OUR FINAL POSTING FROM RIO

well somehow this year has come to an end. jeeze just writing that has almost made me cry. we just can´t believe it. all the planning, saving & preparing for this dream year that began 2 years ago is about to become part of our personal history ...

potatoes !!

but there is room for one last posting. we have just spent another 2 weeks in rio de janeiro and what a wonderful 2 weeks it has been. we´ve had fun, laughter, adventure and a little drama !! i´ll begin with the little drama to get it over & done with !! last week we were in our beautiful apartment and i decided to put some baby potatoes on the boil. the plan was to boil them, let them go cold & use them to make potato salad to have with dinner that evening. so i put them on the hob and forgot about them. we headed off out to the beach for the day. about 3 plus hours later we were both lying side by side soaking up the sun when out of nowhere i jumped up and screamed at tom ´THE POTATOES´. tom looked at me through squinted eyes and said ´what the hell are you talking about´. frantically i was trying to get dressed and at the same time i was saying to tom ´i put on potatoes hours ago and didn´t turn them off´. before i could say another word tom was running off the beach shouting back at me ´F*** SAKE LYNN !!!! and other stuff !!!´ ... whe we arrived at the apartment block we dashed to the elevator and jumped out on our floor, floor 11. the first thing you could smell was smoke and we were petrified. tom opened the door to find the kitchen filled with smoke but thankfully no flames, WHEW, LUCKY ME !! the potatoes were so burnt that there was nothing inside the middle, all the water had completely boiled off, the pot had indents in it where the potatoes were buring through, tom had a look of ´will i kill her or hug her´ on his face and i just looked to the heavens and thanked that little angel who tapped me on the shoulder while i was asleep on the beach and whispered into my ear ´your potatoes are still on the boil´ !!!

maracana

so anyway lets talk about fun stuff, the maracana !! can you believe it but tom actually talked me into going back to the maracana with him. not to a match but to the museum. it was interesting i guess. i now know all the players who ever played for brazil, i know how many times brazil won the world cup & what year too. i know brazil are hosting the next world cup after south africa, i know when the maracana was built, how many people it took to build it, how much steel it took, the biggest capacity it ever held, the seating capacity of today .... i even know who cuts the grass !! ah you know i guess it was intersting enough especially for tom although he did come away a little disappointed. you see after the 3rd time brazil won the world cup they were allowed to keep it. tom thought it would be on display which was i guess is a good enough reason to go. like if the worlds most amazing handbag was on display somewhere i would want to go. but get this it was robbed, melted and sold so there is no world cup in brazil !! apart from that i think tom´s favourite part was comparing the players feet as they have all left their footprints in the cement. riviting stuff to say the least !!

the lake

then there was the day we went to the lake, that was a right laugh. it was an off day weather wise so we decided to go for a walk to a lake which lies behind ipanema beach. we got there and thought it would be a good idea to rent a bicycle made for 2 and it was. it was sort of like a bike where you sit side by side. the lake perimiter was almost 8km´s so off we went screaming and laughing all the way. tom´s favourite part was when he had to ring the bell to get people to move out of his way!! seriously though we´ve never had so many people look so strangely at us before, i think those bikes really are meant for children.

sleep

we spent all other days of week 3 just like week one and 2. we slept for a good 10 hours a night and the rest of the time we just lazed on the copacabana. at the beginning of week 4 i just said to tom you know that those 3 weeks we went to sleep every night and never once set an alarm clock, never once did we have to get up out of bed for any reason. and everynight i slept for 10 hours straight. it just shows how difficult travelling the world really is !! seriously though in every village, town, city or country we passed through over the last 12 months we had an agenda, a reason or a thing to do. we had alarms to set ... buses, trains, planes to catch, activities booked, people to meet or something to do. but here we´ve just had a chance to kick back unwind, reflect and sleep !! when in your life do you get to go to bed for 3 weeks in a row and never have to set the alarm clock for anything, i honestly can´t remember any time in the last 16 years of my life that i did that and tom agrees that the last time for him he was a teenager ... week 4 then arrived and for some reason we both found ourselves waking earlier, i have been waking at 8 as opposed to 10 and tom at about 7. we wondered why and we´ve come to the conclusion that we have become so rested that we now need less sleep and also that maybe just maybe the subconscious mind is getting us ready for work in 10 days time .....aaaaaaahhhhhhh work !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

copacabana

i just want to record some observations i´ve made while sunbathing on the copacabana for 4 weeks now. it is as you all know a beach filled with so many people of all shapes and sizes but predominantly beautiful bodied women ... well so all you men believe but seriously the funny thing is i have never seen so much fat & cellulite in one place in all my life !! the grass is not always greener on the other side boys !!

ilha grande

we did have some great times during this week 4, our final week in rio & our final week of the world trip. we went sailing for a day down off the coast of rio de janeiro. a little further south than where the city lies. we sailed out to ilha grande and all i can say is the beauty was so special. it really reminded us of the gulf of thailand, the calmest turquoise waters, beautiful blue skies, scorching sunshine and the lushest scenery on the islands. the food, the people, the entertainment was all superb.

cristo renentor

another day we set off up to the cristo redentor. this as everyone in the world knows is the huge statue of christ that overlooks the city of rio de janeiro. to get there we had to take a bus, walk a bit and then finally board a small train. this train slowly made its way up the hill and from there we just had to climb a few dozen steps to the top. now seriously i don´t know if we´ve seen a view like this anywhere else in the world. it was just spectacular. views of the mighty maracana, the sugar loaf, the copacabana, ipanema, the lake, the centro, the ocean ....

a final word

so what else can we say, cathy is well adjusted to dundalk life and back to school and we are only 3 nights away from boarding our flight to dublin. it´s been an amazing year, the stuff of dreams really. our advice to anyone is don´t just think about it, do it .... also i want to wish my big & only brother conor a happy 34th birthday today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRO XXX

a big thank you to all the people who have followed the blog like some kind of new religion ! we have received so many messages on the blog, through email & through facebook which meant so much to us. as sad as we feel about the end of this year we are also extremely excited about seeing all our family and friends again ....

