Our first few weeks in Melbourne

As I already mentioned we have been doing a mixture of practical and sociable since we arrived here, and it has certainly been a full few weeks. It was great that we had our own car within a few days of being here as Andrew's mum lives in the Eastern suburbs, his friends are mainly central(ish) and my parents were staying for part of the time in an apartment on the edge of the city centre. I am pleased to be able to report that I have just about got over the indicators and windscreen wipers being the 'wrong' way round!

Our wedding party on 16th went really well - the only hiccup was that the marquee was initially delivered to Andrew's mum's instead of 35km away to the park where the party was being held...luckily all went well otherwise! We had great weather and it was lovely that we were able to gather together approx 60 family and friends despite it being Christmas party season. As well as catching up with/meeting the rest of the Aussie contingent (including the newly arrived from England Jess & Co!) it was great that my mum & dad were able to be there as well as my friend Katherine who was in Melbourne on her way to spend Christmas with family in New Zealand.

Of course having first time visitors in town gave us an excuse to be tourists, and we all enjoyed exploring the city and heading out to the Great Ocean Road amomgst other things. On Katherine's last night here mum & I went with her to see the hilarious Dame Edna show - 'she' is a local after all, a good way for me to perfect my Aussie accent I thought! As for dad, it goes without saying that the highlight of his trip was going to the test match with Andrew on 27th, despite the result of course. Meanwhile Andrew's mum, sister and auntie took mum & I up into the beautiful Dandenong mountains, so we were well out of earshot of the Barmy Army!

Christmas Day itself was also quite a remarkable effort on the part of Andrew's mum and auntie, as there were around 20 of the family here for Chrstmas dinner. We all had a good day despite the rain and distinct lack of tropical sunshine!

Mum & dad left on 28th which of course was hard for me, but I'm starting to settle here despite feeling a very long way from home at the moment. Our main focus now is to get our own place sorted out, which is taking a bit longer than anticipated so far. We hope that this is just because of the time of year, but it seems that the area we're looing in is a popular one and we're only after a 6 month lease so it's just a case of being patient I suppose. In the meantime as all the estate agents are closed for the weekend/New Year we're just being distinctly lazy!

PS Problems uplodading photos at the moment so will put some online soon...

New Zealand part 3 (in a nutshell!) - and all the photos

It seems crazy to think that it is only 3 weeks since we were in Nelson, a really pretty town on the northern coast of New Zealand's South Island. We were staying with Andrew's friend Eva, who I had heard lots about but never met as she left London shortly before I met Andrew. It was lovely to get to know her a bit, and hopefully she will take us up on our offer to visit Melbourne at some point in the next few months.

On Saturday morning we had a great time wandering round Nelson's lovely market - despite being frustrated that we couldn't carry more of the delicious food into Australia with us! - before heading out to the countryside. We stopped at a few wineries and then on to the beautiful coast. We then spent a really good evening with some of Eva's friends, and when we got up on Sunday it was time to go again. Much like our trip to see Em & Rod it felt like was time to leave almost as soon as we had arrived, but it was great to be there. We took the short flight across to Wellington on Sunday and spent a very lazy rest of day there before flying north to Hamilton on Monday.

This is where Mark, a friend from home who used to work with my brother, now lives. Again it was great to catch up and he seems really happy with his new life in NZ. He's only been there since August but I think the wide availabilty of adventure sports has helped him to settle there! Luckily for me Mark was working so he didn't have the chance to make us do anything scary; instead we had dinner in an excellent restaurant, and were made to feel really welcome by his housemates who loaned us their airbed for the night. Then it was a bright and early start on Tuesday for the bargain ($11 for us both!) 2 hour bus trip back to Auckland so that we could catch our afternoon flight to Melbourne.


Falling out of the Sky Tower in Auckland


Bubbling mud in Rotorua


One of the many Art Deco buildings in Napier


Early Christmas with Em & Rod


Feeding Miss Daisy


A stressful afternoon at the wineries with Eva


Gorgeous beaches near Nelson


Great views from the flight across the Cook Strait


Catching up with Mark in Hamilton


So they aren't the same country then?!

Updates!

Finally the time has come to get our blog up to date - life has well and truly got in the way of the internet over the past few weeks! We're now having a quiet few days to catch up with ourselves a bit, so at last here are some updates for you...

We haven't forgotten...

This has to be the longest we have gone without posting so thought we should at least say hello...

We're now in Melbourne so really busy catching up with everyone, being tourists with my mum & dad, finding somewhere to live etc etc. A friend of Andrew's sorted out a car for us before we arrived which has been great. Armed with our shiny new copy of Melways (equivalent of A to Z) I'm starting to have a vague clue of where I am, despite getting used to driving with trams being quite a challenge at times!

