TravelBlog » Stipey and Jacq

Stipey and Jacq - Peter Stonestreet & Jacqueline Mascini

We are two Australians (both geologists) who are doing a one-year around the world trip through South America, North America, Europe and Asia. So from the outset, apologies to non-geological folk for the frequent references to mining, bedding, alteration and volcanoes! We have more or less finished our five months in South America, and are a little sad to be leaving such an amazing (and cheap!) continent. Next up we have two-and-a-half months in the western USA and Canada. We then fly through Europe to Hong Kong and Yunnan Province, China, and then begin the overland trip home to Australia through Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The blog is dreadfully behind, but since I quite enjoy re-living the travel fun while I write, I think we will persevere with the site for the time being. Keep your eyes peeled for updates, behind as they may be, or try subscribing to the site to receive automatic updates. Please let us know what you think and what you like (and dislike) reading, all feedback helps us keep the blog relevant to our readers.

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3rd July 2008

Hello everyone, please note that I am changing hosts to Blogger.com. The new blog can be found at http://jacquelinestravels.blogspot.com/

Love to everyone
Jacqueline

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Joined on: November 6th 2007
Last Login: July 8th 2008

Blog Entries: 16
Photos: 78

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by Stipey-and-Jacq, order by Date newest first.

By Stipey and Jacq
March 24th 2008

Germs in Sucre

South America » Bolivia » Chuquisaca Department » Sucre

Tarabuco
A Señora making her way up the hill to the markets

Sucre is a town as sweet as the name implies..... although the name has nothing do do with sugar in Spanish and everything to do with Mariscal Antonio Jose de Sucre, who was one of several men who fought for independence from the Spanish. We stayed in Sucre for about a week, in the hope of acclimatising to altitude before heading upwards to Potosí. There isn't a huge amount to do in Sucre apart from enjoy the historical centre and eat great cheap food at the many foreign-run restaurants around the plaza. Sucre is about 2600m above sea level, high enough [View Full Entry]

Locals Outside a Call Centre at Tarabuco

By Stipey and Jacq
March 14th 2008

Caimans, More Toucans, Anteaters, Capybaras...... and Donkeys?

South America » Brazil » Mato Grosso » Pantanal

The Symbol of the Pantanal

Mosquitoes. I have never seen so many before in my life! The Pantanal district can be a miserable place for gringos with white, susceptible skin, and Pete and I used an entire 250ml bottle of insect repellent in three days! Upon arrival in a tiny no-horse town we collected our bags from the bus and within two or three minutes (no exaggeration whatsoever) we were all covered with more than 20 bites each. I had enough foresight to stash the repellent in my daypack, so we made plenty of friends in a short time. I have never put Aerogard in my [View Full Entry]

By Stipey and Jacq
March 14th 2008

Snorkelling and Abseiling.. in the Dark!

South America » Brazil » Mato Grosso do Sul » Bonito

One of the Locals
As seen at the entrance to the municipal baths

The photos might look tropical, but trust me, the water was not as warm and inviting as it looks! The water is crystal clear and so clean because most of it is filtered through aquifers and emerges at the surface at springs... ..But before the fun in Bonito could begin, we had to run the gauntlet of tour operators in Campo Grande, who were trying to sell us a Pantanal Tour (we found out afterwards that you don't even need to pre-book!). We arrived in Campo Grande tired from our epic overnight bus ride, with about an hour to spare for [View Full Entry]

Snorkelling Back to Chocolate and a Warm Jumper

By Stipey and Jacq
March 11th 2008

The Craziest Party Imaginable - RDJ on New Year's Eve

South America » Brazil » Rio de Janeiro » Rio de Janeiro

Christ the Reedeemer

Party, party, party! That just about sums up our stay in Rio De Janeiro. We arrived by overnight bus from Iguazu and were treated to fantastic views in the early morning as we wound our way through the lush and green hinterland hills. The views however, dropped off in quality as we neared the city and we saw the poverty and crime that many of the city's residents live with every day. RDJ is a huge city and it took well over an hour of driving through the suburbs before we arrived at the bus terminal at about 3pm. Thankfully the [View Full Entry]

By Stipey and Jacq
March 11th 2008

Waterfalls, Toucans, Christmas and more..

South America » Argentina » Misiones » Iguazú National Park

Iguazú Falls
The third day at the falls, this time looking at the Argentinian side from the Brazilian side.

