Recently, I went on tour to Auckland, New Zealand with English National Ballet and it was a lovely experience! Luckily, we had some days off to beat the jet lag before we started performing and could go explore Auckland. My friends and I decided to venture to Waiheke Island to go on a wine tour and visit the beach. Mind you, by this point my suitcase was somewhere on its way back to me (the airline left it at my previous connection) so I had to keep calm and go shopping for clothes to wear, haha! So my friend introduced me to this cute and fun shop called Cotton:On, where I immediately found an outfit that would do the trick. Obviously, I was stressed about the fact that ALL my belongings could potentially be lost, but that didn’t stop me from going on a wine tasting tour!
On the tour, we visited three vineyards: Mudbrick, Cable Bay, and Te Motu. Every vineyard had amazing wine, but I remember enjoying the Rosé the most. After all the wine tasting shenanigans, we made our way to Onetangi Beach, the most popular beach on the island and a perfect location to watch the sunset from.
If you’re ever in New Zealand, I highly recommend visiting Waiheke and its fabulous vineyards! You definitely won’t be disappointed!
After completing our performances in Auckland, we had the option to stay over for a few days, and trust me, after travelling for 24 hours in a row, you will want to make the most of it. Which is why we decided to make my friend’s childhood dream come true and visit Fiji.
Where do I even begin with Fiji?
Fiji is like all those mental images I had of paradise come to life. It is what you would want the rest of your days to look like, and we immediately realised this when we arrived! The people are so friendly and welcoming, that they make you feel at home and introduce you to Fiji time (how they call their ultra relaxed sense of time) the second you step off the plane. We only spent three days there, but we didn’t waste any time. On our second day, we went out on a cruise around the Fiji islands, and visited three different locations. The first one was an incredible sandbar in the middle of the ocean, the second was open water where we could dive off the boat (we had so much fun, that we had the whole boat involved at one point), and the third was Monuriki Island, better known as Cast Away Island. This island is gorgeous and yes, you guessed it, it’s where Tom Hanks lost Wilson.
I absolutely loved Fiji, and its spectacular people and scenery! I would go back to enjoy more of that Fiji time in a heartbeat! If you have the chance, go and visit this gem of a country!
Until next time!
xx,
Adriana
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