Padders

In life timing is everything and by this time last week, I really needed a break. Luckily the English bank holiday gave me an opportunity to take a long weekend off work and a chance to relax. The one thing I really wanted to do was to go on safari while in South Africa and see the "big five" (Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Leopard and Buffalo). Other people from work have been to the Kruger national park but there is malaria present and the faff of having to take malaria tablets put me off. Closer to Pretoria is Pillensberg, a park which has the big five and you can drive yourself round. However, I have heard that it can be busy. My lonely planet came to the rescue with the suggestion of Madikwe Game Reserve . This ... read more

For some reason I decided that a blackout was a good time to write my first South African blog entry. I should have realised when that the radio advert this morning from the government asking people to conserve electricity was serious. The power went out a few times this evening and then went out for half an hour. Considering that the only I had during that time was from candles and my laptop screen, it wasn't great. It was made worse as the only heat source I had in my guesthouse cottage is a little portable heater than runs on electricity. When it’s about zero outside it’s not a good thing! Anyway the power is back now and seems to be ok. It snowed (albeit briefly in Pretoria) yesterday. This is a big thing for South ... read more

The beauty of travelling on your own is the flexibility to change your plans and do things that you never even thought of before. This what I did last week, while on the bus from Bariloche, Argentina to Puerto Montt in Chile. My plan was to catch the ferry the next day to the island of Chiloe. However, I got talking to two English girls called Natalie and Charlotte, who were also heading to Chiloe but travelling there the same day. So I changed my plan and went with them to Chiloe. We decided to stay in the town of Ancud and getting there from Puerto Montt was pretty easy, a simple case of catching a bus that went direct there. To cross the strait, the bus drove on to a really small ferry. It ... read more

Today is my penultimate day in Brazil. I'm crossing the border into Argentina tomorrow (apparently on a Saturday it can take up to three hours to clear customs). Hopefully if all goes well then I'll be flying from Puerto Iguazu to Buenos Aires. It will be my second time in Argentina, as I did venture over to Argentina on Thursday for the day to visit the Argentinian Iguazu falls. Trying to remember Spanish was tricky after a month of trying Portuguese. I left Campinas for Campinas and spent two days there. One of my days was spent riding the Serra Verde Express train, going to Morretes and back again. This train went through 13 tunnels, 67 viaducts, which cut through mountains down to the coast. It dropped about 1000m in 100km. If anything I was a ... read more

I'm currently in Sao Paulo, but I'm not here for very long, I got here yesterday and I leave for Campinas tomorrow. I'm therefore going to keep this blog short, so I don't waste time on the net, when I could be out exploring. I'm back on my own now, it feels slightly strange not being in the company of Shannon, Sherry and Alyssa. Shannon is now back in Canada, while Sherry and Alyssa are now hopefully in Buenos Aires. Ok, the brief summary of what I did in Rio is as follows: *Went shopping: I should have realised going shopping with three girls, would take some time. Most of the shops were relatively expensive - the prices were similar to here. Although while we were in the mall we managed to sneak onto the room ... read more