http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/TravellingBird/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from TravellingBird en-us Sat, 12 Dec 2009 07:31:19 +0000 Sat, 12 Dec 2009 07:31:19 +0000 Ok this is a tad overdue two months to be exact but never let it be said that I don't finish things once I start them...so here goes the last ever entryWell it's all over now. The final journey has been completed and the year has ended although it did seem like someone somewhere was trying their very best to ensure that we would never get back to Dublin. Airports how they melt your s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Dublin/Dublin/blog-280705.html Booking tours is never a pleasant experience. Even booking a one day tour is a pain in the arse. So imagine trying to book the most important tour of your trip so far where you are basically trusting a complete stranger to take you into the wilderness of the Andean mountains for four days yeah imagine booking THAT tour on your own after you've slightly overstayed your welcome in an Irish pub http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Lares-Trek/blog-276987.html So here we are Peru. Last stop. Final Frontier. The end of an era. The closing chapter.....should I go onIt was a strange moment walking across our last border into Peru which inicidentially is incredibly civilised compared to Bolivia. We stayed one night in a town called Puno on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. Its was a surprisingly pleasant little town not that we saw that much of it http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Arequipa/blog-274558.html After two nights in our subzero hotel in Uyuni we braved the horrific conditions of a nightbus and headed towards Bolivias capital La Paz. The nightbus was utterly disgusting completely cramped and claustrophobic it stank of urine and the blankets provided were like a science experiment of filth. That said my main concern and Sibs was that it would be cold and it really wasn't all that http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Lake-Titicaca/blog-273293.html Table service is not the swiftest in Bolivia. And our time management skills probably leave a little to be desired....as a result we were a whole 45 minutes late for the beginning of our jeep tour of the Salt Flats. After a lot of debate we had decided to book a tour for just the three of us heading off on Monday morning. Many people go in groups of up to six which means they all have to squeez http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-271239.html As soon as we crossed the border into Bolivia it was immediately obvious that we had entered a different country. Gone are the European influences of Argentina the roads are dustier the people's faces are broader and darker and everywhere there is evidence that things are much much poorer here. We got off our night bus in the freezing morning air in the border town of La Quaica without much c http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Tupiza/blog-270034.html Little did we know the trek that awaited us when we got off the plane at Puerto Iguazu. Out we trotted and headed towards the nearest taxi but when I gave the driver the address of our hostel he said something about the road being closed and that he could only bring us so far and we would then have to walk 50 metres. Hmmmmmm a tad ominous but we didn't really have much choice so we hopped i http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Salta/Salta/blog-267757.html God Bless you Buenos Aires. We needed somewhere to prove that everyone had not been lying about South America and BA has delivered and then some. What a city. In many ways it reminds me of New York but with a crazy Latin American flare. Stunning architecture beautiful parks great restaurants crazy nightlife gorgeous boutiques fabulous markets....and all this at a bargain basement price O http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-266149.html There is something extremely unnatural about leaving somewhere at 5pm on a Wednesday flying for eleven and a half hours getting a dodgy taxi driven by a 90 year old man and somehow managing to arrive at your final destination a few hours earlier on that same Wednesday. As a result we were all a little jet lagged for our first few days in South America and our body clocks were not helped by t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Cordoba/Cordoba/blog-264790.html Well lord above its nearly time to go to another continent. I dont think I ever thought wed get to this stage Asia Australia Fiji New Zealand ALL finito. Its a bit overwhelming really. Were in Auckland our final destination in this fantastic country and our flight to Santiago is this afternoon. Madness lads madness altogether. There is nothing nice to say about Auckland although I di http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/blog-261695.html With only a few days left in New Zealand we had to make the most of our time so we took a VERY scenic route to Rotorua in order to visit the glow worm caves in Waitomo on the way. The caves were about a two or three hour drive from Taupo and it was at least that long again on to Rotorua. But they were well worth it. The Waitomo region is home to an incredible network of caves the ones we visite http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-260798.html One tiny plane. Three irish chicks. 15000 feet in the air. And three Australian gentlemen who claim to know how the hell we got here. Hmmmmmmm.......quite an afternoon. But before that we had to get the Lake Taupo sky diving capital of the world so surely THE place to do it. If you're ever going to do it we took a bit of a scenic route from Wellington taking in the art deco town of Napier http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Taupo/blog-259785.html I take it back. YHA hostels are fantastic. At least this one in Wellington is. It's what all good hostels should aspire to be. There are endless lounge areas with more couches than Harvey Norman could shake a stick at two huge spotless kitchens giant mugs from which to drink my coffee MM machines everywhere a tv room with the comfiest sofa from where I just watched Dr Phil and Oprah and a ra http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Wellington/blog-259484.html Time for a challenge anyone From Queenstown we headed for Wanaka a small town about two hours north along a series of ridiculously windy roads did I mention we were out late the night before. It's a cute enough place surrounding surprisingly Lake Wanaka and among its attractions is Puzzling World a quirky place for those fond of getting lost. The main draw is a large maze when adults a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Fox-Glacier/blog-258795.html As soon as we left Omarama we seemed to enter Wild West country dry mountains of reds and burnt browns all that was missing was a tumbleweed or two. You get to take in sooooooo much scenery simply driving through New Zealand it's amazing. Things got a lot greener as we approached wonderful lovely beautiful Queenstown. I love this town It looks like the most perfect little alpine resort that http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-256533.html Christchurch eh Christchurch is interesting in so far as it's not interesting at all. One would expect New Zealand's second biggest city to have some sort of pazzaz or life to it but turns out it doesn't. We arrived several hours later than planned thanks to delays at the airport to our hostel at around midnight feeling a little dazed and confused. Our taximan from the airport had helpfully http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Lake-Tekapo/blog-254596.html Since I last updated the blog a lot has happened. After all our visitors left us sniff sniff at the end of January we started the job hunt to keep ourselves fed for the last stretch in Melbourne. But then Claud got a phonecall to go home as her dad had had a heartattack. She got to spend two days with him before he passed away on January 26th. Thankfully Claud is back with us now in fanta http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Mamanuca-Islands/Malolo-Island/blog-253932.html Ahhhhh on the road again if even for a few days I was determined to do some good stuff with the girls in the greater Melbourne area while they were here so a day after we got back from Sydney I had arranged for us to hire a car and set off down the Great Ocean Road. Now obviously I have driven in Australia before but driving in Melbourne presents a whole new list of problems due to the f http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/Brunswick/blog-237843.html The first thing to say is my mother didn't disappoint. Well she never does does she The pressure was on for Mags Meade to pull out all the stops in a foreign country and with alien kitchen utensils and produce a feast of a dinner on Christmas Day. And a feast it was The celebrations started about 24 hours earlier when Sabrina's boyfriend Paul arrived no flight delays thank lord on Christmas http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/Carlton-North/blog-232735.html Jaysus lads it's been a while hasn't it Apologies apologies BUT in my defence this is a TRAVEL blog and we haven't actually been travelling at all for the last two months..... An alibi of sorts surely Anyway I'm back and a lot has happened since my last entry. Mainly we've been living the the second best city in the world.....Melbourne baby And I LOVE IT. We all do and it has been http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/Carlton-North/blog-218021.html