spare, make sure you get down there.

Where in the World was Morealtitude?

I admit it: I really haven’t been all that busy this year from a travel perspective, so I don’t really have much of an excuse for not blogging. I’ve only had a handful of trips away from home and the family, and those have all been moderate in length. However it’s still been a pretty interesting year so far, and it ain’t over yet. Here’s a little photographic synopsis:

We started the year with a trip on the Murray River in Echuca, with good friends of ours who own a boat and a couple of wakeboards. At that time of year, the river is warm (but muddy) and reasonably crowded, but if you get out during the hottest part of the day, most people are cowering indoors and you can get some beautiful runs in. This is T doing his stuff.

A work trip to South Africa was followed by a long weekend trekking the bays and clifflines of glorious Wilson’s Prom, on Victoria’s southern coast.

From there, I had myself another work trip, this one out to Kenya, followed by a detour into South Sudan. That was pretty much the last time you really heard from me on this blog, here, here and here…

On my way back, I joined the family in Thailand for a bit of a well-needed break from the southern hemisphere winter, where we pretty much threw Magic into the pool and let her splash around for ten days while we slept. It was a very nice pool though…

I had a couple of trips cancelled after that, so I spent a considerable amount of time hanging out in Australia with the family, which was actually lovely and refreshing. I also hung out at pirate-themed parties…

…and aquariums…

My latest work trip took me to the US, where I was able to swing past Arizona to visit friends

Then to our training base in the backwoods of the Florida panhandle

Before wrapping it all up in Savannah, GA, with a visit with more friends, and a bit of time on the beach.

I’ve got more adventures coming up, but I’ll fill you in on them as the time draws near. Which shouldn’t be too long now, God willing.

In the meantime, I’ve more photos to share from my collection this year which I hope you’ll enjoy, and before long hope to have this blog back up to full steam again.

Peace out

-MA

Photos:

1. Clouds above Atlanta

2. Wakeboarding in Echuca, VIC

3. T lays down some spray

4. Fairy Cove, Wilson’s Prom, VIC

5. Kilimanjaro & Kenyan hill-country

6. Resort Living, Phuket, Thailand

7. X marks the birthday party, arrr

8. Viewers at the Melbourne Aquarium

9. Saguaro cactus, Pheonix, AZ

10. Sunlight catching in pine forest, northern Florida

11. Dune grass beneath a moody sky, Tybee Island, GA

A Short Year in Photos

The year isn’t over yet. Not by a long shot. But by the dearth of fresh photos going up on this blog you could be forgiven for thinking I’ve hung up my lenses and called it a day. In fact, by the dearth of fresh anything going up on this blog you could be forgiven for thinking I’ve hung up my keyboard, too.

Happily, neither one is the case.

I have, however, been a little overwhelmed with the inconvenience that is real life, and it’s taken me a little time to get through a backlog of photos for processing, and eventually, writing some of them up. I’m hoping to remedy my general neglect of this site recently over the next few weeks. Which I’ve said before. But I do actually have a little free time coming my way. So, maybe…

At any rate, as a taster here are a few of my favourite pictures from the last ten months or so, from a few different spots round the globe. Some of these locations I might flesh out a little more as time goes on, but for now, I hope you like this little collection of images.

Top: A muggy and overcast day on Tybee Beach, Savannah, GA. Overexposed in-camera and processed for low colour and emphasizing highlights focuses on the texture and an almost dreamlike view of the ocean. Shot using shallow depth of field means the foreground is soft while the waves beyond are in sharper relief.

Above: A baobab tree rises from rusty soils and a  flowering ground creeper in fields outside a village in rural South-East Kenya. I was struck by the lovely contrast between the spray of white flowers (actually weeds), the red ground and the blue sky- all nicely lit on a fresh morning. Baobabs make for a fantastic photographic subject- stark, dramatic and instantly recognizable.

