MarkMitch1984

The journey from El Chalten to El Bolsen on the famous route 40 would take 2 days with 2 drives of 12 hours and an over night stay. I had not heard that much about the route but Thijs told me the landscape was pretty rugged and definitely worth the effort. We set off on our basic bus at least compared to the luxury we had got used to in Argentina. The road was all dirt or gravel which made for one bumpy and dusty ride but the scenery was very interesting at least in terms of how different it was with barren flatlands leading to towering hills and mountains. It was very desolate with very few other vehicles on the road. As a result it was a surprise when we suddenly found a house in ... read more

My bus ride down from BA was supposed to take 20 hours but we had only made 60kms out of the city when our bus broke down. Thankfully the bus broke down next to a cafe as I was stuck there for 4 hours waiting for a replacement bus. As a result of the delay by the time I arrived at Puerto Madryn I was pretty done with sitting at the bus and was happy to walk along the sea front to my hostel. Puerto Madryn is a tourist town famous for the national parks nearby with various types of wildlife to enjoy. I instantly liked my hostel on arrival it had a very friendly family feel to it with really nice staff, rooms and a communal area. I booked to do a trip to one ... read more

We awoke in Wellington after a heavy night all tired and hung over knowing we had the notoriously rough north to south island ferry crossing to look forward to. So with some reluctance we got on the bus and headed to the port. In the end we were lucky as we had a pretty gentle crossing considering some of the horror stories I had heard which was good as we were able to enjoy the views as we left the harbour and catch up on some sleep. On arriving on the south island we headed to the town of Nelson which is the location of the Abel Tasman national park. The hostel we were staying in called Fern Lodge was run by an English guy who had lived in the region for over 35 years and ... read more

My journey to Fiji was pretty arduous as I left Darwin at 1am to fly to Brisbane arriving at 5am with a 2 hour stop over before my next flight to Sydney where I had another 3 hour wait for my flight all this meant that I did not arrive in Nadi until 7pm and I was pretty shattered. I had one night on the mainland before I set off to see the Yasawa Islands. I was staying at a nice hostel called Aquarius with very friendly staff and service a good sign for things to come. Fiji is rugby mad so I was able to enjoy my nice dinner and beer whilst watching a highlight from the New Zealand vs Wales game from earlier in the summer - having been starved of rugby for the ... read more

We arrived in Cairns in the evening and it was clear to see that this was a party town as even at 8pm there were people stumbling in the street. We had booked to stay at Gilligan's hostel which titles itself as the 'Ultimate Backpacker Experience.' It was a very nice hostel with everything a traveler could want nice rooms, a pool, big kitchens, loads of computers and of course a great bar/nightclub attached to the hostel. Our first evening in Cairns was the England vs Germany game so we had no time to waste and so after a quick shower we found ourselves prime seats in preparation for the game. By the time the matched started there was a huge selection of Germans standing at the front as against stereotype they had not turned up ... read more