‘Ola’ I said at last entry. How uninitiated I was to Espanol, it has been a quick lesson on communicating outside of ‘one room for the night please’, and as they say sink or swim is the style. I’ve been keeping it monosyllabylic, easy option, but these incomplete sentences have only got me so far with many non-English speaking locals – case in point getting lost (this is normal, and even told today it was dangerous in Centro region at 6am this morning rising for an early bus when Santiago’ites dragging their discoteque/ salsa weary feet home in drunken states and feeling a little scared even with alarm on me)…..…I always thought open questions encouraged conversation, right? NOW I know how to say I’m lost, forgive me, please wait for me, I’ve been robbed, and am ... read more

What a lot there is to see up here. I am settled for now and have made several jaunts around the region. The winter here was not that cool evidently so upon arriving no-one seemed to be swimming and everyone wore long sleeves and at times jackets. Come on, have you not had experience of cold before? This blog is deliberately neutral from now on. There are some weirdos out there that try to penetrate information about us naive folk such as trying to launder money, steal money or hassle and molest us violently at night (recently a German backpacker was volnetly assualted very very close by to the city area)..... But I shall not bow to paranoia and not ever blog again. There are in contrast plenty of good friendly people up here and perhaps ... read more

After torrential rains of the big WET, the past month has brought settled weather in the northern tropics. So an opportune time to see waterfalls, mountains and brilliant sunsets. First, Paluma - about 70km north of Townsville and a gem in it's own right. Recently it's claim to fame was housing a loca murderer - not the reason for my visit having had my own weirdo stalker before. Being 1000m high, it was cool and crisp, something I enjoyed. In the hire car, I winded my way up the switchback road until hitting the village - a long 17km or so. Managed two short walks in 'tropical' rainforest and swam at Little Crystal Creek, refreshing. Awakened me for ride home to dodgy Townsville hostel, where I slept in skin-irritated glory thanks to no air con and ... read more

The trip home for Easter was a welcome relief from the humdity of Northern Queensland, and with so much anticipation, a most wonderful reunion with family and my ‘old’ home. The flight taking 9 hours all up made me realise the distance factor, and brought to the fore a lot of thinking about where my future lies. Still, Auckland on a good day is enough to forget the woes of seeking full time employment in the healthcare ‘crisis’ days of now. I got to enjoy many things for the week, amongst them..… • Home cooked meals and hospitaility only parents can shower on you • Swimming at Takapuna beach, free of crocodiles and jellyfish • Watching kite surfers on Browns Bay beach busting some moves (and maybe some flesh!) • Surfing at hot water beach, Coromandel ... read more

Since I last blogged, Australia Day occurred, we had HEAPS of rain and humidity off the scale (still is!), and I am on the verge of being appointed permanent in my role…. January saw the departure of a few good nurse colleagues I had become matey with, and now I am also on the verge of being part ‘of the furniture’. Not one to let grass grow too long before the next travel planning, and after a month of going stale but absolutely riveted with studying numerous travel guides to South America and Antarctica, the local travel bug came alive!! If only in the form of a visit to Townsville for professional development and to scale the heady heights of Castle Hill early morning along with every other hot sweaty body in the large military based ... read more