In search of Wine, Tango and Hobbits!

Hi all and welcome to what will most probably be one of our last blog entries! We are currently at our penultimate stop in Sydney (3 days in Singapore will conclude our 4 month adventure) and only have two and a half weeks left! So here is a quick lowdown of our final couple of weeks in NZ and our first two in the land of Oz.

The rest of our New Zealand itinerary consisted of us travelling to Greymouth, Wanaka, Queenstown, Dunedin, Oamaru, Mount Cook, Lake Tekapo, Hanmer Springs and Christchurch. Highlights included...

- Driving through the dramatic scenery of the West Coast and Southern Alps. Photo ops aplenty.
- Taking in the ski-resort vibe of Wanaka and enjoying *delicious* freshly baked cookies during the intermission at the very cool retro Cinema Paradiso. Sofas, armchairs and a car in place of normal cinema seating. The Odeon just won't cut it anymore!
- Heading back in time on our trip to historic village Arrowtown and sampling some of the local delicacies. After watching LOTR, Tim followed in some hobbit-y footsteps and embraced the idea of 'second breakfast' wholeheartedly.
- Freezing to death on some very remote but beautiful DOC campsites. We are talking ice on the inside of the windows people - but once again demonstrating our hardy Brit status we persisted with shivering our way through the night wearing all of our clothes at once. Glam.
- Meeting up with some lovely friends from home for luge racing followed by a night out in Queenstown for some drinking games, boys vs. girls pool and trying a mighty Fergburger!
- Buying REAL Ugg boots for 40 quid! (totally worth a mention)
- Beautiful sunsets and student bars in Dunedin.
- Laughing at signs for 'Shag Point' (and maybe taking a couple of photos - mature eh?)
- Dodging the waves at high tide on Boulder Beach.
- Staking out penguins for an hour in heavy wind and rain in Oamaru to then watch stupid tourists going down to the prohibited area and scaring them off after about 3 seconds on land. Don't fear, we chased the tourists with pitchforks afterwards so we reckon we made our point.
- Sampling the splendour of Mount Cook on a sunny day and learning about some terrifying rescue attempts and accidents experienced by some of the gutsy/stupid rock climbers.
- Soaking in the hot pools at the Hanmer Springs Thermal Reserve. Heavenly!

Our final stop in NZ was Christchurch, a few days after the recent spate of serious aftershocks. We dropped off our campervan (you served us well Virgo!) and stayed with the lovely friend of another lovely friend we met in South America. Parts of the city are still totally devastated by the earthquakes. The CBD is still closed as are several of the Eastern suburbs. In other areas some buildings look fine and then a couple will randomly be totally flattened. They have also been suffering badly from Liquifaction and so the streets are full of piles of silt/sludge that has been shovelled out of people's gardens. A beautiful city and such a shame that it has been hit so badly and continues to have an uncertain future. Fingers crossed all round that the aftershocks will stop soon and they can get on with the rebuilding effort. Despite all of this we had a lovely relaxing stay in Coleen's beautiful house and plenty of time to get sorted before our impending flight!

We had been pre-warned when heading to Oz that it was very expensive - and oh, they were not wrong! The minimum wage here is $22 which is roughly 15 quid per hour! So just imagine how much everything else now costs! We are very fortunate to be staying with Sarah's uncle, aunt and cousins in Sydney who have been so welcoming, and therefore have chosen to use that as our main base for our month out here. Some of our adventures so far are as follows:

- A stunning coastal walk from Clovelly to Bondi beach culminating in spotting whales coming right into the bay and within about 70 metres of the shore! Amazing.
- Sampling delicious freshly baked scones (yummy) and local produce at the weekend market in The Rocks.
- Drinking plenty of wine in Circular Quay.
- Meeting kangaroos, wallabies and koalas at Taronga Zoo as well as lots of cute baby things (elephants and gorillas!) and catching some brilliant seal and bird shows. Beautiful ferry ride back across the harbour at sunset.
- Completing terrifying but seriously gorgeous walking tracks around the Three Sisters and Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains. Hundreds of steep steps carved into the sides of cliffs (eek!) make for two terrified twenty-somethings and thighs of steel!
- Walking the dog (Mango - so cute!) in Centennial Park and desperately trying to entice him out of the lake as swans come at him jaws-style from behind.
- A day trip to Manly, delicious lunch with Sarah's Uncle and a lovely ferry ride back to the centre of town.
- Trying our best to stay up late enough to watch Wimbledon but normally falling asleep after the first match. Have plans for strawberries and cream in the early hours for the Men's final on Sunday though!

