Once the Oasis lot had gone we had 10 days to explore Cape Town and the Peninsula before our big trip came to an end. We took a trip up Table Mountain, explored the water front and sunbathed at Camps Bay. Cape Town was truly sun, sand, sea and fine fish and chips! We decided to hire a car (for just £85) for a week and head down the coast to Simon’s Town on the Cape Peninsula. We drove along the stunning coastal route known as Chapman’s Peak drive passing through the fishing village of Hout Bay. Views of white sandy [View Full Entry]

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On the 21 December we set off on our second Oasis overland trip. This time a 33 day trip from Harare down to Cape Town taking in the sights and highlights of Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. We flew in to Harare and stayed at the Rocks campsite just outside the city and waited for our truck to arrive! On that rainy Friday afternoon the big yellow truck pulled in to the campground and lots of smiley faces waved at us from the windows! After a really long journey and a bush camp in Malawi the group were rearing to [View Full Entry]

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Gavin and I spent an amazing 4 weeks volunteering at the Vervet Monkey Foundation in South Africa. We booked with Global Vision International (GVI) but you can now book directly with the project which works out cheaper! http://www.vervet.za.org/ We landed in Johannesburg very early on a sunny Monday morning and took a taxi to the bus station in Midrand to catch the Translux bus service up to Tzaneen. After a few hours wait sat on our backpacks on the pavement outside the office we hopped on our bus and fell fast asleep! The bus journey from Jo’burg to Tzaneen is roughly [View Full Entry]

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We arrive in Buenos Aires and checked in to our hotel, run by a couple of joung argentinians our first impression was that it might not be our sort of place, loud music partys etc, but we checked in anyway we could always move the next day. After a bit of wandering getting our bearings we went back to the hostel for dinner. friday night is pizza party night, all you can eat pizza, copious amounts of free sangria and all for one pound fifty, bargain. It turns out that the hostel was to grow on us and although going to [View Full Entry]

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Our one and only stop in Brazil was to visit the Pantanal, the worlds largest wetland area which stretches out for over 70,000 square miles. The Pantanal,although classed as a wetland area is actually dry for 6 months of the year and wet for the other 6 months. Fortunately we visited at the driest time of the year! In December the rains come and rapidly flood the area, the water is at its highest in March when the area becomes incredibly hot, humid and full of mosquitoes (unbearable is how our guide described it) and the roads become virtually impassible. The [View Full Entry]

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After nearly 5 days in Puerto Iguazu we're still not ready to leave! The town is lovely and small, with a real jungle feel to it which reminded us of the Oriente in Ecuador. We stayed in a great hostel called Hostel Sweet Hostel which although didn´t have its pool open did let us have a fab private room with ensuite, air con and a tv for a bargain price! The drive here from Tucuman was long long long but also beautiful with superb views of the wetland areas from Corrientes on to Iguazu. Saw some cool birds along the way [View Full Entry]

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We have spent an amazing week here in Mendoza. A beautiful city of long tree lined boulevards, plaza and parks, cafes and fine restaurants. The weather here is very warm and sunny. Things couldn't have been more perfect! Our first day was spent relaxing and exploring the city. We had a pinic lunch in the main plaza and read our books in the sun, then went for afternoon tea in a little cafe by our hostel and had mini cakes and coffee. In the evening we went out to a really nice restauarant and had the biggest steak we've ever seen [View Full Entry]

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So we flew to Punta Arenas (almost at the end of the world)! Very far south and only about 4000km from Antartica and boy did we feel the wind blowing up from there! The flight down here gave us breathtaking views over the southern patagonian icefield. We saw glaciars and and beautiful lakes and the landing in to Punta Arenas we interesting to say the least, rather like dive bombing out of the sky and almost in to the sea! Punta Arenas is a lovely town with nice buildings and great views over the Magellan straights. Unfortunately the famous penguins you [View Full Entry]

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Well our time with oasis has finished and we are travelling on our own again. We spent a few days in Santiago sorting our stuff and getting ready to travel then headed on an overnight bus to Pucon in the Chilean Lake District. The buses here are superb, loads of leg room and big comfortable seats that recline enough to sleep in. Pucon was amazing, it reminded us a bit of Banff in Canada with its wooden huts and snow capped mountains. We arrived to see sunrise over the Villarica volcano and the beautiful lake. Shortly after our arrival though the [View Full Entry]

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So anyone who really wants to hear my useless information I learnt about whales will be clicking on this blog! I´ll be very happy if anyone actually reads this but I´m proud of my new knowledge! I even scribbled it on toilet paper whilst on the trip! Did you know that?...... The Southern Right Whale swims around the coast of the Valdes Peninsula in Argentina from about May/June time until December. When they´re not here they migrate to Antartica, Southern Australia, New Zeland or South Africa. An adult whale eats about 1,200 kilos of fish a day and weighs about 45 [View Full Entry]

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