More updates and loads of photos (including NZ and our wedding party) to follow very soon. In the meantime we really must start Christmas shopping...

Leaving New Zealand

Part 3 of our week in NZ and some photos to follow soon, but in the meantime a quick hello from Auckland airport where I'm using up the last few dollar coins for internet instead of burning holes in the credit card in Duty Free!

We're due to board our flight to Melbourne in less than half an hour, and it is very odd to think that we're now going to be staying in one city for several months. It's sad that this stage of our trip is over, but we really can't wait to unload the backpacks. More importantly we're really excited about catching up with everyone and looking forward to our Melbourne wedding party on Saturday. It's going to be a busy few days!

NZ in a week part 2

The historical significance of Napier is pretty straightforward - in 1931 there was a huge earthquake which all but flattened the city, and it was completely rebuilt. Therefore pretty much everything was built in Art Deco style, so much so that there are 90 buildings of interest in a 90 minute walk! As I mentioned earlier the hostel there was another a highlight of our stay, not only well equipped and friendly but also in a really interesting building. We definitely needed to take note of the tour office guide's instructions to look up as we wandered round the town (or maybe city? - everything seems very small here!) and we really enjoyed it all.

Napier's location on the coast adds to its appeal, and although I couldn't imagine being there for ages it is definitely worth a visit, especially as there is also a good selection of cafes and shops. We therefore made further attempts to get used to the fact it is definitely now nearly Christmas as there seemed to be tinsel everywhere! My parents will be joining us for Christmas in Melbourne, and it was very odd to speak to them in Napier and realise that we'd all be together again in under a week.

Anyway, we still had a few miles (or should I now say kms?) to cover before then! After a brief stroll round Napier's museum, on Thursday afternoon we headed another hour or so south to Waipukurau where my friend Emily is now living. For those of you who don't know Em, she used to work for the company I was at when I first moved to London and quit work to start her round the world trip nearly a year ago. Her original plan was to be back in the UK in time for Christmas, but then she met a Canadian guy in Japan and currently lives with him on a sheep farm in New Zealand...never let it be said that life is predictable!

It was great to catch up with her and to meet Rod (thanks to you both again for looking after us so well) and I have to admit that I can see the appeal of life on the farm. As you will see when we manage to upload some photos, Daisy the 8 week old lamb who they are hand rearing is a very lovely addition. Also, the lamb Rod cooked us for dinner was excellent - on second thoughts perhaps I wouldn't be too good at farm life after all...

Unfortunately we were only able to be with them for one evening before we moved on, but we had a great night complete with Christmas crackers and too much wine. The next day's early morning wake up call from Daisy was not quite so good (I think it was 5am) but Em & Rod are clearly far more used to early starts than we are as breakfast was on the table at 7am. Em then took us into town for our 9am bus, and we were off on our way to Wellington.

Friday was a dreaded travel day! After a delayed 4 hour bus trip, we headed out to the airport to catch the short (25 minute) flight to Picton in the South Island where we had then planned to catch another bus to Nelson where Andrew's friend Eva lives. Unfortunately we missed the bus due to a delayed flight, so Eva had to come to pick us up from Picton, about a 4 hour round trip which finally got us to her place at about 11.30pm. Thanks again Eva! Despite the hassle of travelling we saw some lovely countryside along the way to Wellington, and were really pleased to be able to have the chance to see a little bit of the much talked about South Island.

How to do New Zealand in a week - part 1

We knew this was going to be a challenge, as most people we have spoken to are spending at least a month here!

Going back a week, we spent a day in Auckland which is a much nicer city than we expected it to be. Lots of people had said that there wasn't much to it, so we arrived there with no real expectations. We picked up lots of leaflets from our hostel - it's great that there is so much info available as we don't have a guidebook - and strolled into town. We quickly found that it is a really easy place to wander round, helped by the sunshine, and we headed up through the city centre and through a really pretty park to the Auckland Museum. This promised to give us an overview of all things Kiwi, and as we didn't know much about the country we thought it would be a good place to start.

There was lots of interesting stuff on display, but we weren't too impressed with the layout as it wasn't very easy to follow especially when trying to get our heads round the historical aspects. Nevertheless we came away knowing much more than we started with. It was also very odd to be listening to flutes playing Christmas carols in the foyer area (many a happy memory of my flute playing youth!) as up until that point I really hadn't realised that Christmas was only 3 weeks away...