We have been having a lovely time here - it is great to see some family and get some sun and we have plenty of fun things to look forward to (Capriccio at the Opera House tomorrow!)

Not long left to go now!

Sarah and Tim xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi all,

Right, we've found wine, we've found tango, but we're still looking for 'em hobbits! It has been ages - internet here is MEGA expensive so we are just going to do a really speedy overview of our time in New Zealand. To give you an idea, here are the places we have visited in New Zealand so far: Auckland, Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove, Rotorua, Taupo, Napier, Wellington, Blenheim, Abel Tasman National Park and Punakaiki.

It should also be noted that the first couple of days in Auckland were dampened by the fact that we were both HUGELY jet-lagged, having flown across the time zone line which meant that we lost a whole day (luckily it was 21st May, the day the world was supposed to end so we would've managed to skip the whole apocalypse thing - I'm sure that's how it works anyway!) But, despite falling asleep at about 7pm for the first few nights we made sure to pack as much as possible into the time in which we were awake! Here are some of the highlights from the last 14 days!

• A hair-raising lift ride up the Sky Tower - Auckland's answer to the Space Needle - to enjoy nightime views of the city over a glass of vino and blowing $20 a-piece at the Casino blackjack tables on the way back down!
• A ferry ride across the Auckland Harbour to sleepy, but beautiful Devonport.
• Getting used to campervan driving in NZ - not too many swear words used.....well, a few.
• Burning our toes (we weren't brave enough to strip off completely) at Hot Water Beach over in Coromandel Peninsula.
• Playing at being in Narnia in Cathedral Cove.
• Rotorua - Sampling the smelly, yet dramatic geo-thermal wonders. Proving that hardy Brits can withstand 36hrs of solid rain. Learning that living in a campervan is not conducive to drying rain-soaked clothes. Despite almost setting the campervan on fire (honestly!), persevering with cooking culinary masterpieces. Stuffing ourselves full with a Maori hangi, and picking up some moves from their haka before checking out the forest gloworms.
• Taupo - SKYDIVING! (15,000ft no-less)
• Checking out the Art Deco architecture of Napier, and squeezing in some obligatory miniature golf on the beachfront.
• Wellington - Testing out the Welly nightlife, wandering the botanic gardens, picking up some volcanic knowledge at the Te Papa museum, and getting our free tour of NZ Parliament.
• Beautiful Marlborough Sounds crossing.
• A very relaxing home-stay with the Ridgways in Blenheim, more vineyards - woop!
• Abel Tasman - surely some of the world's most golden beaches and brilliant sunsets.
• Punakaiki - the magnificent Pancake Rocks (maybe we are geographers at heart) and the impressive blowholes.
• All of which was of course interspersed with some minor (and major) navigational errors, resulting in 30km drives to un-navigable beaches, ferret infested spits (traps included) and campsites with resident loon in tow.

We're both loving NZ so far, and are doing our best to cram as much into the short winter hours as possible. This is of course helped by the fact that we can whack a DVD (most probably one of the Lord of the Rings trilogy) on at 6pm and be fast asleep by 9! Our campervan is very cosy and we are definitely getting used to 12 hours sleep a night.

Lots of Love,

Tim & Sarah xxxxxxx

Hi everyone!

We are currently staying just outside Santiago, Chile after a wine-fuelled trip to Mendoza last week and a quick detour to Valparaiso. So, here we go on a longer than usual lowdown - that'll teach us for not writing in over a week!

We arrived in Mendoza some time in the afternoon (don't ask us which....the days of the week have become a bit blurred) and headed to the hostel before going for a quick look around some of the nearby plazas and parks. After viewing some very impressive fountains, and getting lost in the park, which involved walking all the way around a lake without seeing it (stupid trees!) we headed back home, stopping for a quick glass of wine on the way back and headed to bed.

The next day was when the fun really began! We went over to the wine growing region, Maipu and embarked upon a bike tour with the infamous Mr Hugo. We rented our old school bikes (Sarah's had a basket! And yes...we put the seat down) and set off on our adventure. The circuit included a wine museum (free wine!), a pretty impressive chocolate factory (absinthe anyone?) and a brewery in the middle of nowhere, before reaching the main event, the Tempus Alba bodega. We were greeted with a warm embrace from the owner, Christiano and taken around to see the wine being bottled and the vineyard itself before taking ourselves up to the roof terrace for a tasting. You can't deny it, the Argentineans make very good wine! After tasting our six varieties we were persuaded to stay for lunch and a bottle of Cab Sauv. We ate the best steak either of us have ever tasted, and so cheap compared to London prices. We will never be able to order steak in London again. After much conversation with Christiano - highlights included an invitation to dinner at his house later in the week and Sarah being told that she was 'very lucky to be dating Prince Harry...?' - we went for a slightly shaky cycle back to Mr Hugo's where we were, of course, offered some more wine Some dancing, singing and further drinking back at the hostel with some other travellers completed a brilliant day!

