Santiago, Chile.

A hectic city.. Much faster pace of life to New Zealand. Adeus fresh air... A slight culture shock walking around the city center. Maybe I should have lit a lightbulb under my face.. encourage a camoflage of sorts..hmm. Its good to taste something different.

Santiago, Chile.

Soaking in the views of the Andes in the background of Santiago city.

What a hectic city.. Talk about hitting a faster pace of life after New Zealand. Good luck to fresh air. The city appeared to be in a haze of smoke. It was a slight culture shock walking around the city center. I glowed like someone stuck a lightbulb under my skin! Everyone seems to be busy working in Santiago.. even if its only the pickpockets. The city has its own charm with parks and fountains at every corner. Further out in Providencia trees line the sidewalks, outdoor cafes to linger and watch the world go by are the menu del dia.

Chileans can party. The streets light up at night with locals and tourists alke. Music can be heard from every street corner. Jazz and Samba are always an option. Having a drink at a crowded local bar on the street under a red pilsen umbrella as the jukebox blares is an experience. Ask for a gin and expect a triple.

New Zealand.. The land of picnics!

After landing in New Zealand we stayed in Christchurch for a few days before starting the next leg of adventure. I was shocked at how 'English' the city was.. very civilised and 'cup of tea-esque'. Quaint with an influx of culture all the same. The 'International Busking festival' was lifting off at the time. The 'Japanese Duo' above were hilarious. They mimed their way through their act, politically incorrect and targeted a harmless fluffy teddybear miming absenities!

Some of the views we passed by en route to 'Arther's Pass' from Christchurch. The landscape changes so often in New Zealand. One minute you see rugged mountains, sheer cliff faces, deep valleys with caves to wander through at the bottom.. cows mooing in fields. At times you are driving through cloud.

'Franz Josef Glacier'. The valley walk (top photo) takes over an hour to get to the glacier. The temperature drops about 5 degrees and on with the studs for the ice boots.. A three hour climb on the ice, up slippery ice steps and over the glacier leaves me holding onto the rope for dear life.. (or until you see a ten and twelve year old embark on the adventure). The guide hacks away at the ice making it safer for us to walk on. Refreshing, cold and fun!

Not really sure what game I'm playing but you could actually walk into this tree.

One of the beaches near Te Anau. It looked like something from 'The Final Frontier' (Is there such a film??). 'Tree bones' scattered over the beach like corpses.

One of the many walks around possibly my favourite place of the trip so far.. Wanaka, New Zealand. Much less crowded than Queensland, more picturesque and not as touristic. You just breathe in the fresh air, mountains and lake in the centre of the town. Peace and calm. Diamond lake (the middle picture) leads to a mountain walk.. mental but a dream when you reach the top.

Lake Hayes on the outskirts of Queensland! Lovely hot day so I tore into the water and lapped about with the ducks. Chillly.

In Queensland ya have to get into the 'sporty' mood.. Jet boating is a good starter. Armed in a llifejacket and poncho we started our hour of bumping and splashing along the river. Our driver

seemed oblivious to the fact that a Chinese girl had hurled her lunch into the water and an American lady's face had turned white in the front seat.. The 360 degree spins at high speed were actually quite fun. I wondered at how nobody was catapulted out of the boat.. we all glued to the seat.

Sheep are everywhere. Plenty of sheep traffic jams. Honking your horn and driving slowly through seems to be the best trick. Lamb (I only tried it once) is scrumptuous.. hmm.

Milford Sounds is mystical. A windy mountain path lead to the Sounds, largely deserted with boats waiting to take people on a voyage of discovery. We arrived early to avoid hoards of tourists. Cascades ran down the mountains, waterfalls gushed. We spotted seals lazing on the rocks and dolphins lapping about in the distance. The atmosphere was dark, threatening and inviting.

Views from Lanarch castle over the Dunedin peninsula and city.

Dunedin, a 'Scottish' looking city on the East coast has an interesting coastline and peninsula to explore. Fishing boats and sheep depict the outskirts of the city. 'Nugget Point' reminded me of the '12 Apostles' in Australia, a headland with views down to large rocks scattered in the ocean. Penguins and sealions relaxed under the Summer sun.