Anyway, we then moved on the Sky Tower to get some good views of the city. I won't bore you with the details, but it is very tall and suffice to say I felt very brave standing on the glass floor even though it was 38mm thick! Some comedy photos to follow...And that was pretty much all we had time for in Auckland! I should also add that one of the things that struck us was how quiet the city is - it was hard to believe that it is home to a million people. However everyone we did meet was very friendly, something that has continued all week. Not only is tourism a big industry, but also there does seem to be a genuine friendliness which is really good.

Our next stop was Rotorua, about 4 hours away. When we were sorting out our trip we came across a company called Nakedbus, the Kiwi equivalent of Megabus in the UK with fares starting from just $1. We therefore weren't too sure what we were going to get for our very small amount of money, but it was all fine. Unfortunately the hostel in Rotorua was a little more shabby, but then really we only had ourselves to blame for booking into somewhere with a TexMex theme and as we were only there for one night we could live with it!

The town itself was pretty ordinary, but the big draw is the thermal springs in the area. There is a massive amount of geothermal activity in the region, and just wandering through a park in the town you can see lots of steaming pools and bubbling mud. As recommended by Nina who we met in Chile (thank you if you're reading this!) we decided to head the Polynesian Spa on Tuesday and spend some time relaxing in the rock pools. It was a really lovely way to spend a few hours, and I also had a massage to help soothe my very backpack weary shoulders. Sadly it was then time to return to the backpacks and another bus, this time to Napier.

As you know, we have travelled on a few buses in the past few months (I think we were up to about 140 hours at the last count) but this trip has won the prize for funniest bus driver... He started sharing local knowledge which was really interesting, but promptly ran out of things to say but just kept talking - for three and a half hours! We arrived in Napier totally exhausted, but it was another bizarre and entertaining experience to add to the list. We checked into our hostel which couldn't have been more different from the last one - Art Deco style which is what Napier is famous for and a former luxury hotel so much better than average - and felt quite happy that we were going to be staying in the same place for a whole 2 nights!

Arriving in New Zealand

Thought we should let you know that we are safely in New Zealand. That meant a spectacular 16 hour time change, so our body clocks are confused to say the least. We left at 11pm on Friday and landed at the highly unsociable hour of 3.30am Sunday. The flight itself was fine despite a passenger panic as we took off because there were particularly strong chemical/burning smells in the cabin. The cabin crew assured everyone it was normal, but then of course there had to be someone who said he flew this route every other week and this had never happened before - which started everyone off again! It wasn't the most comfortable flight but true to form I managed to sleep for about half of it and the pretty rubbish film selection helped Andrew to doze off too.

Getting through Auckland airport was not as tricky as we thought it might be; we thought it may take a while as New Zealand is one of the tightest when it comes to protecting its borders from foreign bugs etc. Our boots and shoes had to be disinfected as we had been on farmland recently, but it wasn't a huge delay so perhaps there was some advantage in landing at such a silly time. We caught the very efficient shuttle bus straight to our hostel, where we had requested a very early check in. Unfortunately this was dependent on availabilty, unless we wanted to pay for Saturday night too. Fair enough really but we were still more than a little upset to be told at 6am that all double rooms were full until 10.30 check out. Fortunately we were able to get a twin instead and got some much needed sleep before heading out to explore Auckland.

More about that soon, and Rotorua where we now (Monday early evening) are.

Santiago de Chile

We have really enjoyed our three days in Santiago, and have to disagree with the bad press that the city gets from fellow travellers. Admittedly it does not have as many sights as some other places, but it is an attractive place and doesn't feel overwhelmingly busy for a capital city. Or maybe that's just because we lived in London for too long?!

We have been staying in an area called Bellavista, which is known as one of the best areas for eating out etc as well as having quite an arty feel. It is also close to the centre so I think we picked well. We have had some good food here and quite by accident have ended up eating at some of the Lonely Planet recommended places. There is quite a range of food on offer, so as well as local specialities like Pastel de Choclo (more about food to follow - we haven't forgotten!) we have also had Thai and Middle Eastern. The hostel is a good relaxed place to be and we have met some nice people there, so have spent time with them doing the usual backpacker sort the world out over a few drinks thing!

In terms of sightseeing we have been to the Precolumbian History Museum, and also the National History one. I have to admit that the first one freaked me out slightly as it is jam packed with figurines that I find a bit spooky, not helped by the whole place being very dark. It still had some interesting bits, and Andrew thought it was all great. The National Museum was much more interesting for me, looking at the way in which Chilean society and culture has changed over time. Unfortunately the 20th century section is closed for refurbishment - it would have been interesting to see how recent history here is depicted.

