It might not seem that far from Melbourne but you will be surprised at how long it can take to get there from Melbourne via Geelong and Sorrento... :-/ [View Full Entry]

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Well, the answer is Melbourne. After farewelling Elizabeth in the gala style we have all become accustomed to, I settled back into life in Tasmania for hmmm... about 2 weeks. Then it was back to New Zealand for ANOTHER fabulous holiday! This time to the west coast and it was absolutely wonderful. Fresh fish every day, a long bike ride (that Lisa enjoyed more than anyone, right Lis?) a absolutely stunning coastline, pancake rocks, greenstone gems and lots and lots more! I'm already planning my next trip :-) Then there was a brief trip to Sydney where I stayed with David [View Full Entry]

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Fuelled by all that wonderful food, we were off to Freycinet National Park. Full of energy and the excitement of people who have no idea what to expect we decided to take on Mount Amos upon arrival (recommended by my lovely sister - I'll deal with you later Lisa). Not so much of a walk but a semi-vertical rock scramble, we made it to the top in under the recommended time. It was all worth it as the views were absolutely spectacular. Surprisingly enough (?) we had it all to ourselves which made it even more special. The walk down was [View Full Entry]

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After a wonderful time in NZ it was time to go home. A mildly traumatic goodbye to Elizabeth in Wellington over many Linhausers was followed by my first flight by myself in two months arriving safely in Launceston to be met by Mum and to be re-aquainted with all the alpacas (they weren't at the airport of course but I'm sure they would have been if they could have been). No time for resting though, I was immediately put to work at the vineyard helping out Dad with out signs and other odd jobs. In my free time I commenced planning [View Full Entry]

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I really, really love this country! Can I stay here? ;-) Just when we thought this trip could not get any better, it did. We have just spent the last three days walking and kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park and it did not disappoint! The walking was amazing and once again, New Zealand put on a lovely show for us with stunning views at every step from the moment we hopped off the boat. Kayaking was equally fun and it sure was nice not to worry about the dry suit! :-) It rained a wee bit today and the "Mad [View Full Entry]

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The Milford Track still fresh in our minds, it was with our hearts feeling a wee bit heavy we left Queenstown. Our feet had recovered (with the help of some marvelous pedicures) and we arrived in Christchurch to visit Lisa and Mikey. Four fabulous days of NZSB, homemade pizzas, salmon, bbqs, lots of love from Basil the cat, walks around the city, shopping and a spirited round of mini-golf (that Lisa won) gave us the "holiday within a holiday" we felt we deserved. Today, Lisa and Mikey drove us to Nelson via a few cafe stops and a wonderful wine tasting [View Full Entry]

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After a vague few hours in Auckland airport where we managed to miss Jackson by only an hour (!!!), lose the Qantas Club and also pass through the same security checkpoint three times, two very jetlagged travellers arrived in wonderful Queenstown. All that was on our minds was staying awake all day, or at least until our Milford briefing at 4pm. What better way to do that than stock up on Starbucks then jump off the top of a mountain with a Swiss man attached to your back? It was a perfect day and a fantastic experience to paraglide peacefully (most [View Full Entry]

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Well we have made it to the land of the long white cloud and heavenly sauvignon blanc. Along with two bottles of pisco sours (it's going to be hard to let go...) and a healthy supply of alfajores (not all for our consumption of course...) I'm not going to talk about how awful LAN Chile is or how we've already managed to get lost looking for the Qantas lounge in this tiny airport... The important thing is we're here and have managed to upload a few photos yay! So feel free to browse the previous entries for some shots of our [View Full Entry]

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Well, apparently where we were yesterday wasn't the highest point in Santiago - although it felt like it at the time. We climbed the mountain with the huge statue of the Virgin today and I'm fairly sure that was it! It wasn't totally intentional but the funicular wasn't going to open until 1pm and there was no Starbucks at the bottom. I had spent the morning travelling to the Australian Embassy and filling in the appropriate forms in order to get my emergency passport sorted. It all went very smoothly and I was back at the hostel hurrying everyone up so [View Full Entry]

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It´s been a fabulous weekend in Santiago. Despite being passportless we were determined to enjoy the weekend. Saturday was spent wandering around the city and climbing the city´s highest point, then promptly falling down it much to the delight of a travelling Kiwi called Mike (could there be another??). Sunday was spent in Valparaiso. A shockingly scary port town where we managed to wander through all the dangerous high crime areas before stumbling across a funicular that took us up the hill and to a nicer place, some fabulous views of the sea and very yummy pisco sours. We managed to [View Full Entry]

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