Above: Rounded rocks on a beach at Wilson’s Prom, on the southern coast of Australia, give testament to millenia of weathering at the hands of the relentless ocean. Shot in overcast light and exposing to darken the sky with some differential exposure in post-processing has kept the rocks in low contrast, emphasising their smooth shape and texture, and emphasising form over colour in the muted palette. Wilson’s Prom remains one of the prettiest corners of Victoria in my playbook.

Above: Downtown Phoenix, seen from the air coming in to land, with the high-rise central business district just off-centre and Chase Field, home of the Diamondbacks, off to the right. The way the grid of small streets and roads lead in converging lines take the eye through downtown and on to the hills in the background, and the effect makes this one of the only shots I’ve taken from a plane window that I actually like.

Above: Trentham Falls, outside Daylesford, Victoria, Australia, as viewed from behind the falls themselves. Hand-held at slightly long exposure has given the falling water a slightly silky texture. Among the challenges of taking this image were the issue of shooting from a darkened vantage against a lighter sky and trying not to allow much of the image to burn out. Additionally, several plebs managed to find themselves in the frame, so I removed their pesky presence in post-processing to give the image a more serene look. I actually had to wait up here for a good six or seven minutes for a couple of kids to step out of the frame at bottom, where they had been chucking big rocks into the water. Overall I like the quiet scene and the relatively soft palette of greens and earthy tones.

Above: Highway bridge, Savannah, GA. You don’t generally get many good shots through a car windshield, but this spur-of-the-moment snap-shot (I use the term to refer to how quickly it had to be lined up and taken, not the camera it was taken on) works for me. Again the lines of the bridge struts give a great sense of motion, leading the eye into a contrasty late-afternoon sky, and a broad horizon giving the feeling of wide open spaces. It’s a shot that captures movement and an enjoyable juxtaposition of dramatic engineering and natural beauty.

Above: The sun sets directly over an intersection on a steamy panhandle night near Altha, FL. The warm tones and striking position of the sun are nicely led to by the wires of the phone lines, and I like the faint splash of reflection coming off the road.

Portraiture: The Hole in the Rock

Earlier in the year (yeah, it’s taken me this long to get around to posting these), A. and I went on a little trip down the Great Ocean Road. Just past Anglesea is an attractive rocky spine of a headland, at low tide surrounded by sandy flats. The rocks themselves have been weathered by salt, wind and water, and are riddled with holes and dimples, full of character.

While I was framing some beach shots, A. climbed up behind the outcrop and found herself a little window in the rock to peer down at me. The location appealed to me, so I let her pose while I fired off a bunch of frames. I was really pleased with the outcome.

There’s a number of things I really like about this shoot (aside from the fact that I happen to like photographs of my lovely wife ). First off, I find the interplay between organic and inorganic really appealing- hard, lifeless rock versus fluid, living being. And yet despite this contrast, A. fits really well into the hole, and the shape of it seems to compliment her form in it.

I was using my 16-35mm wide-angle lens, usually a no-no for portraiture, as it tends to distort features unnaturally (especially up-close, where it can make noses bloom and hairlines recede). However in this instance, I kept really close to the rock but not so close to my subject, A., who stayed in the middle distance (which for that lens is about 5-10 feet away). The effect was to keep A. fairly well proportioned, but blow the rock right out, filling the frame, stretching it and (at closest range) blurring it. Oddly, this actually gave the impression of movement through the image, and making the frozen twists and boils of the rock appear fluid, another nice contrast. With A.’s hair catching a sniff of sea breeze, it gave an overall impression of motion and dynamism to an otherwise static scene- almost like a breaking wave frozen in time.

This next shot I like for the sheer fun of it. Again the wide-angle lens has played its role here, overemphasising what’s close to the glass and throwing all else into the distance. A.’s hand and arm are large, almost claw-like as she crawls out of the rock, and she seems disproportionately large compared to the rest of the scene. At the end of the day it’s just a fun image, brought to life by the distorting effect of the wide glass.