We have also wandered around the city centre and have just come from the cathedral which is an especially ornate one. We are now online mainly to sort out practial things for our New Zealand trip as we will be heading to the airport in just a few hours. It still doesn't feel quite real that we're going! As I said in the last post, we would love to have more time here and also with it being at the end of the trip we haven't got quite the enthusiasm for buses we may have once had. As a result we didn't make it to Valparaíso, which we had thought we may do as a day trip from here. Oh well, something else to add to the list for our next visit...

So, now it's on to the NZ adventure, and unlike South America we have already booked absolutely everything ahead. As we only have just over a week there and are planning to visit numerous places as well as catching up with 3 friends, we didn't want to waste time at bus stations etc when we get there. The internet is a wonderful thing! Our flight arrives in Auckland early hours of Sunday (yes, we lose a whole Saturday) so we'll stay there one night. Then we head to Rotorua for a night, Napier for 2, reach Emily & Rod in Waipukurau on Thursday, fly from Wellington to the South Island to meet up with Eva in Nelson on Friday, back on the ferry to Wellington on Sunday, fly to Hamilton to meet Mark on Monday then bus back to Auckland for our Tuesday afternoon flight to Melbourne.

I'm exhausted just thinking about it! We'll try to update the blog as often as we can but if you don't hear much from us in the next week or so you know why...


Plaza de Armas


La Moneda

Chillán

We arrived in Chillán on Sunday afternoon, and were met at the bus station by Margarita´s sister Maria. We knew that the family there were involved in tourism, but didn't realise until we reached ReyMar that they ran a really large complex with several pools, big open spaces, BBQ areas, a bar etc etc. We instantly felt very relaxed again! It was a lovely sunny day so we sat outside, enjoyed a few drinks and went for a bit of a wander around the complex. Rosa and Maria were very busy as there were lots of people around, but they still made time to chat to us. Later when we reached their house we also spent a bit of time chatting to Rosa's husband Ricardo. We felt bad landing on them when they were all clearly very busy, but they made us feel at home which was great.





On Monday it was another really sunny day as you can see from the picture below. In the morning we went for a wander around the town, which is a really pleasant place with some pretty plazas and an interesting cathedral and market area. We then caught a bus back to Rey Mar and that was us for the rest of the day. We had a swim, played a bit of pool and enjoyed yet more hospitality from the family who made sure that we were fed and watered whilst turning down pretty much all our offers of help!



We had decided to head straight to Santiago on Tuesday, mainly because time was ticking away quickly and we couldn't really face any more travelling. Our time in Chillán was rounded off by a delicious lunchtime BBQ and then we were off. It was really good to be able to spend a little time there and just as when we were in Buenos Aires we were overwhelmed by the hospitality. It is a real shame that we didn't get the chance to go to more places in this area of Chile, and in particular we had hoped to go to Amon's town and meet some more of their family. We will be back! In fact perhaps more than anywhere else Chile is where we would like to spend more time, it has a different feel from the other countries we've been to in a way I can't quite pinpoint. Whatever it is we could happily spend several more weeks here - as it is we're counting down the days!

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Valdivia and Adela y Helmut - photos

A view of Valdivia


The view from our cabin at Adela y Helmut


Relaxing!


Could have been in England, except for the gum trees in the background!

Valdivia & (near) Cunco

Playing catch up here, as we haven't really been online much over the past week. There probably isn't also quite as much to say - as we have headed north it has become warmer and warmer (so much so that even I have the beginnings of almost a tan...) so inevitably the pace has slowed and the amount of time sitting around and enjoying the weather increased. I think we have also been more tired than we think, as we have been on the move a lot again in recent weeks.

Anyway, going back to this time last week, we left Púcon and took a bus to Valdivia just a couple of hours away. This was described as "perhaps the most attractive city in Chile" by the Lonely Planet - although our first impression was perhaps not. Our view was clouded slightly by the fact that Andrew was feeling unwell (nasty cold) and we were also turned down by a couple of hostels before we found a place to stay. All in all information as to where to go seemed reasonably difficult to come by. However,we got ourselves sorted in the end and had a very quiet rest of day.

We had planned to get a boat out to see the nearby Spanish fortresses on Thursday, but as Andrew still didn't feel great we decided to stick to the town instead. I should also add that we were probably being very dim in that we didn't manage to spot any sea lions in the river as apparently they are always there - I suspect we just didn't know where to look! Anyway we headed to the very interesting museum, and learnt some more about not only the local Mapuche culture but also the German influence in the area, as there was a large amount of German colonisation here. We didn't really know about this before we came to Chile, although it is obvious in many places we have visited, so it was interesting to find out more. Despite feeling a little disappointed with the city (although the local beer was pretty decent!) as Andrew was feeling much better we did consider sticking around another day to head out on the boat trip we had originally planned. However, we were very aware of how little time we had left in Chile, and so opted against it in the end. Maybe we should just give up on boats?!

