http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/laurenn6c/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from laurenn6c en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:22:26 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:22:26 BST GREAT BARRIER REEFWe got up early for our Great Barrier Reef trip and went to the harbour where we boarded a smallish boat with a fair few other people to set sail. The range of boats that you can choose from range from the most luxurious and expensive to the fairly cheap. Of course we took the cheap option but the quality of the boat and swimwear was still great and we also had a buffet lunch in http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/blog-269275.html Cairns definitely felt more like Australia we could feel the humidity as soon as we stepped off the plane and although it seemed a little overcast it was very warm which made us cheerful. We called our hostel who organised to come and pick us up. The hostel was named Calypso and was really great fun with a large pool and great buffet that was cheap for guests every night. One of Shane's friends w http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cape-Tribulation/blog-268834.html MELBOURNEArriving in to Australia was really exciting and Shane and I couldn't believe that we had come this far already. We arrived at our hostel in Melbourne early that morning and the minute we stepped off the bus it started raining which was definitely not what we had pictured. Never the less I was happy to get to the hostel as we were meeting Sean who I used to work with there. We threw c http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/blog-268578.html NORTH ISLANDAUCKLANDShane and I arrived in to New Zealand and found stepping out of the airport really bizarre. When trying to find the cheapest minivan to drop us at our hostel we discovered that we no longer had to play charades and driving to the hostel we passed lots of American and English chainrestaurants. Arriving in the centre of Auckland you could almost mistake the highstreet for an http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/blog-256535.html After all of our little unexpected stopoffs we finally arrived at Peru's main attraction Cusco where many people trek the Inca trail up to Machu Picchu. Unfortunately the Inca trail was closed whilst we were there they close it for the month of February so that they can clean it. Still we had the most manic of weeks as we realised that we had less time than we originally thought due to all the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/blog-247400.html A year ago and we would have been staying in the city of Pisco as this USED to be the second most visited city in Peru after Cusco. However we were advised by a local taxi driver to stay in Paracus a small fishing village half an hour away from the city because on August the 17th in the previous year a devastating earthquake had hit Pisco. The earthquake was 8.1 on the richter scale and still 6 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/blog-247389.html Peru was very manic and as we arrived into the airport we were continously warned that we must check that our taxis are real taxis etc. We left the airport and took a ride with a taxi company through one of their reps and headed to Loki our hostel. We saw a lot of poverty on our way the streets seemed full of beggers and the buildings in a bad condition. The driving was some of the worst we have http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/blog-245626.html Rosario was similar to Buenos Aires though not quite as nice it seemed extremely civil. Our hostel was decent and we moved into a room with two extremely beautiful guys from Holland that we had met on the bus so it seemed we couldnt go far wrong. We all decided to go for a walk around the place and discovered many student streets filled with cheap cafes restaurants and clothes shops which suit http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-242860.html fAGD http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-241543.html I wasn't sure what to expect leaving Brazil and heading to Argentina but I was extremely conscious of the fact that any beach was miles away from Buenos Aires. We checked into our hostel and bought a hostel international card to get money of this hostel and others belonging to the association. We then found that ironically our dorm was full of Brazilians. The hostel was quite nice as it was cen http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-240083.html We decided to take a bus journey from Buenos Aires to the Argentinian side of Iguaza falls in order to save some much needed money. The bus was supposed to take 16 hours however it took a little longer due to the bus breaking down a few times a long the way lovely Two English guys Matt and Tom that we had met in Buenos Aires travelled with us though they couldn't stay in our hostel as it was http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Misiones/Puerto-Iguaz-/blog-240081.html Shane and I returned to our old hostel in Ipanema after spending one night in Botafoga and disliking the area. It was great to go back and see some familiar faces and its definitely been our favourite hostel so far. A couple of days were spent chilling out on the beach with some fellow hosteleers and we decided we had to see Sugarloaf before we left and so hopped on a bus or two and went on our w http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-238024.html Shane and I had heard nothing about Ilha Grande until we got to Ipanema and heard locals and the people of the hostels speaking about how beautiful it was. Ilha Grande is an Island just off the coast of Brazil and Shane and I thought it was one not to be missed. We booked three nights in a hostel and headed to the port. There were only two ferry crossings but locals often negotiate with the fisher http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/blog-235533.html Well where to start.....Firstly Brazilian food I would say the speciality is meat meat and more meat it is ridiculous and fortunately ridiculously good. Every restaurant sells steak and if you order it the amount you get would cost a fortune if the same was ordered in England. It is all served medium rare perfect One night Shane and I ventured to a meat restaurant in Copacabana it was a b http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-235531.html Visiting the favelas was a truely unforgettable experience and is something I wish that everybody could do within their lifetimes. We did an organised tour with a group called bealocal.com they work with the favela community and a lot of the money we gave to do the trip is put towards helping the education system in the favelas. We visited Rocinha the biggest favela within Rio though there are http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-234152.html Our new hostel is much better then Newtons rooftop. We share a room with ten other people which takes abit of getting used to but it is much cleaner and the people are really friendly and chilled out. We are told the best way forward is to go out at about midnight when it is cooler a lot of people went to samba last night but Shane and I gave it a miss because of our budget well probably give http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-233132.html Wow what a few days....On New years eve Shane and I met with Newton out hostel owner and a few other guests in our hostel for drinks before heading down to the beach for new year to watch the famous firework display. He gave us each a Caipirinha which is a famous Brazilian cocktail made with rum lime and sugar. It was extremely refreshing. Then we headed down to the beach with what seemed lik http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-232677.html One little idea that me and Shane pondered over at the age of about 15.... to travel the world and though this idea probably came about when we were bored in maths class or something similar here we are some 9 years later on the first day of our adventure. Boarding the plane last night shane started being a drama queen something both of us can be guilty of at times. He told the cabin crew that http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Copacabana/blog-231784.html