When we originally booked our trip with Trailfinders they recommended that we have a few days peace and quiet to recharge our batteries in Australia. Fortunately they could recommend somewhere (funny that!) - a place owned and managed by them (doubly funny that!!) - called Bloomfield. Despite not really knowing anything about it and really just relying on a knowing look from Nick at Trailfinders, for our whole trip Bloomfield has represented an "oasis" in an otherwise pretty frantic wizz around the Southern Hemisphere - thankfully it didn't disappoint... actually quite the opposite... Bloomfield is situated on Weary Bay just North [View Full Entry]

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Mussels? Sharks? Shells? Fans? Swans? Sails? Whatever it is meant to be, if it is meant to be anything at all, that Sydney Opera House is pretty darn impressive. 400,000 teenagers agree. Yes, folks, we arrived in Sydney just in time for WYD - what is WYD i hear you say? it's not a baggage handlers' abbreviation for Wynward Islands, though it could feasibly be that too... it's actually World Youth Day. But what is World Youth Day? Where have you been? Probably the same place as us and our travel agent.. it's basically an event organised originally by Pope John [View Full Entry]

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We've stopped moaning about the weather now and just spend our time gawping and shaking our heads in wonderment at this beautiful place - probably the most beautiful place either of us have ever seen. The ferry to the South Island just hinted at what was to come, no-one even bothers telling you how lovely the journey itself is because there is just so much beauty to see.. We found that the South Island was the rugged, more in your face, striking, less-developed "forward" to the North Island's more groomed, pristine,, film star looking "back". In All Black terms North Island [View Full Entry]

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Just before we left, i had dinner with my great friends Sarah Cox and Anna Holman. Sarah's husband, Richard, asked me about the approaching trip and i was more than happy to describe all our exciting plans. Afterwards Richard, who is from Yorkshire and has higher sarcasm levels than most, was silent for a few seconds and then concluded " so basically you are following winter around the world". I laughted it off at the time, but I'm afraid that Richard (and it pains me to say this) was right! Winter is definitely here in New Zealand. We know this by [View Full Entry]

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Being the sporty pair that we are, we have tried to keep up our training, ok we've failed but we can still rate our experiences: Best Tennis Court: Winner: Sheraton, Santiago, Chile (surface - hard and bouncy) Runner up: Heritage hotel, Pokeno, NZ (setting - in a vineyard!) Best Swimming Pool: Winner: Termes Cachueta, Mendoza, Argentina (33m, no chlorine, naturally hot from all the thermal springs) Runner up: Club international, Arequipa, Peru (50m, 50p entry, empty) Best Spectator Sport: Winner: ATP Tennis tour ( a great companion to us on this trip) Runner up: NZ vs England (deciding not to [View Full Entry]

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Most commonly used expressions on our trip: 1. I wish i had a bigger / different lens. (Nige) 2. Does this have ham in it? (Louise) 3. I can't believe everything has ham in it. (Louise) 4. I wish we'd brought a laptop. (Both) 5. Look at my hair, it's awful. (Louise) 6. At least you've got some. (Nige) 7. Do you have these boots in a size 42? (Louise) 8. 41? (Louise) 9. 40? (Louise) 10. Ow... i can't believe that Argentinian women don't have bigger feet. (Louise) 11. I need to find an internet cafe / download my photos. [View Full Entry]

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Some say it is uncouth to discuss money, especially on a refined blog such as this one, and to be honest we normally wouldn't but flipping hell Tahiti is expensive. Breakfast for two, surprisingly not included in our rate, was $100 - yes folks, that is 50 pounds. For some muesli!! It rather tarnishes the stay when you realise that you are going to pay 200 pounds for breakfast for a 4 night stay. Especially as that is our normal daily budget for everything!! We declined breakfast after that. However literally everything is incredibly expensive. At least twice the price of [View Full Entry]

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Our first flight for a while and it was surprisingly comfortable, brand new Lan Chile plane with individual TV screens and self-select videos - big deal!! I got straight into the films and watched "No Country for Old Men" and some comedy with Steve Carrell. Nige spent the first hour or so watching "2 and 1/2 men" re-runs, an error he lately paid dearly for. After i had watched and been completely traumatised by "No Country for Old Men" i urged Nige to watch it too... unfortunately they switched off the video system 20 minutes from the end leaving Nige "in [View Full Entry]

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So this is the start of a number of "retrospective" blog entries, as have been either too lazy or it has been too tricky / expensive to get regular internet access for the last 3 weeks or so.. anyway here goes. We crossed the andes on 8th June having enjoyed a lovely last couple of days in Mendoza, we even went in for some thermal springs at Termes Cachueta - very relaxing. Amusingly all the Argentinians were dousing themselves in the mud, posing in calendar girl style and taking pictures of themselves with anything they had to hand; phone, video [View Full Entry]

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...Thank goodness we are here to enjoy it !!!! It´s funny, when you think of Argentina you think of sipping coffee on sunny cafe terraces or of sweaty balmy tango nights - you don´t really think about arctic winds and your fleece and thermals not being enough to cope with the sub zero temperatures. We musn´t grumble however, as bad as it is for us, can you imagine how you feel if you are Argentinian? Not happy.... Sorry to start on a typically whingeing British note, actually we are having a wonderful time. We spent a fantastic 3 weeks in Buenos [View Full Entry]

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