After a little deliberation, we decided that we really needed to branch off the beaten track and headed out to the country instead. We had seen a few adverts for Adela y Helmut, a small hostería run by a Chilean/German couple in lovely countryside pretty much in the middle of nowhere. We had to get a local bus from the nearest town, then it was another 5km bumpy ride in Helmut's jeep. We had decided that a quiet weekend with no self imposed pressure to be tourists/sociable would be ideal, and it was! Adela's food was great, with far and away the best breakfast we have had anywhere (including delicious cake!)and really good dinners too. We were briefly tempted to go and explore another nearby national park, but instead stayed put and enjoyed a few lazy days. The whole area very much reminded me of the English countryside - as you´ll see when we get some photos up it was incredibly green, as it is everywhere in this very beautiful part of Chile. Andrew also felt at home as there were many eucalyptus trees in the vicinity!

Despite feeling like we could have happily stayed there a few days longer if we'd had time, we left on Sunday to catch a bus to Chillán. More on that - and some photos - soon...

Now in Chillán

Just a quick update, more details to follow... We are unable to upload photos at the moment and also are only online briefly to do practical things like reconfirm flights. We also want to get back outside to enjoy the sunshine!

After a few days in Valdivia, we spent the weekend relaxing in the countryside, at Adela y Helmut, a lovely hospedaje in a beautiful area near the small town of Cunco. It was great to do nothing for a few days and not worry about when we were getting on the next bus! We then came to Chillán yesterday, our friend Margarita's home town. Two of her sisters are here so we are staying with them for a couple of nights, and they have made us feel very welcome. They run a tourist complex with swimming pools etc so we are heading out there this afternoon after wandering a little more around the town itself.

Back with another update - and some photos - soon!

Púcon and Parque Nacional Huerquehue

Today we went to the beautiful Parque Nacional Huerquehue (which I am still unable to pronounce), where went on an all day hike to see the three lakes and more stunning views. We were really lucky to have clear blue skies yet it wasn't too hot so perfect walking weather, and I think Cath agrees with me in saying that this hike has to be one of our favourites. The scenery was not as starkly stunning as Torres del Paine for example, but very beautiful in its own way...

On the steep hike up we got to see (in order) 2 waterfalls (Cath loved the mist from the crashing water), stunning views of the local active volcano (apparently on a good night you can see the red glow on the peak), some friendly wildlife and views of 3 lagos, with our favourite being the first and smallest one 'Lago Chico'. (Note from Cath - the Chileans were clearly using Aussie place naming logic here - it translates as Small Lake!)








The only down side to the day was that Cath tripped over on slippery mud and hurt her hand. Nothing too serious, just another special bruise, but apparently a good reason not to do anything like washing up for a while... After succesfully negotiating the rest of the hike back down we had half an hour to relax before our bus back to Púcon, so enjoyed some delicious 'french pressed' coffee (some of you may be surprised to hear that Cath is now a coffee drinker again by the way!) at Refugio Tinquilco. It was such a peaceful and beautiful setting that we really didn't want to leave.. :-)

Bariloche & San Martín de los Andes

After much deliberation, we decided to leave Chile on Thursday morning to head to Bariloche in Argentina. As Andrew mentioned we had considered the bus-bost trip but went for the direct bus instead - although if you looked at our route on the map it wouldn't seem to be very direct at all. Between the many lakes (it isn't called the Lake District for nothing!) and the Andes, roads in this part of the Argentina-Chile border area can be winding to say the least, although this of course makes the journey much more interesting and very beautiful.

We had reservations about going to Bariloche simply because pretty much everyone we have met has been there or is heading there, and we therefore expected it to be overcrowded. However, when we arrived there, we were very glad that we had followed the hoardes as it deserves to be as popular as it is. Its location is one of the most stunning we have seen, totally surrounded by snowcapped mountains and bordering the beautiful Nahuel Haupi lake. There is a touristy feel, but as it is not absolute peak season it wasn't overwhelming (despite a full hostel) and the many chocolate shops are a definite positive consequence of its popularity!

After a quiet night (and more steak!) on Thursday, we were ready for something a bit more adventurous on Friday so we booked for a group tour to do some hiking and kayaking. Thanks to the very unhelpful guy on reception we didn't realise that our day trip also included a drive round the area, taking in most of the viewing points of the route known as the circuito chico. This was a very welcome surprise as it is a gorgeous area.

Here are some of the photos from the day:

First we went on a chair lift up one of the local mountains, a view from the top & a view on the way back down.



During our short ramble by the lake shore, a photo showing how clear and beautiful the water is.


