Eden Park Open Day

Today was the official opening of the new stand at Eden Park in preparation for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The new stand is amazing, it has an outer skin on it which is very unusual.

At the four corners of the ground are beautiful carved statues of Maori gods.

We also had the opportunity to go to some usually off limits areas including the changing rooms - very impressive and with a large warm up area inside as well.

At one stage we got caught up in the official walk about with the prime minister, John Key, who was very approachable and had a chat with lots of people on the way round.

We also got to meet some of the rugby and cricket players, Royston here with All Black Jerome Kaino, he's huge!

The official opening was done by John Key, along with the new Auckland mayor-elect Len Brown and the Minister for RWC2011.

This is the view from the top of the new stand back to the Sky Tower in the city.

And the view of the new stand from the existing ASB stand.

The highlight of the day was to get our photo taken with the Webb Ellis trophy, most Kiwis will be hoping the All Blacks are holding this November 2011.

The Big 4 0

For Royston's 40th we had a day and night in the city. Our accommodation for the night was a luxury room in the SkyCity Grand with a fabulous view over the harbour, just a shame about the grey clouds...






Lunch was a seafood platter at Orbit, the revolving restaurant at the top of the Sky Tower.







After a nice walk around the city we went back to the room and found a chef platter of homemade chocolates and a bottle of fizz.







After watching the sun start to set we headed to Sidart for our evening meal http://www.sidart.co.nz/ the winner last year of Auckland's best new restaurant.

Fijian Sunsets

Every night we got to see the most amazing sunsets, a selection of photos here.

Radisson At Night

Every night at 6pm was the lighting of the torches (accompanied by several children dressed a mini Fijian warriors.






The torches were lit throughout the complex providing ambient lighting at night.








Each week they have a Fijian themed night with singing and fire dancing.

The fire dancing was pretty spectacular to watch

Most evenings we had sundowner cocktails on the deck, a great start to the evening! We tried different ones each time, this being the Fijian Warrior and my favourite.

Day Trip to Castaway Island

Today we took a boat trip out to Castaway Island, one of the islands in the Mamanuca island group. The trip called in at several islands on the way so we got to see most of the islands in this group. The nearest and most popular day trip is South Sea Island.





From there we stopped at Bounty Island, famous as the setting for the UK TV show Celebrity Love Island...






The next two islands were very close together, Beachcomber Island is more of a backpacker's island.




Whilst Treasure Island is more family orientated and famous for its coral reef just off the beach.






The next stop was Mana Island, one of the largest islands in the group. Along with a few beach resorts there is also a Fijian village with locals living here.







Finally we reached Castaway Island where we transported in on little motorised boats to a warm welcome from the singing staff.







Unfortunately the tide was out for the majority of the day so we couldn't go snorkling but managed to wade out to see some sea creatures including this fantastic clam.







And this weird creature, no idea what it is! We also got to see a reef shark, only a small one (couple of feet long) fortunately.






After 5 hours on the island it was time to head back to Denarau, a great day out exploring the island and seeing other islands in the group.

Around Denarau

Denarau Island is a man made structure, reclaimed land from mangrove swamp and home to luxury hotels and multi million dollar homes and equally impressive boats. It is an easy walk between all the resorts. Several of the resorts have hammocks on the beach.

A couple of the resorts also have their own wedding chapels, most facing west to make the most of the spectacular sunsets.

The pool complexes at the other resorts were quite different to the Radisson, mainly groups of much smaller pools. This is the Westin with the bures covering the spas.

The port or marina area of Denarau is a relatively new complex and home to numerous bars and restaurants as well as the departure point for boat trips to the islands. We ate here every night as we enjoyed the atmosphere and variety of food on offer, though lobster 3 times on holiday may have been a bit extravagent!!

The easy way to get around Denarau was on the Bula bus which calls into every resort and the marina.

Radisson Denarau, Fiji

As part of Royston's 40th birthday celebrations we decided to venture to the South Pacific Islands staying at the Radisson at Denarau Island in Fiji. This is the family pool with a swim up bar, and views to the sea in the background.






The adult pool with adjoining spa pools is where we spent most of our days, enjoying the sun and relaxing.







The sunset deck was where we spent our early evenings watching the most amazing sunsets (see separate post).







This is the view back up to the reception area and bar/restaurant.








And the waterfall feature as you walk into the complex. Overall a fantastic resort with beautiful grounds and pools.