This next one I enjoy for the way the rock hole seems to mold to A.’s shape, framing her in a sliver of burning white. The different elements- blue sky, hard rock, fierce backlight, and A. herself, all contrast and yet work together to hold the image in a way I find very satisfying. You can see some lens fall-off in the bottom left corner, further developed by the shallow depth of field, which is a bit of a shame, but doesn’t rob the overall effect in my view.

And this last one would have to be my favourite of the bunch. In part because it’s just a lovely shot of my favourite person. But I also like how natural it feels, very comfortable and unstaged. I’m also very chuffed with the lighting and how it all came together. Shooting portraits contre-jour (into the light) is usually a challenging proposition unless you’re good at using fill-flash (something I’m still learning). The camera tends to overcompensate for the light behind the subject, darkening the face/body of the person you’re shooting, often to oblivion. Because the backlight was only a small portion of the frame here (A. and the rock both served to block most of it out) there was enough light on A. to keep her well lit and visible, with only minor tweaking in post-processing. The result, she looks like she’s emerging out of the sunlight, while the way her hair blows out to white and the frame of the sky behind her has a halo-like effect [avoid angelic references here].  All up, one of my favourite photos in recent times. But then I confess the subject leaves me a little biased…

As always, thanks for swinging by, and hope you enjoyed.

Ciao,

-MA

The Beach in Black and White

This series was shot on a sunny afternoon not far from Anglesea, VIC. A wooden feature designed to keep the hillside from collapsing into the sea (presumably?) cast shadows onto the sand. The intense contrast between light and dark made these images more interesting than the subject alone might have rendered them. In particular, I like the first image and the very pure texture of the sand where overexposure has driven it almost white. The differing surfaces- smooth sand, rough wood- also adds a contrast that reinforces the black/white, natural/man-made themes of opposition.

 

Being Six

M. is six.

I don’t post a whole lot of personal stuff on this blog. Partly cos that’s not what most of you who visit here are into. Partly because you have to be a little bit careful about how much you share of yourself online, for a range of reasons.

Sometimes, though, it’s nice to be a little self-indulgent. And, well, this blog is about photos, as well as travel and aid work.

I shot this little set of photos (with one exception) during a little trip to the beach not far from where we live. I’m pretty new to this parenting thing, and it’s not without its challenges. And at times, quite frankly, it’s terrifying. But one thing I feel very strongly (not that I’d ever try and distill parenting into a catchphrase) is that one of my most important roles as a parent is to ensure that M. gets the chance just to be a kid. Not worry about all the things her mum and I worry about. Not work her tail off like we sometimes have to. Just play, and run, and laugh, and feel light, and free.

Just be six.

Because being six is about riding scooters on summer afternoons.

Being six is about having little buddies who are soft and cuddly…

…and taking them with you everywhere you go.

Being six is about kisses from mum…

…and not caring when hair gets a little crazy.

Being six is about bike-rides in the park…

…and icy-poles…

…and sticking out your tongue.

But best of all, being six means having someone there to make sure you can just, well, be six.

A Scenic Detour

While I’ve not been quite as prolific a photographer during the first half of this year (something I’m looking to change), I have managed to break my camera out a few times. And likewise, although my travel schedule has been light-on, I’ve popped up here and there to get a few images that I feel are worth sharing from around the place. Once again, I’ll let the images do most of the talking.

These first few are from the East Coast of the South Island, a ways north of Kaikoura. We were blown away by the beauty of this little pocket of the country. I’ve travelled pretty much every corner of New Zealand, with only one or two exceptions, and this was one of those exceptions. A winding coastal road clings to the rocks and cliffs along this rugged coastline, with dramatic breakers on one side, steep hillsides rising to mountains on the other. The weather was glorious and the scenery rich. I’d go back in a heartbeat.

We found this little church and it’s environs along the same stretch. The churches around Christchurch and northwards are beautiful and would be well worth a photography excursion on their own merit.