The following day we began by attempting to recover from the amount of wine consumed the day before, and decided to head back to the park which we had begun to explore on our first day, General San Martin. We were of the belief that further inside the park there were all sorts of wonderful things concealed, a zoo, an aboriginal park (whatever that is) and a sports arena. However, after much walking we discovered that most of this was surrounded by busy roads and covered in grass which was mostly dead. So instead, we sat outside the zoo and ate our picnic in the dust - delightful - and peered through the fence of the zoo at some llamas and white deer and then walked all the way back to the lake which had proved so elusive a couple of days before. We were more successful this time!

Our final day in Mendoza involved two highlights. The first of which was the horse riding expedition in the foothills of the Andes. Very cool! We were taken to an estancia out in the middle of the countryside and were greeted by the sight of two gauchos cantering our of a dust cloud and herding some cows, at speed! The way of riding here is very different from home, much more cowboy-like. Long stirrups and reins and no helmets! It was the first time Tim had ridden and his horse gave him a bit of a hard time, initially refusing to move and then insisting on stopping and eating every few steps, but once we got going it was really cool! We even got to get a bit of speed on on the way back (although it turns out that once they start it can be difficult to stop them!), but we all made it back in one piece, limbs in tact! That evening we decided to treat ourselves to a nice meal out as it was our last night in Argentina and the food is SO amazing, and so we went to a place called Anna's Bistro, which had been recommended to us by some backpackers we had met back in Brazil. It did not disappoint. Not only was the wine beautiful, but our main course - Malbec Lamb - was, without a doubt, the most delicious thing we have ever tasted. We just don't make meat like that back in the UK....no substitute for mint sauce and red current jelly though!

The next day we hopped on a bus to take us across the Andes to Valparaiso, Chile. This was the first bus journey we had undertaken totally in daylight as the views had been recommended to us. This was definitely worth it - the mountains were beautiful and you pass an Inca settlement and all sorts of crazy winding roads (we went down one hill with about 20 very tight loops!) We made it through border control, where Sarah managed not to get arrested despite accidentally having smuggled a pack of raisins in her backpack (not as bad as the person who tried to hide an entire sausage down the side of the bus seat!) and continued on to Valparaiso, a beautiful port city about two hours from Santiago and renowned for it's graffiti art. We had just enough time to take a quick look around the surrounding area and then returned to the hostel for some Pisco sours - delicious!

Due to the fact that we were leaving Valparaiso that afternoon, on Saturday we awoke nice and early to catch as much of the city as we could (this was in spite of Sarah looking like Quasimodo for most of it!) We were lucky to come across the navy rehearsing for Naval Day in Chile (21st May) which involved lots of marching men in uniform and military bands. Very cool. We headed back to the hostel for breakfast and then hopped in a colectivo (shared taxi) to visit Pablo Neruda's house. He was a huge celebrity in Chile, a famous poet who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, was heavily involved in left wing politics and a friend of the rich and glamorous. His house was brilliant. It looks out over the whole of Valparaiso and was built to fit with a maritime theme. It has all sorts of quirky features like a carousel horse from Paris in his sitting room and a map of Patagonia on the wall made out of stones. Very cool - Tim's noted down some design tips for himself! We then walked down the hill and admired the graffiti art that adorns almost every wall and caught a market or two before hopping on the bus to Santiago and then the train to Buin to meet the mum of Tim's friend Chloe who very kindly had agreed to have us to stay!

We arrived at the beautiful Larsson house on Saturday evening - even in the darkness we could see that the views looking out into the valley were AMAZING! We were swiftly whisked off to a BBQ with Marlene (Chloe's cousin) and her friends which was brilliant - although we struggled with our lack of decent Spanish. The evening mostly was passed with the Chilean's teaching us inappropriate words in Spanish and telling us they meant something else (we've had a few embarrassing slip ups since hehe!) and us reciprocating just a little! We stayed at Marlene's and met her two very cute children (Amy, 3 and Harvey, 11) the following morning before Helbecia came and joined us and we went for lunch with the family before heading out into the country to see the Rodeo. This involves two horsemen guiding a cow around a ring and then pushing them into a padded section on each side - initially this seemed surprisingly un-cruel, although this changes as the cow gets more tired and then it got a bit mean. Cattle prods and everything are bought out. Minor animal cruelty aside, it was nice to see something so traditional - lots of men, young and old in traditional Chilean dress - still being practiced. Without the cows it would be even better - but it definitely takes a lot of skill!

