Robin Of Adventure

A nice Jetstar flight back from Melbourne to Perth, well actually quite a bumpy ride as we came back in but it was good fun playing cards up the back of the plane with fellow passengers, don't get enough of that sort of thing at home. Well it would never happen on the tube. Only a few days left around Perth but I did not want to waste it especially as the weather was tops so decided to spend a night over on Rottnest Island, just about 10km over the Indian Ocean. Rather than get down to Fremantle again I went from Hilarys Harbour up north of Scarborough and here is a tip, you can hire a bike from your Ferry company and easily get it put on the ferry, this saves fuss and I expect ... read more

On return from my South West it was straight up to the northern beach suburb of Perth, Scarborough, to indulge in a 5 day period of surf lessons, it's kind of rude not too. Checked into the Western Beach lodge just 10mins stroll from the beach, it's a bit of a 'long termers' hostel so I had to choose a night when there was a big leaving party. Full of people who don't even stay there all bigging up some girl who I'm sure was lovely but I had surfing first thing and was kept up all night. Surfed with the big boys of Scarborough, SurfSchool (as in surfschool.com) who have posters in all the Perth Hostels etc. They pop a truck on the grass everyday and my first day being a Saturday it was mobbed, ... read more

Was delayed for 3 hours at Santiago Airport, LAN airlines not communicating too well but I gu ess if you're flying 12 hours over the South Pacific skirting Antartica, with no land for 1000s of miles, you want you're plane right! Further delays at Auckland airport, but bumped onto a not much later flight at Sydney by Qantas then finally racked up in Perth and took a taxi to Britannia on William in Northbridge, a great place to get a souless but mercifully single room for cheap. A few days just recovering in Perth then joined a Western Exposure Tour taking in the highlights of the far South West corner of Australia. First stop was Busselton Jetty, adoringly picturesque, but closed. Gem of the day was Canal Rocks, not on the official agenda of any tour ... read more

Best thing about Santiago had to be Chile Hostales, arriving in the rain it offerred a level of homeliness and comfort that makes you think you are not only in someones home, but perhaps your own home. First tip for Santiago is to try the hot dogs, especially the one with copious amounts of cheese and avocado. Then work it off by going for a hike up Cerro San Cristóbal, when i was there the train was not working, a taxi is a lazy option but for an intense but mercifully short hike you get the rewards of the full Santiago vista. If it rains do hike up once it stops as it tends to clear the smog nicely. I also went on a daytrip to tours the nearby ski fields up in the Andes, would ... read more

Buenos Aires is not a city I was in a hurry to leave but leave I did, for those who ever have to depart from it´s Retiro Bus Station,it´s huge but just hotfoot to the Informaciones desk, find your operator booth, find your leaving area, then watch your daybag! Still it´s not a huge challenge. The Departure boards often don´t show your bus until it´s there so do wait right by the buses and not inside near to your departure time. I took a Rutamar bus to Mendoza, very spacious and an attendant to serve dinner and breakfast (avoid the wine, it´s crap) A lot of stops early in the night but then you can settle for the night. My only gripe is that the leather seats were a bit slippy in the night and I´d ... read more

And so my 17 day GAP Adventure tour from Rio to Buenos Aires came to it´s natural conclusion in er Buenos Aires. The ferry from Colonia was fast and smooth and we were soon booked into the unlikely backpacker venue of Hotel Carsson (four star) The huge dark glasses and headphone doorman was not that keen on our dumping backpacks and sloobbing it out in reception vibe, but polite as much as menacing. Well what can I say BA is the real deal!! I much prefer it to Rio, it´s an amazing city, with a real European feel with plenty of South American spice. On our first night we went to a cultural centre and attended a drum band concert, it rocked! Then our local guide took us to her family home where we met the ... read more

With all that South America has to offer the traveller as a continent, it might not be the case that Uraguay is going to be an instant "must do" But it was part of my GAP tour itinerary so here are my thoughts on what i did and saw, the main point being it´s always rather fun to visit a country you know little about and never thought you would visit. In fact the thing I know about Uraguay is that despite having less than 4 million of a population, they´ve won one more World Cup than England, and okay two more than Scotland. We were dumped off the nightbus in Argentina at a layby, but a fleet of taxis ushered us to the border, I still despair at the ignorance regarding stopping distance that is ... read more

This entry is pretty much just an excuse to put up more Igausso photos, including the bird park that we visited on the Brazil side of the border, the best part of that were the amazing Toucans with their beaks that would make a Puffin feel dowdy, and the Macaw cage, they make some noise, especially if they receive a tweak on the tail:) Another activity that should be mentioned is the little shopping trip we took over the border into the town of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. It was very simple for us, we did not even get our passports stamped(which would of been nice) but at least we got some amazing cheap and tacky shopping done. I purchase some convincing fake Ray Bans for less than 5 British Pounds and on the quality ... read more