Iguacu Falls involves around 1.5 million litres of water dropping over an assortment of cliffs that spread for 2kms. In other words its a very wet place. On arrival yesterday Anna and I walked to view the Brazillian side of the falls, right opposite our hotel. The force and noise of the water is something else. Today we took a car to Argentina with a young driver reminiscent of Ayrton Senna. In our view the falls are best from the Argentine side. Looks more viewpoints and closer to the water generally. All the falls are accompanied by butterflies of every variety you could imagine and some wonderful rainbows at times. I needed a shower badly so took a boat under the falls and received a very good dousing. On return to the visitor centre I was ... read more

We enjoyed a half day tour of Santiago yesterday. Interesting sights and an impressive city. From a central viewpoint on the city's tallest hill you can view miles of tall, modern apartment buildings. Not sure if living here would be great though! Long hours and considerable public transport issues despite its excellent Metro (underground) system. Today we visited Aquitania winery in the Maipo valley. A small boutique winery that exports cabernet, camenere and chardonnay products to Europe and the USA. Along with our travelling companions Bronte and Graham (who we met on the ship) we then proceeded to have lunch in a very local cafeteria in an arcade. From the looks we got we don't think they have too many tourists there. In fact Santiago is very much free of tourist effects, eg. no souvenir shops ... read more

We proceeded to the Faulklands Islands after a day´s sailing. These islands were well worth visiting, although most unfortunately Anna was still in poor health so I proceeded by tender boat to the island alone. Stanley is a quaint little English style town. Some say there was four seasons in one day when we were there, but I would suggest more like four shades of Winter - sleet, snow, rain and always wind. Around 4c I think. I visited two war memorials, for the Brits-Argentine conflict (1982) and the little known Brits-German conflict of WWI. The Faulklands are a bleak land but have there own beauty. It´s a very isolated life they lead. I also visited the very interesting Brittania House museum and a colony of magellan penguins at nearby Gypsy Cove. Finished the day with ... read more

After a long flight via Sydney, Auckland and Santiago we arrived in Buenos Aires, only 1 hour late. BA is a very impressive city. We did a half day tour with Monica and four Aussies, and are looking forward to returning here for 6 days at the end of our trip. Interesting architecture and lovely parks. We had steak on Saturday night and it well and truly lived up to its our expectations. We both agreed it was the best we had ever tasted and the Tbones from Coles on return will be pretty ordinary by comparison. We had to have steak two nights in a row. Sunday was a lazy day, transiting to our ship. There´s about 2200 passengers, around 60% yanks we think, but we are flanked by Adelaideans on either side of our ... read more