Another area of fresh exploration for me was Golden Bay. This exquisite pocket of the South Island, along the north-western tip, is a lfiestyle haven with delightful scenery and a rugged, secluded feel out of the main township areas. We did a short walk to Wainui Falls to one of the more dramatic waterfalls I’ve seen for a few years (partly due to Victoria’s general rainfall scarcity).

The bush walk up is lovely, but the falls make it totally worth the effort. Heavy and gushing and surrounded by dripping temperate rainforest, it’s a gorgeous spot to explore.

Heading northwards through the middle of the North Island and it’s so-called desert centre, we stopped on a windy afternoon for a view of Mt. Ruapehu across the barren plains. Wind-tossed wildflowers made for a nice inclusion into the frame on the first shot.

Catapulting west a considerable distance, I snapped these images of downtown Cape Town, South Africa, from my hotel window. Just to mix it up a little.

And finally, a weekend break took us down the Great Ocean Road here in Victoria, where we came across this little waterfall at the end of a roadside footpath into the Otways. One of the under-rated treasures of Australia, the Great Ocean Road is full of pathways and corridors through the bush to explore, and could be mined for weeks for little gems like this one.

More to come as the camera gets out for more walks…

Blue Lagoon Beach Resort: The Real Slice of Paradise

The last time I wrote about Paradise, I was being more than a little ironic. PNG was far from my idea of a good time- however pretty the pictures look. The post was hard, I struggled with the culture and the professional isolation, and for all the good diving and some of the good folks I spent time out there with, it was still a relief to move on to a different stage in my personal and professional life.

I went to Fiji in July. It was my fourth trip to the little island nation. I went once for a family holiday in 2001, followed by a couple of work trips in 2008 and earlier this year, and this latest trip was a combination work-play. The first two weeks were to be spent helping manage an interagency disaster simulation for NGO staff in the Pacific across half a dozen agencies, as well as Fijian government representatives. The third week I was to be joined by my [now] fiancee for a bit of relaxation on a small island.

I’ve always figured Fiji for a nice enough place, without being really special. It’s a bit synonymous with package holidays and honeymoons, a sort of upmarket Bali with fancy hotels belying a fragile national economy. We booked into a resort hotel based on input from TripAdvisor, and despite the glowing reviews I was a little dubious. The idea of packaged meals and a resort-style trip (something I’m not at all familiar with) left me a little uneasy.

Besides, I’ve been to a lot of places. Over 50 countries worldwide. A whole bunch of beautiful beaches and coastal holiday areas- Cairns, Noosa and Sydney in Australia, dozens of places in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Haiti, Hawaii, Tahiti and Mombasa- to name an incomplete list. I’ve snorkelled or dived in most of those places, swum and relaxed or sunbathed (to some extent) in all.

So when I say that the Blue Lagoon Resort in Nacula is as close to beach paradise as I’ve come across, I know what I’m talking about.

Overview

Where to start? I’m a bit overwhelmed really.

Well, first off, an overview. A brand-new resort, Blue Lagoon pitches itself as a mid-range option to independent travelers that suits budgets of better-off backpackers and flashpackers and young families. It’s quite boutiquey- probably around sixty guests at any one time- and it’s a ways out there too- some four and a half hours’ boat ride from Nadi, and at the top end of the Yasawa group of Islands off Vitu Levu’s west coast.

Nacula is a decent-sized island about 10km long and maybe 2-3 wide at its widest. The resort is situated on a beach shared with one other low-key resort on the west side of the island, giving it stunning views at dusk as the sun sets over the Pacific.

And the beach is the one you’d create if you had a drawing board and 10 million years of geological time at your disposal.

It’s an arc of white sand sloping from a green verge into a turquoise lagoon of calm warm sea. The lagoon itself slides away on a shallow gradient where a natural channel has formed through the coral reef, while small waves lick quietly at the shoreline.

More on the reef presently.

