http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/lucasmacad/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from lucasmacad en-us Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:36:22 +0000 Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:36:22 +0000 For the second time on our trip we found ourselves in Colonia this time Colonia del Sacramento an attractive old colonial town on the River Plate just 55km from BA. After finding a lovely place to stay Posada del Angel we stumbled upon a big parade of schoolkids all dressed up to represent different countries and cultures. We worked out it was for the Dia de la Primavera a sort of May Day http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/West/Colonia-del-Sacramento/blog-91532.html A mate from home upon hearing that we'd be travelling to the area insisted we visit the town of Fray Bentos and send a postcard. I hadn't even realised there was a town to back up the history of meat products and pies in tins we're all familiar with from growing up so we thought why notThe main really only attraction of the town is the dilapidated old meat processing plant now open to t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/West/Fray-Bentos/blog-91530.html Originally our plan had been to travel from Cordoba to Iguazu Falls and then back to Buenos Aires via a few days in Uruguay. A small matter water shortages leaving the falls running at 50 capacity meant the thought of a 20 hour bus ride in a semicama ie. airline economy class seat was less than appealing hence the decision to spend up to a week in Uruguay instead. Despite having to sort of d http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/North/Termas-del-Dayman/blog-91524.html So another overnight 17hr bus journey and another country...Uruguay the capital Montevideo to be exact. We landed midmorning and arranged some accommodation via the tourist office in the Tres Cruces bus station which should you ever land there is a pretty cool bus terminal with its own shopping centre upstairs. The only bad thing is that it's a few km walk from the centre of town and thus n http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/District-of-Montevideo/Montevideo/blog-91523.html From Easter Island a mere 4.5 hour flight night in Santiago 7 hour bus to Mendoza and a 9 hour overnight bus brought us to Cordoba the second city of Argentina. That's a lot of DVT potential Luckily to take our mind of that the scenery crossings the Andres was stunning alhough it was a tad weird to have skilifts passing overheard. To pass the hours once we crossed the border we were seren http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Cordoba/blog-88838.html How do you make a holiday encompassing many things you've always wanted to do yet never expected to do even better... Do another onePersuaded by the author of the Footprints Chile book that we really shouldn't miss out on it and that a good offer could be found at Lan Chile we decided to go for it and head back across 4000km of Pacific Ocean to Easter Island Isla de Pascua as the Chileans kn http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Easter-Island/blog-87706.html In a narrow country there are only two directions to chose from north or south. Since it's still snow covered in the lake district and beyond north seemed like the sensible choice so off we went to La Serena 7 hours north of Valparaiso. At least on a 7 hour bus trip you get to see some great scenery unlike flying so the trip passed reasonably quickly. Chilean buses are mercifully closer to http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Coquimbo-Region/Pisco-Elqui/blog-86574.html Chile is an exceedingly long country apparently the same distance from top to bottom as Scotland to Nigeria thanks Barney so before facing the long bus journeys again we decided to ease ourselves into it with a short skip over to Valparaiso. The city used to be a major port used by European and American ships on the route from Cape Horn to California during the gold rush but went out of favo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-86573.html We're back...to South America anyway. Our crazy roundtheworld dash has landed us back here for 5 more glorious weeks of seeing everything we'd missed the first time that's kind of the plan anyway.So to Chile.Santiago is another city with a reputation...for smog. The city is situated in a lovely spot on the foothills of the Andes surrounded by mountains. The downside of this is that the ar http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-85258.html We were warned...Auckland in Winter is wet cold.Thankfully we would only stay there for 3 daysAll of the above is true but the short stay did give us enough of a taster of the place to convince us both that we should come back another warmer time.Though we were staying in a nice quiet hostel outside the centre Brown Kiwi we spent the first night crashing at an old work colleague's hous http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/Ponsonby/blog-84427.html Our trip to Sydney was a very short one perhaps made shorter yet by the fact that in the first evening we'd done seen everything we'd planned to dinner drinks with an old mate of mine in a bar by the Opera House looking out on sunset on the Harbour Bridge and Circular Quay.All very nice great photos but what to do thenWe opted for a quick jaunt out to the famous Manley Beach on a local f http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-83363.html Like many other places we've ended up this year Tasmania was never on our original itinerary. However after spending several weeks in Bolivia and Peru with a couple from there we decided it'd be silly not to pop over for a few days since we were in Melbourne anyway only an hour away. Arriving midweek our friends met us at the airport and dropped us off at Cataract Gorge giving us the chance http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Freycinet/blog-83350.html We'd heard a lot from various people we know about Melbourne being a great place to live in a working city or a place you either love or hate so we had high hopes for our visit.We were going to stay with some friends from London who'd recently moved out there so thankfully no hostelsFirst impressions were good the city has a quite comfortable feel to it for someone from Ireland or Brita http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-82960.html From Cairns a short hop flight brought us down to Brisbane to visit friends and meet their four month old baby for the first time. Luckily she seemed to take to us both well so the next few days passed in a relaxed manner helping entertain her and admiring her amazing ability to sleep 12 hours at night. The easiest babysitting assignment ever Having visited Brisbane last year we'd already ti http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/blog-82305.html Diving Laura's experienceI love swimming I love snorkelling so it seemed logical to assume I'd take to scuba diving like the proverbial fish to water. Signing up for a 5 day PADI course was the main reason we went to Cairns in the first place although we had to wait several days to get spaces on the ProDive course we wanted. Having both passed the medicals although with reservations from th http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Great-Barrier-Reef/blog-82260.html From Berlin to London for 24 hours. A brief chance to catch up with friends old and new over a few beers and curry then onwards but not before we had time to be completely freaked out by the high prices of everything from fresh produce to transport. And that was just in comparison with Germany not S America. Not sure how we're going to react to coming home later in the year. Another 24 hours la http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-78625.html Deutsche Bahn the German railway had served us pretty well for the previous 2 weeks or so clean fast trains speeding us across the country in relative luxury. Until the final big journey to Berlin...The train from Goslar to Braunschweig was fine enough a slightly grotty local train but only an hour's journey. Then the heavens opened on the platform in Braunschweig just as we learned that http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-80208.html I hadn't been back to Goslar since 1996 when I finished my summer job there as a student at a local recycling firm so our decision to head back there for a quick overnight stay had me wondering whether the place would still be the sleepy little town in the Harz mountains that I remembered.We arrived at the station fairly early in the day following our journey from Koeln and were pretty knackered http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Lower-Saxony/Goslar/blog-80205.html After a short but relaxing visit to see friends and their toddler in the wine growing region south of Frankfurt it was time to visit some parts of Germany which Luke knew but which were new to me. For obvious war related reasons there aren't many historical sites left in Koeln apart from the cathedral. However it's impressive enough to make up for it with vast towering spires and immense sta http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/North-Rhine-Westphalia/Cologne/blog-78613.html Twenty years ago on my first visit to Germany with my parents we stopped in Wuerzburg and discovered by sheer coincidence that it was the twin town of Dundee 15 miles from my home town. OK so it's got several twin towns which seems a tad greedy but Dundee's the one that counts for me. Several school exchange and student visits followed leaving me with a soft spot for the city. When the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/W-rzburg/blog-78610.html