Back home via Oz and South America

The long journey back

chrisandrosie — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:50:00 GMT

We've been back in the UK now five weeks and thought it would be good to update our blog. You get so involved getting a house sorted, moving in commuting, working etc. it's so easy to forget all the cool things we did. So here we are our last blog; for now at least...

Buenos Aires was cool. Not as dodgy as most people reckon we even went for a run. Amazing buildings. Lots of rich, affluent areas like the dock area and then not so good areas. We ate heaps of empanadas and saw some more dinosaur museums. The B&B we stayed at was delightful. The lady baked cake every morning. We had a few problems with the onward flight to Heathrow and spent a taxi ride, heaps of phone calls and general agro trying to reconfirm the BA flight with LAN Chile (who we'd paid the $ to). But in the end it was all sorted and we spent the last couple of days chilling, shopping and eating in the 35 degree heat!

It's was a bit sad to leave; we're not just leaving south america but New Zealand too where we've been living for over 2 years. It was good though to put the back pack down and know it's going to be a while before we pick it up again though. We arrived at Heathrow. Chris's dad picked us up which was really nice of him. We spent the first day sorting out our old stuff and getting over jet lag and the second day all our stuff from NZ arrived. Blimey a lot of stuff but we tried to rationalise as best we could.

The following day we cuaght the train to central london (just mad and people everywhere), spent some time at work and then got up to Luton. Hired a car upto Bolton and spent about a week with my family. It was really good to see everyone including my brother...ahhh. During the week in Bolton we bought a car and then had one or two days before flying to Austria to see Chris's sister and her family. Spent the 5 days eating, skiing and playing with the kids. Then came back spent a week looking for a flat and then the end of that week started work! Cor. I think we need a holiday.....

Going north

chrisandrosie — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 06:28:00 GMT

We´ve been a bit busy so here´s the last few weeks summarised.

Glaciers

Travelled from Puerto Natales on a bus to El Calafate. Spent the next day on a boat looking at heaps of huge glaciers. The pictures are cool but it´s too much hassle to put them on the web from here so we´ll do it when we get back. El Calafate though was very expensive. Next day got another coach to El Chalten near Fitz Roy Park. Amazing scenery but I hurt my ankle so we needed to rest. Did a mini walk which was still good and for the first time since Australia cooked a meal in a proper kitchen...pasta with peppers and a raw egg plant...delightful! The best thing was the phones and internet...all sattelite connections...made us feel special!

Lots of travelling

Spent the next day travelling from El Chalten to Los Antiguos. 15 hours of annoying and loud chat, about 5 meaty empañadas (like pasties but belive me you can tire of them) and unmade roads. Made it to Los Antigous and then crossed the border into Chile the next day. Travelled to Cohayquie on a bus with a couple of really irritating camera trigger happy tourists wanting to stop for every single lake and mountain for another 8 hours. Then had enough of this coach lark and booked a flight to Puerto Montt.

The Chilean Lakes

Hired a car in Chile and drove straight to Villricca. Next day went to Pucon and did lots of adventure things. Started off with whitewater rafting on a grade 3/4 river...really cool and then climbed up Volcan Villarrica with ice picks and slid down our backsides to the bottom luge style. At the top you could look down into the crater and cough your guts up...impressive! Pucon and Villaricca were both awesome towns lots of things to do, places to stay and ice creams to eat. Our trip back to Puerto Montt was not as delightful. We couldn´t find decent places to stay and there was basically very little to do. Thank god for shopping malls and cinemas (although Babel wasn´t probably the best thing to watch given all our coach journeys! and the coach to Bariloche the next day!)

Bariloche

Arrived in Bariloche...finally on my birthday...it´s like tinsel town for tourists! Couldn´t find a place to stay walked round with our packs for a couple of hours but finally success and I did a bit of puppy dog eyes saying it was my birthday...the kind lady switched round some other rooms and we got to stay in the same place for 4 nights! Luxury.

Then we really got into the adventure thing....Started with an evening of canopy (flying fox through the trees), followed by a full day of horseriding and then a day of whitewater rafting! We ate asado (bbq) on each day and felt very full for the following day´s activity.