I’d heard nice things about the resort, but had a feeling that, based on the slightly backpacker-ish pitch of some of the material I’d read (they have a backpackers dorm as an accomodation option) I was concerned that maybe the rooms would be a little pokey. I’d settled myself with the thought that even if the rooms were a bit small and/or run-down, the main attraction was being out and about on the beach, so I steeled myself for the worst.

Unnecessary.

The Place

The rooms are delightful. We booked a Delux Garden View room, set back a row from the beach among lush and flowery growth, riddled by sandy footpaths. Stepping inside, the bure was large and spacious, with a high open ceiling, fan, wooden slat-blinds that allowed free-flow of air, and an open-air bathroom with magnificent shower. It was clean, new, well-built, and smacked of simple quality.  It was light. It was airy. And sitting on the foot of the bed, you could look straight out of the front door and (despite not being an sea-view room) see the irridescent aqua of the lagoon itself.

Really, once you hit location and accomodation, you don’t need too much more than that to go right to have a good time. None the less, there was more.

I’m not a fan of Pacific cuisine (sorry to any of my island readers out there). A year in Melanesia didn’t overwhelm me with vibrant culinary experiences, so I was a little suspect at having to package all our meals in with the accomodation, and face the prospect of not getting to choose off a menu. But again, this was completely unnecessary.

The food is great. A wide variety of styles- curries, fish, western, asian and Pacific- is on offer, with meals varying each night of the week, and a limited a-la-blackboard menu option at lunch time as well. The dishes themselves were nearly universally tasty, and the variety and volume left nothing to be desired. You do need to plan ahead a little, as meal-times are set and there aren’t stacks of between-meal options, but we had a little heap of biscuits with us that we never made it through, testament to being well fed. Communal eating didn’t really appeal at first (dinner takes place at shared tables- gasp!), but the barefoot vibe of the place (and the travellers frequenting it) facilitates a really chilled-out opportunity to get to know people.

The Experience

Never a package-holiday traveller, I wasn’t particularly interested in the daily activities that the hotel lays on, but in fact they had some fantastic little trips available, of which we partook several. Snorkelling trips to explore other nearby reefs, sunset and drinks on the sandbar (we missed this one, sigh), a hike up to the island’s highest peak (beautiful views), and a handful of cultural visits as well were all on the menu. A must-do trip is to the Nacula Caves, which involves a series of swim-throughs of saltwater limestone caves at the top end of the island- not for the claustrophobic, but otherwise a unique and fantastic morning which everybody enjoyed.

An aspect of the resort which we really appreciated was the attitude of the management. Run by Australasian expats, the management are accessible, friendly and helpful, and mingle easily with the guests. The local Fijian staff are warm, welcoming and hospitable, as well as being very professional. It’s the sort of place where you get to know the staff by name- and they you.

More to the point, the resort prides itself on its links to the local communities on the island- something that we found especially important in terms of our own values in this area. As well as trips which incorporate, employ and interact with villagers, the resort runs a scholarship fund for students on the island to which cover costs of fees, uniforms and school supplies, as well as contribute to the maintainence of the school facilities. Guests are invited to contribute to the fund, and the resort will match dollar-for-dollar whatever is donated. There is a sense of respect and interaction between the resort and the village, which I hope the management will be able to maintain as the resort ages.

I would be wrong not to return to the lovely reef. Quite aside from the access to a number of dive-sites in the area via the on-site dive-shop (do the shark dive), the snorkelling is, well, unlike any other beach snorkelling I’ve done. While I’ve seen a handful of reefs that are more vibrantly coloured close in to shore (but only a handful), the diversity and volume of fish-life was a delight, and never this accessible, anywhere. If I reel off a bunch from memory, there were Triggerfish, Moorish Idols, Parrotfish, Chromis, Anthias, Unicornfish, Sweetlips, Jackfish, Dascyllus, and a host of other reef favourites. The more special visitors included a shoal of Reef Squid, Stingrays, a huge Octopus and a metre-long Barracuda- all within 10 metres of the beach itself! The reef is accessible at high- and low-tide (and in fact the reef life differs at the two extremes, worth checking out), and more to the point it’s a joy to swim along; the channel provides a shallow sandy-floored passage that drops to a couple of metres in depth for a long way out into the lagoon and which is very comfortable to swim along, and the reef raises a wall along the southern edge of that passage where most of the action is. It’s a safe, enjoyable way to investigate the sea life, and we did it every day, and loved it.  For sheer accessibility to a really exciting reef, this can’t be emphasised strongly enough.

