We left our campsite at 10am the next morning in search of the Rotorua museum. A few quick spins around the town and we eventually found it. When we got to the ticket office we asked the guy behind the counter when the next guided tour was. He replied 11am in the poshest English accent. He would have made the queen sound common. As it was 10:15 we said we would come back before 11:00. We left the building wondering was it a joke and he was put up to it or were there some secret cameras filming us. We returned before 11am but someone new was behind the counter. The next person up was this eccentric old lady who was to be our tour guide. She was very good and friendly but a bit odd. ... read more

Only six months left then! Three months gone and our South American adventure is over in hours rather than days. What an adventure it has been. We have travelled from Rio right down to the southern tip of Argentina, up the western border of Argentina, in to northern Chile to San Pedro de Atacama, across the salt flats of Bolivia and over to La Paz. From there we did a circle of southern Peru before crossing back down into Chile and finishing in Santiago. I don’t know how many km’s we have travelled but its sure to be near or even over 10,000km and most of it by bus. In my first blog I said our opinions and perceptions would change after travelling. They definitely have for South America. When we first thought about going we ... read more

Just some pictures of us sand boarding in Huacchina, Peru that I forgot to put up. It was a s deadly and dangerous as you can imagine.... read more

I didn’t know how to write my blog about Arequipa. You see, nobody that we had met had ever raved about it and no blog’s I had ever read said it anything spectacular about it. The lonely planet describes it as Peru’s nicest city and the only place that I found some evidence of what was in store. Arequipa it appears, is a hidden gem. Although there are lots of gringo’s here, if you had never been here before, the high chances are that you would never heard about it before. How many people have ever heard of it but never been too it? From the moment we arrived we fell for this place. Our taxi took us through the main plaza and I can honestly say I have never seen one so spectacular. All the ... read more

Our border crossing to Peru was as easy as it gets. Off the bus on the Bolivian side get stamped, walk across a bridge to the Peruvian side, get stamped. Back on the bus and away we go. When we got to Puno there was many taxi drivers offering different hostels like we were told. One guy said he’d bring us anywhere for 3 soles (75c). We told him where we were going and he kind of hesitated and said 5 soles. He said ‘you see, up hill’. Everything costs more to go up hill in this part of the world but that’s cause the hills are more mountain like than hills. I don’t think arguing over 50c was really worth it either. Our hostel was nice and clean and the workers very friendly. We were ... read more