For the rest of our time in Santiago we went into the city and checked out the Cathedral (beautiful), National Library, Pablo Neruda's other house (the only one we haven't seen is the one in Isla Negra, next time we come back we'll complete the set), a vibrant fish market, Santa Lucia, San Cristobal Hill and various bars and restaurants. Santiago is undoubtedly a very cool city with lots to offer and we have been especially lucky to receive the hospitality of Helbecia and the rest of the Larsson/Pineda family. The Chileans are certainly a generous lot and we have been very spoilt! Ultimately we are very sorry to be leaving South America this evening but are so excited to be moving on to the next leg of the trip - New Zealand!

Adios Sud America - it's been grand. Hello New Zealand!

Lots of love,

Sarah and Timxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi again everyone,

Yet again we have travelled many miles since our last blog entry and have plenty to fill you in on, probably in rambling fashion! When we last blogged we were leaving the beuatiful Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. Feeling a bit 'mountain-ed out' and also short on time, we decided to skip the outdoor-adventure village of El Chalten, combined with the fact that everyone in the South is battening down the hatches for winter - quite literally! Instead we headed for the toursity town of El Calafate. After many border crossings, and more passport stamps accrued, the town suddenly rose out of the Patagonian wilderness after hours and hours of nothing! The town is there principally as a springboard for visiting the Perito Moreno Glacier (the only advancing glacier in the world), and spring we did! The glacier itself is absolutley spectacular. It is enormous - about 70 m high on average - and it's icey crags are a unique electirc blue in colour. If you watch long enough, now and again a sound like a gunshot rings out and a chunk of the ice cracks off and falls into Lago Argentino below. The glacier was utterly stunning and like nothing either of us had ever seen before, unfortunately however, the tour company we went with left us there for 6 and a half hours. So, having trodden the boardwalks for about 3 hours and taking photos from any number of angles, we are ashamed to say we got a little glacier blazé, and instead holed ourselves up in the extortionate local cafe, nursing a coffee and empanada with a pack of cards. Nonetheless, the trip was well worth it, and a sight that neither of us will forget in a while!

That night proved to be an interesting one. We befriended a trio of fellow Brits who plied us with cartons of red wine costing a lofty 6 pesos (that's about 95p) and we embarked upon a surreal night out to a bar with trapeze arists and fire eaters - as you do in deepest darkest Patagonia. After playing a game of drunken taxi sardines (S. American taxi drivers don't seem to care how many people you ram into their taxi, as long as they get their fare) we stumbled back to bed.

Next day we moved onto Bariloche on our 28hr bus (neither of us will ever complain about the length of British coach trips/train rides EVER again) surviving he journey mostly on Oreos and Cheetos - nutritious! Upon surviving this mammoth trip we were delighted to be greeted by the beautiful landscape of the Argentine Lake District, which it turns out looks very Swiss! We managed to spend an entire day in Bariloche just wandering around and admiring the buildings and stunning lake, as well as most importantly the chocolate shops! Bariloche is renowned for amazing chocolate and we must say that after sampling some Franui (raspberries coated in white and then dark chocolate!) from Rapanui, things may never be the same again. We also came across some gorgeous St Bernard dogs with puppies! They are pretty common in this area and too cute for words. Might try and smuggle a couple home. The following day we were a little more energetic and went for a stroll up Cerro Otto, a mountain overlooking the lake. After a few false starts (apparently they don't feel the need to signpost things over here), we eventually made it up to admire some stunning views from the revolving restaurant at the peak - novel but we were getting a bit queasy and so headed down in the cable car. Another active day yesterday involving a 27k bike ride around the Circuito Chico with a few other people we have met along the way. Classic trip moment occurred here when the bike hire place had to get a 'special' bike for Sarah from out the back to accomodate her midget proportions. Good job they did though, because this bike ride was from from a leisurely roll around the lake! Such a lot of excercise deserves a slap up meal in return (or so we tell ourselves) so we headed out with members o the cycle group to a locally recommended restaurant which certainly didn't disappoint. Cheap food, big portions, cheap wine - shame we can't stay another night and go back again! However, Mendoza beckons (another 20 hr bus trip - joy). We are both getting excited about the prospect of drunkenly biking between bodegas (wineries) glass in hand (some more than others, I'll let you guess who). We'll blog again from there or our last South American stop - Santiago.

Ciao chicos!

Lots of Love, Tim and Sarah xxxxxx

p.s. photos to follow!