The remains of a tree flattened into the ground and hardened with lava millions of years ago in 'A fossil forrest'.

'The Catlins', an area of native forest and coastline wilderness along the East coast had some distinctive features.. We stopped in 'Curio Bay' for the night where we met people from all ends of the earth. Middle ageed 'Guy' from Alaska (and looked like a grizzly bear himself) invited me to camp in his forest driveway (reccommending an army tent) during the Summer months. He gave me a tip 'wear a bell in the forest to scare the grizzles off'. Yeah, i'll be taking up his offer..

The 'Cathedral Caves'.

I couldn't contain my excitement when we were passing through Wanaka again (with a slight deviation from the planned route) on our way up North. I took the plunge and did a helicopter ride over the town stopping off on a mountain. My heart was in my gob as we were ascending ( I could see light through the sides of my supposedly closed door). It was the smoothest plane ride I have ever been on.. mad. No rumbles or bumps.. just straight up. Fun, fun fun!

Afterwards, being on a bit of an adrenaline rush we went quadbiking. I didn't really know what I was letting myself in for.. too late. I was on the big machine, roaring over the rocky land up and down terrains. Good crack when I got the hang of steering!

Views from the 'Church of the Good Shepherd' over Lake Tekapo. Mt. Cook is the snow-peaked mountain in the distance. I legged it into the lake to lap around. The water was like an icebath. Wow.. burrh.

Akaroa, 50km outside Christchurch, a French colonial town. We booked a trip to swim with the dolphins. Fantastic. At first I was sceptical about how close we would get to them. We could have touched them (not permitted due to their delicate skin) they were that close as they danced in and around us in the water, jumping up in the air at times.

A kayak along the calm waters of the 'Abel Tasman' National Park. Beautiful deserted beaches are nestled around ever corner. Our guide (also a pig hunter) told us a few interesting stories about the park and slapped us up a tasty lunch before our 3 hour walk back to base. We stayed in Nelson, a city on a large stretch of beach, with a few bars and cafes giving added character.

Some Maori aboriginal art. The face above is scarier than it looks..

Having left the South island (sniffle, sniffle..) we only had a few days to suss out the North. Plenty of beaches and hot springs! Rotorua, a city that smells of eggs due to volcanic activity and hot springs was our main stop. Stopping along the road at a sign for volcanic activity I was in awe at what we saw. You could hear bubbling noises from the carpark. Looking over a hedge I saw a huge area of mud water, bubbling and spurting up into the air. It was like a science fiction film.. bizarre. I was waiting for the gremlins or ET to appear.

'Champagne pools' at 'Wai-O-Tapu' National Park. Bubbling hot water over rock which changed colour due to sulphur and oxide.

Mountain-biking in Whakarewarewa (pronounced 'Fhakar..) Forest Park, Rotorua. To be honost this picture doesn't entirely reflect how scary most of the 2 hours were cycling in the bush. I thought mountain-biking was up and down a few hills.. This forest park had different grades of ability and boy did they expect you to know how to fly down slippery slopey mountain paths covered in rocks and tree roots to knock you off balance when you least expect it!

Our last couple of days were spent in Auckland, chilling out before hitting South America. Friday night 'on the town' was an unexpected suprise. We hit the nearest pub which was literally rocking its joints. The Kiwis were giving it socks to a mix of hiphop, dance and an odd 'ole swinger tune thrown in. Talk about being able to party. The barman made me down half my glass of wine as I ordered at the bar as he wanted to finish the bottle off.. Beefy rugby dudes flexing their muscles as they lifted their 'Speights' and girls 'getting down' on the dancefloor! Oooh my head.. (the following morning). Now for Chile.

The land of Oz.. stopoff Sydney, Melbourne, Uluru and East Coast.

A preliminary introduction to Australian wine on the plane smoothed over the dose of morning rushhour at Sydney airport. The beach called.. Bondi, trendy with prices to match. Found a pleasant area to rest our weary selves in Randwick, 10 minutes walk from Coogee, another popular beach spot. Plenty of cafes, bars, the odd pub where locals resided to bet or chill. Perfect. We didn't move for a month.