You never would have thought - two people check on to a flight together, and one bag comes off first, and the other dead last! That was how we arrived at Puerto Iguazú airport. We missed out on the cheap shuttle transfer to town because while we were waiting for Pete's bag the shuttle filled up and left. So we had to pay 20 Reals (about $15) to get to our hostel, not such a good start to the next leg of our trip. We arrived at our hostel on Christmas Eve and were instantly impressed - it used to be [View Full Entry]

By Stipey and Jacq
March 11th 2008

The Most Gorgeous Town I Have Ever Seen!

South America » Uruguay » West » Colonia del Sacramento

A Typical Cobbled Street
How cute is that little Fiat!?

As a diversion, we also spent a day across the border in Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay, a short ferry ride across the river from Buenos Aires. The town was founded in the 1600s by the Portuguese, and the historic district is now a UNESCO heritage site. The transport there was a tourist attraction in itself, the Buquebus ferry. It had a huge duty-free shop, a cafe, hundreds of tourist-class seats and an enormous but empty first-class section. We arrived quite early at about 7.30am, long before the town awoke. We wandered around the old historic district for the most part of [View Full Entry]

By Stipey and Jacq
March 9th 2008

BA - Food, Wine and Shopping

South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires » Buenos Aires

Recoleta Cemetery
A bit creepy, but so beautiful

Buenos Aires is everything it's cracked up to be - busy, crazy, beautiful and historic. We arrived bleary-eyed after an overnight bus from Mendoza, and were instantly struck by the sensory overload that comes with such a huge city. The drivers are a little crazy, the buildings haphazard but beautiful and the locals by and large well-dressed and beautiful. We had booked a hostel in one of the not-so-touristy districts, mostly because all the others were full with Christmas just around the corner. We arrived and took ages to check in because of the space-cadet guy at reception. He forgot what [View Full Entry]

By Stipey and Jacq
March 2nd 2008

A Pilgrimage to Wine Country

South America » Argentina » Mendoza » Mendoza

Rainbow-coloured Andes
Although I am sure only geologists would see quite that many colours.

Despite the fun we'd had in the Andes so far, it was time to go west and check out some more of the continent. We headed north on an overnight bus from Pucon to Santiago, then took another bus straight to Mendoza. It was a long trip, but we were rewarded before we even arrived in Mendoza. The views of the Andes from the bus were breathtaking. The colours of the rocks were spectacular, although I'm sure Pete and I saw rainbows while the rest of the people on the bus only saw shades of brown! At one stage I thought [View Full Entry]

By Stipey and Jacq
February 23rd 2008

Pucón - Geologists' Dream?

South America » Chile » Araucanía » Pucón

The border crossing
I was glad for once the officials were taking their time.

After a short transit stop in San Martín, we headed back across the border to Chile. The border crossing itself was spectacular, with huge forests of amazing Monkey-Puzzle trees beneath the enormous shadow of one of the regions numerous stratovolcanos, all laid our for us to take in under brilliant sparkling sunshine. Had we thought about it we might have allowed a bit of time to explore the National Park, but it's always nice to save something for later, isn't it? Pucón was a great little town, very lively and full of personality. I was glad to get back to Chile [View Full Entry]

By Stipey and Jacq
February 10th 2008

Sick of everything in Barriloche

South America » Argentina » Río Negro » San Carlos de Bariloche

A 6m wide tree
Photos don't do the size of this tree justice. It was amongst the forest we saw on our boat trip.

This could be a long entry, since we spent 7 nights in Barriloche, which is longer than most of our stays.... After our fabulous time in El Bolson, we were ready for some more Lakes District fun in Bariloche, even though my cold was showing no signs of abating. We arrived at the hostel we had booked and were told that they had double-booked our room.... but they would pay for our taxi to another hostel that was brand-new. We arrived at the other hostel very impressed - it was brand-new and had excellent facilities and a really great kitchen. Unfortunately [View Full Entry]

TravelBlog » Stipey and Jacq

Stipey and Jacq | Peter Stonestreet & Jacqueline Mascini | Travel Blog

Stipey and Jacq - Peter Stonestreet & Jacqueline Mascini

Blogs & Travel Journals

Germs in Sucre

Caimans, More Toucans, Anteaters, Capybaras...... and Donkeys?

Snorkelling and Abseiling.. in the Dark!

The Craziest Party Imaginable - RDJ on New Year's Eve

Waterfalls, Toucans, Christmas and more..

The Most Gorgeous Town I Have Ever Seen!

BA - Food, Wine and Shopping

A Pilgrimage to Wine Country

Pucón - Geologists' Dream?

Sick of everything in Barriloche