Off now to hire a car...you cannot believe how much harder it is here than in Chile! and drive to see the Dinosaurs...

Walking, heavy packs and flavoured rice

chrisandrosie — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 12:14:00 GMT

Arrived in Puerto Natales and found a good place to live with a really helpful guy who also rented out equipment...equipment for doing a multi-day trek...ooh scary stuff. So the next day we got our gear together and booked all the bus tickets to do the W circuit of the Torres del Paine National Park. We spent half the day shopping for food to take with us - mmmmm flavoured rice for 5 days, and then hurredly packed all the things into the two backpacks, which by the end were full.

Next day we got the bus early to the park. When we got to the start of the trail we realised how heavy our bags were. We were pretty much exhausted by the time we´d walked to the other side of the car park and looking at the map 6 hours of walking with the packs up hill seemed even further than we imagened. We made the smart choice of camping half way up the valley towards the Torres and then made the trip to the top in the evening to see the sun setting over the towers - absolutely amazing even though it was like scrambling on our hands on a proper trail! The next day we set off early trying to get to the camp at the base of second valley. It was another beautiful day, warm and sunny, and we saw loads of condors circling around - some we though had the´re eye on us waiting for us to drop half way along. The walking was tough, always up and down, but we made it through with the aid of many chocolate breaks. On the way we saw an avalanch as part of the glacier on the mountain we were walking to collapsed and fell down. It was the most amazing sight we´d seen - just so powerful. All day long we heard cracks as the glacier moved. We camped next to the river - we were drinking the river water as it´s all clean and really cold and it tastes so pure. On the third day we made our way up to see the galaciers up close. On the way down we spotted a woodpecker and then it´s mate. Then on the way down Rosie managed to twist her ankle about 300m from the camp. That slowed us down a bit - in the afternoon we took our time to the base of the last valley and camped there - waiting to see if Rosie´s ankle was good enough to walk on for the final day. We decided not to risk the last part of the track up to the Glacier Gray, and got the coach back to Puerto Natales in the afternoon a day earlier than we expected. We came back exausted and fell asleep early. All in all, a rather gruling trip, but we´re proud of ourselves for having made it as far as we did.

Christmas and New Years

chrisandrosie — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:51:00 GMT

Arrived in Santiago on Christmas Eve after travelling for about 18 hours so pretty tired. After wandering around Bella Vista for the third time we thought everything was going to be closed but the supermarket was open. Yay! We ended up buying bread and jam and eating it in the park like proper hobos! During our outing to the shops, a dog started to follow us...he/she waited for us outside the supermarket and then at the park fell asleep under the bench we were sat on. It was comical and sad all at the same time...we have this ability of attracting strays!

Christmas Day we ate warm cheese sammies and boil in the bag pasta. Spent the entire day watching trashy films like 50 first dates, Big, Santa Claus etc. truly exciting. After a couple more days relaxing we got the plane to Punto Arenas right down in the south of Chile. On the second day we took a tour to the Isla de Magallenas, a colony of penguins...literally thousands of them. They were very cute and surprisngly rather large too. The day after we both were not feeling 100% so took it easy. I got it worse than Chris though and spent the next four days asleep or running in and out of the bathroom. Not good. Poor Chris had to play patience with the pack of cards we had brought over and over again as there was no TV in the place we were staying at. Finally I felt better and we made our way to Puerto Natales although the cheesy chips I ordered (even though I asked specifically for papas naturales - plain potatos) were probably not the best thing to eat for the 3 hour journey!

10 things we should remember from Peru...

chrisandrosie — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 09:26:00 GMT

To date we´ve pretty much written about how we´ve found Peru and how we are coping. We thought we´d take a little time to reflect on 10 things we ought to remember and if they don´t make much sense now, at least they provide a conversation starter when we get back.

1. The scary drive from Lima airport to the hotel on our first night.

2. Rubbish burning in the streets.

3. Little boy´s smile in Nazca when Duncan (guy on tour) gave him a few centimos instead of buying an ice-cream from him.