As I referenced in an earlier post, I proposed out at Blue Lagoon (and would have been hard-pressed to chose a better location for it). Before heading out, I dropped Kylie (one of the managers) a note letting her know my intentions and asking if there was anything a little special I could arrange with the hotel’s help. She was most supportive and immediately gave me a list of options, including a lobster dinner for two on the beach (away from the horde), and the option of having a picnic on a secluded private island nearby- both of which I seized upon and both of which were thoroughly enjoyed.

Some Balance, Please?

Words of moderation? Well, a couple probably. First up, once you’re on the island, you can get away without paying much more, but the temptation will always be to do things and have drinks, and these will add up. You don’t use cash out there, everything gets recorded in a book and you pay up at the end, so if you’re not keeping track you could be in for a bit of a surprise- nothing (except some of the activities) is particularly cheap- although it’s not extortionate by resort standards either. That said, having food taken out of the equation is a pretty good thing, and we managed just fine with our bill.

My biggest fear for Blue Lagoon is that as word gets out, the place will get a little overrun. The reviews on Trip Advisor are pretty rave, and with good reason- this is a very special place right now, and somewhere that we will never ever forget (not just because we got engaged out here). It’s been open less than a year. I’d love to think that the management will be able to maintain the relaxed vibe several years into operating with high demand and through-flow, but it’s not impossible to imagine it getting a bit worn-out, so I’d recommend getting in sooner rather than later.

And, well, the cocktail list could probably be improved on. But really, when you’re four and a half hours from the mainland and everything has to come by boat, you can understand why these things might be a little lacking, if that’s your thing.

All up, this was probably my best single hotel/resort experience, mixing a lovely blend of quality, relaxation, activities and experience, all at a very reasonable price. My hat goes off to the team running the place as they’ve created a really special location with a perfect unpretencious vibe. Great for travellers, flashpackers and families with a reasonable budget, this goes right to the top of my list of ‘places you should visit in the Pacific’.

Verdict

Accomodation- 5/5 Light, fresh, new and spacious. The open-air shower has to be experienced to be understood. A range of really pleasant options from budget through laid-back comfort, this isn’t the Denerau Hilton, but why would you want it to be? Ask for Garden Villa 11 and get sea views thrown in for free.

Food- 4/5 Great taste, decent lunch options and a good range of evening meals, despite not having any control over the dinner menu. This would be a total win if there were more between-meal snack options and a wider range of drinks at the bar, but really, I’m just looking for things to quibble about because there’s really not much else to add balance.

Location- 6/5 Amazing reef, gorgeous beach, sunsets and tropical vibe- this has to be one of the best-located resorts in the Pacific. What can I say to the Blue Lagoon’s detractors? Would you like the hotel moved a little to the left?

Activities- 5/5 Relaxation is key here, and relaxation and swimming are free, but the creative options for daily activities mean that for those unable to entertain themselves still have an option to keep busy. Do the cave trip. Not for adrenaline junkies- but hey, this is Fiji. If buzz is what you’re after, Queenstown is to the south. And there’s always the shark dive.

Vibe- 5/5 Just brilliant. Beanbags in front of the open-front bar, barefoot dresscode, bonfires on the beach, and a general emphasis on chill-out throughout. And small enough to keep it personal. Really, really lovely.

Management- 5/5 Friendly, accessible, helpful, flexible and professional. What more would you ask for?

Ethics- 4/5 It’s refreshing to see a resort pay more than just lip-service to supporting local communities. It’s hard to know what impact a throughflow of western travellers will have on the island’s economy and environment, but the fact that they invest in local education is a great thing, and the friendly disposition of both local staff and local villagers we interacted with suggested that the attitude is more than just a marketing ploy for the time being.

Value- 5/5 Value is an entirely subjective term. I appreciate every dollar we spent at Blue Lagoon and don’t have any regrets, as we came away with a set of beautiful memories and a great time. It’s not the cheapest option out there, but my word do you get what you pay for in terms of location and vibe.

Blue Lagoon also gets an extra 5 points from me for that little extra something for laying on a really special time for us as we got engaged. Just fantastic.

Thanks guys for an amazing stay.

Details

You can check the Blue Lagoon website here for tarrifs.

Room rates start from FJD 40 per night for a dorm bed, through lodge rooms at FJD 140, and villas ranging from FJD 209 through to the delux ocean-front villa at FJD 449. Food packages are included at FJD 70 per person per day, and return transfers to the mainland, FJD 276. (FJD 1 = AUD 0.57; FJD 1 = USD 0.51)

All up, it means a mid-range stay option for two adults for a week comes in at around FJD 2,000, so if you couple that with a good flight deal from Australia, it can be quite accessible- though is by no means at the bottom end of the price scale. Worth every penny, in my opinion, but everyone values different things.

Of course for a different extreme in the travel stakes, check out a couple of my tales from West Africa. Now there’s a cheap way to have a travel adventure…

Forgive Me, Interwebs, For I Have Sinned

It has been 4 weeks since my last post.

It is a cardinal law, all but set on tablets of stone, that attainment of Blogospherical Salvation rests on regular written communion with the faithful readership. In this mission, I have trespassed catastrophically of late.

Be they the faithful unto Blog, devotees of the Great FB, or members of the Church of Twit, congregations connect to the messages shared from the pulpit of QWERTY and HTML. Without these pressed words, followers begin to drift.

I have my justifications, of course. From mid-July I was preparing for my third overseas trip in six weeks. I then spent two weeks in Fiji helping to manage an emergency simulation exercise. Not only was this flat-out exhausting, but internet communications in Fiji were devlishly poor. From there, I spent a blissful ten days on vacation, during which I was completely disconnected from the interwebs (being, as I was, on a small heavenly tropical island five hours from the Vitu Levu mainland). As an added blessing I even dropped my phone on the first day of that vacation, and which now no longer works as a result. This has some drawbacks now that I am back in civilization (such as the loss of my entire phone contacts list) but it was truly glorious for the time away.

In Fiji, I was joined by my girlfriend who, as happy providence would have it, agreed to become my fiancee while we were away.  This (I confess with only limited penitence) meant I had slightly more pertinent issues to fill my head and heart with than what to post as my next blog commentary on aid trends or complexity theory. I now come home with just four months in which to plan a wedding- a fact I’m extremely excited about, but also thoroughly overwhelmed from an administrative perspective.

(Admin and I are not good companions; in fact I tend to acknowledge myself to colleagues as an ‘administrative black hole’. They don’t take long to realise what I mean.)

And as if that isn’t enough, I come home to find my portfolio popping off (typical that this would be the week I choose to disconnect from the world). I look after emergency situations in the band of nations from south Asia all the way to eastern Europe, with Somalia and Haiti thrown in for good measure (because the first semi-continent doesn’t leave me with enough to do). While I was away, Pakistan managed to sink itself into one of the largest humanitarian emergencies of the last decade, while there have been significant security incidents in both Afghanistan and Somalia which require attention around the way in which we do business in those countries.

I’m on my knees here.

To further distract me, I also picked up my long-awaited iPad on Monday. I have already taken an evangelical liking to it, and will be prosletysing its wonders shortly on this blog no doubt; already a follower of Apple, it took no time at all to convert me to the beauty of this new device. Setting it up this week, I can see it’s going to be both a fantastic tool, and a terrible distraction. I’m looking forward to constructing some of my blog posts on it and seeing how that works…

So I hope you can find it within your hearts to forgive me this temporary transgression. We all know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but I do have a canon of posts up my sleeve to impart when time and circumstance allow, not least of which some words to share around the upcoming World Humanitarian Day. There are a few photos from the trip to Fiji (although I confess my mind was on other things than my photography for much of that trip, both while working and while on holiday).

