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Published: November 16th 2004
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Nasca Lines
It's a hummingbird of course Greetings from civilisation (I mean that they speak english). It's been a while since our last update because we've been very buzy or very lazy.
After the Inca Trail we vegged in Cusco for a couple of days doing the touristy sights (museums etc).
We then headed for Nazca to see the Nasca Lines, huge patterns (some over 100m long)carved into the worlds driest desert. The only way to see them properly is by plane. A four seater plane (including the pilot)was our transport and the flight alone was fantastic as the pilot banked steeply first to one side then the other as he pointed out the patterns on the ground.
The afternoon in Nasca was a bit more sedate - we toured a pre-inca cemetary. There were bodies that had been mummified by the dry sand and then dug up by grave robbers and left lying on the surface. It felt a bit odd walking round the graves and seeing bodies still in situ (especially when some of the skin was still visible).
The oasis at Ica with huge sand dunes was our next stop. Here we discovered dune buggies - an open 4 wheel drive
Little Dune Buggy
The most fun you can have on 4 wheels car with a driver intent on testing the seatbelts and suspension as he drove the near-vertical dunes. It was simply superb. To add an extra dimension, at the top of the steepest dunes, sandboards were produced to slide down the dunes head-first on.
We reached the west coast of South America at Paracas, the starting point for trips to the Ballestos Islands. These islands harbour huge penguin and seal colonies and were harvested every 4 years for the highly valuable bird shit (the smell filled the air).
From Paracas it was a short drive to Lima for the end of our tour and the best tasting McDonald's we've ever had!
Next stop was Easter Island, 3,700km from Santiago, 1,700km from the nearest inhabited island, officially the middle of nowhere. We were here to see the moai, the giant statues carved out of stone that were the basis (and ultimate cause of downfall) for the local religion and culture.
The only village on the island, Hanga Roa, was a friendly little place that couldn't have been more relaxed which was just what we needed. We spent our time looking at the moai, admiring the scenery, driving round
Ballestos Islands
It's a hard life on the beach. They've had a lot of problems with it leaking so they had to use lots of seals (boom boom boom) dirt tracks in our 4x4 and walking miles up a volcano in the blistering heat. It was fantastic.
From Easter Island we went to Tahiti where we spent 4 days on the neighbouring island of Moo'rea doing very little - sunbathing on our private beach when the sun was our, sitting in our beachside bungalow when it rained, a lot of snorkelling and feeding the fish. Well Ness fed the fish with part of her finger which she wasn't happy about!
Then to New Zealand and the english speaking world. It only took a day or two to stop using gracias instead of thanks!
Paula was kind enough to put us up in Auckland for a couple of days and give us the guided tours - view points over the city at One Tree Hill and Mount Eden, Viaduct Harbour, ice creams on the beach on the east coast, a gannet colony on the beach on the west coast.
From then we picked up our campervan and we were on our own. It felt a bit strange at first not having someone tell you where to stay and what to do but we soon got used
Easter Island
You are being watched to it.
We headed first for the Bay of Islands (via Goats Eye beach for some good snorkelling and the honey centre for honey ice cream). We went on a boat trip round the bay and saw loads of wild dolphins. The first pod we saw swam and played around and alongside the boat for ages. We couldn't go swimming with them as there were babies in the pod. Later on we found another pod and grabbed snorkels and wetsuits for a closer look. We were dragged in a net in the freezing water at the side of the boat for about 15 minutes before we had a brief chance to swim out. It was short lived as dolphins swim a lot faster than we do and they weren't in the mood to play.
The oddest thing that happened was bumping into Big John from our South America trip on an unpopulated island in the middle of the bay where our boat and his boat stopped for lunch!
From the Bay we headed to the west coast of Northland to visit the kauri forests (had to see the tallest kauri at 51m tall and the widest at
Ness and friend
So that's what they mean by stoney faced over 5m) and the kauri museum which was excellent despite being about wood! Cath and Sarah from our South America trip were encountered in the middle of the forest!
Our next destination was the Coromandel Peninsula where the scenery was amazing and hot water beach was just bizarre (hot water bubbling out of the sand).
We're now in Rotorua, the heart of New Zealand's thermal zone and have spent the day looking at geysers and bubbling mud pools. We've also had a brief introduction to the Mauri culture but Pizza Hut has been spotted so we'll take a day off from local cuisine!
Time to stop waffling. Hope everyone is having as much fun as we are.
Cheerio
Viv and Ness
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