4. Little Fernando and his hug for a just a bit of bread and some Quechan words.

5. The kids in the villages, their sandals and their cold feet...

6. Sitting eating lunch in the tent during the trek while the kids were in the rain.

7. The contrast between rich and poor esp at the Jockey Plaza Shopping Centre in Lima and how materialistic it was.

8. The taxi driver who looked like he had very little but who bought gum from the little girl on the road

9. The water trucks going to the outskirts of Arequipa.

10. Dogs, with fleas, mad ones like in Pisco and some just skinny, everywhere.

Buying ceramics...a tale

chrisandrosie — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 09:13:00 GMT

While on the tour in Trujillo, we stopped by at an artesan pottery workshop who specialise in making replicas of ancient ceramics. At 10 soles (about 2 quid), we just couldn´t resist. It was a great piece like a little jug shape in a Lambayeque style(see we did learn something!). Back at the hotel, I noticed it didn´t have replica stamped on it. The tour guide though took it back the next day and fixed that first hurdle for us. Then we had to post it back. So we get hold of a box, tape etc. and show the grumpy old lady at the post office desk what we want to send. Apparently we can´t send it because it doesn´t have offical documentation. She sends off to find the INE or something to get some documents. We go there but it´s closed. We go back to the guide she says a receipt will suffice and writes us one. Excellent. We traipse back to the post office. Chris looks like he´s carrying boxes of Panetone round the town! Miserable woman is quite rude and dismisses the receipt. After a little of Spanish vent I wish the lady a merry christmas indeed, we give the ceramic to the security guard as a gift. He looks happy. So next time (and for anyone who may be reading this blog for tips) we´ll get hold of official documentaion at the time of purchase to prove that we didn´t just dig it out of the ground!

Chiclayo and then Trujillo

chrisandrosie — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 08:54:00 GMT

Arrived a bit later than expected in Chiclayo but the hotel was decent and we ended up staying for our whole time here. On our first proper day we visited the site where el señor de Sipan was found. It's a pretty awesome discovery - it was actually tomb robbers who gave the first cue of the tomb´s location and all the treasures were still intact. The tomb were found in 1987 and excavated by Peru. The next day we visited the museum which houses all the relics and treasures - very ornate and intricate pieces. The actual town of Chiclayo is lovely. Hardly any gringos (I think we spotted one) and lots of mango trees around. It didn´t appear as poor as some other places we´d been to also.

We got the bus to Trujillo which was pretty chaotic, at least at the bus station. Probably a few days before Christmas is always going to be hectic everwhere...except we saw a chicken in a rice bag being transported alongside the luggage. It had breathing holes but we were wondering whether it may work out that it could use the other holes as foot holes and run off!

Trujillo is a nice town too. Again seems to be more affluent than some of the other towns we had previously visited. Here we took a tour to see the Chan Chan and Huaca ruins. Huge temples and palaces with murals; some of which have still retained their original colour. Had a game of basketball too here - they had a really well organised park with heaps of courts. It was great to do some sport after doing all that running in Australia. We were sad to leave Trujillo because we were also going to be leaving Peru. We´ve really got into it and a lot more confident esp the last week travelling on our tod...but there is so much to see and so much to experience in this country that we´ll just have to come back.

Pictures of Gringos

chrisandrosie — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 08:44:00 GMT

So here we are at Machu Picchu gazing in awe at this amazing place and feel a bit touristy so ask some Peruvian kids to take a photo of us. After they had done the deed and not darted off with the camera (mind you no body would really want our old skool digi), they asked us to return to the favour... except they wanted a photo of them with us gringos! It was mad! We were there for about 10 minutes getting photos taken of us with all these Peruvians. In the end we had to run off because a bus load of school kids wanted a photo with us... we couldn´t believe it. I think they like to go home and pretend that we´re their gringo friends. Very weird when there is all this amazing sceanery and beautiful Inca city and they still think that we are worth a photo!

