http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/SculforandJupp/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from SculforandJupp en-us Tue, 21 May 2013 05:20:52 +0000 Tue, 21 May 2013 05:20:52 +0000 Being in and around the Waitakere ranges it was almost impossible to believe that the hustle and bustle of the city was only about 20 minutes away. For city dwelling Aucklanders this must be an amazing thing to have on your doorstep for your weekends and spare time. The beaches are beautiful the people are friendly and the amount bush and costal walks that can be done here is mindboggling. Anoth http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/Waitakere-Ranges/blog-765514.html After leaving Northland we decided to head towards West Auckland and stay at Piha beach. The main reason that we wanted to come to this place was because it is where our travelling buddies Troy and Kylie that we met in South America call home. Unfortunately Troy was currently working in England and Kylie was away on business however we still wanted to check out this place that we had heard so m http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/Ponsonby/blog-750779.html According to the guide books and maps of the area we knew that Rawene probably had little to offer in regards to tourist attractions. The one thing it did suggest doing however was the boardwalk around the site of the old Kauri tree sawmill and so we left the campsite ready for the walk. Due to my navigational screw up we were heading in the wrong direction for the walk and so I urged Donna to http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/blog-749102.html Come the morning in Matai Bay although the weather was a little better than the previous day it was still pretty poor.ltspangtltspangtltspangt This however didnt stop us from taking a stroll along the amazing beach and imagining what it would be like in nice weather in the summer months.ltspangtOnce the rain started to fall a little heavier we decided it was time to hit the r http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/Cape-Reinga/blog-739250.html We woke up the next morning to a pretty dreary day for the first time on the road trip so far. Still we didnt let it dampen our spirits and we comforted ourselves that considering it was winter we had done quite well for weather up to now.Despite being overcast the drive was again spectacular. I happened to be driving on this day however Donna and I take it in turns to drive on alternate d http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/blog-732427.html After reading some information in the guide books Donna and I decided that our next stop should be KeriKeri. Now there wasnt anything spectacular written about this place however it did have something that Donna and I were interested in.. jobs.Yes here in Kerikeri it is a fruitpickers dream as everywhere you look there are fields and farms growing all sorts from Kiwis to Avocados. So http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/blog-732391.html So after a brief stay in Auckland we decided to head out of the city and go exploring. Whilst in NZ we wanted to have very little in the way of plans and so decided to pretty much wing it and see what happened. After looking at several of the billion maps and flyers we seemed to have accumulated we decided that we would head North up the east coast towards Northland until we eventually got to http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/blog-730184.html After our holiday away from travelling in Fiji it was time to get back to being backpackers again as opposed to vacationers. Our next destination. New Zealand. We had wanted to come here ever since we were in Australia over 6 years ago as so many people raved about how awesome this place was and how nice the scenery was. So at long last here we areWe decided to do this part of the trip http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/blog-730178.html ltbr classAppleinterchangenewline gtOctopus Resort.Having been to such an amazing resort for 9 nights it was hard to move on. We did however take some solace in the fact that our next resort Octopus was a sister resort of the Blue Lagoon and as everyone who we had met that had been there said it was great we felt better about having to leave one paradise for another.Naturally as so http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Yasawa-Islands/blog-729264.html Having lugged our bags around for 8 months hopped on and off questionable buses and on the occasion stayed at some pretty scruffy places we were ready to have ourselves a holiday Yes I realise that swanning off around the world could be classed as a holiday in its own right however what we wanted for three weeks was to simply do nothing. No looking at historical sights no hunting for hostel http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Yasawa-Islands/blog-728307.html So after an amazing relaxing time on the beach in Bahia Inglesa Donna and I headed back to Santiago where we would be catching our flight out of Latin America and onto our next continent. We had deliberately given ourselves one last night in Santiago in order to have a nice dinner to say farewell to this amazing part of the world.During the day that we arrived back in Santiago we didnt real http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-720643.html Once more time had passed all too quickly and we were again having to say goodbye. This time to Lisa. It had been fantastic to see her again and once more like Matt and Lou it was all over too quickly. For our last night we were back in Santiago where Lisa would fly out from and so we decided to go out and have a nice dinner. Fortunately for us the receptionist at our hostel recommended a coo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Atacama/Caldera/blog-720646.html With the wind in my hair the sun on my face and being beside the beach you would think that I would be happy but I wasnt. Unfortunately being happy was proving difficult at this moment as rather than lying on the beach or swigging a beer I was in the back of a truck. Whos truck to this day we still have no idea but as Donna and Lisa sat inside the truck trying to tell these random peo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/O-Higgins/Pichilemu/blog-720641.html Fue ManetToday was going to be a good day. The sun was out the scenery was beautiful and we were on our way to drink some wine.Having boarded a local bus in town we were suddenly thrust into some stunning surroundings on our way to Fue Manet our first of three wineries here in the Santa Cruz region of Chile. Although many a bottle had been shared between the three of us in the past back home w http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/O-Higgins/Santa-Cruz/blog-720639.html We arrived in the little town of Santa Cruz after a fairly short bus ride from Santiago and immediately got to looking for accommodation. Our tactic was for the girls to hang out in the palm treed plaza whilst I wandered around the town looking for somewhere for us to stay. Looking back at my plan it seems I may have given myself a bum dealLuckily for us there was an information point in the mi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/O-Higgins/Santa-Cruz/blog-720638.html After having relaxed for a couple of days in Puerto Natales after our trek it was time for us to move on. Our next stop was to be the last capital city we would see in Latin America. This thought wasnt a pleasant one and one that we tried to put to the back of our minds for now however getting to Santiago did have one reason to be cheerful. The reason A third and final friendly face from hom http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/blog-720637.html Day 3 Italiano Los Cuernos 16.5kmOur third day started out badly. This was purely due to lack of sleep and the reason for this lack of sleep The Wind. It started to get really strong around the midnight mark and although the trees did provide us with a lot of shelter the noise was simply horrendous. We actually felt quite safe in our little tent and therefore had no worries there it w http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Torres-del-Paine/blog-720636.html After the 2 hour or so drive from the hostel we arrived at Torres del Paine national park where we would be spending the next 5 days and 4 nights. We collected our basic map of the park at the entrance informing us of the different routes Refugios and altitudes of the mountains and headed for the ferry. We had been told that once the ferry was in motion we should head straight up to the t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Torres-del-Paine/blog-720635.html Im not sure what we expected from our first stop in Chile however it probably wasnt this. Puerto Natales is pretty much the main jumping off point for the Torres Del Paine treks which we had heard so much about and so we had subsequently come here to do exactly that. The town itself is hard to put into words really and that is generally due to the fact that its just so nondescript. I http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Puerto-Natales/blog-724605.html Our journey back from Ushuaia to El Calafate again started with an early departure time. This one slightly less ugly than the one that brought us here although not by much. We left at 5am. After grabbing a few hours of precious sleep on this bus I woke myself up put on my Ipod and took a look out of the window. After so many bus journeys you can almost lose the enthusiasm to keep getting on an http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-720634.html