Misty Lima

We have finally arrived in Lima. We would like to write more about it but we could barely see the place. This morning we went downtown to check out San Francisco monastery, catacombes, cathedral and few plazas. That was cool but when we came back to Miraflores (sea side suburb - popular with the expats and where we are staying) the town had completely disappeared. You can barely see to the end of the street or to the top of a tall building. It is that bad. Rob thinks he may have seen a hill or mountain, but that could be a hallucination. Apparently it is a sea fog which covers Lima for all but the summer months so we guess this is all we are going to see.

We are heading out tomorrow to Nazca to see the freaky lines, and then onto Arequipa, Puno and Cuzco. Lots of hours in buses to look forward to. Whoop!

Buenvenidos a America del Sur

After 11 hours of bumpy ride we have landed in Santiago de Chile (no jokes about mile high club). Santiago is bit misty so we can't see much from the airport. Now we have 8 hours wait to board our plane to Lima. Buenvenidos, Wilcomen, Welcome, comon in...

Like a bat out of hell

Time to go. The sun was shining and the time was right. We drove south to the volcanic mountains of Tongariro. The three big mountains we had driven past without even noticing when we headed down to Wellington were there looming at us as we came into the park. Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom from Lord of Rings) looked menacing as we looked over at it from the top of the ski lift up Mt. Ruapehu. It was an amazingly clear day, we could see almost all the way to the sea. In the distance we could see across the island to Mt. Taranaki. Absolutely breathtaking.

Back in the car we zoomed cross the country, through the windy windy roads of the Forgotten Highway, with steep green hillsides just from the edge of the road. So pretty, so pretty. But after all this good luck we were not surprised that Taranaki had covered itself with clouds. Taranaki has been used a body double for Mt. Fuji (in The Last Samurai for instance), and it seemed to have the same desire to hide itself in clouds. But not to be deterred we went up and had a few walks on the mountain. We walked up to streams and down to waterfalls, never getting the chance to see anything above the trees, so when we popped out to the car we were aghast to see an absolutely clear view. We got to see the whole thing, top to bottom. It is such a great sight. It is the only mountain around and looks so impressive. Happy and content we settled into our hostel in New Plymouth.

Rush, rush, rush. No time for hanging about. None of this "enjoying yourself" rubbish. We drove north, on a mission to get as far as possible but managed to sneak in a Waitomo glowworm cave tour. The caves were huge so instead of walking we took a boat through few little caves with ceilings covered with glowworms. It was like we were looking at the night sky covered with stars. Quite surreal. We ended up in Orewa, a little holiday town just above Auckland. But again, no time for resting, so we were up again in the morning and heading up to the massive Kauri forests and the historic location of the gumdiggers up in Northlands. These trees are absolutely unbelievable. We can't even remember the stats, but it takes something like seven people to span round one of these trees. The big ones are seriously 2000 years old. Amazing.

We also learnt about the Dalmatians and people from the countries which would become Yugoslavia who came over here to dig up 40,000 year old resin from the Kauri trees (gum). One of the towns even welcomes you with the Serbo-Croat "Dobro Dosli"!

Next day, and the the mission was to the top of the country, to Cape Reigna, where the Tasman sea and the Pacific ocean meet. You get to see waves from each of these crashing into each other! On the way there we stopped and the giant sand dunes at the top of of Ninety-mile beach. Like we were in desert, we wandered barefoot across these massive dunes, and watched people sledging down them. We then thought it would be a good idea to walk all the way to the beach seeing as we couldn't drive there.

Ninety-mile beach is technically classified as a road, and so buses and anyone else who fancies, can drive down it, ensuring that they don't slow down too much or else there is a chance the car will sink down into the soft sand. Unfortunately the spoil-sports at the rental company don't insure you if you drive on it. I guess they must have had their fingers burnt before :) Anyways at the north of the road, just by the sand dunes, you have to drive up this shallow stream to get back to the real road. So it was down this stream we wandered, dodging the splashes of the cars and campervans which sped past trying not to sink. We get to the beach only to be greeted by a torrential downpour. 40 minutes back and another torrential downpour later we were absolutely soaked to the skin.

The rain stopped a little to give us a brief look at the cape itself when we got there which was nice of it, but then it didn't really stop the rest of the day. We drove down to the the cute little town of Russell in the Bay of Islands, to a cute little backpackers with 2 rooms (our double and a 2 bed dorm) through the rain, not really getting the chance to see anything. So, imagine our surprise when we woke up to the view over the bay in the beautiful sunshine of the next morning. Ahh, it makes your heart ache how lovely this spot was.

Not having the time to take any of the relaxing trips around the bay, we took the high speed jet boat round the islands. Lots of adrenaline and fun! The sun was shining, the waves were 3m high and we were in a very fast boat - what more can a person want. We got to see lots of the bay, including the submerged sand bank they play one day cricket on when the tides are right. Then it was straight back on the road back to Papamoa. 7 hours later we arrived, tired and weary, but happy. And we have stayed there since. A couple of days to sort ourselves out before friday's flight to Lima.

