During our 8 months of travelling we have experienced many things that have rendered us speachless. I think you will agree that this is odd for a couple like us who seem to never stop talking! Almost every country that we have been to so far has had a least one "Wow moment". Seeing and experiencing Iguazu Falls has left us utterly lost for words to describe it adequately. Our attempt at doing so is below, though we know our words, picture and video attached, only cover the tip of the iceberg. Enjoy.... After arriving at our hostel early in the [View Full Entry]

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We crossed the Andes during the day to get the best views of both the Chilean and Argentine sides. It was a short bus journey, only 8 hours winding our ways up through the Andes to the highest border crossing in the world (so it is claimed) at 3,158 metres. The views were spectacular and the snow capped mountains shone magnificently in the midday sun. Mendoza is famed for its wineries and produces about 80% of Argentinas wines. Famous for Malbec grapes, we of course sampled a few bottles of the local produce. There are plenty of wine tours on offer [View Full Entry]

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A 2 hour bus journey took us to Valparaiso, the UNESCO listed World Heritage site on the coast of Chile. We stayed at B&B Patricia, close to the bus station. It was clean and quiet, with only the four of us staying in the place. Patricia gave us a map of Valparaiso & some tips on what to see. One of which was Pablo Neruda's home in the hills. Catching the local bus, we passed steep hillside homes in all states of repair. Neruda is a nobel prize winning poet and has an interesting home, with something new to see in [View Full Entry]

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Viña del Mar is a 15 minute bus journey from Valpariso. A flower clock marks your entrance to the town. It is a smaller than Valpariso & notably more affluent. As with our time in Valpariso, the weather was still very foggy, not giving us the optimal views we had been hoping for. Being a Monday all the museums were closed which was disappointing. However we could still explore the town by foot. We had a wander around, starting with Quinta Vergara park. This housed the Palacio Vergara & a new concrete ampitheatre. After lunch we walked past the town´s casino [View Full Entry]

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Santiago is on a shoestring for two reasons we will tell you about later in the blog but Yes, we have arrived in South America. Following 50 travelling hours from Brisbane and 3 transit stops we have arrived. Very excited and very tired. We passed through immigration and customs without a hitch and took the advice of booking our transfer whilst inside the airport. We were to stay in the Chilli House Hostel in Santiago. The transfer from the airport was only 20 mins along modern highways. Our room was clean and bright with high ceilings and everyone in the hostel [View Full Entry]

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Our final stop in Australia was Brisbane. We left Ethel back on Saturday after dropping off our bags at our accomodation. Jan & Dave had kindly leant us their apartment for a few days which was a fabulous place to relax & recharge before the next part of our trip. Thank you both so much, what a great way to spend our last few days in Australia. Brisbane is a laid back city with very friendly locals with some great shopping & dining - we made sure we experienced both! On Sunday we went to the market in Chinatown. Whilst not [View Full Entry]

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On our way south we skipped Brisbane as we would be spending our last few days in Australia there. We decided to start at Byron Bay and work our way back up the Gold Coast to Brisbane. Byron Bay has beautiful beach and is well catered for with Hostels, Hotels and Hire companies. A georgeous relaxed town with lovely shops and very laid back locals! It was to be the site where Sarah and I would unleash our sales antics on an unwitting town, the aim of which was to sell my surf board. The town didn't know what hit it [View Full Entry]

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The world's biggest sand island, claiming to have more sand than the Sahara desert, Fraser Island is situated just off the coast at Rainbow Beach. A seven minute car ferry transports you to the island. The island is more than 95% sand. Many visitors hire 4x4 jeeps to explore the island independently. This involves being grouped with eight other people, given the jeep, tents & a map whilst all the costs are shared. After hearing a few horror stories where vehicles were damaged & people lost money, we decided to take a two day guided tour. The company we chose was [View Full Entry]

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After our Fraser Island tour we headed south to Noosa Heads, a georgeous resort town with lots of boutique shops & a lovely marina. Noosa is actually a city but is separated by a river & rainforest into smaller sections, each equally as pretty. We enjoyed some great sushi & some people watching at the beach. From Noosa we went to the Sunshine Coast Airport at Mudjimba for Michael to have his helicopter flying lesson. My flight was with Becker Helecopter flights. They were a very friendly and proffessional operation. The day involved a half hour briefing which Sarah at in [View Full Entry]

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We wanted to see the home of The Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, so we made the journey from Noosa to the Steve Irwin highway & his famous Australia Zoo. We knew what we wanted to see - The Crocs!! Since arriving in Queensland we had been trying to avoid them & were always wary when we saw a "Danger, Crocs have killed in this area" government issued sign. Today however our hunt was on!! Bad weather had kept people away from the zoo. This seemed to work to our advantage & we managed to be indoors when the rains poured. The [View Full Entry]

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