http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Magnus-and-San/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Magnus and San en-us Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:04:53 +0000 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:04:53 +0000 HK http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Hong-Kong-Island/blog-456309.html Peking Duck http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-456314.html TBD http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-363948.html Picked up Charlie the camper van and headed up north. Drove along the coast and saw loads of seals. Made it to Picton and found a nice place to camp alongside some ducks. The next day we got as far as Nelson but Magnus was then sick as a dog. So far we have had more rain in one week in NZ than we did in the whole of South America.Wine tasting in Marlborough was nice lots to choose from. Found a n http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Picton/blog-356549.html Auck. Crazy taxi driver nice harbour Run in cricket park First Pint nice Curry which turned out to be the devils curry..Chch. Picked up charlie meet with AMB and Jon nice food Peninsula then off north..... http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-356548.html Sun Sun Sun http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/French-Polynesia/Moorea/blog-356555.html Easter Island otherwise known as Rapa Nui or Isla de Pascua was a must do stop for us despite the expense of getting and staying here. Magnus has wanted to come here for years and San still remembers talking about it over their second date together. So off we embarked on our first flight in over 3 months.Easter Island is over 2000 miles from the nearest population center Tahiti and Chile http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Easter-Island/Hanga-Roa/blog-350980.html lakes skies running switzerland chocolate steak farewell free dinner http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Rio-Negro/San-Carlos-de-Bariloche/blog-349667.html So we boarded the Navimag ferry. Possibly the most expensive part of our trip overall but as this region of Patagonia is mainly water and the are no roads heading back up north this really is the only way to travel. Billed as one of the highlights of Chile a 4 day and 3 night cruise and I use this word loosely through the Chilean fjords of Patagonia. Starting from Puerto Montt and ending in Pu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Montt/blog-349666.html So we arrived in Buenos Aires and could see immediately that this was the most European like city in South America. It didnt take long to realise that we both really really liked this city with its parks shopping streets for San football for magnus and definitely the best steaks that we both had ever eaten. It has also a very nice little harbor where a mix of power and sailing boats are a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-341320.html TBD http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-363949.html Shanghai http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanghai/blog-456311.html Arrived in Puerto Natales with 2 objectives 1 board the Navimag ferry and 2 see Torres del Paine national park. After booking some expensive ferry tickets we got on with planning for the national park.Torres del Paine is a Chilean national park in Patagonia filled with mountains glaciers lakes. Trekking though this park is a tough challenge. We were feeling rather underprepared as Puerto Na http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Torres-del-Paine/blog-349665.html El Calafate pleasant enough place with one major attraction The Perito Moreno Glacier one of the truly memorable sights of Patagonia. This is the highlight of the Parque Nacional los Glaciares which is contained in the Southern Patagonian ice field which is the 3rd largest ice field in the world after Antartica and Greenland. The Perito Moreno glacier itself measures in at 30km long 5km wid http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-349640.html Ushuaia Argentina. The most southern city in the world. The main attraction here is simply being at the end of the world. So here we are nestled beside the Beagle channel close to Antartica.We hopped on a boat to sail down the Beagle Channel to see the bird island yet more sea lions and then the highlight for us was the Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse known as the Lighthouse at the End of the World http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-349637.html So we have made it into Northern Patagonia this was one of the areas I was secretly most excitied about.... Can definitally tell that we have arrived in this climatically challenged part of the world as the winds down here are incredible. Apparently its just something we are going to have to get used to over the next month.So the main reason for visitng this area is for all the abundance of http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Chubut/Puerto-Madryn/blog-346913.html We took a day trip out to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay its just a short ferry trip from Buenos Aires. Its a beautiful place for a mini holiday from travelling. Little cobblestone winding streets great restaurants cute harbour with views overlooking Rio del Plata and beautiful weather its enough to put anyone in a brilliant mood for a day. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/West/Colonia-del-Sacramento/blog-343310.html Righty ho... off to Iguazu falls we go. We have heard that the sheer size power and noise of these 250 waterfalls must be seen to be believed so we headed up on the 18 hour bus ride to Puerto Iguazu.Let me tell you this bus to Puerto Iguazu was THE best bus in the world. Ever. I mean I feel we are letting it down by even calling it a bus it was even nicer than a few of the hotels we have stay http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Misiones/Iguazu-National-Park/blog-341332.html San Pedro de Atacama ChileIt was heavenly to arrive in Chile after the dodgy food and accomodation on the Bolivian Salar de Uyuni trip. Our room was clean and cosy with and the hostel had a free pool table. We went out for lunch and found a wholefood restaurant with organic food and a yummy 3 course meal. The food was heavenly really was and not just because the taste of bad spagetti lingered http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Mendoza/Mendoza/blog-341341.html Finally we decided to leave Peru and head over into Bolivia. Was a pretty tricky decision whether we would come over here or not as theres been a few protests and political disputes but after chatting to other travellers and checking the foreign office website we took the plunge and decided to stick to the westside and avoid the regions of Santa cruz and Beni where most of the troubles seemed to b http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Copacabana/blog-341339.html