Next was the kayaking adventure, a shot of the 'geezas' coming back to shore, and us relaxing by one of the kayaks...



Finally after all that exercise, us chilling out by the lake shore with some cervezas


As you can see it was another hard day for us! The kayaking was in fact a little bit taxing but also loads of fun, depsite some let's say "slightly enthusiastic" English guys trying their hardest to cause as much water damage to everyone else as possible. We were all very upset that they didn't manage to fall out! We did however meet some more really nice people, and also caught up with one of the guys from the boat again. This has happened a few times, predictable I guess as there are many of us heading in the same general direction.

After all that activity we had a relaxed day on Saturday, sorting out a lot of our NZ trip amongst other things, and met up with 2 of the ferry crowd for dinner on Saturday night. We had a really good evening - probably too good in Andrew's case as getting up for our 9am bus on Sunday was a little bit of a struggle! We were moving on to San Martín de los Andes, another beautiful town a few hours further north. Just to prove that we are all stalking each other, at the next town another couple from from boat also got on our bus! We were all heading to the same hostel and spent a lovely relaxed day wandering round, admiring the views and later cooking dinner together.

The only down side was that one of the reasons we had gone to San Martín in the first place was because we had planned to do another bus/ferry combo from there to get back into Chile. It was clearly not destined to happen as we found out that the only day we could do the trip was Sunday and we'd missed the departure by about an hour! Maybe we should take the hint and give up on boats? Unfortunately this was another example of the Lonely Planet´s information being out of date - the new edition is due very soon so we really should have checked ahead. Anyway, this left us with no choice but to get back on a bus. This seemed to be a common theme as we left the other guys in San Martín also debating which incredibly long bus journey to take!

We opted to head back across the border to Púcon, which by all accounts was in another lovely area, but cursed perhaps not too quietly when we found out that would mean getting a 6am bus on Monday for another 6 hour trip. But, yes, we did it anyway! The journey from San Martin to Púcon is luckily spectacular, especially as the crossing is inside a national park - well it's technically 2 parks that seem to overlap. We especially liked the views of Lanín Volcano which seems to be almost next to the Argentina boarder. This was a good thing as we ended up waiting at that point for nearly 2 hours (never did find out why). We then had all bags scanned by Chilean customs before we were finally back in Chile, where we'll now be until we fly out of Santiago in just 10 days time...

Puerto Varas & Back into Argentina

After leaving the Navimag boat instead of staying in Puerto Montt, we decided to head to Puerto Varas on a short 20min trip north (I think it was the shortest bus journey we've made so far), as the views across the lake are supposed to be very spectacular.

Unfortunately for us the weather was very grim for our 2 days there and we didn't get to see anything except clouds and rain, though luckily during one of the rare clear patches I did get a photo of the local cathedral. Weather aside, this was definitely a very nice chilled place to stay in, the hostel (Compass del Sur) had a great homely atmosphere and one of the best stocked kitchens we've seen so far (including free herbs and seasoning!)

As the weather had not been brilliant we decided on not going with the highly recommended $170USD bus-boat-bus-boat tour to Bariloche, instead going with the $10,000CLP (about $18USD) bus journey, which took us through some amazing scenery all of its own!

Even though it is nearly summer here in the southern hemisphere, global warming seems to be playing tricks with both Argentina and Victoria getting dumps of fresh snow, enough for skiiers to continue their sport (a month and a half after the official end of the season)...

Navimag & fjords of Chile

Ok, so now it's time to tell you a bit about our Navimag voyage...

We boarded on Thursday night, although we didn't set sail until the early hours of Friday morning. We were really lucky in that we'd paid for a shared cabin but ended up having a 4 bed one to ourselves because the boat wasn't full. Good thing really as sharing a very small space with 2 strangers could have been a bit of a challenge!

After our initial safety briefing we saw the film Motorcycle Diaries, which follows Che Guevara's travels through South America as a young man. It was a really good film, and especially interesting for us as we had visited some of the places it included. I have to say that it did make us long to head back to Peru, amongst other things. It also hit home just how far we had travelled, and all in all was a great way to spend a slightly odd evening in port.

At our briefing, we had been told by the very helpful guides that they would let us know what was going on and when was a good time to head to the outside decks - and they weren't making it up! At shortly before 7am on Friday morning we had the first of the soon to be infamous "Señor Pasajeros/ Dear Passengers" announcements to let us know that we were passing through the narrowest part of the journey. We dutifully got up, wrapped up warm and headed out onto the deck. It was an attractive area, but after a few minutes we were glad to retreat back to the warmth of our cabin!