Hello everyone,

Okay, so once again we have left it rather a long time in between blog updates so will try and get everything down without droning on for hours and hours! We are currently in Puerto Natales, Chile, but when we left you in our last blog we were on our way to the end of the world, Ushuaia. So we´ll start from there!

We flew into Ushuaia the Friday before Easter, early in the morning and made our way over to our hostel. Ushuaia holds the title of the southern-most city in the world and certainly cashes in on it! It was pretty cold (unsurprisingly, being the gateway to Antarctica and all!) but also quite bright and so after ditching our bags, and meeting a guy who would turn out to be an infuriating dorm-mate for the next few days, we hopped aboard a small boat to take a trip around the Beagle Channel and some of it's islands. The journey was quite something, we saw some birds which were sold to us as penguins but it turns out are actually just birds that look like penguins - the flying was our clue there! We did catch some seals though and made it to an island right in the middle of the Beagle Channel just as the sun was setting over the panoramic views of both the Argentinian and Chilean landscapes. The tour guide was brilliant and gave us lots of historical information on the area, including the fate of the native people (there's only one left. I think it was a British person's fault. We've found that to be a general rule here for wiping out people - not good!)

The following day we headed up to take a look at a nearby glacier. Tim made it all the way up the scary icy slope to the top whilst Sarah wandered around just below that. Again, it was pretty cold! The mountains were amazing though, and because it is Autumn here the trees had gone the most vibrant shades of amber, gold and burnt orange. Tim also befriended a stray dog, who we swiftly named Mabel. She accompanied Tim down from the scary glacier, and then us most of the way down the mountain. A man's best friend indeed. That evening we went for some seafood with a guy we had met on the boat tour and then headed for some drinks at an Irish pub called Dublin, which claims to be the southern-most Irish pub in the world. Claim to fame. They had green beer and everything, it was quite a night.

This took us, slightly hungover, into Easter Sunday. After a rude awakening at the hands of our charming, divorced, forty-something, control freak dorm-mate (nice fella) we decided to head down to the local church for the Easter service which was lovely and very busy. I can't say we understood all that much but it was still worth a trip! Other than that we cooked brownies, exchanged Easter eggs and spent the afternoon gorging on our feast! This prepared us for our early bus the following day to Puerto Natales. 15 hours worth of bus, delightful, which took us out of Tierra del Fuego across the Magallan Straight and into Chilean Patagonia.

We arrived late on Monday evening to a very wet and windy reception, but made it to our hostel nearby, which it turned out was pretty great. Single beds and duvet covers!!! It's always the simple things in life that get you. We've used Puerto Natales as our base to explore the nearby natural masterpiece that is Torres del Paine National Park. After embarking on a day tour which took us around some of the lakes and to see a waterfall (no Iguacu but the water is SO blue it is unbelievable!), a glacier (ditto on the blue thing!) and most importantly llamas (!), we set about planning for an overnight trip into the park. Tim decided to tackle one leg of the W trek and head up to the Torres del Paine viewpoint, which is arguably one of the most recognisable images of Patagonia, to catch the sunrise glinting off the famous towers. Sarah took a less gravity defying stance and instead stayed closer to the ground and checked out the Lake Nordenskjold and some other surrounding trails at the base of the mountain. After being informed that there hadn't been a completely clear sunrise in the park for a while, we weren't holding out much hope. However, Tim and the other campers were treated to an almost perfectly clear sky for the 'red flash' which occurs just as the rising sun hits the iconic formations. The hair-raising scramble up from the campsite to the top of the mountain in the dark was well worth it, despite it mostly being undertaken without the aid of a functioning torch. Rats were avoided (food has to be hung in trees to defy the wily critters!) and he made it down with all limbs in tact. Win. Meanwhile at the base of the mountain, Sarah made it through the night without being eaten by a puma, which is an achievement in itself. Despite having just finished reading 'The Life of Pi' and feeling that this was education enough when dealing with big cat attacks, it was probably for the best that she had no opportunity to put these new found skills into practice. Maybe next time. The five pound beer at the end of the experience when all were reunited was well worth it, despite being hugely expensive by British standards, let alone Chilean ones!

We hopped on a bus back to the hostel and after a quick rest and a catch up on all of the wedding-related festivities back home, we cooked a tasty roast dinner and chatted to some fellow mountain survivees. Lazy day today sorting out the next leg of our trip, up to El Calafate in Argentina tomorrow to catch another of the world´s natural wonders, the Perito Moreno Glacier. Geographers eat your heart out. Hopefully we will make it out for a few drinks tonight with new found friends. Not too late though - another early bus to catch!

Lots of love

Sarah and Tim xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx