Avalon has gone to Fiji…
again 
I actually bought hubby a “Rough Guide to Fiji” as a Christmas present before we left the UK. We assumed we would be taking loads of long weekends to random sandy islands all over the Pacific, in the same vein that we would take a long weekend in the UK or Europe before we emigrated.
It hasn’t worked out that way: the money just isn’t there to justify it, because prices are just more than we feel is right.
However, we really do need a break, and we have managed to get flights using the very last of the airmiles we accrued with our flights to and from the UK. And we have managed to save up for some nights in the Fiji Hilton.
So I have actually decided that this week, I am going to recycle some old blogs, that get lost in the dim and distant past of blogs where no one ever sees them again. There wont be anything heavy – just some lighthearted stuff about life in New Zealand that you may have missed.
Please enjoy, and I will be back soon, relaxed, pampered and ready to take on the world of blogging once more!
Would you pay $800 for a can of Coke?
I guess this might sound like a really daft question, becuase hopefully there is no one on the planet actually so careless with money that they would do such a thing. But it was a question that came to me after flying to Fiji.
You see, on our recent trip to the Gold Coast for hubby’s work – we flew economy class as usual, and both asked for Diet Cokes after our food (or what is termed food by airlines!). We got a small plastic cup half filled with our drink (to stop it spilling I presume), and Hubby was slightly miffed that we didn’t get a full can. Which at least we could have poured a little bit out of at a time – but at least we wouldn’t be rationed to 3 sips before having to ask for a refill (not that we got the chance!).
But lo! on my trip to Fiji I went Business Class! And no – I didn’t pay for it! This was on points from our previous trip to the UK. We bought Early Bird Tickets for Singapore Airlines – which came with enough bonus points to each get a Business Class flight to Fiji, Rarotonga or the Cook Islands. Worth looking for if you are flying back home anytime soon.
And yes – I did get a whole can of Diet Coke all to myself. In fact I had 2. Plus a glass of bubbly before the flight and a nice glass of wine with dinner. Not a bad start to the holiday.
The cost of that flight?
Well I picked 2 random dates in August on the Air New Zealand website and this is what I came up with:
- Return Cheapest Economy = $648
- Return Business Class = $1530
Which by my reckoning makes the cost of a can of Diet Coke on an Air New Zealand Flight to Fiji a remarkable $882.
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Back From Fiji with a few photos
Ok – so Ive been back a week now. but it took a while to settle back in, and then I came down with an awful head-cold. Thankfully I still had some UK Sudafed tablets, so its all dealt with – cos you now can’t buy them in New Zealand.
I had a wonderful time. In fact the only downside of the whole week was that I went for a very quiet relaxing break, and unfortunately so did half of Australia because it was the school holidays there. With their children. So it wasn’t exactly as quiet as I was hoping. But the hotel was wonderful, the spa beautiful, and thankfully the room I was in was away from the pool area where the children were, and I basically had my pick of loungers and umbrellas to sit on the beach with.
Fiji is in no way cheap to stay in for a good hotel – and there are plenty of good hotels. And this time of year seems to be a good time to go: its still hot but not too hot, and theres a nice mid morning and afternoon breeze which makes lunging on the beach just truly wonderful.
At first I was very conscious of the high price of everything. After all money is a bit tight right now and I didn’t want to go crazy, but after a day or two I did relax and decide that I could cope with a bit of rampant overspending in the search for some recovery time. It really worked.
So- heres a few pictures of Fiji – I didn’t got go exploring – or do anything other than relax, order room service, laze on the beach, and hit the spa.
Oh – and hubby got major brownie points for rearranging his work and booking a surprise flight out to join me on Thursday night.
View From my room as the sun starts to go down.
The “Adults only pool” at about 8am – before it gets filled with kids that can’t read.
My Own Personal Sun Loungers – not a single other person ever sat there the whole week I was there. Perfect.
And the view from my own personal lounger. Ahhhh.
A beautiful gift of Frangipani from housekeeping.
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Avalon is in Fiji…
…thanks to a free flight on Singapore Air points from our last UK trip, and a deal on a hotel via Expedia.
…where internet connection is really expensive – hence its taken me a few days to log on and approve comments – so apologies for the delay.
…where hubby couldn’t join me cos the life of a newbie contractor means he cant take time off right now
Ill be back online at the weekend.
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Air NZ has a new toy :)
I do like gizmos – and Air New Zealand have a pretty nifty one. Its called How Far Can I Go, and it really fun to play around with. OK, you will get bored after 5 minutes – but hey – it’s 5 minutes of free entertainment.
Basically – you tell it where you want to travel from, an then you use a slide bar on the right hand side to say how much of a budget you have. Then you watch as the lines expand out from your base and show you how far you can fly for less than your budget. It then shows you the flight options and prices on the left hand side, from where you can investigate further.
Just be aware that as this is Air New Zealand, some of the prices quoted are one-way and some are return flights. It can make flights look cheaper than they really are.
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Happy Birthday QE2 – lets all have a day off!
It’s a holiday today. Yet another one. We get so many here in New Zealand – I think it is an often overlooked benefit of moving here. I always found it slightly strange that we don’t celebrate The Queens Birthday back in the UK with a holiday – but move half way round the world and you get a day off for it.
Not that it isn’t celebrated back home – but the Trooping Of The Colour – while a nice bit of pomp – isn’t exactly giving us plebs a holiday like we get here.
In fact it seems that several Commonwealth countries get a day off for this – so I feel even more that as Brits we get a bit let down on this front. Oddly though – everywhere celebrates it on a different day. Oh to be Queen – several birthdays every year.
Nonetheless – it’s a day off work for people here, and also marks the official start of the Ski Season. Not that I go skiing. Although as it was actually snowing here in the Wairarapa yesterday – almost unheard of- it’s a timely if unwelcome reminder that winter is here.
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Do Kiwis really have a better quality of life?
Shock, horror! A new survey is out that suggests Kiwis just are not taking enough holidays and are prepared to work extra rather than take even the holiday they are entitled to.
Now – just so you know – the survey is commissioned by Expedia – so bear that in mind. They claim that about 45% of Kiwis do not take their full holiday entitlement. I find that quite bizarre, as New Zealand employers aren’t exactly generous with their holiday allowances at the best of times. It’s only recently that Kiwis have been able to take 4 weeks holiday a year as of right – until then it was a measly 2 weeks for most people. When you bear in mind that Hubby used to get 5 weeks minimum in the UK with an extra 2 days a year because he had worked for the same company for 10 years – you can see that it is still not exactly generous now.
Only workers in Australia, Canada, Japan and the US got fewer holidays than us Kiwis. I’m guessing it wont be a surprise to many people that France got the most!
Worryingly, the survey also says that 35% of Kiwi workers were changing their holiday plans because of the state of the economy. It is not clear from the report whether this is simply a case of taking a cheaper holiday, or “cashing in” their unused holiday.
What worries me most is that a third of kiwis surveyed said they were not taking all their holidays because work commitments were to great. Many of us migrate to New Zealand to work less and spend more time at home with the family. It appears that it actually may not be the Kiwi thing to do.
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