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The next stop is Cusco which is the capital of the old Inca empire. We love our first impressions of it as we drive through the Plaza des Armas (main square). We are somewhat in a rush as England are playing Sweden and we are trying to catch the final fifteen minutes. It’s a bit of a pain, therefore, that our minibus is too large to travel up the narrow road to our hotel, so we have to huff, puff and sweat our way up what seems at least a mile. The altitude of Cusco is 3,600m meaning that the air is quite thin, so it’s a good place to acclimatize before the Inca Trail. On the way up we hear shouts and cheers, and find out when we get to the hotel that some of ... read more

We rise early as our minibus to the Bolivian border departs at 8am. On the minibus, we meet Ian and Clare who will be our travelling companions for the next three days. The minibus makes the short journey to the Chilean border, where our passports are stamped and we are allowed to continue without any hassle. The minibus continues onwards towards Bolivian immigration. Once through this, and having paid the small fee to enter the country, we are taken to a building and given breakfast, which is the usual fare of bread, jam and tea. Fortunately there is hot water with the option of milk, rather than just a cup of hot milk and a teabag, which is customary. After breakfast, our minibus driver points out a red Toyota Landcruiser that he says is ours for ... read more

We arrive in Santiago, Chile five hours before we set off due to crossing the international date line not long after leaving New Zealand´s shores. It is a surprisingly easy long-haul flight. Santiago is the capital of Chile and is home to 5.5m of the country´s 16.5m population. At the airport we are decended upon with great gusto by seemingly half of said population, all of whom wish to offer us a taxi ride and/or accomodation. They mostly have ´Official Taxi¨ certificates which all look completely different which doesn´t help. Having previously had accomodation recommended to us (but not booked), we select one of the friendlier looking drivers and jump aboad a minibus. The driver is lovely and points out to us all of the transport infrastructure, good supermarkets and tourist sites along the route. We ... read more

We arrive at Perth airport in the early hours, and being Yorkshire folk we decide to save the money and hassle of finding and getting to accomodation in the middle of the night by kipping at the airport (Tony is horrified by this when he meets us at Karratha later). We are flying on to Karratha at lunchtime, so it's only a 13 and a half hour wait. This was far more comfortable than it sounds as the airport was practically deserted and I found a very comfortable bed-like sofa where I slept for about eight hours like a baby. Brendan slept for about half an hour and complained like a baby for the other seven and and half. The flight to Karratha 1,000 miles north of Perth interestingly flew via Port Hedland which is 200ks ... read more

First off, many thanks to all of you who have commented on the blog so far or sent us e-mails. It's nice to see that so many of you are enjoying reading it. Keep them coming! We arrive in Yangshuo and are amazed by the local scenery, which is mainly comprised of limestone karsts. These are medium sized hills that spout from the otherwise flat landscape and when in groups resemble mini-mountain ranges. On our brief walk through the town we immediately notice that there is a high proportion of westerners as this is a popular backpacker stop. On first impressions the town looks busy, full of shops, cafes and bars. We check in at the hotel and are surprised to find that bathroom and toilet in our first floor room has been designed a bit ... read more