Getting up in the early morning is never nice. Getting changed in a van with a cold wind blowing through it is even worse! At 6am we rolled out of bed, grabbed our clothes and began driving towards the ferry. In true Counet style we were quite early for the ferry, so having checked in we made our breakfast in the back of the van. I have a new appreciation for the common snail - it is really useful to have your house with you everywhere you go! When we got on the ferry we found a quiet corner and I [View Full Entry]

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We left Auckland in Bitsy armed with a list of the places we would like to visit (thanks to Elisha) but with no clear schedule of where we would stay. We had booked the ferry for early on the morning of the 6th, but that was our only deadline. We headed south. Our first scheduled stop was at the Waitomo Caves however en route we passed by the Kiwi House in Otorohanga. We shrugged at each other and said why not? We are not bird lovers, but the Kiwi bird only comes out at night, so we were unlikely to see [View Full Entry]

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Never underestimate the value of seeing a familiar face. We certainly won't after this trip! South America was an amazing experience, but we were definitely ready for a change and for a few weeks of speaking the same language as the locals. After getting nice New Zealand stamps in our passports, the first 'local' that we had the pleasure of conversing with was a pleasant lady on the customs desk. As we declared to be in possession of some hiking boots, she checked our soles and then as us if we had a tint. This did little to sooth my paranoia [View Full Entry]

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Our South American tour took three and a half months. We visited 7 countries, took 24 buses, 7 internal flights and stayed in 35 places of accommodation. The low-lights for us were: -Realising the true nature of our accommodation in Vitoria, Brazil -Being ill on the Machu Picchu trek -Nearly being pick pocketed in Salvador, Brazil -Various bouts of deli-belly -Missing family & friends and events back home -Living in Fleece clothing! But the highlights made it all worthwhile: -Surviving Machu Picchu, Peru -Standing above the Iguazu Falls, Argentina -Watching all [View Full Entry]

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Having recharged our batteries in Bahia Inglesa we set about discovering Santiago de Chile in 48 hours. We took our last overnight bus for at least a month. We could only buy semi-cama seats, so fittingly enough, it was quite an uncomfortable journey, thus increasing the appeal of our impending camper-van travels. When we arrived in Santiago at around 8.30am, we were stiff and lost. A kind lady pointed us in the direction of the metro station and we donkeyed our bags over. Having bought our tickets we were stopped in our tracks when we saw the hoards of people that [View Full Entry]

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We took a bus from La Serena to Caldera and upon arrival in the little town, we decided that its sister city a few kilometres down the coast had more to offer. We hopped in a colectivo (shared taxi) and a few minutes later we were dropped on the beach walk of Bahia Inglesa. Our wish-list was finally fulfilled when we reached this summer tourist hot spot. The sun was finally shining and there was a lovely little beach with turquoise water. After our encounter with partying Chileans in Valparaiso, we decided that we wanted to be as far away from [View Full Entry]

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The further north we get the more arid and deserty it becomes. It's such a contrast from the lush Lake District down south. La Serena isn't far from the beach, but the weather still wasn't warm enough to get our shorts out. The first thing that happened in La Serena was that we got fleeced by the taxi driver. Gringo prices and all that, but I wasn't in the mood for arguing it. We'd had an early start and a long eight hour bus trip. It was only by a euro in the end, and in the grand scheme of things [View Full Entry]

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Valparaiso and Vina del Mar are supposedly the places where the Chileans go when they need to get out of the city. We decided to visit Valparaiso, or "Valpo", as apparently most people go to Vina del Mar. Valpo is a port city set out on an array of hills. It's most striking feature is the graffiti everywhere (well, that and the dog poop). It all goes together to create a laid back feel and you can see how the town got its bohemian reputation. We decided to take a taxi from the bus station to the hostel. After a bit [View Full Entry]

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We stayed in Chillan for less than 24 hours. In all honesty it had nothing much to offer. It's principal claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of Bernardo O´Higgins - Liberator extraordinaire. He is fondly described in the guide book as the bastard son of an Irish man. We are so proud! Though it was nice to see an Irish name everywhere in Chile. The main streets are named after him everywhere. He is their Daniel O'Connell. The whole country is going nuts in his honour over the next week or so. Talca was our home for a [View Full Entry]

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In order to have a Lake District, one assumes they need rain. But did it have to happen for the entire time that we were in the area?! We headed off to the bus station in Bariloche to get ourselves on the next available bus to Puerto Varas in Chile. We found ourselves on a leaky bus with a grumpy bus driver who saw fit to bully every other car off the road. It was a long six hours, watching films in Spanish and dodging the water drops that fell from the ceiling each time the bus took a sharp left. [View Full Entry]

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