La Paz, Bolivia

Scottish Phil, one of the lads from last night, popped up to the room this morn (on my invite) to watch Liverpool vs ManU on ESPN as his hostel didn't have TV! I'm not a footie fan, except for Ireland in the world cup (WHEN we get in!), but it was a good laugh nonetheless.

The previous night, after I'd had my fill of BBC goodness, I watched the excellent Ireland v Scotland rugby game. The commentator was South American of course, and I noted how even with rugby they can get overly excited. It wasn't so much "Goooooooal!" this time as "Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!" whenever O'Gara got it over the bar.

Today, being Sunday, a lot of things were closed up in La Paz, so I didn't do much bar check out the offerings of the Death Road mountain bike companies here. The "World's Most Dangerous Road" aka "Death Road" is the famous stretch of road from La Paz to Coroico through a winding valley with precarious sheer drop-offs, yet stunning scenery. The tagline comes from the huge amount of fatalities over the years as countless cars and trucks have toppled down while negotiating the extremely narrow precarious route. Of course the road is a lot wider for cyclists so it won't be quite as dangerous for me but being "Extreme-Pete" I couldn't afford to miss this, so I've decided to book in with a company called "Downhill Madness" for $85 and the trip starts at 6.30 am tomorrow morn. Don't worry I won't go down "madly", having had one bad fall already from mountain biking, I'll probably be the slowest one on the tour

I had originally planned to go with the much more reputable company called "Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking" but unfortunately they seemed to be closed on Sunday, and when I checked out "Downhill Madness" bikes they seemed to be good quality so it should be fine.

I explored the area around my hotel today as well, and the Plaza de San Francisco area seems to have a strong Jewish heritage with countless "Lebanese" restaurants and shops with Hebrew written outside them. Of course the Israeli tourists swarm here as a result. I had a lovely Lebanese lunch, although the "Pitta" bread was definately anything but.

A few more beers with the Scot/English guys tonight and then early to bed for the ensuing "madness" tomorrow...

London, United Kingdom

.../ continued

This wasnt one of our challenges, but we thought it looked fun.

As you can see we managed to fit most of us in the box. We also did a similar picture in a taxi, which was a bit more successful.

The day was fun, and it gave us a great idea of what challenges we may face on our adventure.

EOK =D 

One of our challenges was to take a group photo infront of 5 famous landmarks so here we are with big ben.This is where we did our first dance of our trip and we did at 12 o'clock in front of big ben when it was chiming. We did a lot of funny looks as we were shouting "WE'RE IN LONDON!!!" with jazz hands, but we were used to it now  Also we had to buy a mascot from Girlguiding UK CHQ and we bought "Agnes" the Centenary Tatty Teddy Bear. (HK is holding her.) She is called Agnes after Baden Powell's sister who ran the guides when it frist started.

EM

On Westminster bridge, as one of our challenges to have a photo in front of London's famous landmarks.

A great day full of fun and excitement. Having lunch in China town, going to the guiding uk shop and getting our little mascot.

Finally getting gifts for the people who will be helping us when we go on our trip.

I can defiantly say we all had a great day, and would be happy to do it again 

AC :) xx

We then made our way to China town, We took quite a while decide what to eat. There were lots of distractions in the form of big plasma tv screens and trying to learn how to use chop sticks (we all had to give it a bash even though we could have had forks)   

After our meal in China town, we quickly bought some souvenirs and made our way to the train station to go home, stopping in Starbucks and to cram ourselves into a taxi on the way (extra challenge).

Once back at the guide hut, we talked about what we thought of the day, about what all the different activities were teaching us to do and whether we had succeeded with our challenge, (we did better in some sections than we did in others). We agreed that the worst part of the day was the weather, but luckily, none of the places we are going to visit are going to be as cold as it was in London that day. We also agreed that we all liked getting to know each other and taking the photos (especially the one in the taxi).

The day was a great success :)

CG x

Bundaberg, Australia

After the drive South from Rocky, we arrived in Brisbane and settled in to catch up with relatives and friends. Staying in Brisbane for a couple of days we again set off North, our first stop - Nambour! The weather gods were against us a bit here so we made the best of it that we could. Of course a visit to Nambour means a visit to the Big Pineapple - not the same as I remembered but the effect was still there! A photo and a cup of coffee in the tourist centre from a grumpy member of staff we didn't stay long and headed back to the van. We are really "treading water" at the moment waiting to see what the huge cyclone off the coast is going to do - it has already devastated Fiji and is heading towards the Oz coast so.....

17/3.  Bundaberg is out of range of the cyclones at the moment so we headed out of Nambour to Bundaberg. 

Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand

We left Haast Beach rather quickly as it was foul weather, this continued for all the journey up until the Fox Glacier area. We had a rather quick walk up to the Glacier and all got absolutely soaking wet, which was rather amusing. At this point in time we are all obviously very friendly sitting around in our pants with cups of tea, a nice family situation. From Fox Glacier we enquired about helicopter rides but they weren't flying due to the terrible weather, visibility was about 20metres. As a team we decided to drive to Franz Josef and weather was the same so we decided to take a chance and stay for one night. We where hoping that we could possibility do the helicopter ride the next day so we booked onto the 8:15am flight- again a big thank you to mummy and daddy McGee for their generosity. We had a good sleep and left it for the night to see what it was like in the morning.

Haast, New Zealand

Bright and early we are awoken by the sound of our rather deserted road roaring with traffic and tours stopping at the Cardrona pub and hotel. This was amusing, we arrive and there is noone to be seen and when leave there are cars everywhere. After this early morning amusement and watching the tours with our breakfast we head to Lake Wanaka and have another nice walk around. We stop and have some nice cakes and coffee at the local café then jump back in the movable home for another amazing coastal road towards the Haast Pass.

Along the Haast Pass we get to Fanfail Falls and Jessy befriends a Jack Russell doggie. The falls are beautiful and there is an amazing series of piled rocks on the bank in front. We ventured through rocks and headed through a small river that was bloody freezing, I estimate around 8c. When crossing the river you get great views of the falls, which cascade down a series of rocks to the river below.

We finally get parked up at Haast at a small and rather odd camp ground run by a man who I can only imagine would be called something along the lines of Simple Dave. The ground was close to the beach and rather cold. At this site we meet a nice couple who are on their honeymoon, they give us some great advice on things to see and where very much just very friendly people. That night I cooked beef stir fry and enjoyed a Malay ginger tea whilst mum, dad and Jess went for a walk. It rained that night for one of the first times since we have been in New Zealand. The rain wouldn't have been a problem other than the fact our washing was on the line.

Cardrona, New Zealand

We get up early for the Milford Cruise and it's cold! We worry about the weather a bit but it seems to brighten up and is a lovely morning, especially for this part of New Zealand where it apparently rains for 240 days of the year. We are almost late for the ferry but manage to make it just in time. We realised that we have score with the trip as we manage to get the smallest boat with tea and coffee for free! About 10 minutes into the ride we see some bottlenose dolphins and they are absolutely amazing! They follow the boat and hitch a free ride and we are sure they are trying to play. It was the nicest thing we have seen and was such a lovely experience. They were so beautiful and it has made us me want to swim with them even more. Absolutely fantastic! We also see so many waterfalls and the craggy rocks are wonderful, very nice scenery and a beautiful part of the world. On the way back we see the dolphins again and they play and one splashes Jonny and his camera, hehe! We then see some seals feeding. It was the most amazing trip ever and we were so glad that we did it. A great start to the day!

We left after that and headed back towards the west coast. Jonny plods on with the drive and we get quite far quickly, we made it back to Te Anue in 2 hours! We then realised that it was Mothers Day and decided to go for lunch in Te Anue at the Fat Duck. Angela, Jonny and I tried out the Mussel Chowder and Chris had a tart! It was very nice and afterwards we drove towards Lake Wanaka. On the way we were recommended a place called Arrowntown. We went past several wineries and arrived at Arrowtown and we were so impressed. It was the cutest town we have seen on the trip. It almost looked like a western film but had loads of cool shops and restaurants and cafes. It was great to have a walk around and we chilled out with a beer, as it was nice and sunny. We sat outside the pub and sat by some Australians, one of which fell off his chair. It was very amusing! We had a walk by the river afterwards where they used to mine for gold!

