There are many contenders for the “friendliest people on Earth” accolade. The Irish, the Nepalese and others have been mentioned to me in the past but I want to put the Fijians forward for consideration. After spending 10 days traveling round the islands I realised that I hadn’t met an unfriendly person in all that time. In fact they couldn’t have been nicer. Everyone says Bula (hello) to everyone and it’s smiles all round.

There was a real community atmosphere wherever you went and even though things often took longer than expected to get arranged (everything runs by ‘island time’) people really went out of their way to be helpful. One highlight for me was playing rugby with a village team. They are big strong lads and very quick and I have the grass burns and bruises to prove it. Rugby is almost a religion in Fiji with most schoolboys starting training under 7 years of age.

The waters are some of the clearest and most abundant in life that I have ever witnessed with some of the best dive sites in the world just a kilometre from shore.

With all this and the fact that mangos, avocado and all manner of fantastic food grows in every garden it seems to me almost the perfect place to live. Minor downsides are the heat and humidity that sap the life out of you and mozzies that ravage you relentlessly.

However, I’m looking forward to getting home. I have been on the road for 5 weeks and miss my family and friends. Thanks to email, skype and SMS I have been able to keep in touch with the important people in my life more than I used to. I’m tanned, tired and ready to sleep in my own bed. Just a few days in Vancouver stand in the way - bring on the snow!

Cycling round Auckland today (see Podcast) I called in at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. I love museums, especially Natural History sections and this museum, despite its name has a great one. However there is one small room I had to visit (no, not the loo - ok, yes the loo but also this other one). It is a exhibit dedicated to Edmund Hillary. I am in awe of what he and Tensing achieved. Looking at the wooden handled, steel headed axe with its very simple design brought home how much more difficult their attempt was compared to modern climbing. We now have lightweight materials such as titanium and carbon fibre and synthetic breathable fabrics to insulate ourselves from the harsh environment around us. But also, we know it can be done because its been done. Pioneers such as Tensing and Hillary push human bodies to limits we never thought possible and thats why, even though we may question their sanity and motives, adventurers such as these, will always inspire us.

I am not such a person. I am cautious and want to know something is possible before attempting it. This is quite sensible as far as I am concerned in my line of work as a vet and wildlife presenter. I don’t start an operation or course of treatment without knowing the probable outcomes based on what we refer to as ‘Evidence Based Medicine’. Also I don’t pick up an animal without being shown how it’s done by an expert. This is both to ensure I don’t stress the animal more than necessary and also because some of them are deadly. Again in both these situations I am indebted to those people who have tweaked the boundaries of known science to find a better way of doing this. These people have usually not done this without knowing all the previous accepted norms and found them wanting. Brave, often unsung, heroes in my opinion, but at least Hillary has made it onto the back of a fiver here in his homeland.

I’m 2 weeks into a filming trip that is literally taking me round the world. The first few weeks were spent in Vietnam which was pretty full on but now landed in New Zealand and have had a day off to recuperate. Never been to NZ before but heard so many good things about it.

Auckland is a great city. Small but full of great things to see. Stumbled across a bike rental service. This is a great idea. The bikes are sponsored by advertisers so the charges are low and you get a lock and helmet included. Julian the owner of the business has plans to expand the service across NZ and into Oz (Australia not the Munchkin place). He gave me maps, routes and places to visit and I had a great time. You need to be pretty fit to tackle some of the hills but you’ve got the bike for 24 hours and can leave it at the bottom of a hill for them to pick up if you want!

Check out their website: http://nextbike.co.nz

To see this video on YouTube CLICK HERE.