We are sad to say goodbye to our dear friends. Our NZ experience was amazing and everyone being so welcoming and warm made us feel we have found our home from home. But we have warned them that they don't get rid of us that easily. We will be back ... oh yes ... we will be back.

And relax

The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things. Of geysers and mudpools, of Maraes and Maoris, of volcanos, islands and dunes. The north island.

After arriving back in Auckland we headed down to Papamoa and the ever generous hospitality of Leihia and Liam. It felt like we were home again. It was coming up to easter weekend and so everyone had 4 days holiday. It was the time to have some fun.

Leihia's family live in Rotoroa, which is a thermal paradise of mudpools and geysers that comes from the fact that it is situated in a massive volcanic crater. So with slight trepidation we went to stay with them on Good friday (Leihia calls up the night before, asking if she could come to stay - with 8 other friends!) all camping out in the back garden of Sean (Leiha's brother) and his partner Tash. It was like a mini festival. Sean and Tash fed us wonderfully, and the beer and the conversation went on well into the night, and then the next day, and the night after that too :) People came, people went. Much fun was had.

It was now sunday and time to pack up our bags. After fond farewells we came back to Papamoa to catch up with the local jazz festival. What better way to spend a lovely easter sunday, listening to jazz and enjoying the sunshine. This is the life.

We had been invited back to Rotoroa to stay with Chris and Nevel (Leihia's mum and her partner) and seeing as we hadn't actually done any of the touristy thing, except our one trip out to the warm water stream which was lovely and relaxing, and to a beautiful Maori metting place (the Marae). So pretty. But anyways, there was much to see, and we hadn't really had a chance to see Chris during the weekend, so off back to Rotoroa. Sean took us out to show us around town, showing us amazing hot pools and lakes, the suplur making colours on the edges and with steam rising while he told us old Maori legends.

Next day, after seeing more of the wonders of volcanic nature, we realised it was time we actually got on the road. We only had a week left and the whole rest of the north island to see. Doh! That was bad planning. Oh well, only one thing to be done. Run back to Papamoa and watch Arsenal beat Villareal at Highbury :D

Another day another country

We have just returned from our five day tour of Sydney. We've spent five very sunny and hot days chilling out with Anna and Gavin. Anna and Gav were great hosts and tourist guides, even though our tour sometimes felt like a fat camp as for a walk through a seemly flat city we had climbed lots and lots of stairs. Our tour consisted of a short walk around the harbour then a walk to the most famous view of harbour bridge and the opera house (Mrs Macquarie's Chair view), after that we walked through the city centre to the bridge where we climbed 250 steps to the top of bridge pillar so we can check out the city from above. After the long climb we went for a well deserved drinks on the Rocks and somehow ended up in a bar in the fashionable area of Darlington Harbour.

One day we took ferry to Manly so Rob could take a walk down the memory lane. "This is where I used to live, this is where my job was and this is where I spent my money (the bar of course)". Manly is a lovely little place with a beach restort feeling to it.

Our last day was spent doing everything we hadn't got around to. We went searching for the 'Summer Bay' - yup it had to be done - we drove all the way to the Palm Beach where they tape 'Home and Away' and we took a dip in the ocean surrounded by the familiar scenes. Then we quickly drove to the view spot in pretty Blue Mountains (well Blue hills anyway), overlooking the three sisters. But to top it all we stopped in the zoo for a quick survey of Australian animals. Koala bears, kangaroos, deadly spiders and snakes - the lot.

Tired but happy we went out for a farewell drink with our hosts and then it was back to NZ for the volcanos, hot pools and the other delights of the North Island.

I'm walking in the air..

Here is the photo of Nina showing off her new found super power - floating - on our way to Milford Sounds.

This photo has not been altered!

Albatross, Albatross

I don't have any icecreams, I've just got this albatross..

Red hair, Cathedral, hell even a Castle (but we didn't go in.) We almost forgot where we were. If it wasn't for the fact the sun was shining, we could have been in Scotland (sorry Donna, Stut :) )

The Scottish city of Dunedin. It is a charming little town (5th largest city in the world by area with mere 100,000 peeps - we have no idea how that works). Have to admit it was nice to be in the city again. Bars, restaurants, even an art house cinema where we braved 2 hours of Japanese manga it is a really nice student city. A good contrast to the middle-of-nowheres we have been frequenting.

The next day we headed out through our first rain in weeks to the tip of Otago Peninsula to see the only mainland breading ground for albatross (following the tip from Calvin). The ride there was quite amazing if a bit scary as we skirted along the winding road only meters away from the waters edge. Once there we got to see the mighty albatross. Albatross are larger then we expected, massive in fact, with 3m wing spans - what more can you say - wicked. Probably would have been even better if Rob could stop quoting Monty Python. But, even though we wanted to spend more time in Otago, Mt Cook was calling us.