The Bondi-Coogee cliff walk reminded me how unfit I was, however the scenery and blast of sea air was invigorating. A 'sculptures by the sea' expo revealed the creativity and diversity of artists this side of the world. Sculptures were littered along the cliff walk overlooking the ocean, many making environmental statements, others using the backdrop of the ocean to compliment them.

'Coogee Bay Hotel', rated in 'The Blue List 2007' as second best pub to visit in the world.. 'What?', I thought having past it several times en route to the beach. True to its word though Saturday night 'rockin the foundations' we partied. Live band, dj, beer garden, tourists and locals 'giving it socks'! Irish backpackers appear everywhere.. in Sydney anyway. We hit the town with couple of Tipp blokes and ended up with an A & E encounter at the end of it.. Well it involved chasing an ambulance and stuff.. not for the faint hearted like myself.

Sydney zoo.
Surfing. You have got to try it. I only attempted it once mind you.. I wouldn't rule it out again. Perhaps I would choose a beach or a day when the waves are less mammoth. Crashing white waves, clear sky, sun radiating down.. The instructor informed me my wetsuit was on back-the-front.. embarassing moment. Surfboard under my belt we headed for the waves. The water whirled me round in circles. Instructor to the rescue. The muscley Ozzie pulled me and the board out to sea and the fun began. Whoosh! Lying flat on the board on top of a wave gliding to the shore. I didn't manage to unglue my blody to stand but it was thrilling. Moments later I noticed a grimey thing wrapped around my toes.. pulled half of it off, then realised I had decapitated a 'bluebottle' or 'Portuguese Man of War'. He managed to sting before being beheaded. I could have chewed my arm off with the chainsaw like pain.. I now have a sting suit and look like a 'space man' when I wear it.

The night before leaving Sydney we hit the Opera House to watch a cabaret performance by 'Camille', an half Irish, half French! She grew up in Ireland and made to the Sydney Opera House. She was spectacular, giving energy, power and character to her performance.


One of Melbourne's groovy cafes.. ultimate chill out zone..
Melbourne, a city of culture and diversity was our next destination. We chilled out in a little smelly apartment in St. Kilda, the later being my fault. Delighted at the prospect of having a bath, I threw the large warbly looking pipe hanging in it alongside. A couple of days later I heard a concerned holler from the bathroom. Washing machine churning.. two inches of water was already covering the bathroom and now flooding the bedroom. As if I was on a sinking ship I grabbed a small bucket and lauched into throwing water from the floor into the bath for an hour. The floor was still intact.. just about.

The buildings around Melbourne range from old colonial style churches to dramatic architecture, such as Federation Square in the centre. The G20 summit was happening that weekend coinciding with the 'Make Poverty history' concert. We hadn't the 'golden tickets' into the main venue, however chilled out at an alternative concert. Bono and Pearl Jam created a stir at the main event.


'The Esplanade Hotel' in St. Kilda is what appears to be a 'rundown' old fashioned hotel along the seafront. It turns into a happening spot at nighttime when djs transform the night and sanity goes out the window.


We bumped into a Spanish Festival in the city. Streets were spilling over with people with a cloud of smoke wafting from the openair tapas! Tim, an Ozzie from Melbourne showed us around one of the largest casinos.
We rented a car and headed for the 'Great Ocean Road'.

Despite the haphazard weather driving along the windy roads and scenic views of the coast was thrilling. People were randonly stopped at one point along the road gazing up at the trees. We pulled over and spotted koalas and their young perched on branches. Before sunset we spotted the first of the 'Twelve Apostles' standing stones in the ocean. Stolling along a beach in awe of the glistening waters and misty atmosphere. The wind changed and the sand swirled up hitting against our legs.

In Australia spend long enough driving on the roads and you start losing the plot..



The following morning we stopped at various vantage points, 'the Grotto' being the most amazing. A winding stairs lead to the point where you could look through the cave out to sea. This reminded me of how powerful and spectacular nature is. Man could never create this.
Brighton Beach in Melbourne is lined with several wooden huts along he shore. Surfers glide with kites in the water. Yaughts are scattered everywhere. There is a bar along the edge from where you can savour the views. Ok. I've rambled enough about how great Melbourne is..