And the one grace in all of this is that, perversely, my average daily readership these past four weeks has never been higher. Should I be reading into the fact that when I’m not posting anything, that’s when most people seem interested in Wanderlust? Not to develop an inferiority complex or anything…

At any rate, thanks for your patience and your continued visits to this site. I hope you can continue to find things here that you enjoy, as it’s certainly a joy for me to share them with you.

Till next time, Peace, Shalom, Salaam (and for my Muslim Brothers and Sisters, Ramadan Karim)

PS- I’ve never been one to share much personal stuff on this blog, and that’s not about to change now. However, lest any should ask, yes, the proposal involved all the proper components: ring, bended knee, beach and sunset, followed by champagne & lobster for two on the beach, and a picnic the next day to a small deserted island.   It also involved that all important word, ‘Yes’.

Who knew getting engaged could be so much fun?

The Tasmania Tour, Gate 6: Bay of Fires

 

The sleepy port town of St. Helens was our jumping-off point to explore the highly-regarded but relatively-little-known (until recently) Bay of Fires. St. Helens itself is a sweet, inoffensive little place, with a a few nice cafes along the main strip selling local produce (mmm… local produce…) but not much to hold your attention for more than an hour or two. The waterfront is a little plain, and to hit the good stuff, you branch north along the coast, towards Birralong Bay.

Birralong Bay is the southernmost point of the stretch of coastline known as the Bay of Fires. A series of headlands of harder rock seperated by wide sandy beaches, the coastline was named by early explorers who saw smoke rising from the many campfires of the Aboriginal inhabitants- an indicator of how densely populated the island once was. Perhaps the darkest tranche of Tasmania’s history is the effective annihilation of its Aboriginal population in the early years of its settlement- a source of deep shame for Australia’s past, and one that gets little talked about. It has left a scar on the collective memory of the people and, dare I say it, the island itself.

The landscape, however, gives away little of this sadness. Birralong Bay is a delightful cove of crystal-clear seawater and gentle waves lapping onto a sandy beach perfect for a swim and a play. Accomodation options in the little village are limited, but would be my first choice for any future visits. It’s a delightful location.

 

From there the simple road follows the coastline north, with the beaches off to the right (and periodically out of sight), skirting saline lagoons set back from the waterfront. There are multiple access tracks down to the beaches themselves, and many locations for camping as well- another awesome accomodation option.

The bays are simply wonderful. Sandy, pristine, and largely devoid of people, they are a beach-lovers dream. The water is cold and the only drawback is that many of the bays have rip-tides that inhibit swimming. None the less, for gorgeous seaside views and a quiet time on the coastline, you’d be hard pressed to beat the Bay of Fires.  The aqua colour of the water there simply has to be seen to be believed- it is eye-popping.

The access road peters out at the sweet little hamlet of The Gardens. From there, it’s possible to scramble among the rocks and even explore further north on foot. The rocks, as in many parts of coastal Tasmania, are scored with a red algae that contrasts beautifully with the blue sky under a polarized lens, and could well be another source for the Bay’s name.  This next photo is one of my all-time favourites from this trip.

It’s worth noting that the Lonely Planet mentions the Bay of Fires at the top of its list of top 10 travel destinations for 2009.  While I’d hesitate to put it at the very top of my personal list of have-seens (and want-to-sees), it certainly ranks up there in the memories as a beautiful spot.  It has clear water, clean unspoilt beaches, is easy and cheap to access, and is not overrun by visitors.  Bay of Fires comes highly recommended from Yours Truly, and if you’re visiting Tasmania, do put it on your itinerary. As elsewhere in Tasmania, it’s natural beauty at its best.