http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/kiwi-chick/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from kiwi chick en-us Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:40:57 +0000 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:40:57 +0000 Egypt the country that has been on the top of my places to see list since I started writing a list since I was in primary school. Over time the list has changed a bit but Egypt has always held it's top place. To explore Egypt I did a 15 day budget tour with 23 others. The tour started in Cairo with a trip to the Egyptian Museum which has over 100000 relics including the treasures found in http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/blog-392059.html Having been a little idle on the travel blog front I am finally posting a new instalment. Since being to Prague my last post I have moved to London and travelled a bit around England Ireland Scotland Wales and France. While these countries are beautiful and interesting I didn't find the inspiration from these places to write a blog about them. But hoorah I am now inspired and motivated t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/blog-365370.html I arrived into Dublin from New Zealand last Monday after a pretty grueling 34 hour journey resulting in jet lag swollen legs and in need of adjusting to a warmer temperature and the accents. I spent a few days looking around Dublin but I will post an Ireland blog later that will include my other explorations to come. It must seem odd but only after a few days in Dublin Alan and I decided to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Prague/blog-303167.html After leaving South America I spent a week in TahitiFrench Polynesia to relax unwind get a tan and to reflect on my last 11 months of travel. I spent the time on the island of Moorea a gorgeous tropical island with white sand turquoise and emerald coloured waters coconut trees and sun with the only downfall being a lot of mosquitoes.Tahiti is known for being ridiculously expensive but I http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/French-Polynesia/Moorea/blog-278219.html Easter Island is truly a magical place and I hope my photos have managed to capture just some of that. Having read and seen documentaries on Easter Island on the past I have always wanted to go. And luckily for me it's on my way home back to New Zealand so we spent 6 days there. Easter Island is home to the famous Moai and is considered the world's largest open air museum. There are an estimat http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Easter-Island/blog-274603.html Mendoza Argentina Mendoza contains many famous internationally recognised vineyards and wine producers. So what do you do in wine country You take a wine tour. We took an afternoon wine tour to 2 bodegas wineries including the Bodega La Rural Winery and Don Arturo winery and an olive oil facility called Pasrai. The La Rural Winery has a museum which displays machinery carriages presses ant http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/Ischigualasto/blog-270210.html PucnThe big attraction in Pucn is Volcano Villarrica an active volcano which has an active lava lake within its crater. It is one of the most active volcanoes in Chile and has had 82 eruptions recorded. The most tragic and damaging was in December 1971 and the last one was registered in 1984.Guided hikes to the crater are offered from the town of Pucn but can be suspended in periods of incre http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Araucania/Villarrica-Volcano/blog-266813.html Torres del Paine We spent our first adventures in Chile in the Torres Del Paine National Park a park comprising mountains glaciers lakes and rivers. The park Torres del Paine Towers of Paine is named after three sheer granite towers. We spent 3 days trekking in the park and stayed in the hostels there rather than camp in tents and brave the cold. Unfortunately due to the hostels remoten http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Torres-del-Paine/blog-264028.html We flew to El Calafate after Ushuaia a slight detour from our original plans. We had planned to bus it but the bus was full and there wouldn't be another one for 4 days so out came the trusty credit card to pay for flights. El CalafateEl Calafate is a touristy town full of souvenir shops tourist agencies and expensive restaurants and cafes. The main attraction for tourists is the proximity http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/Los-Glaciares-National-Park-/blog-258953.html After Buenos Aires we went to the beach side town of Mar del Plata. On the taxi ride to the bus station in Buenos Aires we encountered fake money for the first time in South America. Damn taxi driver did the swifty on us by giving fake notes as change. Luckily it wasn't much and it is now making a nice souvenir in my journal.Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is one of the major fishing ports and the b http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-256144.html UruguayAfter Brazil we had a flying visit through Uruguay. We started out in Punta del Este a crowded beach resort town. It is very popular as an exclusive resort for wealthy South Americans because of its beaches luxury hotels and restaurants and glittery nightlife. Since this really wasn't for me we headed back up north to Punta del Diablo a small fishing village with a population of o http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-250314.html Pantanal After the fun and excitement of Carnaval parties in Rio I headed into the Pantanal the largest wetland area in the world. Luckily I visited during the rainy season when heavy rain floods the Pantanal and submerges over 80 of the area rising over 3 metres. This makes for an awesome sight and also the land animals are congregated on the small amounts of dry land. The Pantanal is one http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Pantanal/blog-246606.html After leaving Bolivia I headed to the north of Argentina. I had a bit of culture shock returning to a more developed country with paved roads large supermarkets malls clean toilets etc. Started out in the city of Salta where I went river rafting and canopying ziplineflying fox over the river. From there headed to Missiones and visited Jesuit Ruins.Iguazu Falls After Salta I went to Igua http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-241862.html I am at the end of my 2 weeks in Bolivia and wish I had planned more time here. However I have done and seen some amazing stuff.La Paz Spent a few days in the capital of Bolivia La Paz. Explored the city in particular the craft markets and the Witches' market. The Mercado de las Brujas Witches' market sells many interesting wares dried llama foetuses herbal medicines and spells for anyt http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/blog-233413.html Piece of cake Yeah right But I did it I completed the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu It is a 49km 4day challenging trek which ends at Machu Picchu an Inca Ruin which is now one of the 7 modern wonders of the world.My group of 10 was accompanied by 2 guides and 16 porters who carried our tents cooking equipment food and personal gear as well. The porters were amazing carrying up to 25k http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Inca-Trail/blog-231809.html I've just been tripping around some more of Peru Ballestas Islands Huacachina Nasca Arequipa Colca Canyon and I am now back in Cusco again for Christmas. After leaving Cusco over a week ago I flew back to Lima and headed down to the Ballestas Islands straight away. The Ballestas Islands are described as the Poor Man's Galapagos Islands but were still pretty amazing. The islands are full http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Arequipa/blog-230126.html For the last 5 weeks I have been in Cusco. Despite Cusco being very touristy and commercial and for good reason with the range of activities and promixity to Machu Picchu being a bit more expensive and you can't walk down a street without being constantly hounded by restaurants and beauty salons to check out their special price for you today I love this city There are many tiny cobbled str http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/Cusco/blog-222659.html I have just spent 2 weeks traveling through the northern part of Peru. After crossing the EcuadorPeru border I camped on the beach in Punta Sal. Was great fun and we spent the nights toasting marshmallows on a campfire and indulging in fruit punch. I also visited the nearby town of Mancora by the only means of transport available tuk tuks. The drivers of these zoomed down the highway at top spe http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Lima/blog-218512.html I have left Ecuador after spending almost 4 months there and am now in Peru My last days in Ecuador were spent in the Amazon again Banos and Cuenca. I spent 3 days back in the Amazon. The first day we went whitewater rafting down the Rio Jondachi and Rio Hollin which was a lot of fun. I managed to not fall out of the raft so the rafting guide pushed me in after pretending that there was a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/South/Cuenca/blog-215867.html I have just returned back to Ecuador from my 2 week trip to Colombia. Unfortunately I can bring you no exciting stories of drug lords or kidnappings however we did have a great time and enjoyed temperatures over 30C We started our trip in Cartagena a city on the northern coast of Colombia. It is a great city with colonial style architecture 500hundred year old forts and still has intact pa http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Cartagena/blog-212026.html