15th May 2009 We began touring New Zealand the way it is meant to be seen today, after picking up the campervan. Equipped with a fan heater and a bed, we left Auckland for the Bay of Islands. Elaine, a little unsure of the roads, navigated, whilst Alex took the wheel. It took us around 4 hours to get there and after finding a campsite for the night and stocking up on food, the day was pretty much over, leaving us to enjoy our first nights camping. 16th May 2009 What better way to start a visit to a country than learning its history? So today we explored the Meeting House where the agreement between the Maori People and the British Government was signed. The Meeting House was beautifully carved with intricately designed figures on the ... read more

6th May 2009 After such a long journey, what can we say? Yes, we slept yet again! Having recovered, we bought ourselves some cheap Chilean wine to go with our meal. After two bottles it seemed a good idea to play drunken chess! 7th May 2009 Before the next leg of our journey we had the usual stuff to sort out so another day wasted in the capital doing what needed to be done. This included searching for a pair of knickers for Elaine (yes we haddn't done any laundry for a while!), how can they be so expensive in a South American country?? 8th May 2009 Finally we got round to seeing the city. We decided to go to the Metropolitan Park which is built on top of a huge hill. Taking the funicular to ... read more

29th April 2009 After another 12 hour journey, with no food we arrived in Tacna, hungry and with no where to stay. Once we found somewhere a rest was in order so we slept, waking up only for food and drink. Going out for dinner that night we realised that we hadn't missed much, Tacna is definately a border town and nothing else. The Italian food we had was nice though. 30th April 2009 Today it was time for a new country. So we crossed the border in a novel way via train, these are very rare in South America and as such it wasn't exactly the orient express. Even so it was a great way to cross and a lot less hassle than getting a taxi (the only other option)! As an extra special treat ... read more

22nd April 2009 - 25th April 2009 Now some of you may laugh at the idea that travelling can be tiring, but it honestly is. Feeling worn out we decided to head to Arequipa's top holiday destination (to be fair you can't really say you've experienced a country without mixing it with the locals). We headed to the coast with the intention of doing nothing and that is exactly what we did. It was ace. We stayed in a hotel that cost the same as some of the hostels we had stayed at, although the bathroom stunk of egg (Alex got the blame but it honestly wasn't him!!!). The beach was nice and right on the pacific ocean. A note to anyone wanting to visit Mollendo doesn't do sandwiches or any snacks for that matter ... read more

12th April 2009 After the luxury of the tour hotels it was back to hostels for us! We spent some time in the morning finding and moving our stuff into a hostel, fortunately finding one just around the corner from the hotel. As we were moving on the next day it was then into the centre to buy our bus tickets, but lunch first! Next stop Arequipa. Back in the nicer part of Lima (Miraflores) we decided to go to the beach. As it was Easter Sunday it was pretty busy giving a good atmosphere. We managed to snap a few photos of a kissing couple, don't worry we weren't perving it was just a statue. Sipping our raspberry ice drink we watch the sun go down in spectacular style! (see photos) 13th April 2009 17 ... read more