Machu Picchu and then back to Cusco

chrisandrosie — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 06:41:00 GMT

Pictures are on http://rosie3864.fotopic.net/

Got up early in Aguas Calientes and scoffed home made banana cake at the bus stop. Drove to the gates of Macchu Picchu with a host of irritating tourists. Most were unfit and heffers so by the first couple of minutes we lost them! Got to good view point and could see the andes, the rainforrest and Macchu Picchu. Luis told us a lot about the history and we took a tour. Saw an enourmous condor carved our of the rock, the sun temple and the ´mamapicchu´mother earth. We then attempted to climb Waynuipicchu (osrry about spelling). It was tough going but not as tough as it was for Debra´s pack which had to get abandoned...I kept teasing her saying it had inca bricks in it! finally got to the top...required a bit more bouldering...blimey and we thought some treks in New Zealand were hairy!

Later on we met up with the rest of the group who´d done the conventional Inka trail. It sounded good but we´re glad we did Lares. Back at Cusco we went out for crepes and a big glass of 'Granja Heidi´s´milk....mmmmmm!

The Lares Trek

chrisandrosie — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 06:18:00 GMT

Had fun in Cusco...found Jack´s Cafe which we renamed Gringo Jack´s because the food was like home and full of gringos! Got our stuff together for the trek and left early the next day. Our guide Luis is from the Sacred Valley and so knew Quechen which was going to be useful. Met up with the other person Debra who was also going to do the trek. We stopped off at a village to buy bread for the children we were going to meet, some pencils and last minute provisions.

Drove to a place for lunch met the porters and some local children. We gave them some bread and the grapes we had bought. It was hard to eat knowing that we were going to have a hot meal and they were not.

Started treking in the rain wearing our neon ponchos. Had to scale over a wall and then got overtaken by Chef and the porters who had got some wild llamas rounded them up and put the stuff on them! Apparently they are homing llamas who´ll find their way home! It was a hard slog to the village. Here we met more kids and gave out pencils and bread but we all felt that there could have been more we could have brought.

After crossing the edge of a waterfall which was pretty hairy we finally arrived at camp. The coca leaf helped a lot...munching it, drinking it etc. Had the nicest home made tomato soup, pasta and choc mousse and slept with the andes in the background at 4,200m.

Next day got up to be treated to a king like breakfast of honey puffed kiwicha (like quinoa but bigger), pancakes and bread. Saw a condor and really used our power sticks today getting to the first pass and the second. At the highest we were at 4,880m. Phew. It was pretty alpine in this area and we saw glaciers and the tarn shelf. After another splendid lunch we arrived at the second village. It wasn´t raining today it was easier to meet the children. One delightful little lad called Fernando gave Chris a hug and they were all thrilled to see their faces on the digital cameras. Debra though made a kid cry...i think the kid just got spooked! That night after 17km of walking we were treated to another fab meal and Chef even made cake in a frying pan! Stargazed and got to see the milky way and the patterns that the ancient people saw in the sky like pumas, llamas etc...maybe it´s the coca tea!

Our final day of treking took us to a local school where we spotted 'Alex con Salina' graffited on the wall...we teased the kids of course! Saw the ruins at Puna Marca and finally got to Ollantaytambo. Once in Aguas Calientes had a soak in the spa which felt great and went to bed smug that we finished treking.

Coloca Canyon and Arequipa

chrisandrosie — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 05:56:00 GMT

Got to Arequipa staying in a great hotel called ´casa de mi abuela´my grandmother´s house and it felt like that! Arequipa is a fab town - very clean and we felt pretty safe. Visited the old convent which was so pretty with coloured washed walls esp against the background of the volcano El Misti. I even got brave enough to get my hair cut...yes i ended up like GI Jaffer1 but it´ll grow back! During our few days in Arequipa we visited the Colca Canyon getting up to about 3,900m. We stayed in a lovely place and tried alpaca meat mmmm. We became little piggies one night and ate far too much paying for it by sleeping very little...it gets harder for your body to digest at such high altitudes. we´ll never make that mistake again! Coca tea though was fantastic - shame we won´t be able to get it back home!

Got to see the mighty condor too which was really awesome. Bought lots of things here in the Colca Valley to send back as gifts...so you all have to be nice and send us emails to feel that we are being missed!

