http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Adam-and-Dais/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Adam and Dais en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:49:43 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:49:43 +0000 After driving down from Cairns we finally made it to Brisbane to do something we really didnrsquot want to do....work Daisy had a job lined up to do some physio work whilst I managed to find a job as a removal man I could go on about our wonderful jobs and how much we loved them but instead ill fill you in on what we did outside of work.Brisbane is a really nice city although smaller and l http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/blog-396915.html So we finished up in Cairns after a successful week Daisy had her job and start date in Brisbane confirmed we had our car sorted out the floods on the roads had cleared and we were ready to drive over 1700kms in around two weeks following the mammoth Bruce Highway that spans the top of the country to the bottom. The weather was really improving and the further south we headed the less it wo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Whitsundays/blog-391158.html So we headed out of Melbourne's sweltering heat and into far north Queensland's torrential rain cyclones and floods it was quite literally out of the frying pan and into the fire and it really hit home not only how diverse the weather is in Australia but also how devastating with the effects are as in both Victoria and Queensland it was fatal and tragic.We flew into Cairns as Daisy had work l http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-390433.html After our road trip on the Great Ocean Road we headed to Melbourne. Melbourne is a great city and is described in a lot of our books as the 'most livable city' in Australia and itrsquos not hard to see why. It has such a diverse range of places from the hustle and bustle of the CBD to the river banks parks boutique shopping areas bohemian areas such as Brunswick Street and the seaside dis http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-388059.html And so to Australia From the start this was one destination we both agreed we were definately going to visit and we were finally here touching down in Melbourne. Due to bad planning on our behalf we hadnt realised it was the tennis open in melbourne the same week and as a result the hostel prices were sky high and most places booked out so we hired a campervan our hippie camper and heade http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Great-Ocean-Road/blog-380421.html After Leaving Dunedin and heading north towards Christchurch we decided that as we had the time we would drive via Mt Cook and the southern alps again as although we could see both from the west coast and the glaciers this time it would give us the opportunity to get much close and take a great scenic drive. The weather was good so we headed inland and stayed close to Mt Cook village where t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Kaikoura/blog-380059.html Despite the natural beauty of the Fiordland Naional Park the constant rain had driven our camping experience down and we were eager to find some sun or no sun for that matter as long as the ground wasn't like a swamp and we weren't kept up all night with the drumming of rain so we headed to the city of Dunedin which is known as NZ's Scottish city as it is twinned with Edinburgh. As I hav http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Dunedin/blog-378960.html We headed down to Te Anau from Queenstown and had around a week to burn before we started the Kepler Track one of New Zealand's seven 'Great Walks' which we had booked onto. After a day looking round Te Anau which is unsurprisingly beautiful being on the fringes of the Fiordland National Park we decided to take a trip up to the famous Miford Sound and into the park as we had heard bad foreca http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Fiordland-National-Park/Te-Anau/blog-378608.html As you can tell from the title we arrived in Queenstown quite some time ago now Christmas Eve to be precise. Queenstown is a stunning place in the South of NZ and due to its natural beauty and the number of activities on offer is a tourist mecca all year round be it for skiing in winter of sightseeing in summer. One thing it was not however is 'Christmassy' Christmas felt more like a day http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-378603.html After arriving into Picton via Marlborough Sounds we headed across to the West coast of the south island to begin our trip down south. The first stop was the Abel Tasman National Park which we knew would be different from most NZ national parks as this one was mainly beaches and coast line and not mountains and at first we thoughts it would be good but nothing special.....how wrong we were http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/West-Coast/blog-372265.html We left Taupo and headed west towards New Plymouth as being centrally located we had the choice of either coast but the views of Mt Egmont swayed out decision. We took the scenic route down through Whanganui national park where the lush green scenery was beautiful before arriving at Stratford and headed to New Plymouth on the coast.The road around the west coast of the north island goes round http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Wellington-Region/Wellington/blog-363532.html So we picked up our little hire car in Auckland and started our trip south starting off with thermal hotspot Rotorua. We had heard it was a great place to see geysers and enjoy hot pools and mud baths so we headed south but on route drove through Matamata as Adam was determined to visit the set of Hobbitton from the Lord of the Rings.We managed to arrive as the bus to the set was departing http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-362818.html And so we finally left South America and flew into New Zealand a place we had looked forward to visiting ever since we planned the trip. We arrived into Auckland and managed to see David Beckham in the airport as LA Galaxy had an exhibition game in the city that week with two of the friends we had met back in Chile and decided to head out on a little road trip for a few days into the Northlan http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/blog-362169.html After a few days relaxing in the pretty Salta we headed down to Mendoza a city we had been looking forward to for some time as the reports we had heard of its wine and steaks set the bar very high. We arrived in the city to find it a very modern city with a distinct European feel big wide roads lots of people drinking on the streetsplazas and a very nice atmosphere. On our first evening we http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Mendoza/Mendoza/blog-361945.html So we entered Chile directly into San Pedro de Atacama a town on the outskirts of what is the worlds driest desert we didnt see a cloud in 5 days and were told that some weather stations in the desert had never recorded rain. The desert may also be recognisable to people as the desert recently used in the recent James Bond film.San Pedro was much smaller than we expected and also much more e http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-354594.html From La Paz we journeyed down to the south west of Bolivia and took the night bus although the journey was so incredibly unconfortable no one slept except two americans who had taken a hand full of vallium pills to help them sleep. We arrived very early in the morning but could quickly see it was a very small place that operated for one reason only for people to pass through either to or fr http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Uyuni/blog-354589.html So we headed back to La Paz the city we had stayed at a month earlier to find little had changed but this time we were with our friends who had never visited before so decided to do some other attractions just outside the city. After a few days wandering around the endless markets we firstly ventured out to Valle de Luna The Valley of the Moon which is a bizarre area just outside the city t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Sorata/blog-354336.html A long time ago now we moved on from Huacachina and travelled south in Peru to Arequipa still with two of the friends we met on the inca trail where we originally planned to spend a few days but ended up spending well over a week....We arrived in the city via night bus and checked into our hostel and could quickly see Arequipa was an impressive city it felt more affluent than Ica but also r http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Arequipa/blog-354326.html So we left Cusco to head towards Huacachina a little oasis in the middle of a desert. We got here via a night bus to Ica that passed via the famous Nazca lines. We decided that for the money this was low on our agenda particularly as the people we met had all been sick on the plane Huacachina is 3km from the city of Ica and is a tiny oasis surrounded by huge sand dunes. The place was hist http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-347234.html So we left Puno to head directly to Cusco in preparation for the inca trail. The journey from Puno was spectacular with stunning scenery and breathtaking views of the Andes it really did set the tone for our stay in Peru well. We arived in Cusco and immediately could sense the weight of history upon the place as everywhere we looked we saw ruins or memorials to inca rulers and their legacy. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Inca-Trail/blog-347226.html