You could see Uluru and 'the Algas' mountainrange from the plane as we were landing. The heat hit me like a giant hairdryer as we left the plane. 'Can I get back on please??'
One day would have been enough for me at Ayer's Rock. We were stuck there for two. The water in the swimming pool was too hot to swim in. We took a tour to watch Ayer's Rock at sunset from a distance. We were given lots of wine as we waited in anticipation to see the changing colours of the rock. It was overcast so the changing colours weren't that visible. Nevertheless we clicked away, let the wine flow and were happy! We stayed up chatting to Richard an American sharing the for bed bunk. 4.30am we rose for sunset and the 'Valley of the Winds Walk' in the Algas. The walk started at 6.30am and by 7.3oam the temperature had reached the 30's. The walk was challenging yet enchanting. The sun peered behind red rock, casting a mist over the valleys... 'The Lord of the Rings' meets the desert.

Cairns, the gateway to he Great Barrier Reef was our next stop. A nice setting.. a lagoon pool overlooking the sea with mountains in the distance. We rented a car and headed for 'the Tablelands' reccommended by the bloke who hired us out the car. 'Millea Millea Falls' were sensational. The best bit was you could swim in the enclosed lake under the falls. Further inland we stopped at a crater, a drop looking into a green water pit which had been blasted from the earth. It looked like a witches cauldron. We stopped at 'Mission Beach' that night. It was like a ghost town. We found one lively bar that seved gigantic portions of pasta.. the waiter must have been huge. The beach was deserted the next morning.. surrounded by palm trees. Green froth lined the shore.. remnants from the coral of the Barrier Reef (coral beaching because of the ozone layer..eek).
Little Cyrstal Creek was next on the map. A lake surrounded by by rocks and leading into a river.. 'swimmers paradise'. It was in the middle of nowhere. I thought I saw 'Huckleberry Finn' swimming down this river. Driving along the windy mountaineous roads was scarey. Exotic birds fluttered across the road. A lizard quietly making his way across stood up on his hind legs at the sound of the car and shot for cover. We travelled through 'farming country' where sugar beet was transported by rusty 'toy trains'! The land was luscious and green.

'Magnetic Island' renouned for unspoilt beaches and walks followed. We stayed at 'Horseshoe Bay' and started our '1 hour' walk to Florence Bay. The bus only travels along one road on the island. The other raods joining the walks are not accessible by bus. We climbed up one path and down another to the first beach.. took a wrong turn and were lost. 2 and a half hours later we arrived at Florence Bay. Breathtaking. Deserted. The South side of the beach had the 'Yongala shipwreck' where scuba divers ventured. We still had about 3 km to get to the main road. We passed by an elderly man struggling to walk in the 32deg C. We tanked him up with some water for fear he wouldn't make it to the top of the hill. To my relief he did.
Airlie Beach was the next stopoff before the WhitSundays. We met a man from Holland who filled us with his survival tales from the bush.. befriending and going hunting with the Aboriginals. He was travelling Australia alone. He crashed his car at high speed in the outback and resorted to eating dead game from the roadside at night when he had no food and was hungry. I locked my door.

The 'Wings' boat bringing us on a two day trip of the WhitSundays consisted of 25 passengers and 4 crew. It was a great laugh. We lazed on deck under the sun, ate lots of yummy food on board and had a few beers. Most people attempted scuba diving. I got as far as 'the skills' in shallow water. Equipped with a tank and weights to drag me under (hello) I breathed. Christian the instructor let water into our goggles to prepare us for the unexpected and I lauched myself to the surface.. bye bye. I contented myself with snorkelling over the Reef which was fun. I tried to follow some of the fish chasing them under rocks. One kept on hiding until I went away. One fish had huge pink lips taking over half of her face, others were multicoloured blue and green flourescent. Although not the same as diving it was fascinating to watch the underworld from above.

We headed to Bundaberg to catch a glimpse of the turtles coming ashore to hatch eggs after nightfall at 'Turtle Beach'. We headed to the National Park and waited at 'Turtle Beach' until after dark. The rangers brought us to a spot on the beach near the sanddunes where a giant turtle, 90cm long had her hindlegs raised over a hole she had buried in the sand. We watched as the moon cast its light over her eggs plopping out of her hindquarters. She lay 54 eggs in total, covered the sand over them and crawled back along the beach into the waters. The eggs are due to hatch Feb-March when the hatchlings run into the water in their hundreds after dark to begin their journey. Fascinating stuff.