Learning about ancient cultures

chrisandrosie — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 05:37:00 GMT

We got braver on our second day in Lima and had dinner, met up with the rest of the group and even took out some money. It´s actually not that bad. On the third day our tour with the group started properly. Got taxis to the bus station and then got the bus to Pisco. We arrived in the late afternooon early evening in Pisco. It´s a nice town a little run down but not bad. We got chased though by a mad dog...no really it was mad. Thank god we got the rabies injections! but it was all ok in the end.

Next day got up early to the tourist bus to the Islas Balleares also known as the poor man´s Galapagos. We saw a huge Nazca type formation done by the Paracas people on the side of the hill and then got the islands on a speed boat...hmmm The islands were full of sea birds, seals crabs all pooing! the excrement is collected and made into fertilizer!

Back at shore we got another bus into Huacachino (sorry about the spelling) which is an oasis in the desert. The whole area is sand dunes. We got strapped into our sand dune buggies and got some pretty rigid boards to whizz down on our bellies. Chris was very brave and tried to surf down it but it looked way too hard! It was awesome but i´m glad we hadn´t eaten for a while. After lunch we got some more taxi transport to Nazca and arrived at the hotel eager for dinner and sleep.

The next day we saw the awesome Nazca lines from the air which was pretty impressive, as was the fighter pilot skills of the pilot...glad we didn´have breakfast beforehand! Also visited the Chauchillo cemetry with real mummies (real hair, skin etc) incredible, how the Nazcan people made their pretty pottery and learned about how gold is mined in the surrounding area and it is very different to how gold would be mined in other countries. the miners take a lot of risks...it was a real eye opener.

That night we took the night bus to Arequipa...glad it was a night bus and we didn´t get to see the scenery otherwise we might have wanted to get off! the road was apparently pretty hairy!

Chile and Peru

chrisandrosie — Wed, 6 Dec 2006 05:54:00 GMT

Arrived in Santiago very tired and nervous about everything. Spent ages waiting at the luggage carousel only to find out that we were waiting at the wrong one! There were our bags ready to steal...ah well. Booked a hotel from the airport probably a bit pricey than we would normally pay but we just need to crash and we were told that the area - Provdencia - was quite safe. Ordered a cab at the booth and then made our way to the hotel. The taxi driver told us lots of info about Santiago. It really is pretty with the Andes in the background and the smaller mountains towards the pacific ocean. Our hotel was nice and we just crashed. Got up a few hours later and realised it was evening. Found a host of lovely places to eat just round the corner.

The next day we ventured and found the metro into town. Very quick, clean and all airconditioned. Had a look round the plaza de armas and the downtown area and then ventured to find some lunch. Had empananadas - like cheese pasties - and something called pastel de choco which was a real nice chicken in a corn sauce. That evening I wasn´t feeling to well and so Chris bravely ventured out by himself and went to the supermarket round the corner. He spoke in Spanish and everything and bought some Yakult stuff which did the trick.

Next day we had figured stuff out a lot more and went for a jog where everyone else was going for a jog. But the fumes are not very conducive to jogging so we weren´t able to re live our 32mins of running that we did in Perth. We had a look round Providencia and found a nice place to stay over Christmas. Had a lovely lunch with rice pudding for dessert! mmm and then made our way back to the airport for our flight to Lima.

Lima was very different to Santiago and after the journey from the airport we were a bit spooked. But coming into somewhere at 1am is always going to be like and I´m glad we had organised the transfer beforehand with the tour company.

Chilling out

chrisandrosie — Wed, 6 Dec 2006 05:44:00 GMT

Arrived in Perth to a lovely room, home cooked food and family. Stayed with the Aussie Hollands for the entire time...we really needed it. Did some sight seeing but mostly just pottered around at home, went swimming - excellent swimming pool 50m and everything, went for jogs and did some shopping. Also went down to Busselton south of Perth with the Hollands for a long weekend which was really relaxing.It was so nice to be able to cook properly in a proper kitchen. Met the other Cox´s too and their lovely 3 girls who were a lot better than Rosie at making earrings!

After leaving Perth we spent one night in Melbourne and then straight to Auckland. Didn´t realise but we had missed NZ heaps! Had a fab couple of days sorting last few things out that we still needed to buy etc. and just ate lots! Stayed at a backpackers in Parnell in a caravan it was cute! Also went swimming a couple of times in Newmarket and then suddenly it was time for our south american adventure. 11 hours later with no sleep because of the constant chatter we were in Santiago. Now the adventure really begins....