We headed onto another road that was slightly less in kilometres than the main highway. It was a great decision as it is supposed to be one of the most scenic drives in New Zealand! We went through the Crown Range and we were amazed that Bertha made it up the hills but she did us proud and we saw one of the best views we have seen in New Zealand of all the Lakes and hills with sheep! Jonny was most annoyed that we weren't there for sunset! Through the Crown Peaks was gorgeous and there were large hills either side and very windy roads. We wanted to find a free campsite tonight so we were on the look out for somewhere we could park up. But up and up we went up the hills and we wanted to wait until we were out of the hills as it was quite scary! We stumbled across a beautiful little town called Cardrona. It was a very local place with a few houses and a really old local pub. Angela and I went into the pub and checked that we could park up outside. The locals were very helpful and said it would be fine! Apparently, back in the 1800s the whole city was a gold mine community and the pub was the actual mine! There were artefacts everywhere and even a scrapbook with the history of the pub. The pub itself was really nice and cosy with a fire. Very English old pub. We also found out that the pub is one of the most famous in New Zealand so that's another tick off the list. The place was gorgeous and we had a nice drink after dinner and a relax.

Milford Sound, New Zealand

That morning we leave Te Anau and head for Milford. There is more amazing scenery along the way, some of which is more dramatic and overwhelming than what we have previously seen. As the long journey around the country continues we have now grown accustomed to randomly stopping when we see groups of parked motor homes along with this there is the obviously constant waving to passing Pacific Horizon motor homes, haha. So the next site along the way is the Mirror Lakes, these are barely a tourist site at all but merely a very well placed series of sheltered pools that mirror the smaller mountains opposite- on a calm day with correct lighting and winds these would make for some amazing photography.

After another half hour drive we arrive at the Key Summit walk where we settle and have some lunch. Our lunch was great, we had another great selection of cheese, fruits, hams and tea and coffee. This made me feel great but as a traveller I did feel abit grand walking past the others with rucksacks to the kitchen to clean our coffee machine. The walk after lunch was great and it took us up an hours hike to the top of a mountain that looked out over some amazing snow topped peaks and a few small lakes. When arriving at the base of the Key Summit walk we where approached by some really scabby looking hippy type travellers who ask us for a lift to Milford. This was weird, we have and will again pick up hitch hikers should they appear normal but actually being asked and put into a situation where its hard to say no was annoying- we as a group all said no. This was more because we felt harassed into saying yes over the fact that they would have honestly made our home very dirty with their stinking dreadlocks and unwashed loon pants.

So after annoying at least six stinkers we head off to Milford. After some keen advice we realise that there are no DOC sites so we have to stay at the lodge. So at this point we are actually at the camp ground where Mike worked a few years ago, we ask a few of the staff if they know him and they all say he was there last night. In addition to having to pay for another night accommodation they give us a massive discount off the Milford Sound cruise. In total the cruise costs $40 each and that means our campsite was free and we profited $16, bonus. Due to the beautiful setting I head off to takes photos all on my own again and mum, dad and Jess go for a walk. They tell me that the views where stunning with craggy rocks, waterfalls and rainforest. That evening we have a nice relax as we are all rather tired after the long days drive.

Te Anau, New Zealand

As my wonderful amazing parents have been literally paying for everything and spoiling us rotten we take them out to breakfast at a place called The Patagonia Chocolatier. We dine on a very healthy mix of Croissants, home made jam and hot chocolates. This was great and we all spent that day feeling thoroughly delighted.

We have a late start yet besides this we still aim to head for Milford. The plan doesn't go exactly as planned and we end up staying in Te Anau instead. Amazingly all these drives aren't especially long or at all boring as all have beautiful scenery, good if maybe a little bumpy roads and hundreds of places to stop for tea and cake breaks. When arriving at Te Anau we head towards the lake and drive around whilst trying to find a free campsite but no luck, we tried to drive on a bit but cant find the free rest stops anywhere, it seems that the DOC and government only puts the free places out of the way obviously to help the local businesses. So pee'd off we head back to Te Anues Fiordland Holiday Park and have another great campsite with great facilities and even better views. I have another quick walk around to try and get some more images whilst dinner is being prepared. Mum did well that night preparing a great roast with potatoes and veg- mmmmm, a taste of home.

It appears that whilst we have been away its been getting harder to spend time apart from each other. Although obviously we both still enjoy our free time its weird now when we are apart, this becomes more apparent when I head off to take photos but leave jessy who wants cuddles, haha. Its going to be weird when we get home as we will be apart quite a lot and I think we will both miss each other- even after many arguments and tantrums along the way.

Queenstown, New Zealand

Getting up early we are greeted with another bright and early morning in the shadow of Mount Cook. Mum dada and Jess head of to do a half hour walk to Kea Point and I decided to get up a little earlier and head back along the Hooker Valley walk for another 3hours to get some good morning light photos. After all our walks we arrive back at the same time, have a quick bite to eat and set off to Queenstown. Another excellent feature of the motor home travel is the cafetiere that comes with the already fully equipped kitchen. This has enables dad and I to enjoy a minimum of two fresh coffees per day, haha it's the small things we have missed whilst travelling.

So sad as we are we leave the mountains of Moria and the Lord of the Rings style scenery behind and set off towards Queenstown. We make a brief stop in Omarama for Ugg Boots and provisions with sadly no luck with the Uggs. On our way to Queenstown we voyage through the stunning Lindis Pass, which again has some breathtaking scenery and views. Ad Metz if your reading this you and Colin should make NZ your next mountainous holiday destination.

When arriving in Queenstown we instantly find it weird as its very catered towards the tourist industry but surrounding area is amazing and the town has a lovely lake and some parks. One example of the type of tourism available is this; I head into a shooting shop to ask about trips the chat then explains that if I have $3k and two days he will take me in a helicopter to shoot goats and deer- from the helicopter! Craggs if you read this blog, if I ever get rich we're off.  We head out for walk along Queenstown's lake and we run into the seagulls to scare them al off. That evening we decide to eat out having an amazing curry at a local Tandoori Palace, three curries, 4 naans, many popadoms and BYO wine. Curries may well be a favourite of ours now after being in Malaysia for a few weeks, the taste is quite addictive and we are excited about the Indo- Fijian food in Fiji- that is if there is any culture left after all the dam scabby travellers. We will reserve judgment until after our visit but thanks to our friends at Lonely stinky Planet we have been very much put off.

Mount Cook, New Zealand

After a scrumptious breakfast of toast with jam and muesli we head off along the road to the long awaited Mount Cook. The drive is amazing and the scenery is probably some of the best in the world. The day was perfect for it with intermittent sun and cloud and lovely warm heat. Along the way we had many stops to get out and take photos plus simply gawp at the view. At this point we where no more than 700m above see level looking at the range of mountains surrounding us that stood at 2700m above sea level. Some of the hills where laced with a thin layer of fresh snow which just added to the effect and atmosphere of the drive.

After driving for a few hours, driving shared between dad and me (Jonny) we arrive at Mount Cook and go to the DOC site. We have been to a few Department Of Conservation sites now and they are all very basic but in excellent locations. The sites themselves cost around $6 per person and have only running water and toilet facilities. This campsite was literally next to Mount Cook and even from here we could see the mountain towering in the distance, its crazy that some people attempt to climb it, I would satisfy for a helicopter flight over it, haha. Our main reason for visiting this area was for the vast array of beautiful walks that have been suggested to us.

Our first walk out too us through the Hooker Valley, named for a reason not related to that of prostitution, or so I am told. The walk has two cool swing bridges, great views and loads of colourful plants and rivers, I would suggest it to anyone, the views of Mount Cook from this angle where the best I have seen. In total this was a nice steady 3-hour walk but it was cold when the wind was against us.

That evening we crank up the heating in the camper, Jessy fills up pig and we again dine in style with some great food and yet more amazingly good and affordable wine. This evening was even a first for mum and dad as we introduced them to the US comical medical series House that we copied from Kim and Nick whilst couch surfing in Brisbane, Aus. After this and mother falling asleep halfway through the first episode we reheat pig (the hot water bottle) and head up above the front seats of the motor home to our pit.

Lake Tekapo, New Zealand

We decided to have another day in Lake Tekapo today. It is so beautiful that we thought we would just stay and chill out for the day. To start the day off we had a nice relaxing breakfast of bacon and eggs. After this we decide to go up the local mountain called Mount John. There is an observatory up there that does star gazing at night but you can go up there and pretty much do a self tour as well. We went up in the day and the guys up there kindly showed us some stars through the telescopes. The view from up on the mountain was fantastic and you could see the plains, mountains and lake all around you. We had a nice hot chocolates and coffee at the hill café whilst we took in the amazing views. After this we went on a mission to find a campsite. We found success pretty quickly and got one right on the lake, it is absolutely gorgeous. We relax with beers by the lake and then go for a walk to the water and near the lake.  Jonny wanted to go on a photo mission so he hiked around the lake and up the hill (and later gets into trouble). He says he will meet us on top of Mount John as the plan was to walk up there and stay up until the sun sets and stay even longer to look at the stars. A couple of hours later Angela, Chris and I start our ascent up Mount John. We soon realise that we have forgotten a torch but we aren't to fussed as we thought Jonny might have one later. The views again from up top are stunning and we wait patiently for Jonny to arrive. Unfortunately, Jonny never comes to meet us and Chris and myself got a bit annoyed and worried. Because Jonny didn't meet us we had to leave straight after the beautiful sunset because it would be pitch black soon and we didn't fancy walking back down that path in the dark. We got back to the bottom and had a snack of cheeses and some wine and waited for Jonny. I was worrying quite a lot by this stage. Whilst we were waiting we saw a massive shooting star that went into three funnels; it was so bright and red! Jonny arrives back and gets a telling off from Chris and myself. We go on strike and refuse him wine and cheese, that'll teach him, hehe! Over to Jonny now as he wants to protest his cause!

This section and as my beautiful lady puts it requires my input and a new paragraph. Jessy has outlined the facts but forgotten my keen interest and passion for photography, as all photographers know the best time to take shots is dawn and dusk as the light is always more colourful and there is less glare. So the tale begins, I am walking around a mountain in search of some good angles for sunset, I have at this point been gone since 5pm and its now 7pm. It dawns on me at this point that there is no chance in hell that I will make it up the massive hill to meet everyone at 8pm, sunset at this time is around 8:15pm. I set off and find some wonderful vantage points to take some shots across the plains. Once this has been done and its dark the sunset and I am alone in the middle of nowhere with about 1hours walk up the hill and 2back down to camp. I head up the hill and luckily meet an employee of the observatory whom I hitch a lift with. Ade, the employee who we met earlier that day had shown us two stars, being the closest in our solar system and therefore visible during the day. I was very grateful for the lift and get to the top, still alone and with no idea where everyone is! In my personal opinion I think that the others should have come prepared with there own torch. I again grab a second lift to our camp site from another employee and arrive back at the motor home to a furious dad and metz a mere two hours late. Mum knowing my keen intuition and Bear Grills like survival skills is unphased by the situation. Dad and Jess ban me from food and wine- I was sad so had a beer instead, haha.

Lake Tekapo, New Zealand

We left Akaroa the next day after some breakfast. We drove back the short way as the long tourist drive took bloody ages. We were heading on a fairly long drive today all the way to Tekapo Lake so we had to go back South of Christchurch and we carried onto a place called Ashburton. Here we got supplies at the Countdown Supermarket and after that we found a nice place to eat just off the highway. The scenery all the time was pretty cool as you could start to see mountains in the distance. We went through another small hick town called Geraldine and not long after this we saw a hitchhiker on the side of the road. He looked fairly clean and didn't have dreadlocks or loon pants so we picked him up! His name was Martin and he was headed for Mount Cook, it turns out he's a ranger there so if we got lost on the mountain, he would be the one to rescue us. He gave some good advice about Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook and informed us of a likely place we could stay for free with the camper. We finally get to Lake Tekapo and its beautiful; it's so blue as it's run off the glaciers! There are amazing mountains all around it and what looks like desert land. There are fabulous trees and colours and its just wow! We drop Martin off and look around town; there is a lovely church where people get married and Angela and Chris decide that they want to take us on a helicopter flight, woo hoo! We went in a few places to talk about this but they told us that it was probably better from the Franz and Fox Josefs glaciers as they are nearer to Mount Cook.

We go to the east of the lake and find free camping spot in forest, it's really nice and not to far from the water on walk. We settle down and I start to make a salmon risotto. Jonny toddles off to take some sunset photos. A lady parks up and we get paranoid that she is going to tell us to bogg off but she actually wanted to park up herself and wanted some company. The salmon risotto isn't too good but oh well! Afterwards I have a walk down to the beach and see lots of rabbits on the way. We relax and have some more wine and later on we get out to have a look at the stars and they are absolutely amazing. They are so bright that you can see the Milky Way and Mars! It was truly spectacular and a great evening.

Akaroa, New Zealand

We get up and Jonny doesn't know what hes in for. We all wish him a happy birthday and get ready for the day. Jonny comes back from the shower and we have an array of presents waiting for him. Angela and Chris had bought all of Jonnys cards from home and a few additional gifts. I had secretly bought Jonny a load of gifts also so he wasn't expecting that at all. He opened all his lovely cards and Andy and John (his Auntie and Uncle) bought him a lovely T-Shirt. Angela and Chris got him a nice jumper from Fat Face. Then I bought out my presents; I had spent ages wrapping them the night before so they were very well presented. I got Jonny 3 different T-Shirts, a Shirt and some boxers all from Topman. I also got him some black and white film for his camera and a cuddly Koala from Australia. I think he is very pleased with everything and I'm glad he had a good start to his birthday.

All of us decide to go to Akaroa, which is on the Banks Peninsula in New Zealand. The drive is amazing with some spectacular scenery and we are stunned by how beautiful it is. There are massive rolling mountains and lovely trees everywhere. There is also a massive lake right smack bang in the centre of all of that. On the way we stop off at the visitors centre at Little River and Jessy blows up balloons for Jonny in the campervan. We eventually get to Akaroa after a long tourist scenic drive. We get there and have lunch by the Lake consisting of cheese and biscuits. It's gorgeous and so lovely by the lake. Again, just to re-iterate how nice it was to spend some time with Angela and Chris. It is so easy and relaxing. We went for a walk by the local coast right up to the lighthouse. They do swimming with dolphins there that we considered but then we found out that there is a sewage plant right near the lake. It's nice and warm on the walk but Jonny and I are still finding the weather rather chilly.

Ideally, we wanted a free place to park up that evening but it didn't really work out that way. It's not the sort of place where you can do this so we found the local holiday campsite and parked up. We had a viewing spot which was disconcerting as we had to park on blocks to even us out. Chris feared for our safety and the vans braking system! For dinner we had some lovely steaks and afterwards I bought a treat of éclairs for Jonny with candles.

Earlier that evening whilst at the pier in town a situation arose which was by far the most absurd coincidence that has ever happen. A friend of the family and one who lives 2miles away in North Yorkshire has recently returned to NZ from travels abroad. We had hoped to bump into him sometime but hadn't actually formulated a plan of attack to actually see him. When Jess and I where at this pier in Akaroa a young man and his friend drove past and saw someone (me) taking some photos and using a Lee filter system. These lads decided to stop and question the stranger as keen photographers themselves. This is where we randomly bump into our unexpected friend in the form of Mike Cooper. The coincidences increase later on after we arrange to meet Mike at our camp site and not tell mum and dad. Mike being unable to find our campervan rings Paul in the UK, at this moment mum stumbles across Mike, Mike then hands mum the phone and mum chats to Paul. This was all very weird and obviously unplanned, great to see our friend and great that Paul one of Mikes best friends could be involved.

Christchurch, New Zealand

In the morning we wake up and say our goodbyes to Zoltan and Beata. We get away at 04:45am after ordering the taxi to the local train station the night before. Due to track maintenance we then have to take a bus the nearest working station and catch a new train from there. Our flight and trip to the airport are relatively painless and we are eager to get to Christchurch and meet up with Chris and Angela. Just before we land in Christchurch we flew over Mount Cook and the Southern Alps and the view is fantastic. We think we are going to like it here!

We land and have a bit of a wait in customs as we forgot to declare our tent so we have to keep Chris and Angela waiting. We look around the corner while we wait and see them! It's so nice to see them and we are really eager. We eventually get through and give them a big old hug. It's really nice to see family after all this time and we are both very pleased to see them.

We go to greet the new 6-berth campervan and it's amazing! It's massive and has all the mod cons; TV, Hob, Grill, 6 beds, cutlery, microwave, fridge and what's more, Angela and Chris have already stocked up on wine and food for us all! It's so nice to be looked after and we feel very relaxed instantly. We set off to head for our first holiday park called the Top 10 holiday park Christchurch. It was great and had a really nice kitchen and various other facilities. It's really nice and we have some snacks and catch up with Chris and Angela. I had secretly booked a surprise sushi restaurant for Jonnys bday that evening. It was his bday the next day but lots of restaurants were closed on Sundays and we were heading off somewhere else the next day. Angela let it slip that we were going so Jonny soon knew what we were up to! We got the Bus into town and had a walk around Christchurch before dinner. There was a really nice Cathedral and we walked around the park where there was a food and lantern festival. Jonny and I were a bit shocked by the weather; it was so cold compared to anywhere we have been in the past 12 months!

The sushi restaurant was called Sushi Dining Kinji. I had done loads of research to try and book the restaurant and when we arrived it was very small. We sat down and we knew straight away that I had booked somewhere good. The only clientele in there were Japanese. The menu was fantastic and we immediately ordered a platter of sushi and shared it between ourselves. The staff was lovely and very attentive and it was a very authentic Japanese restaurant with an open sushi bar where they were making it live in front of certain people. I was very pleased I had chosen somewhere nice like that for Jonny beef. After we had scoffed the plate of sushi (including Grouper, Tuna, Cod, Salmon). It feels good to have wasabi again. We ordered some tuna handrolls and tempura softshell crab. Both were amazing and it was some of the best sushi we had ever had. After dinner I had organised with the lady that Jonny would have a free desert so she gave him a lovely Crème Brulee that we enjoyed immensely. We waited for the bus again and it was bloody cold. Back at the campsite we had some yummy New Zealand wine and relaxed.

NZ and notes, in addition;

Its great having mum and dad with us. Jessy and I where starting to really need a slice of normality and home and this was perfect. We as people have changed since we have been away and I think this is now evident. I (Jonny) is now less bothered (in a good way) about how people view him and how they feel. I have started to think more about how I feel and more importantly how Jessy is. Jessy I feel is still missing home a little and is excited to get a slice of home. We have been looking forward to seeing mum and dad and NZ for ages now. Another character change is that Jess and I have now realised that we can instantly tell who and what types of people we will get on with. After being away for so long and enjoying so many new friendships we don't have time now to be pleasant and attempt friendship with those we wont get on with. In addition having not spent time with many people over the last few months its great having some company in the form of mum and dad but obviously at times we will probably find it hard. As expected already after a few hours mum and dad are spoiling us rotten, the camper is amazing and bloody huge, they have stocked up on food, taken us out for dinner, bought wine and have planned the entire trip. It is great to have them with us.

Melbourne, Australia

We fly to Melbourne with Tiger Airways, which was probably a mistake. They said to us we were over on weight and we therefore chucked some stuff from our camping bag! We got to Melbourne and got on the shuttle bus to the city. We had set up Couchsurfers previously but weren't meeting them until 4 o'clock or so.  We put our stuff in a locker to pick up later as we are getting very fed up of the camping bag! We walk into Melbourne and it's really cool, there are trams everywhere and lots of cool streets and cafes. Melbourne city is a delight and Jonny and I head to Federation Square, which has really cool architecture and is really great for a beef around. There were some quite cool exhibitions on around this area, which we also visited. We also walk by the river and then up and around the city. We nip into Dan Murphys for some wine and head to get the train to our CS house where we will meet Zoltan, Beata, Zoe and Timi.

Jonny and I get the train and bus to Rowville about 40 kilometres outside of the city bur we don't mind. It's quite nice staying outside of the cities in these places and travelling in. Beata turns up to collect us and she is lovely, very friendly and helpful. Beata and Zoltan are Yugoslavian by heritage­­ but in the war this changed to Hungary. They had left to live in New Zealand during this time and fled from the worries over there. They have two girls Zoe and Timi, which were also lovely. Their hospitality was amazing and they gave us a load of chilli con carne and wine! We chatted for ages about what we had been up to and what to do in Melbourne. They are so lovely and we felt very at home. The house was stunning as well and we had our own little room, very cosy!

The next day we decided to chill at the house and have a lie in. We slobbed around and updated the blog and watched TV. We said that we would cook that evening so we made a trip to the local supermarket and picked up some bits for a chicken and mushroom feast. That evening Jonny and I cooked dinner and it was hit and very yummy. Again, we were given some Hungarian aperitifs of string spirits and more wine was drunk. Beata and Zoltan are lovely people and seem very similar to Jonny and myself. They are very easy to talk to and we talked for a very long time! 

The following day we wanted to explore Melbourne. Zoltan had told us about some lovely guided walks of the city and there was one that went through all the alleyways and cool coffee shops so Jonny and I dd that.  We started just outside of Flinders Street station underneath the big clock and made our way through various old streets and arcades. There were so many cool shops and cafes and Jonny and I really wanted to go in every one! There were also lots of cool streets that were painted with graffiti. Mebourne really is a great place and I would love to come back on holiday to explore all the restaurants and cafes. On the way back from the walk Jonny and I stopped into one of the cafes and had a panini, delicious. The walk took us about an hour and a half and it was one of the great things to do in Melbourne. We also really wanted to go to St Kilda where we had heard really great things about. It's a coastal town and has a harbour and a beach. It also has really nice restaurants and wine bars. We got the tram there but we weren't sure where to get off so we followed some oldies. Oldies always know where they're going and lucky for us they did! We followed them down to the harbour and had a look around there, it was really pretty and we later found out that at dusk there are usually penguins just off the pier so we just missed them! I really want to see some penguins! We took a short walk back into the town of St Kilda and had a walk around there; it is a really pretty little place. We were quite knackered by this time so headed back to Zoltans and Beatas so we could spend some time relaxing. Zoltan and Beata made sure that we were wined and dined as usual and we had a good old feast of BBQed Lamb and Hungarian sausages cobbled together with a Hungarian potato salad and a cabbage salad. It was absolutely delicious and we are finding the Hungarian food amazing. Whilst Zoltan cooked the food, Jonny and I tried out the trampoline in the garden. It was loads of fun and was great when one of you sat on it and the other bounced you up and down! The family took us on a walk up a hill after dinner and you can see loads of Kangaroos up there. We started walking and there was no luck at first but eventually we started to see some hoppers around. There were absolutely loads and Jonny took photos of some and they were really curious.  One was looking right at Jonny and insisted on shaking his ears about at him. Another stood up tall and put his big-breasted belly out tall for the photo! It was a really great walk and gave plenty of lovely views of the town. Zoltan and Beatas hospitality really is admirable.

After a long hard decision about whether or not we should book a nights accommodation in Melbourne so as to get away quick for our early flight to Christchurch we make the wise choice to stay with Zoltan and Beata. Why would we want to exchange the comfort and conversation of this family home for stinky travellers and dirty dorms? The taxi option seemed far better as Jonny and I hate hostels now and we would rather spend the evening at their house. For the last day we opt to chill at the house and catch up on any last minute things. We are meeting Jonnys parents in New Zealand the next day and we are both really excited. We find out that they are already there so we can't wait to meet them. Anyway, more of that later. Jonny and I slob out and watch some Harry Potter films. For dinner Beata said she would cook a Hungarian Goulash type of thing and I said I would do my famous apple crumble as dessert. So I left Jonny at the house and off I went to the supermarket. After more chilling out Beata and I made dinner. Beata spent ages making the Goulash and also made this home made pasta to go with it. Apparently, it's a really famous and traditional dish in Hungary and you can get it wherever you go. I made the apple crumble in hope that it would be just as nice as Beatas amazing dinner. Jonny was watching a Hungarian movie with Zoltan during this time that was quite amusing.

Dinner was served and we had some Hungarian spirit like snapps from Beatas hometown that tasted rather weird, like a cross between eating a flower and cough medicine! It's good to try these things though as it's a new experience and we were very grateful. After the drinks and preparing our stomachs for the next feast Beata served dinner and it was so good! The meat was really tender and the homemade pasta was very yummy. The portions were quire deceiving as what looked like a small plate of food was actually massive. I scoffed a load of food and I think the pasta must of expanded in my stomach because I was suddenly so full. We left a few minutes before the apple crumble. It was nice but not my best. If my stomach was not full before, it definitely was now. I felt unnaturally full and I think maybe the most full I have ever been. I wanted to be sick and couldn't sleep I was that full. I packed up and decided to have an early night as Jonny and me were getting up at 4am the next day to get the train to NZ. We said our goodbyes to Timi and Zoe and Beata and Zoltan kindly said that they would get up in the morning to say goodbye. We were so grateful to them as they made us feel really welcome and cooked us some amazing food. We only hope we can do the same next time we are in the UK when they are. They are such a lovely family. Jonny and I get to bed and we are really excited about meeting his parents the next day. I think that we barely slept the whole night!

Sydney, Australia

Our flight into Sydney was cool, we saw the Opera House and the Bridge on the way in and it was lovely weather. We got the expensive train into town at $15 for a 10-minute ride and made our way to the Harbour City Backpackers. It was rather annoying as we had all our bloody camping gear with us so it took us ages to get to the damn hostel. When we got there we had a bit of a shock as there were scabby travellers outside the front of the hostel and it was a bad sign. Jonny and I actually haven't stayed in hostels for ages and we now remembered why we hate them! The hostel was generally ok but had 220 beds or something. Luckily, we were sharing our dorm with two guys that were very cool and skating across Australia and New Zealand for cancer. Afterwards we realised that they might be religious types! Anyway, we decided to go for a walk and went up to the Kings Cross area. In general this area seems very backpacker territory and not really mine and Jonnys scene. We head back to the hostel and cook our food with about 50 other people in the kitchen. Hostels suck! We would rather camp and cook in private than with all those other dirty stinkers! We noticed that they were cooking really basic food like plain noodles and pasta and Jonny and I rocked up with our fajitas, which seemed like luxury. Jonny stayed up very late talking to the guys in the dorms for ages and I got a bit angry as I hate not having my sleep!

The next day Jonny and I went sightseeing. We walked through the botanical gardens and went to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. There were some really cool pieces in the gallery and Jonny and I were very impressed. This was very relaxing and afterwards we decided to go to a nice coffee place on the way back and this kept Jonny happy. It doesn't take much! We then headed for the Sydney Opera House and the Bridge. This was really cool though a little bit dated now. We got some good photos and had a walk around and then headed for Circular Quay. We were meeting one of Adrians friends Lauren in Manly later as she kindly offered top put is up for three nights. After we had found out where we needed to be we then had to head back to the hostel. We left our manky camping bag at the hostel and got on the free bus to circular quay.

Sydney as a city is very similar to many of the others we have visited, at this point because we have visited so many cities we now need something different to distinguish between them all. Sydney has some great areas but many of them are located outside of the city space. Where we were lucky enough to stay in Manly we had a great time, Manly has everything from beaches, shops and restaurants.

Mardi Gras in Sydney, we didn't actually know what to expect and we found it great fun whilst also feeling rather old compared to most of the participants. Many of the people obviously where there to support gay pride but many I think where there as youngsters just to get hammered and play around. That night we saw some bizarre sights from dikes on bikes, queens dancing in drag on high-rise platforms and many processions and floats. The parade was very good, very bright and colourful. Jessy being small struggled to see and we are positive that the guy in front of us had had far to many drugs and had shit himself. We managed to see most of the parade and avoided stink pants then left a little early and head for the manly ferry home to Laurens house. On the way home we see so so many drunk kids, 16-20 year olds smashed all over the place, it was quite funny.

The next day after a wonderful nights sleep at an again deserted Laurens house we get up and have some breakfast. Lauren get home and Jessy and I head out to the beach with her and her flatmate Tess. Tess was cool she is originally from Chile as was her mum who met us at the beach. We decided to head to Shell beach, around the harbour of Manly off to the west. Shell beach was cool, quite busy but nice and hot. Sadly too hot so we had to sit in the shade for a few minutes. There was one problem with Shell beach and swimming in the Sydney area, the water was so cold, well compared to that of Brisbane etc. After Shell Beach we headed out for lunch at a small restaurant owned by the sailing club, massive portions and quite cheap.

Sadly after a few days in the comfort and relative luxury of Laurens home in Manly we had to return to the hostel to pick up our camping gear and head off early for our 7am flight to Melbourne. We said our goodbyes to Laurens and Tess and headed into town. That night at the hostel wasn't as bad as we thought, our 4bed dorm was only Jess and I plus all the kids that had arrived for Mardi Gras had finally gone home to their parents. One incident occurred whilst cooking some beautiful steaks and I burnt my arm on some oils, I am still hoping it doesn't scar.

Rockhampton, Australia

5/3. Having left Longreach, we travelled along the Capricorn Hwy. towards Rockhampton. The country is very green (after so much rain) and incredibly flat. As we couldn't make Rocky in a day we decided to stop at Sapphire and try our luck! We stayed at the Blue Gem Caravan Park (where else!) and in the morning around town - there's not much to the place so you do walk round rather than through, in a very short time! Our search for sapphires took us on a short drive to Rubyvale (about 20Km). There, we took a tour of the Bobby Dazzler Walk-in Mine, once a working sapphire mine but now a tourist attraction. The short tour was made all the more interesting by our young guide Nathan and his Lab. pup Matilda - his enthusiasm was really refreshing. We couldn't leave without trying our luck with a bucket of wash (a bucket of rocks that may or may not contain precious gems, namely sapphires). It was a lot of fun with Nathan helping us to find our precious jewels and we thought we had found some pretty good stuff, but in the end it wasn't worth much as none of them could be cut - but well worth the visit. Then it was off to the Rubyvale pub for a cool drink - very old watering hole but a great place to relax. 

7/3. We left Sapphire and continued our journey to Rockhampton this time via Emerald and Blackwater. Interesting place Emerald,

they have, in the middle of town the "Worlds Largest painting on an easel" (according to Guinness). It stands 23m tall and is a replica of a Van Gough still life, it's very impressive but why? Blackwater next, about 60Km along the hwy. is a large coal mining centre with the International Coal Centre. The centre is very impressive and the displays are excellent showing the industrial development of the world and the dependence we have had (and still do) on coal. A very good display, made better for us with free entry - just before the tourist season helps sometimes! We spent the night at a freecamp in Yaamba, 30Km north of Rocky. A good spot but, apparently well known to many others - by dark there were 5 Road trains, 2 semis, 3 caravans and us crowded into the site - and very early in the morning clear again, all part of the experience!

8/3. Drive into Rockhampton to drop off the van for the new windscreen. With a couple of hours on our hands we took the opportunity to walk around town and to visit the information centre (in the old Customs House). There are some wondeful old buildings to see and it was a very enjoyable walk. Picking up the van we headed across the very swollen Fitzroy River to the Riverside Caravan Park - above the waterline and hopefully staying that way! In the morning, after a late start we headed up to Yeppoon about 45Km, North east of Rockhampton. It's a small ocean front village with spectacular views out to the Keppel Islands. We spoilt ourselves with a coffee overlooking the beach and ocean. The town doesn't have the development that many coastal towns suffer, maybe bacause the beach itself is pretty ordinary but, time will tell. We left Yeppoon heading back along the coast road to Rockhampton via Emu Park, mainly to see The Singing Ship, a monument to Captain James Cook. The tubes that form part of the monument we guessed were meant to make sounds ith the constant wind that hits the coast - we couldn't get more than a "hum" from it - must have been an off day! Then it was back to base...

10/3. After a quiet day, we decided to walk into town (across the very swollen a nd fast flowing river) for tea - since we were in the Beef Capital of Australia it had to be steak!! The Criterion Hotel advertised a steak menu we'd noticed earlier, and is wasn't too far so we headed there. Well, it would have to be one of the best steak meals I've ever had, it was delicious and just superbly cooked - they lived up to their name! You can see "bulls" all over town on top of buildings and in many advertising signs.

11/3. We have to head down the coast to catch with some friends and family that we couldn't when we were in Brisbane last so, an early start and down to Gladstone for lunch - it boasts the largest Aluminium plant in Australia (I can see why!). We left Gladstone and headed to Bargara (near Bundaberg) to go to the Turtle Hatchery at Mon Repos beach - hoping to see some turtles. Along the way we came across the "Mystery Craters" - a bunch of unexplained holes in someone's backyard that they have turned into a tourist attraction. It looks like the result of a meteor shower but the scientific community is not convinced - hence the mystery! It was an interesting diversion, and the business is for sale (if anyone is interested!) Anyhow, back to the turtles! The Loggerhead turtles come in to lay their eggs in December at Mon Repos beach and after an incubation of about 8 weeks the hatchlings dig their way out of the nest (60cm down), and claw their way to the sea and swim for 2 days to pick up the Eastern Australian current - Nemo was a

 documentary, who'd have guessed? We arrived at the Queensland Parks Centre at 6:45pm and checked in - there were lots of people so we finished up in Group 2, about 20 people and we all sat down to wait until an "event" occurred on the beach.  There is a team of volunteers that sacn the beach for a nest that is hatching and notifying the Centre so that the groups can go down a observe.  Anyhow, group 1 got their call at about 8:00pm and we had to wait until 9:45pm for ours!! So, much excitement as we all trooped off to the beach to be met by a parks officer and we were guided to nest just as the first of the hatchlings emerged from the nest. The parks officer moved a bit of sand away from the wall of the nest so that the turtles had a better climb, and it wasn't long before there was a seething mass of baby turtles, all trying to get out of the nest and head out to sea. Each nest has about 110-120 hatchlings. A small pen had been set up on the sand dune and as each turtle emerged they were placed into the pen until all had hatched and the next stage could start. It was at this time that we all got a much closer look - the ranger brought a couple around so that we could touch and photograph them, an incredible experience! Light affects the turtles and their sense of direction so, some have been known to head toward the lights of Bundaberg so, to minimise the effect we formed a line with torches to the shoreline so that the turtles headed out to sea. It makes you feel as if you've helped in some small way for the survival of these tiny creatures, as they claw their way to the sea over your feet! There are about 1600 nests on the beach, each with about 120 eggs, and since only 1 in 1000 will survive the odds ain't great - so it was a fantastic night.   

Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

BITE-SIZED ENTRY

Morning bus from Puno, Peru to Copacabana, Bolivia was uber-comfortable as I had quite possibly the best seat(s) on the packed bus: just behind the stairs in the upper level there was heaps of legroom, plus the seat beside me was empty.

Scenery along the way was excellent and the Boards of Canada tunes from my mp3 player only added to the atmosphere.

We arrived at the Bolivian border around 3 hours later. No problems crossing over, although we were highly encouraged by the bus attendant to change our money at a specific office on the border which "had a toilet". Wooh.. I'm sold! (he forgot that the bus from Puno also had a toilet). I changed $20 just to have SOME Bolivian cash, and then I'd change the rest once I arrived at Copacabana and got a better rate. The rate at the border was 6.9 ... in Copa I got 7 ... not much difference tbh.

On arriving at Copacabana (2nd time I've been at a place with such a name!... and every time, the damn song enters my head!) I had a nice lunch of Tikicaca truncha (trout) for about $2 and then onto the boat to Isla del Sol. I bought my ticket at the port itself, and it only cost B$ 10 ($1.20).

Bolivia was already proving to be as cheap as it's famed to be.

Boat to Isla del Sol showed us the first views of the Cordillero Real: a stunning snow-covered series of peaks in the near-distance. A constant fresh breeze blows off these mountains across Lake Titicaca which is why it gets so damned cold at night (about 0C - 2C).

On arriving at Isla del Sol we had to pay an entrance fee for the island (I would later discover that there would be biletos for visiting various parts of the island, but these could be avoided by approaching the areas later on in the day as I discovered the next day...), and then there was a HUGE uphill trek to the main town center. Everyone was struggling. It's hard enough to carry around 30kg on your back at 3,200 metres altitude, but to then have to tackle a huge staircase for 40 mins is exhausting. Not only that, but you're prey for every hostel-tout who line the staircase trying to convince you that the pain will end if you go to their nearby hostel.

I persevered though. I'd read that there were a nice selection of hostels up around the church area, and indeed there were a ton. All of them were completely haggable. I got offers for private rooms for as little as B$ 35 ($4.50) with shared bathroom, but the best deal was B$ 50 ($7) for a huge double-bed room with windows on 3 sides that had an INCREDIBLE view of the lake and Isla de la Luna. Breakfast included. Score! Only problem seemed to be that the woman in charge was hardly ever there. Many times I saw tourists arrive and then wander off when no response came. Clearly she needs a course in "how to be greedy and run a business properly".

The Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna islands are sacred to the Inca, who viewed them as the birthplace of the Inca.

That night I had dinner under a milky-way sky. The stars are amazing here. Beautiful place.

Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

BITE-SIZED ENTRY

In the morning took a private boat to the Isla de la Luna at around 11am as there didn't seem to be any tours leaving from the Isla del Sol at that time. Initially priced at B$ 220 I got it down to B$ 140 ($20) to rent out a whole lancha for 4 hours including 1 hour travelling between the islands each way.

On arriving I headed up to find the Templo de la Luna. Couldn't find it for ages. Walked for about 4km before I saw it down on the other side of the isle as I was heading back to the boat! Building is in a state of almost complete ruin, but the setting with the snow-capped Cordillero Real mountain range as a backdrop make it a stunning setting. The building also features distinct relief detailing on the walls, which makes it VERY unusual for an Inca temple (usually these are just plain brick structures).

On getting back to Isla del Sol around 4pm, I had a small break, eating a tiny egg sandwhich, and then I intended to get to the northern side of the Isla del Sol island to see the Templo del Sol. No boats going (again!) so I was going to have to walk it. That's 8km. Each way. At an altitude of 3190 metres!

Walking up to the North wasn't TERRIBLY hard. Most of it is downhill, and I made it in around 1 hour 50 mins, with enough time to see the temple and surrounding sights before the sunset at 6.30pm.

Sunset was damn nice, although the previous day's one was better as there as less cloud.

Walking back was SO HARD. I'm talking nigh-on-Kilimanjaro levels of tiredness here. Mucho cansado! Not only that, but as the sun had set and it was a new moon, it was pitch dark, plus freezing at about 3C. Luckily I had packed along my 2 fleeces and headlamp.

I somehow managed to struggle back to Yumani after about 3 hours walking in the freezing cold. I ordered a pizza in the restaurant, but despite my best intentions to keep awake, I fell asleep on the table after ordering!

I haven't been this exhausted in so long. That's what walking 20km at high altitude in one day does to you.

At least I worked off all the excess weight I put on after the huge meals I had in Cusco

Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

After my stint on Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca where they obviously have no Internet service, but surprisingly DO have mobile phone reception (!) I've just uploaded a chunk of images from Peru, namely Cusco and Puno (launching point for Lake Titicaca on the Peruvian side)

Took the morning boat from Isla del Sol for 25 Bolivian ($3) at 8.30am, arriving back to Copacabana about 10am.

From here I'm heading on to La Paz at 1.30pm. When I get there I intend to check out the infamous "World's most dangerous road" (aka "Death Road") downhill mountain bike tour for tomorrow or the next day. One of the main things I'll want to know if there's any serious uphill (my knee is at me after the massive 20km uphill trek yesterday) and, of course, do they have elbow pads. Don't want to shatter my OTHER elbow now. Having one metal elbow is enough thank you very much.

After you complete the tour you get a cheesy t-shirt. Bonus!

OK so I've got about 1 hour before my bus leaves ... I'll try to write up some blog entries, but as my upcoming itinerary is so solidly packed (1 month and 11 days left to take in the rest of Bolivia, plus Argentina, and parts of Chile including a week on Easter Island) I'm going to have to start writing shorter bite-sized entries (a typical blog entry for me takes about 1-2 hours each!)... I'll update them all in more detail when I get back home...

...later...

The ride to La Paz from Copacabana was LESS than comfortable given that I've now discovered the buses in Bolivia are nowhere near as good as those I've been getting used to in Peru. Firstly I'd asked for the seat with the largest leg-room on account of my sore knee so that I could keep my leg fairly straight-ish. What I was recommended was the front row seat, but little did I realise until I boarded the bus was that the front row seats tend to have the LEAST room. Not only that, but the Bolivian "tourist" buses have "Bolivian-sized" seats.

This wouldn't have been too much of a problem if the person sitting next to me was of fairly slight build, but unfortunately I got stuck beside a huge, fat, SWEATY yank. It was almost comical as I saw him approach: "No, don't consider this seat.. there was another one at the back I'm sure... oh shit he's approaching... oh crap he's starting to sit!"

He took over HALF my seat as well as his own! The guy was even scoffing down on chocolate biscuits throughout the whole trip. The only saving grace was that I had the aisle seat, so at least I could try to sit sideways and put my leg out into the aisle. Unfortunately, no matter how closely I sat towards the edge I could still feel Fatty's sweaty dew-flaps rubbing against my back whenever the bus took a sharp turn (of which there were many).

I was not a happy camper.

Thankfully about 1 hour into the trip we had to get off the bus in order to cross a short section of Lake Titicaca (the Copacabana peninsula is essentially cut-off from mainland Bolivia by Peru! ... poor Bolivia, it even had to secede the Atacama region and access to the Pacific ocean to Chile about 100 years ago during the Pacific Wars).

The river crossing involved putting the huge bus on a precarious-looking raft, while we went across on separate smaller passenger boats (for which we had to pay extra on top of the trip fare!). It made sense as there was every chance that the slightest breeze would have toppled the bus (and all our luggage) into the lake below.

Once we crossed over to Bolivia proper, I went into charm-mode and asked the driver if it was possible to sit in the very front of the bus where there was a spare seat normally reserved for the ticket-seller. This seat had loads of legroom, plus I'd get an excellent view out of the buses front window. When I'd asked the ticket-seller originally she said "No! Es prohibido!", but the driver was less strict and agreed! Thank God. Not only was I happy, but I think I probably saved Fatty's life, as it was only a matter of time before I'd strangle him and would be left sitting next to a chubby corpse for the rest of the trip.

The rest of the trip was pure bliss, as not only had I plenty of room, but I had an outstanding view of the road ahead and the Bolivian landscape and villages. For future reference, the middle-seat in the LAST row is the best seat to get on these kinds of buses as there is unlimited leg room!

First impressions of this part of Bolivia then. Wel, l the Bolivian's seem to have a knack for living in uncompleted houses. Every town we passed through seemed to have a plethora of inhabited-yet-incomplete redbrick houses with construction wires still coming out of the sides and top of the walls. There was even an entire village in this state. I don't know if this is down to laziness, or lack of funds and the possible idea that "if it keeps the rain out, then it's finished", but I have to admit that the towns on approach to La Paz distinctly lacked any charm and all looked as if they had been founded in the past 10 years.

La Paz is quite stunning though. Well, at first.

The entire city is built in a huge valley and ringed by huge mountains. The city is densely developed because of the small valley area and it's really quite a sight to see practically every inch of the area covered by buildings. It's quite pretty though, and a testament to how modern society can actually make something quite beautiful in a strange industrious sort of way.

Yet it's not exactly the most "stunning" city: on approach from the north we briefly passed through the suburbs of Alto which seemed to have a preponderous amount of drug addicts and dodgy folk wandering the streets, and then once we passed the toll-bridge that marks the entrance to La Paz itself, there were yet again loads of unfinished redbrick houses lining the roads.

I hadn't bothered to read up on La Paz prior to arriving, so I hadn't any plan on where to stay, so I ended up sharing a taxi into town with a couple from Argentina that I kept on bumping into in Peru and then Bolivia. They had selected a hotel which was a little out of my price range, as they were on their last 2 days of hols, but the area (around Plaza San Francisco) turned out to have an excellent array of hotels serving all budgets. I decided I'd splash out a bit and settled on a place for $20 a night (Hotel Diamante Azul) which had an excellent view over the city, free buffet breakfast, plus the best thing: BBC News on the telly!! After 2 months of nothing but CNN, or worse, Fox News, BBC was a lifesaver. After paying for the room I literally sat on the bed for the next 3 hours watching Jeremy Paxman ripping into some Israeli government official, and other similar progs. A breath of fresh air with none of the arrogant "celebratory-presenters" that CNN keep shoving down your gob.

Later that night, I met up with a few guys I'd met in Puno, Peru and we ventured out on the town for a few brewskies. La Paz at night is fairly safe, although there's still an air of dodginess akin to what I experienced in Bogota, Colombia.

Boracay, Philippines

Boracay is another tiny island off an island (this is a geographical feature that we've loved - see Gili Islands and Malapascua). It is also the most famous tourist area in the Philippines. No wonder, it has great diving, kitesurfing and a 4 kilometre beach of the powdery white sand. We decided to spend as much time here as possible. A week should be enough. We found a nice but basic bungalow near the centre of the beach and got to work on our tans.

The beach has a fish market (D'Talipapa) where you can buy incredibly fresh seafood, around the sides of the market are restaurants that will cook your purchases for a small fee. We soon found a favourite restaurant, called Sababi. Their cooking was probably much the same as the other restaurants but their staff were brilliant. Mabel in particular looked after us royally and welcomed Ciara with a hug on arrival. For reasons that we didn't want to question, Oysters were about the cheapest thing to buy in the market. We were eating kilos of them each day. Delicious!

We also discovered an amazing hotel at one end of the beach. The Asya Resort was about 2 weeks away from fully opening so were delighted to welcome 2 backpackers looking for a brief taste of luxury. We had a great lunch there and returned the next day to try their brownies on the beach. Between the Oysters, the brownies and a near permanent Happy Hour, Boracay was ruining our wedding diets.

To try and make amends we decided to try some physical activities. First up was Kitesurfing. We'd tried our hands at this a few years ago in Greece, so we thought it would be easy enough to pick up again - like riding a bike?  Not so much. No, we were dragged screaming through the water from one end of the beach to the other!  We nursed our bruises over some San Miguels and yet more oysters and were right as rain the next day. We also managed to fit in a dive around the Crocodile Rocks (no crocs just a croc shaped rock).  It was a really great dive, loads of illuminous coral and friendly fish.  We even saw some sea-horses - how cute! (Although apparently they were pipe-fish, a near cousin of the horse himself) Well they looked like galloping sea-horses so we were delighted!  What a great way to top off an excellent few weeks in the Phillipines.

Malapascua, Philippines

We had had a bit of trouble finding anywhere to stay in Malapascua, all the places in the guide book were full, so we just called all the numbers we could get hold of to try to find a bed.   So with no idea what to expect we set out for Tepanee Resort.  Our hosts Andrea & Sylvia met us on the beach and showed us to our room.  The resort is in a beautiful spot on top of a hill in between 2 bays and overlooking both of them.  Sylvia appeared to be leading us towards these gorgeous beach view cottages, but being backpackers we expected her to at any minute take a sharp turn down to the cheap seats.  She didn't though, and we couldn't believe our luck when she handed us the key to our cottage. 

What a view! We had a fantastic stay on Malapascua, and it's hard to say what we did other than relax. The island has a real desert Island feel, there are no roads, no atm's, no hawkers, and of course the obligatory free roaming roosters. The islanders were very friendly and always up for a chat.  The lady at the bakery even asked David if she should by a hat she was trying on when he called into her shop! It was hideous - but what could you say!! One of the main attractions of Malapascua (apart from the tranquillity) is the Thresher Sharks that congregate around the island.  Ciara unfortunately had a cold so couldn't dive, but David lined himself up to take on the sharks alone (well with a guide). So up he popped at the crack of dawn. Raced to the dive shop and off they went with high hopes of a shark encounter. Two hours later he was back in bed feeling sorry for himself. No sharks - just jellyfish, stinging ones.

dunkerque, France

Je suis en couple avec Nicolas depuis un peu plus de huit mois maintenant. On s'est connus via des amis pendant une soirée Guitar Hero, il a été impressionné par mon talent et m'a proposé de « venir jouer chez lui ». Tout se passe à merveille, on s'entend vraiment bien et on se ressemble sur beaucoup de points.
Evidemment, il y a un « mais » : Nina, son ex, avec qui il est resté en bons termes. Je dirais même en très très bon termes. Nina est évidemment célibataire à Grenoble et passe beaucoup de temps chez nous. Même quand on prévoit une petite soirée en amoureux, elle vient et s'installe avec nous. Bien sûr, Nico ne réplique pas et, accrochez vous bien, elle lui demande de lui apporter à boire et de lui faire des massages... devant mes yeux !
La semaine dernière, j'ai aussi appris que pendant que j'étais en déplacement pour rentrer un client important, elle a dormi chez nous, et pas sur le canapé... Je suis désemparée, mon homme idéal n'a pas l'air de se rendre compte de la situation et trouve presque normal que son « amie » puisse dormir chez lui... Son amie oui, son ex non !

Cusco, Peru

Took a collectivo bus up to see the ruins of Tambo Machay, Puca Pucara, Qenko and the plan was also to get to Sacsayhuaman, but alas it started raining REALLY heavily and was getting dark at 5pm so I had to postpone that for the next day. The best way to see these ruins is to get to Tambo Machay and then walk downhill from there along the main road back toward Cusco (the sites run alongside the main road)

I forgot to mention that to get to any of these Inca sites you have to buy a 10-day Tourist Ticket which costs around 50 euro! It's crazy that they don't offer a 2 or 3 day one for people like me who won't be able to take in all the sites.

Tambo Machay was a water temple and it's a fairly small site, but it has some remarkable water features which still function today as well as they did 600 years ago. The site would have been used for ritual cleansing by shamans or other high-ranking folk.

Puca Pucara was a site that was believed to have been a fort, but recent religious excavations at the site have lead others to suggest it was a religious location. More stone-walled ruins, nothing particularly spectacular, but it does have a rather large rock in the center that is believed to have been used as a model for Machu Picchu when they were designing the site. It does bear a remarkable resemblance to Machu Picchu, but this is all theory and it could just be pure fluke that the rock was shaped like that!

While at Puca Pucara, I got chatting to a guide called Xavier, and somehow he convinced me to take him along to the next site (I'm not usually keen on guides as it's usually pretty hard to take photos at your own pace) but he offered me a "Christmas Present" (his words) of a 50% discount so I thought I'd try it out for the next site.

The 3rd site, Qenko, was about 4km further down the road so we hopped it in a Collectivo. It's very different from the other sites, as it contains a large formation of rocks with caves and ceremonial burial "windows" that would have housed mummys (apparently in Peru, mummys were actually sold to tourists as little as 30 years ago. The only way you can see a mummy today is in a museum). There was a large rock near the entrance to the cave that once was shaped like a puma and was covered in gold and silver (these metals having no value to the Inca). Of course when the Spanish arrived they destroyed the rock, thinking that it was a heretical symbol. But apparently on Summer Solstice you can still see the shape of a puma in the shadow cast by the rock.
These little bits of info came from my guide, so in a way it was good to have him for this section. He also guided me through the cave and showed me a ceremonial table where mummies would have been prepared, and an area where llama sacrifices took place. But predictably I found it quite hard to get time to take photos without him standing in the way, or trying to drag me onwards, so I decided to call it quits with him at Qenko and then I'd try to tackle the last site near Cusco: Sacsayhuaman.

But at this stage the rain, which had been precipitating slightly all day, decided to downpour heavily and also brought the temperature down to such a level that I could see my breath! I had only brought a tshirt so an emergency sweater-buying was on the cards. I ended up getting an alpaca sweater which did the trick, but I also got a bit of a chill and now I've got another case of the flu/sore throat to contend with. Doh!