The first full day established the pattern of 8am breakfast, 12.30 lunch and 7.30 dinner - the food was definitely more than enough fuel for our much less than normal activity levels, although not great variety wise. Unfortunately the weather wasn't brilliant either - and remained as such throughout - so we spent a large amount of time indoors. That said, as you can see in the pictures, some of the scenery was pretty spectacular and it wasn't all grey skies. Even when it was bad, we could see lots of snow tipped mountains rising up from the dark waters.

One particular highlight, on day 2, was the Amalia glacier. As this single photo shows (I hope) the view made facing the cold and wind worth it!

We were also lucky to meet a great bunch of fellow travellers on board, and we spent a great deal of time sorting the world out, and generally just relaxing...need I mention the wine?! The photo below shows some of the generally very far from stressed group in a pretty typical "relaxing in the bar" formation!


However, as I have already mentioned, the sad turn of events on Sunday evening really impacted on the trip as our ship headed back to help out in the rescue. I should add that the scheduled bingo took place shortly after our abrupt reverse of direction - at best surreal. It was also bizarre to say the least to be out at sea late at night surrounded by several other vessels all searching for survivors, as flares were thrown out to illuminate the sea.

Although the word fjords creates an impression of calm waters, we did spend time in open sea and the storms were quite intense, so it wasn't too surprising to us that a smaller boat just couldn't cope with it. Some of those helping out in the rescue attempts really shouldn't have been out there in a thunderstorm either! It was an odd situation in which to find ourselves, and needless to say the sight of of the wreck floating alongside us as we had breakfast on Monday morning was upsetting. On the positive side, the crew of our ship handled the situation really well and we didn't feel unsafe ourselves despite some of our fellow passengers suffering heavy doses of seasickness.

To conclude I'd say that the whole experience was another memorable one, but not always for the best reasons and it certainly wasn't as we had expected it to be (no wildlife - maybe we've already seen too much?). Much of the problem was the weather but despite this, the extent of the many islands dotted along Chile's coastline was definitely worth seeing. As for the ferry experience? One of our fellow travellers did comment that they now understand what it must be like to be stuck in the Big Brother house, which just about sums it up!

And finally, a few words of advice from Andrew for anyone who may want to do the trip:
For those who may be reading this to figure out, are you going to do this boat trip through the fjords I have this advice. The trip was enjoyable, we did see some beautiful things, but for the price I would recommend investigating other means.. If however price isn't your driving force and you do want to go for this trip, bring along plenty of entertainment (books, cards & travel stories), just in case the weather is bad (which happens more often in summer).

Back on dry land

Just a very quick post to let you know that we're now in Puerto Varas, near where we finally got off our boat this morning (Puerto Montt) - 24 hours late. The delay was due to our boat being heavily involved in the search for survivors from a capsized vessel on Sunday night/Monday morning. There only seems to be one survivor from 10 crew so all very sad.

Despite the grim bits we did meet some lovely people on board, and passed through some beautiful areas. We'll post some more soon when we've got some photos uploaded, but thought we'd just say a quick hello in the meantime.

Back soon!

How to travel the Fjords of Chile?

This has been a question that I started asking myself around about Bolivia, then luckily while in the hostel in Buenos Aires I spotted a pamphlet for Navimag who happen to offer what looks like a fanstastic journey from Puerto Natales (where we currently are) to Puerto Montt (where we want to get to).

For those that don't know, the photo to the left (which hopefully comes out ok to everyone) shows the amazing amount of small islands and fjords dotting the southern parts of Chile... So much so that the only ways to travel it is to:

• Travel in Argentina


• Boat


• Swim

We're happy with going with the second choice.

And so this is where we are now at, we are about to be boarding the ferry in a couple of hours, then it is 4 days of sailing past glaciers, icebergs and hopefully some amazing marine life! (keep your fingers crossed for us)

See you all in 4 or so days with the next update of our adventures.

Andrew (& Cath)

Torres del Paine

We have just arrived back from a 2 day hike in Torres del Paine, well I use the term 'hike' very loosely.. After our horse riding adventure the day before, we were quite tired and a tad on the sore side, as such we spent the morning travelling to Torres del Paine and the Refugio of Paine Grande (that one you can see in the photo to your left) and then promptly fell asleep on our very comfy £20 per night mattresses (after unrolling our sleeping bags that is).

For that price though, the following picture is an example of what we got to see out our window...



Later that evening (after waking from our snooze), we bumped into Laura & Paul, who we had met in Puerto Natales just before they started the "W" trek. It was good to see them again, still looking very lively after their 2 days trekking. Hi guys if you're reading this, hope the rest of the trek went well!

