The Real Isla Nublar

I remember one of my very first blog posts where I joked about King Kong’s Skull Island being on Google Maps. It is on there as a bit of a joke, but of course it doesn’t actually exist in any shape or form, although scenes from the latest Kong movie were shot on location in Vietnam as well as Kualoa Ranch in Hawai'i. However, there is a fictional island that pretty much does exist: Jurassic Park’s Isla Nublar...

Oahu, Hawai'i

Our time in Hawai'i saw us spend four days on Oahu and the following four days on the island of Kauai, where you'll remember we visited Manawaiopuna Falls - more commonly known as Jurassic Falls. This absurdly-majestic natural construction was used in the original Jurassic Park movie when our characters land on Isla Nublar by helicopter, but I won't talk about that experience just yet. Instead, like I did with Kualoa Ranch, I’m going to give it a post of its own. Why? Because Jurassic Park. 

Alien: Covenant Review - In Space, No One Can Hear You Yawn...

The bitch might be back, but this time it's hardly war

2012's Prometheus was rightfully ill-received, given its unbelievably incoherent plot and the convoluted mess that was the origin of the once-simplistic xenomorph, not to mention a horribly out of place back story about the creation of both the alien species and mankind itself. From there it seemed only hopeful that its follow-up, designed to act as both sequel as well as yet another irrelevant prequel to 1979’s Alien, would be an opportunity for director Ridley Scott to at least retcon those mistakes and go back to basics, returning us to the horror roots that made the original and two out of its three direct sequels work. 

Guardians Of The Galaxy: Volume 2 Is A Groot Sequel...

The old and the new join the awesome mix

After both the critical and financial success of the original back in 2014, there was never any doubt that an inevitable sequel had a lot to live up to. Never mind that this is the fifteenth entry in the MCU, because the one of many things Guardians nailed was establishing its own identity in an otherwise generic-feel franchise. 

MoDana..?

Paradise comes at a price (literally)

After spending a month in New Zealand, we headed for Fiji; the chain of tropical islands in the South Pacific. There, we embarked on a tour with ‘Awesome Adventures’ which took us to four islands, each with a ‘unique’ resort of its own. Well, as unique as an island resort next to a beach can be, of course. Here though, I think ‘unique’ translates into ‘standards.’

Welcome To Jurassic Park...

At Kualoa Ranch, the gates to Jurassic Park are always open

Since landing in Honolulu, Hawai'i a few days ago, we haven't just been lucky enough to visit the city zoo where scenes from Jurassic World were filmed (see the elephant pictures below, whose enclosure doubled as the film's Gentle Giants petting zoo), but just yesterday morning we were even luckier to visit the real thing. Yes, we spent the day in Oahu's Kualoa Ranch, where the box-office monsters Jurassic Park and Jurassic World were filmed, in 1992 and 2014, respectively. 

The Fate Of The Furious Aka Fast & Furious 8 Aka Fast 8 Aka GTA: The Movie

Charlize quickly regretted saying, "Don't look, but I think I know that guy..."

After spending the morning – or at least ten minutes of it – falling from an aeroplane above the Fox Glacier outside the epic mountain town of Franz Josef, I was pumped and in the mood for some more adrenaline by the evening. From the safety and comfort of a cinema seat, of course. It seemed the skydive demanded a lot of energy and by nightfall I was feeling pretty exhausted, so it made sense to relax and watch the latest The Fast & the Furious instalment, The Fate of the Furious, also confusingly known as Fast & Furious 8 or Fast 8. Why not just keep it simple eh, guys?

The End (But Not The End) Of All Things...

Well, what an adventure… Sure, me and Sian didn’t undertake most of the activities including kayaking and surfing (although I did jump out of a plane), but we’re more than happy enough being somewhere we’ve never been before and soaking up the scenery on offer. And it’s almost an understatement to say that New Zealand has a lot. It’s not just the adventure capital of the world - it’s probably the most beautiful country too. Its stunning, breathtaking and otherworldly landscape certainly raises the bar on epic, and, to once again quote our chief experience officer Mark – whom I’m now thrilled to call a friend – “it’s Ireland on steroids.” There’s simply no other way to sum up this country.

A Jam-Packed Week Deserves A Jam-Packed Post

Another reason to do a whistle-stop blog post is that I’m currently on my last night in New Zealand with access to some decent Wi-Fi. Tomorrow we head to Fiji where I expect we’ll experience similar issues to most of New Zealand, and I don’t want to end up with such a backblog of posts again.

This Isn’t Flying - This Is Falling… With Style

Stomach is already skydiving

Ever since I watched the first Power Rangers movie in 1995, I’ve always wanted to skydive. Okay, I know how weird that might sound, but hear me out. The film opens with the six power rangers leaping from an aeroplane (not in their costumes but given the colour-coordination of their jumpsuits, they may as well have been), and it was this scene that inspired me to want to do the same.

Misty Mountain

Take that, Snowdon

They say a picture speaks a thousand words, and that less is more, so from here on in, my blog posts will be much shorter. That’s not to suggest I think all my posts up until now have been too long. I’ve simply wanted to share with you my experiences in their entirety as much as possible, but the reality is that, while travelling the world, both time and Wi-Fi are limited. But that’s not a bad thing. That said, pictures don’t do much justice for the scenery. Sure, you’ll think the pictures below - as well as those I’ve already shared - are stunning, but I just can’t stress how they are no patch on seeing the real thing, as they lack the grandeur, the majesty, the striking colours, the depth, and the sheer scope of the landscape. It’s a lesson learned for having not invested in a proper camera before going away, I guess, but then I suppose this is where the writing comes in.

HAWAII 2.0

I’ll start this by saying that the journey from Picton to Abel Tasman National Park can only be described as insanely stunning. Massive mountain ranges and lakes dominate the landscape, but then they do so pretty much everywhere on the South Island. On arrival at the National Park, we caught a water taxi to another floating hostel as the sun fell, but this boat is much more modest in size compared to the Rockboat in the Bay of Islands. 

End Of The North Island

Wellington at night

As we made our way towards the South Island, we stopped over in New Zealand’s capital Wellington, though in all honesty there’s really not much to write about here. The Wi-Fi was decent, which made a nice change considering most of the businesses here seem to hold their Wi-Fi connections hostage so that they can profit from tourists, making it damn-near impossible to keep in touch with family and friends, but also in keeping this blog updated. Please sort this out, New Zealand! It’s your one flaw!