Lying on the beach, north of Dunedin in Moeraki are some of the freakiest rocks we've ever seen. In the space of some 50m along the beach are about 30 or so meter high spherical boulders. They look like round Rubics cubes, stuck together with some sort of resin - or so we think. As the sea erodes the cliffs, more of them appear. It looks like the cliff is giving birth to them. There are many theories about them, but our money is on aliens. You can read about them here.

Then, off again, we cut across from the coast back towards the Southern Alps of the west coast. Luckily we arrived to the little farm in Twizel just in time to see the sun setting beautifully causing the famously shy Mt Cook to go literally pink. This was viewed across the empty plains and the straight straight roads of Mackenzie Country. Stunning. We stayed in a cottage on a farm, just us and a barely comprehensible but highly affable old farmer. After some food he left us to enjoy reading our books in front of a log fire tended enthusiastically by Nina.

Even though Mt Cook was hiding form us the next morning, we were not deterred to climb up to the view point of the biggest glacier in New Zealand but also dirtiest in the world, namely Tasman glacier. Had some cool icebergs, but the glacier was covered with rubble so almost no ice could be seen. Finally we decided we had our fill of mountains, now that we had seen Mt Cook from 15 different angles, east, west, reflected, clouded, pink, white and the rest so we went to check out the freaky coloured lakes, lake Pukaiki and lake Tekapo. Being glacial lakes filled with silt (rock flour), the light is reflected which creates a vivid milky turquoise colour - or so we were lead to expect. Neither of the lakes was living up to our expectations. So, slightly crest fallen, we headed out of town only to notice at the last minute, when the sun finally came out, the colour appear. A quick u-turn and quite a few photos later, we got to enjoy the freaky colours.

The road to Ch-ch (short for Christchurch) was straight and flat - ohh how we longed for the roundabout, even a corner would do. Ch-ch is a lovely British looking town. We chilled there for couple of days, doing basically nothing. It was great. About the most active thing we did was wake up at 6am to go to the Casino to watch Arsenal go through to semmies of the Champions League. YEY!!

All that remained was to say goodbye to the south island, tidy up the car and jump on the plane to Oz.

Baa Baa Shaved Sheep

After all the driving we had done already we decided to take the long way round, via the south coast, to Dunedin, along the aptly named Southern Scenic Route. This took us down to Invecargil past yet more beautiful rugged coastline to the rolling hills of the Catlins. Driving from one viewpoint to another we spotted a farm offering the chance to shear a sheep. How could we resist quintessential New Zealand experience? It was great fun! Nina fed a surprisingly strong little lamb (little Bo Peep was much hardier woman than we though) while Rob did most of the sheep shearing.

We passed the self named Southern Riviera of Invecargil and drove to the most southerly point of New Zealand. It was bloody windy! Needing sleep we headed down to major metropolitan center of Catlins 'Owaka' population 360. As we wanted to get away from the stress of big city we went to remote suburb of Surat Bay. Just us, the penguins and few sea lions. After a good night sleep and as there was no more south bar few islands and Antartica for us to visit, we headed north to the Scottish part of New Zealand - Dunedin.

The hills are alive with the Sound of Milford

By this dreadful pun you might have guessed we are really tired.

we just got back from the, yet again that word, 'beautiful' Milford Sound - we've used this word so much so we dug into the thesaurus for some help - please pick your own adjective from the list:
admirable, alluring, angelic, appealing, beauteous, bewitching, charming, classy, comely, cute, dazzling, delicate, delightful, divine, elegant, enticing, excellent, exquisite, fair, fascinating, fine, foxy, good-looking, gorgeous, graceful, grand, handsome, ideal, lovely, magnificent, marvelous, nice, pleasing, pretty, pulchritudinous, radiant, ravishing, refined, resplendent, shapely, sightly, splendid, statuesque, stunning, sublime, superb, symmetrical, taking, well-formed, wonderful...

Even the road to this fiord is beautiful. The whole place looks like one giant carefully manicured Japanese garden. The rocks seemed to be placed by design, trees are giant bonsai trees and the ferns, the moss, the rivers are just perfect.

Milford Sound is not a sound but a fiord (or for the Norweigens among you, a fjord). Needless to say we were confused. Ok girls here is the science bit: Unlike a sound, a fiord is made by a glacier or in this case by five or six of them. We took a boat up this fiord through the steep cliff faces of the majestic mountains overrun by little waterfalls.

On our way back we stopped at the worlds only floating underwater (10m under) observatory where we saw white black coral, umpf? They call it black coral but it's really white. As if we haven't been confused enough by now! We also saw fishes multiplying hehe:) It was wicked being the one stuck inside the fishtank.

Tired and overwhelmed we headed home for a nice cold beer... on which subject we better hurry now.