The following day we started out on a 'short' eight hour hike to see some more of the spectacular views in this national park; unfortunately because of our timing (only allowing for 1 day of hiking) and some less than helpful advice from the tour operator at our hostel the day before; we realised that we would not actually see the famed Torres del Paine, however we would be getting out into nature, working off some more of that Argentinian steak and hopefully seeing some amazing views.

Quickly into the first leg of the hike we found ourselves struggling slightly along the 'easy' bit, unused muscles complaining of being used again (hadn't they done enough in Peru!) and general aches and pains setting in.. This was not helped by the scarily strong wind on some of the spots, which literally blew me over at one point, so Cath didn't stand a chance! So the start was not going well.. The views however were definitely up to standard!


After a short rest at Camp Italiano we were feeling a lot better, there was a lot less wind, and even though the ground was rougher (lots of rocks to scramble over) we seemed to be having an easier time of it, definitely helped by our muscles no longer complaining at being used and abused.. Up this particular valley we got to see the 'baby' glacier of the park, Glacier Frances (you can see a tiny bit of it at the base of the mountain in the photo on the left).

It was about this time that upon looking at our watches we found that the guardaria telling us 8 hours to get to viewing spot, take some photos and back to the Refugio was over-estimating our fitness levels, as such we decided to find a nice viewing spot and have some lunch then turn back (we needed to be back by 6pm to catch the last catamaran and bus back to Puerto Natales).

Luckily for us we did turn back at that point as the weather started to turn even more blustery, with rain and then hail coming down. We were glad we got out here and did a 'small' 18km hike and got to see what we did, but were very glad to get back to the campsite and enjoy a nice hot cup of tea (with some of the chocolate I'd been hiding from Cath).. After being here, I think we will take away beautiful mountain images (it is very spectacular, though not the most spectacular we have seen on this trip), but most of all the changing weather, and that wind!!

We were also relieved to hear that the towers themsleves were pretty much hidden by a blanket of cloud for the time we were there so people who had headed out that way hadn't been able to see that much. So it seemed that despite it all we had been "lucky" with the weather in the places we had been...

The journey to Chile, Puerto Natales and more horses...

We were relieved to wake up on Sunday not aching too much from the horse riding, as we were catching an early bus to Puerto Natales in Chile. This was a relatively short journey - about 4-5 hours, which incidentally in the UK I would have thought was a lifetime - and we realised soon enough why they didn't put a definite time on it. When we reached the Argentina-Chile border, we had a long wait to get our exit stamps before another short drive followed by a similar wait to get our Chilean entry stamps. It was interesting to note that Chile has Australia style restrictions on bringing certain foods etc into the country although their checks are nowhere near as thorough. It is of course completely understandable that they want to protect their country's wildlife, but hard to grasp how a country with such an extensive border could possibly be able to achieve this. Fair play to them for trying though.

Anyway, we didn't have any problems getting through, it just all took a bit of time and we finally reached Puerto Natales at around 2.30pm. It was incredibly cold and windy as we walked to our hostel, and we soon got the impression that this was pretty normal here. That said the day before had been windy even by Puerto Natales standards, so much so that the phone cables had all been knocked out! We wandered into town, and unlike many places we have been which seem to have very extensive opening hours, the town was dead on Sunday, which to be honest made quite a nice change. We tucked ourselves away in a small cafe for a late lunch and ended up staying there for ages as it was so grim outside. We got chatting to another English couple about many things including their plans to trek the "W" ie the most popular 4+ day circuit of the nearby Torres del Paine national park.

We had already decided not to do all of this, but still wanted to do more than a one day tour of the park. When we headed back to our hostel we spoke to the travel agent conveniently located next door, who suggested a trip involving a bus out to the park, a hop across the lake on the catamaran and an overnight stay at a refugio. This would mean heading out early on Tuesday, doing a full day trek on Wednesday and then getting back late on Wednesday night ready for our our 4 day trip from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt.

This left us a full day free on Tuesday and after a few glasses of red - yes, it's very good and cheap in Chile too - together with another English couple (hi Pete & Jo if you're reading, we'll check your blog to see how you get on up north!) we decided to do some more horse riding. This time the horses were a little less tranquilo, but still no great problem. We got into jeeps then went across to the peninsula opposite the main port on a barge, drove a bit futher into the estancia and off we went. The views were even better than those in Calafate as you can see from the photos - it really is a beautiful setting, with snow capped mountains all around. We even got to ride the horses through the lake itself, which was fun for us but probably not so great for them...

The only issue was that the horses often wanted to go faster than we did, so we did get thrown around a bit more and have the bruises to prove it...didn't help that the side of the saddle was digging into my leg for 2.5 hours as well. It was definitely worth it though, and quite funny that after years of not going near a horse we had managed to go riding twice in 3 days!