We stopped off at Rainbow beach where a sanddune the size of a mountain (Carlo Sandblow Pit) stood high along a cliff overlooking the coast with miles of beach underneath. Talk about blowing your mind away... It looked like a giant skislope covered in sand , appearing to swallow up any human in the distance. This rivalled Uluru with breathtaking views. Tin Can Bay, 30km down he road was our next destination. We arrived at 8am in time for the morning feeding session of two dolphins. I plopped a couple of fish into their mouths before heading up the road to Noosa, the Gold Coast's holiday venue for the famous. A river runs through the city joining onto the beach. Noosa National Park had plenty of the Native Australian bird, cassowaries wandering aound and carefree coastal walks to savour.

Sydney at Christmastime was thriving. The atmosphere was upbeat, not so much because of Santa and the snow.. because it was hot. You could smell the barbaques and the beer : )


Shoppers and 'happy go lucky' tourists were abound everywhere. Coogee, where I was staying for New Year was full of sunworshipers. New Years Eve, we headed for the Harbour Bridge to watch the firworks.. along with the million others. Adrenaline was pumping as crowds made their way. People spilled out of the pubs, drink flowing and flying. Fireworks popped, cracked and sparked complemented by gin in plastic cups. The flenzy to clear the streets after was like ballet dancing in a tin cup. Fun!

Nuno's long lost (literally) relatives, Elizabeth and Joe were calling us to visit. Landed in Oz from Portugal 40 years ago I was suprised when this middle aged couple in sunnies and thongs greeted us at the train station in Entrance with a big grin, wave and a 'thumbs up'! Ozzies with a Portuguese- Ozzie accent, this pair were comical! Joe lit the bbq for us the first evening, cows, lamb and everything thrown on top. His sense of humour was funny and scary..This man is nearly 70 and talks about the various 'fish' on the beach.. snipers or whales.. Wacky yet good crack.
Storks fighting for dins at Entrance.

Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world was our next muddy adventure. 11 of us were socked into a 4WD. We went shopping the evening before and some bright spark suggested we buy 100 litres of water for tehb 2 days.. as well as all our food, crates of beer, bottles of gin, whiskey and 20 litres of wine. HELP. Where were we going? Someone who had gone on the trip before suggested we take plenty of drink.. 5 Germans, 2 Italians, a Portuguese and 3 token Irish (including myself) off we launched. The first day was tricky on the dirt roads as most of the luggage threatened falling down on top of our heads as we richoted over the bumps. Hands were holding up the luggage.. plenty of squeals from the backseat as 'Per' from Germany took the lead as chief Navigator in the group.

Tins were cracked open to help the situation. We found a gorgeous warm lake to swim in. Later we set up camp and feasted on what we had. The dingoes were whiffing around the camp in the middle of the night burrowing deep into the sand where we had burried our leftover meat. The second day it felt like time had stopped. Per woke everyone up at 5am to see if we could see whales from Indian Head. Nice views and no whales we drove around till dark.

Crack was good though everyone was glad to get back to mainland by day numero 3!

Byron Bay was our next stopoff as we drove along the coast back towards Sydney. I loved the place. Simple, colourful village, not too 'touristy tacky'. Hippy Haven yes, relaxing trendy and simple cafes with a 'Bob Marley' feel. Only stopped for 2 nights, could have stayed a week. The beach was a mix with people. At nightfall the town got even more atmospheric.. live music from one pub to the next. The beach hotel had 2 djs getting the crowd rocking with what sounded like a mix of Leftfield, Portishead and Underworld thrown together. You had to dance.. or try!

At the most Easterly point of Oz, Byron Bay.
Zip down the coast to Coffs Harbour.. a quick runaround the marina and bird sanctuary island attached to the mainland, Port Macquarie, Newcastle (a slightly industrial city with nice beaches and lots of live music), the Entrance and Sydney airport via train. The morning we left I scarpered down to the beach to feel the sun and waves.. my last vision of Australia. Sad yes but New Zealand is next.