Day 147: Sunday 23rd November - Wet Waitangi On arrival back in Auckland at 4.45am I have a surprisingly easy time through immigration this time. No questions, just straight through. Customs want to clean my boots though as I have a few grains of grit stuck in my boots......talk about being strict. Finally at about 6am I get through another ordeal at Auckland airport, and catch the shuttle bus to the centre of Auckland. I return to the hostel I was in a week ago to drop off my bag and catch up on a few e-mails ahead of my bus north to Paihai at 8.30am. I had hoped I would have an e-mail from Kiwi Experience saying that I could catch their bus back from Paihia (a service I've already paid for) but no such ... read more

Day 138: Friday 14th November - Riding on Pakiri Beach I'm glad to be heading out of Auckland. I'm probably being unfair on the city but it feels a bit ordinary after South America. I think its the fact that its too alike the UK which has me disappointed. At least travelling around has got about 10 times easier, but perhaps thats the fun with South America?? Today I'm heading an hour north of Auckland to Pakiri beach to do some horse riding. If you travel to New Zealand I think its all about the scenery and not for the cities at all, and this will be the first experience of the beauty of the country and I'm looking forward to it. In fairness to Auckland I could imagine working and living here its just that ... read more

Day 130: Thursday 6th November - The best atmsphere at a football match I've ever experienced Arrive in sweltering BA at 2pm. After a month in the cold of Patagonia this weather is going to take some getting used to. It must be 30 degrees at least. Get the underground from the bus station to San Telmo, the area of Buenos Aires (BA) I'm staying in. Have a result when I check in to the hostel. They are selling tickets for Boca Juniors (BA's most famous team) against the Brazilian side Internacional in the Copa Liberatadores (the South American equivalent of the Champions League) tonight. I'm well up for this. I had looked into the fixtures when I was in Puerto Madryn yesterday morning for the weekend and they weren't any games which jumped out as ... read more

Day 124: Friday 31st October - Arriving at the End of the World Spend the morning waiting around the hostel for my flight to Ushuaia. The boys have decided against going to El Chalten on account of the weather, so everyone is hanging around the hostel. Get a mild shock when I'm told that my transfer has arrived, with me far from ready and sorting a few things out on the internet. False alarm, its for someone else, and I have 45 minutes until my transfer arrives. Say my goodbyes to Luke & Arturo. They've been good craic for the 10 days or so we've travelled together, and its a shame to depart, but Luke will be heading back to BA in 2 days, and I may see Arturo in Ushuaia if he sticks to his ... read more

Day 118: Saturday 25th October - Day 1 of the 'W' (The Torres) Its an early start today to get to Torres Del Paine national park, a two hour bus ride from Puerto Natales. We leave Puerto Natales at 7.30am, arriving at the park at around 10am. On the journey we bump into old friends. First, a few stops after we get on, Oscar gets on. He's left Tasha behind in the hotel and is going to do a day hike to the towers. Then when we stop at a cafe halfway into the journey we meet Marika & France, who are on a day tour of the park. Its like an unplanned reunion of the Navimag posse as the six of us pose for photos together. On the final section of the journey, we are ... read more