Gallery: Melbourne to Adelaide

chrisandrosie — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 15:26:00 GMT

Gallery: Tasmania Travels

chrisandrosie — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 15:23:00 GMT

Gallery: Sydney to Melbourne

chrisandrosie — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 15:12:00 GMT

Lots of animals at Wilsons Prom and very green bush.

A long old way

chrisandrosie — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 20:47:00 GMT

Left Hobart - had really enjoyed Tasmania and arrived in Melbourne. Went to the markets and stocked up on exotic foods...like hummus! Then started on the epic journey to Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road. The scenery was pretty but it had a lot of tourists. The highlight at the 12 apostles was really a Tiger snake which just slithered along the path! We also stopped off at a town which had white kangaroos - quite freaky but cute nevertheless and for the first time we saw Koala Bears in the wild at Cape Otway. We were just dong our usual 20min or so run and then heard this grunting. At first it sounded like a wombat but it was actually a family of Koalas. They are definately not as docile and dozy as we had thought as they continued to fight and grunt all night!

Once off the coast road we did some walking in the Grampians which are pretty mountains because they just come out of the flat desert like plains.

Adelaide is a great city. Really compact, easy to get around and enough shops (but not too many so you get overwhelmed) to do some serious shopping. Chris had to say goodbye to his much loved Brasher boots (even the duct tape had failed to keep them water tight!) and bought a new pair of boots which make him even taller! Adelaide was also the first place we stayed put in the same place for 4 nights which was really nice. We were also right by the beach for some serious fittness training...I managed to run for 27 mins...shocker!

Circle round Tasmania

chrisandrosie — Thu, 9 Nov 2006 15:07:00 GMT

Tasmania - to us it felt like a strange mixture of New Zealand, Australia and the UK. Often we weren't sure exactly where we were! Visited a lot of National Parks here and did a lot of tramping. Some of the highlights were:

- Freycinet National Park. About 150-200km east of Hobart. This area was a series of picture perfect bays and white sands among rainforests walks.

- Bay of Fires (north of Freycinet). Called this due to the huge boulders and stones that surround the beaches are covered in an orange fungus thing which contrasts against the white sand.

- Cradle Mountain. Did a couple of walks here; one from the north side and one from the southern end. In the rain we got up to crater lake and saw whispy views of Cradle Mountain.

- Mt Field National Park (80km west of Hobart) Did some lower rainforest walks here and got to see the spectacular Russell Falls but also did some more Alpine trecks to the Tarn Shelf (a series of mini lakes high up where the glacier cut into the side of the mountain).

- Saw heaps of wildlife here including our favourite the Tasmanian Devil. They are quite small like a puppy really but very strong and rather aggressive for their relative size(Chris kept comparing me with them!). Also saw playpus a number of times in the lakes and rivers of Tasmania - just swimming around and diving - very cute

Highlights

chrisandrosie — Thu, 9 Nov 2006 14:58:00 GMT

Firstly apologies for not updating this till now. Internet hasn't been as cheap and as widespread as we had hoped. Anyway, rather than bore you with heaps of photos and detail we thought we'd just focus on the highlights. We'll still use our fotopic site to upload the majority of photos and only put a few up on here.

Okay formalities done here are the highlights of our Sydney to Melbourne trip round the coast.

- Meeting and having lunch with Aunty Maria, cousin Evelyn, her husband Tony and their adorable new addition to the family, Tainia. Also met Edward - yes he does exisit!

- Driving round and getting used to Kermit the Campervan..even on unsealed roads! and getting used to the constant clattering of stuff!

- Saw heaps of wildlife. Off the coast of Noorma, saw 3 humpback whales, a pod of dolphins including a calf, a huge group of smell but playful seals and some pelicans which are quite big! At Wilson's Prom, a National Park about 1 hour and half out of Melbourne we saw wombats, emus, kangaroos and beetongs all in the wild. This place was really good with lots of good walks and opportunities to see wildlife.

- Italian meatball wraps in Melbourne. mmmm