New Zealand, Fiji, America and Ecuador...

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Hello everyone,

I must appologise that I have been seriously slack in writing anything as of late. However, I have been writing lots in my travel journal (Thank you Fran) and buying lots of little souvenirs to bring back from my travels. I wanted to bring something back for everyone, alas, there is not enough room in my ever shrinking backpack and I find it very difficult to throw anything away!

Anyway so since my last blog I have been to Australia which in a word was expensive!! Although Sophie and I intended on staying for 7 weeks we had to leave after 4 as we ran out of money and everything we wanted to do cost lots of money. We did visit the worlds largest sand island - Fraser Island and that was amazing, lots of horse flies and very hot camping with dingoes stealing our food but it was 3 days of 4x4 driving across water and sand and seeing some beautiful lakes, rivers and mountains! The day after my 22nd birthday which we spent in Sydney and had a great time, we left to go to New Zealand and stay with some friends of ours in Christchurch. This was great as it was so nice to be back in a house with proper home cooked meals and a decent washing machine! The now 4 of us then left for a 5 day road trip around the South Island of NZ and went to many places of great interest. We saw the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers and climbed up to them as well as me doing a bungee jump from the first ever bungee site from 45 metres off a bridge!! This was absolutly terrifying but I am so glad I faced my fear and now I never have to do it again!!! We also visited the Wine region, Marlborough and drank lots of free and lovely wine on a bike tour that we did and then we flew up to Aukland where our 10 days in the North Island began!

In the North Island, one of the best things we did was to visit Matamata, and lord of the rings fan´s dream where we got to visit "The Shire" in Hobbiton and learn a lot about the making of the brilliant, world famous films! We also went to New Plymouth to see my friend Ginny from work and she took us on a tour around there and then back to Aukland via Hamilton where we watched a rugby match and Roturua where we visited the hot springs!!

Then we flew off to Fiji to spend 12 days in the sun and thank god this is where I got most of my now golden tan!! Other than lying on the beach all day we took part in many fijian traditions as well as making my own hat and basket out of palm leaves and cocunut jewlery, kayaking, drinking their own drink called Kava, medicine walks and many other things! We also took a boat with a friend of ours to the Castaway island where the Tom Hanks movie was filmed, and it really is a beautiful quiet island!!!

After Fiji we had a brief but exciting 2 days in Las Vegas where we bet money and drank too much but it really was a great way to end the trip for Sophie. That is where our fantastic 4 month travelling extraordinaire and my lonely escape Into the wild begins!!

My trip alone began is Los Angeles, a great place to travel alone as there are so many tourists and so much to see and do! I stayed at the USA hostels on Hollywood Boulevard as I had stayed here before 3 years agom and knew it was a great place to stay. I stayed here for 10 days and made so many friends and met so many brilliant and extrordinary people all out to have adventures in the big wide world. I did all the touristy things again as well as going to a party the world famous UCLA and seeing the brilliant Ghetty Museum. I must admit, after such a fantastic 10 days I really think I could have stayed there for a very long time and worked in the hostel. Maybe something to consider in the near future!...

The on the 5th of April I left Los Angelese at 4:30am and flew to Quito, Ecuador via Miami (horrible flight, on my own too!). In Quito I was very lucky to meet a tour guide who worked in my Hostel and took me out and showed me round all of the tourist sites in Quitos wonderful "Old Town". I saw churches and statues and museums and walked around seeing all the culture of how one of Ecuadors main cities function. Then on the morning of the 9th I left Quito and took my 5 hour bus to Puyo to Yana Cocha the Rainforest Animal Rehabilitation Centre. At the centre we work to make the animals there live a better and safer life. We have many monkeys, crocodiles, Capybaras, possums, birds and parrots as well as Ocelots and Margays and lots of wild frogs, lizards and bugs!! Although I live in a tree without any mirrors, hot water and a lot of rain I am having such a great time and really feel like I am making a difference with the animals and the way that the ecosytem is maintained and looked after. It is a hard day work often beginning at 6am and not finishing till late in the evening but we get breaks often and a bit of hard work wont kill me after all my travelling!!

Right now I am in Banos a city near to Puyo where we have come to for the weekend to take part in adreniline sports such as paragliding, canyoning and bungee jumping as well as trying to have a few hours to relax before we return to the working week! This first week has flown by and now I only have 3 weeks left before I leave to go to New York for 3 days and then I will be home!!! Not sure whether Im really excited or really scared to be returning to civilisation back in England, I think I may miss the travelling lifestyle a lot as I think I have the (as they say) travel bug and dont think it will be long before I go off on some more adventures round the world. There is so many more countries I want to see and such little time!!!

This will probably be my last blog of this trip and again I apologise for only writing a few with limited detail, but to all of my family and friends reading, I will be home soon so break out the Pimms and I will tell you all about it in 24 days!!! Missing you all (and the cat) very very much. And with love from South America

Hasta Luego, Cuidate - Sarah x

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