Great Ocean Road

We had managed to fit in a day trip to part of the Great Ocean Road when my parents & Katherine were here in December, but we were still keen to see more of it and so last weekend we decided that it was time for a road trip. Our little car is doing us proud, and all I can say is thank goodness for air conditioning! Temperatures when we left Melbourne on Friday were already in the 30s, and stayed that way for much of the weekend.

Although the Great Ocean Road drive is described as an easy trip from Melbourne, it is only really close by Australian standards! It took us about 4.5 hours to drive to Warrnambool along the most direct road - it's more along the winding Ocean Road - whilst on the map it all looks very close together. We stayed the night at a nice motel, had some great seafood for dinner (well, at least I did) and started on our way back along the ocean route on Saturday morning.

After passing through Peterborough (a bit different from your version J&V!), we stopped at a series of lookout points all with gorgeous views. The most famous is the 12 apostles which we reached early afternoon. Although you can't see 12 of them any more as some of them are obscured and the sea is constantly eroding the rock, it is a very beautiful sight. What's left of London Bridge (see 1st photo below) is also really impressive; it used to join the mainland until part of the "bridge" collapsed in 1990, leaving 2 unfortunate tousists temporarily stranded on the newly formed island! We also passed through a lot of forest throughout the day, beautiful in its own right but it is definitely not an ocean road in many parts.

We went for a dip in the ocean when we reached our stop for the night, Apollo Bay, which was a much needed opportunity to cool down. We stayed the night at the Eco Lodge YHA, an interesting new hostel designed to be as environmentally friendly as possible. After heading out for some fish & chips (had to be done) we watched a film on the hostel's huge plasma TV - not sure on the energy consumption angle there... Hostels here seem to be pretty posh, and a double room can cost as much as an en suite motel room! We will have to be a bit creative on our accommodation choices as we travel in Australia, as we were definitely more than a little bit spoilt with South American prices.

The winding drive from Apollo Bay to Lorne on Sunday morning was one of the prettiest sections of the route. I tried to take photos from the car with limited success, but the one below should give you an idea. It was still blue skies all the way and as we reached the beaches closer to Melbourne (including the famous Bells Beach) it was clear that the surfers were out in force. When we stopped at Lorne beach just before Christmas it was pretty much deserted, but this time you couldn't even find a parking space!

We returned to the city mid afternoon and having got the travel bug back immediately started planning our next trips. We have just booked to go to Sydney then Brisbane late March/early April, and aiming to fit in some shorter trips in the meantime...

Summer in Melbourne

It seems quite odd to be blogging now that we're not rushing from one place to the next every few days, but then on the other hand I know that people are still keeping up with us via this site so thought it was time for an update. Also, although we now have our very own landline and a cheap call package, the 11 hour time difference means that I am not chatting to people in the UK almost as much as I did when we were in London. I hope to catch up with more people properly soon!

OK, where to start in summarising the past month+? The first thing I have to say is that unlike the UK we most definitely have not seen any snow in recent weeks - it's certainly the warmest February I have ever experienced! The weather in Melbourne is in many ways unpredictable - for example today it has been 38 but is now raining. That has its advantages, especially when much needed rain falls, but from a personal point of view can also be a complete pain when you get caught in a thunderstorm in your flip-flops (or thongs as I've been told I must call them!) Someone said to me recently that without having the weather to talk about Melburnians would be lost, so at least that makes me feel not too far away from home...

I'm really enjoying my work here which is proving to be really varied, and of course it's a great chance for me to improve my Spanish. Andrew is also happy where he is, and it's good not to be back full time at this stage. We definitely want to focus on the holiday side of things while we have the chance, and we are currently in the process of pencilling in dates for trips within Australia. We're very aware of how much we want to do and how quickly time is flying by. We are just back from our first Aussie mini adventure - a weekend on the Great Ocean Road (post to follow) - and so we now have the lovely feeling of coming back to our own home after a few nights away.

We now feel well and truly settled in flat (we even have internet!) and have already had several friends round for dinner. The chef is also back in action - in fact we've both been cooking a lot - and don't you just love the apron?!...



We also had a party for Andrew's birthday here. We were supposed to have a few drinks here then head out to our local pub, but that pretty much went out of the window after a second trip to the bottle shop (otherwise known as off licence - they have drive-thru ones here!) As the photos show a good time was had by all, and you won't be surprised to see that we still can't dance...







