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 in a large circle, and right in the centre is the Egmont National Park and its incredible mountain. We headed up to the mountain on our first day for some better [View Full Entry]

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So we picked up our little hire car in Auckland and started our trip south, starting off with "thermal hot-spot" 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 a luckily jumped on, although Daisy decided to give this one a miss. The set itself was fascinating for a LOTR fan, although most [View Full Entry]

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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 Northland - the northern most area of NZ above Auckland. After a few hours in the city (a very big, relatively clean city [View Full Entry]

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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 streets/plazas) and a very nice atmosphere. On our first evening we found a suitable restaurant and ordered a big steak and red wine, and it was absolutely amazing, and you need to believe the [View Full Entry]

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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 expensive!) so we planned to spend a couple of days here, until we realised the bus over the Argentinian border only left three times a week [View Full Entry]

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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 from the Salar de Uyuni, the famous salt flats. Uyuni was a very small and uneventful town, and we quickly booked ourselves onto a jeep leaving [View Full Entry]

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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 that unsurprisingly looks like the moon. We wandered around the small area surrounded by the mountains looking at the incredible rock formations, which were both [View Full Entry]

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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 rich with history and beautiful scenery (the city stands below a number of large mountains, dominated by the closest volcano named "misti"). As it [View Full Entry]

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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 historiucally a "hangout" for rich and famous peruvians, but is now a big backpacker destination. We were hoping for good weather and [View Full Entry]

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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. In the centre of Cusco is the stunning Plaza de Armas surrounded by the impressive Cathedral. We spent our first few days wandering around the city and exploring the [View Full Entry]

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