Back to the hostel pronto...

Cusco, Peru

Yesterday was a fairly non-eventful day as I spent the whole day just buying souvenirs. I was ruthless in my haggling ability. There were tears and I'm sure I didn't make any friends, but I got my stash for about 50% the original price and that makes bargain-hunting-Pete happy

I then went and posted the lot home, along with a chunk of clothes I haven't worn ONCE on the trip. 5kg in total. Postage costs came to around 45 euro and there should be a large cellotape-wrapped cardboard box winging it's way to ye back home!

Today was gonna be my first encounter with the Inca ruins in the Sacred Valley. I took a precarious bus up to the town of Pisac through steep winding roads along cliff edges that are gradually giving way due to the recent extreme weather. Occassionally we'd encounter a mudslide that had freshly formed overnight, and the driver would have to navigate his way over it. This in a bus with no suspension and crammed tightly with poncho-wearing villagers.

First thing on arriving at Pisac, though, was to check out the infamous Sunday market (something that the Rough Guide *spit* even recommends as one of the top 20 things to do in Peru). And it didn't disappoint: people arrived in from villages throughout the Sacred Valley, the women carrying their babies on their backs, sometimes with herds of llama in tow to carry the goods back. It was a photographic dream, and I spent several hours here hiding out in the shadows so that I could capture the locals with my zoom lens. I even went and bought some more damn souvenirs... I don't know what it is, but I really like the Peruvian touristy kitsch. So ...erm.. that's a huge alpaca rug that's now crammed into the bottom of my backpack, plus some other stuff which will probably never see the light of day when I get back to Eire!

After having had my fill of cute kids and bartering locals, I decided to venture up to the main attraction of Pisac: the ruins of an Incan citadel.

The route up to the ruins was closed due to a collapsed bridge and yet more landslides, so my only option was to get a taxi up. The driver took it upon himself to be my guide, even though I just wanted to get a lift up there and then wander around myself. It took the help of an Argentinian tourist to explain this, so the driver said I had 1 hour and to meet him in the car park. 1 hour clearly wasn't gonna be enough, but he ran off before I could explain. The guy was gonna have to wait around 2 hours for me until I got my fill of photos ... he wasn't gonna get paid until I got back anyway.

The citadel looks down onto a valley of ancient terraced slopes that served as preventative measures for landslides (the modern Peruvian could learn a lot from the Inca in this respect... apparently landslides happen in the area every 4-5 years!). The actual citadel is, as I would discover over the coming days, a typical Incan site consisting of walls of huge blocks amidst narrow passageways and stairs up to the Temple of the Sun which sits at the top (and where you can get a spectacular view of the rolling mountains). The Inca didn't decorate their walls or carve elegant patterns as the Mayan did. Instead, elegant stonework is the trademark of Incan architecture. Huge blocks of limestone are slotted together in a seemingly random pattern, but the pieces all fit together so perfectly that you cannot see any mortar between (on many occasions they didn't even need mortar, so stable were the structures).

The views up here were spectacular too. Even when it decided to downpour heavily and I had to don my uber-fashionable poncho!

Back to the hostal, and I proceeded to begin the torturous itinerary re-calculation due to the whole Easter Island/Pantanal avoidance.

Easter Island was a tricky one for me, though ... after deciding to give it a miss in my last entry I started to have serious doubts about that decision. If it was just a case of money, then I knew I would regret it later on. I felt the Moai were calling to me like sirens across the ocean (I must be drinking too much of this Coca maté tea!).

I was going to have to put it back on my itinerary, crazy-pricing system or nothin'. So Easter Island, I'm comin' for ya!

Vang Vieng, Laos

Vi har stresset oss gjennom hele 3 land siden siste oppdatering. Etter Kina dro vi til Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia i 23 timer. Det ble en hektisk dag med speed sightseeing. Vi fikk god hjelp av en kolleaga av faren til Celine som tok oss med paa malaysisk lunsj. Der spiste vi med hendene, og det var mye nye smaker. Hun gav oss ogsaa en masse tips for dagen. Og vi rakk alt vi ville se utrolig nok. Alt fra caves til "twin towers", men det kuleste var lunsjen. Hun tok med seg rundt 10 kollegaer til, saa vi ble en ganske sto gjeng.

Vi spanderte paa oss litt lukses den natten, i og med at vi var fryktelig slitne. Dagen etter tok vi flyet til Bangkok for aa bli der i 2 netter. Baade Lise og jeg hadde sendt hjem alle klerne vaares, saa vi maatte ut paa stor shopping av kler! Saa naa har vi begge faat ny garderobe. Shopping var stor sett det vi gjorde i Bangkok.

Deretter dro vi til Laos! Reisen fra Bangkok var laaaang. Vi tok forst natttoget til en by i Thailand like ved grensen til Laos. Nattoget var en opplevelse for seg selv. Det var trangt, primitivt og varmt og stappfullt av folk. Men vi hadde det fryktelig koslig forde. Vi tok en tuk tuk til grensen for aa skaffe visum. Det tok sin tid. Vi er ogsaa utrolig skeptiske av oss, vi tror at alle vil lure oss hele tiden. Det gjor at ting tar tid!! Men paa den andre siden blir vi aldri lurt, og ting blir riktig. Vi tok saa en bil til et guesthouse i hovedstaden. 50 kr natta, og rommet var kjempe fint me eget bad og tv til og med! Smaa gleder... Ulempen var at det var lite tilgang paa vann, saa ble ikke mye dusjing paa oss. I Vientiane saa vi paa buddah parken og en del andre severdigheter, for vi dro videre til Vang Vieng (her er vi naa). Hovedgrunnen for at man drar hit er for tubing. Kort fortalt er dette at man sitter alene i en tube og stopper ved ulike barer som ligger ved vannkanten. Dette skal vi prove oss paa idag. Guesthouset vaart ligger midt i byen (byen er ekstrem liten), og vi betaler 25 kr natten og vi har eget rom med bad! Kjempe deilig. Etter Vang Vieng er det litt uklart hvor vi skal enda...

Vang Vieng, Laos

Naa har vi kommet oss til Laos! Det er et kjempe fint land, som baade har flott natur, varmt vaer, hyggelige mennesker og er kjempe billig! Etter vi var to dager i Bangkok, tok vi et kjempe primitivt, men veldig greit nattog opp til grensen i Thailand. Det var deilig aa ligge hele natten aa vugges i soevn! Naar vi kom frem til grensen ble det veldig mye styr ettersom vi er veldig skeptiske og vil vurdere alle alternativer for aa ikke bli lurt, men til slutt fikk vi ordnet oss baade visum og stempel og en minibuss som kjoerte oss inn til hovedstaden!

Vientiane er en veldig koslig liten by, som ser mer ut som en landsby enn en hovedstad! Det er veldig internasjonalt der saa det var veldig god mat, og de fleste kan engelsk! Det eneste som var ganske saa ekkelt var at det krydde av masse gamle menn der som proevde seg paa soete unge Laos jenter om kvelden! Vi var kun der i to dager foer vi dro videre til der vi er naa, Vang Vieng!

Det er et fantastisk sted, hvor det meste egentlig dreier seg om aa ha det goey, baade med tubing, drikking, se paa tv og oppleve naturen! I dag tenkte vi aa proeve tubingen paa elven! Det er masse backpackere her saa det skal bli veldig goey!

Bangkok, Thailand

A quick update- met up with my gap group on Monday- all really nice and lots of different nationalities. Our tour leader is really cool and funny. He took us to a really nice restaurant - I had the nicest Yellow Thai curry, then afterwards we sat outside and had some thai beer and listened to some live music. The atmosphere was great- the whole place has such a vibrant buzz to it! The temperature in the evening is nice and warm - day time is quite humid but bearable-just!

Had a great day today-though we had a pretty early start! We went on a long tail boat along the river- it was so fun but really fast and got splashed a fair bit! It was fascinating seeing all the houses- such a contrast- some huge houses right next to really basic wooden houses- all built on or right next to river. We saw some HUGE! fish. The guide gave us some bread to feed them-which would have been fun had these fish not jumped so high and splashed (dirty!) water all over me! hehe. but was good fun.

We then got off the boat and went to the golden palace and Wat Po- both were amazing! they're such beautiful buildings. We had a local guide (who lives slightly north of Bangkok) so really knew his stuff-he was fascinating and we learnt loads about the buildings aswell as the Buddist way of life.

Then a few of us went for lunch near Khao San road -and had a much needed sit down and a coke! Did a bit of shopping and then back to the hotel to get ready for our overnight train to Chang Mai! We get the train at 6pm and its 12 hours- we are going first class - which means air con! thank goodness! Looking forward to going to Chang Mai.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Phnom Penh, Cambodia