On the day of his actual birthday we decided to take the day off to be tourists, including taking a wander around the Melbourne museum which has diverse exhibits to say the least. Ryan, this one's for you - see if you can work out whose kitchen this is from the original Neighbours set, now housed in the museum:



In the evening we had dinner with Andrew's mum and sister, so it can safely be said that the day was well and truly celebrated!

Other things to report...

Australia Day (26th January) conveniently fell on a Friday this year so everyone made the most of the long weekend. We started by reintegrating ourselves with the world of hostelling - not though staying in one but going on a pub crawl with Tania who we know from London. Remember the story about the girl we bumped into in a La Paz hostel? Well she is now here! It was a really good night albeit slightly strange to be part of a group of about 30 backpackers again!

Whilst recovering on Friday we saw this little air show from our balcony, especially put on for us obviously:



..and the rest of the weekend was spent at various BBQs, so yes there is some truth in the stereotype on that one! I also went to see Charlie (a friend who some of you will know/may have met at our wedding) performing as Mole in a really lovely production of Wind in the Willows at the Botanic Gardens here. I went with some friends and their 8 year old son, so didn't feel too silly pretending to be a rabbit!

Another interesting evening out was watching the ‘soccer’ semi final between Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United at the Telstra Dome. I have to admit that the prospect of going to watch a game of football that everyone insisted on calling soccer was a little bit worrying; I was even less pleased to discover that I had to support the blue team against the red one! The first half was pretty disappointing and an early goal from Adelaide didn’t help. The game was however livened up by the interesting shouts from the crowd, my favourite being “go home you Adelaide bogan” closely followed by “ it’s soccer not football” as yet another slightly far from accurate shot went flying miles over the bar…

A Melbourne equaliser early in the second half sent the crowd a bit mad, but as time ticked away it looked like Adelaide were going to win on their away goal. Just when we thought that all was lost, supersub Robinson came on for "the Victory" and saved the day in the 93rd minute. When he was interviewed afterwards his Scouse accent filled the stadium - as if we needed any confirmation of where the real home of football is! In case you were wondering, Melbourne have since won the final - against Adelaide, don't ask! - by a pretty impressive 6-0...


Celebrating the Victory's victory

And finally, here are a few photos from December that we never got round to posting:


My parents with Andrew's Dad and sister Jo at the Melbourne Wedding party


Andrew and Andrew (aka Loud)


Mum, Kath & Cath in the sea at Lorne

Settling in Melbourne

Big news item number one is that we now have our own place. You may remember that we were having some difficulties finding somewhere close to Andrew's work, as there was a lot of competition in the area. As a result of this it was proving pretty much impossible to get a 6 month lease as the landlords were understandably taking the people who could commit to 12. The low point of the process was finding out by accident that an application we had submitted had been rejected when we saw it down as let in the property listings!

At this point we decided to change our tactics ie broaden our search area and look at classified ads rather than go through agents. It paid off straight away as we found the place we're now in via the gumtree website. We have taken over someone else's lease as she was relocating. It's less that a year old and so very modern, and in a great area (Richmond for those who know Melbourne) close to the city, bars, restaurants, shops etc. The added bonus is that we have great views from our balcony/communal roof terrace across the MCG to the city as these night shots show...




Unlike the UK, furnished lets pretty much don't exist here, so the next challenge was finding furniture. Fortunately between Andrew's stuff from his old place and loans from his mum, sister and friends (thanks everyone) the only major things we needed to buy were a table and a compuer desk. And with Ikea a short drive away, problem solved! Several trips the storage unit later, all we needed to worry about was making sure that the drinks cupboard was well stocked :-) We're loving having our own place, and being able to cook in our our kitchen and put clothes in a wardrobe rather than a backpack is very exciting after so many months of wandering!





The other news is that we both have jobs! Andrew is back at the company he helped to set up/has been involved with for years, and I am working in fundraising for a Spanish/Latin American welfare centre. Andrew is full time at the moment, and I'm working a very civilised 2 day week and trying my best to be a domestic goddess the rest of the time! We're planning to do some travelling soon but in the meantime enjoying city life and looking forward to Australia Day (26th Jan) and Andrew's birthday celebrations in early Feb.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2007 everyone! Keeping with the Aussie tradition, we had a BBQ with a few friends to see in the new year. Hope you all had a great time wherever you are.

We probably won't be posting much now that we're in one place for a while, but I know people are still reading so will keep you up to date with where we're up to and put a few photos up soon.

Bye for now!

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!

.

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...