Well hello everybody, a long time out of action I know, I am currently in the last few days of my year long adventure and am spending my time chilling out at a gorgeous hostel in the heart of the Chilean wine district, (and also catching up on a bit of blogging!) First stop ... Pucon in Chile - Volcanos, Bikes and Hotsprings! So ... after we left the wines on bikes tour of Mendoza, we crossed over into Chile and headed straight to the heart of the lakes district, being the cute little town of Pucon. Pucon was one of [View Full Entry]

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I was so excited to be in Mendoza, home to 70% of the country´s wine production!! Mendoza is a great little city, not too big to feel like a city and with massive, wide streets, that in a way give it that small town feeling. The first day we spent exploring the town and also I discovered a great vegetarian all-you-can-eat buffet ... which was a fantastic change from the meat, meat and more meat on the menu everywhere in Argentina! Don't get me wrong, I love nothing more than a great steak, but after day in day out of meat, [View Full Entry]

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So, after seeing Iguazu, we embraced our longest bus journey in Argentina (I hope!) - 28 hours! And if it wasn't for the police checkpoints, the trip would have been rather uneventful! At one of the checkpoints, the sniffer dog got so excited over Pete´s big backpack that the police got Pete off the bus and off he had to go to get his bag checked for drugs in one of the examination rooms! I didn´t know what was going on and found a very upset bus driver outside who was furious that the bus was being held up because Pete [View Full Entry]

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Well, first stop on our 2 month trip around Argentina and Chile was the magnificent Iguazu Waterfalls, on the border of Brazil and Argentina. We cheated slightly and flew up to Iguazú from Buenos Aires as there will already be enough 20+ hour bus trips in the next two months, so one less is always a bonus! So we arrived in an hour and it was nice to be seeing a different part of this massive country, apparently the 8th biggest country in the world! Argentinian Side of Iguazú Falls So we decided to start our adventures on the Argentinian side [View Full Entry]

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Well ... my time in Buenos Aires has sadly come to an end and although my first two weeks were amazing, my time here has only got better and in the last few weeks I've been having such an great time that's it's tough to leave!! So ... a few things that I've been up to of late ... A day trip to Uruguay Dymutsja and I embarked on a day trip across the giant mouth of the river separating Argentina and Uruguay, to the city of Colonia. We went on the slow boat that took 3 hours, but it was [View Full Entry]

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So it was in Buenos Aires that I decided to stop backpacking for a month and try to live the life of a Porteña (a person from buenos aires). And all I can say is that my first two weeks here have just been totally crazy (or ´Loco´ as they say in Spanish)! I have been going to spanish classes for 3 hours a day, going to the gym, exploring the city and trying (big emphasis on the ´trying´) to party like a Porteño ... which is near impossible for me! So anyway, here´s a little about my life here in [View Full Entry]

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Well, after the bliss of being at home with my clothes all laid out in a wardrobe and sleeping undisturbed in a proper bed ... I once again am getting around with all my earthly belongings on my back and sleeping in a dorm room with 6 others, most of whom find it necessary to rustle their plastic bags of clothing at ungodly hours of the night !!! Yes, I am back in the backpacking game !! My first stop is Santiago de Chile, which must have the world´s strictest customs officials ... all 3 packets of beef jerky i had [View Full Entry]

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Well ... here I am home sweet home in Australia, just in time for my sister, Felicity's wedding! I have decided to put mostly just photos of my trip in Oz as I think that sums up my trip! It has been wonderful catching up with family and friends, even if I was home for winter in Oz .. who said it doesn't get cold here?? Before I get onto the highlights of my trip, I thought I would just mention a few of the creature comforts that I'm really appreciating or noticing now I'm back at home and off the [View Full Entry]

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Before I start this blog, just to explain that I am doing a bit of 'blog-catch-up' at the moment as time got away on me and I haven't had a chance until now to get them all updated! I am currently in Australia but here is my last instalment from Colombia before I arrived home in Oz. Adrenalin packed rafting expedition in San Gil... The closest i've felt to drowning! So after dragging ourselves away from the gorgeous Caribbean Coast, we first headed down to the adventure capital of Colombia, San Gil. We stayed at a great hostel, run of course [View Full Entry]

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Well .. Colombia is the first country that I've ever arrived at on a boat! It would have seemed very easy to just get the dinghy to shore and then disappear, without the hassle of immigration... that was until we were told that the Colombian police regularly go into bars and shops and not only do body searches but also demand to see everyone's ID and for foreigners, their passport and immigration stamp ... so not wanting to get on the wrong side of the Colombian police, we waited for a few hours sorting out a stamp in the passport. Chilling [View Full Entry]

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