THE END X



Hi folks it´s Tom here, now before you all pull the power cord in some kind of ´end of blog depression´, click on the link below. I think it will make you smile........

http://www.tlc-usa.blogspot.com/

All our love, Tom, Lynn & Cathy x x x

BRAZIL or should i just say RIO !!!

RIO DE JANEIRO

the easy life in rio

so after leaving the iguazu falls we crossed the border into brazil and headed straight for rio de janeiro. before this we had spent some time sourcing an apartment for two weeks. finding one that filled our criteria wasn´t so easy ... nice, clean, comfy, fully equipped kitchen, cable tv, near the beach, good location ... we felt we owed it to ourselves !!! anyway there was so many options but the prices were just way above our budget and then we found apartment 1102 right in the middle of ave de copacabana. we emailed the owners jed & helena straight away and after exchanging a few emails we got the price down to 300 euro a week.

we were so happy when we arrived there. helena was waiting for us to show us around which took all of 5 seconds as it´s so small, but perfect. with not a word of english we just exchanged keys and a few smiles and waved her off. jed then called, he has english so he introduced himself as our point of contact. that was the first day of a fab 2 weeks and to try to distinguish one day from the other right now as i write is almost impossible !! the day basically starts when we wake up ... for tom this is usually 8am, for me closer to 10 am ... i´m the lazy one !! we then go for a walk down by the beach before returning for lunch, after lunch we go the beach and lie under the wondeful brazilian skies for the afternoon. these afternoons usually entail turning over from back to front to get an even tan, reading a few chapters of our latest book, sometimes eating ice cream and for tom now flying his kite. yes tom bought a superman kite and in recent days runs along the beach with it to everyones amusement !!! as cathy would say ´not weird´ !!!

the maracana

we did venture to the maracana one night. of course i had absolutely no interest in going to see a football match at this stadium but a beautiful new pair of sunglasses from tom was enough to twist my arm. i had read horror stories about that place. the one thing that was stuck in my mind was the article i read about your choice of seat, it said ´be sure to get a seat on the upper tier to avoid being hit & sprayed by flying bottles filled with urine or dead chickens´ !! wonderful i thought ... whoever said romance no longer exists !! anyway it was worth it just to see the smile on tom´s face, he was seriously amazed by the whole experience and i guess the icing on the cake for him was that it was a local derby between flamengo & fluminense.

pao de acucar/the sugar loaf

there was one day in the past 2 weeks that we managed to get off our lazy butts and do something interesting. that was the day we vistied the sugar loaf. this is rio´s iconic mountain which offers stunning views over the city. to reach the summit you take 2 cable cars which are not my preferred mode of transport but how and ever the views at the top were so worth it. it was something else. i think it can be easily said that of all the cities we visited over the last year this has to be right at the top of the list with cape town.

the next 2 weeks

so the next 2 weeks more than likely will be a carbon copy of the 2 weeks gone by !! we were initially going to go out to the island ilha grande but have now decided to stay in our little ´sanctuary´. we emailed jed and asked him what price he could give us the apartment for if we stayed an extra 2 weeks and he said he would reduce it to 200 euro a week because he thought we deserved it !! we´re not really sure why he thinks we deserve it seen as we never met him but hey who´s complaining !! so with the apartment secured and no reason we pick up those backpacks again we don´t intend to do much more than laze around the superb beach of copacabana and visit the cristo redentor. tom also wants to return to the maracana to the museum ... i can´t wait for that, surely that warrants a new handbag for me !!!

the final posting

so this time 2 weeks we will be boaring our flight from sao paulo to dublin, crazy but true. we will of course finish the blog on our last day with a final few words and a photo album rio. tom has just compiled the album brazil part one so thats available to view ...

cathy

a blog wouldn´t be a blog without cathys whereabouts being mentioned. she is over in the west of ireland, galway to be exact at irish college. she has just one more night and tomorrow she will be back home in dundalk with my mam & dad. next monday she returns to school, good luck with that cats, try to contain the day dreaming !!!

CATHYS BEST BITS

hey cathy, as you are settling back into life in dundalk after travelling for ten and a half months through tanzania, uganda, mozambique, swaziland, south africa, singapore, thailand, cambodia, vietnam, china/tibet, nepal, india, australia, new zealand, chile, peru, bolivia and argentina we thought we would pick out a few photos of you that we liked the most. thank you so much for being so amazing to travel with, may we have many more happy times travelling this world in the years to come, take good care over in the west of ireland, see you back home in four weeks time, love you loads tom & mommy xxx

check out the album above right, cathys best bits ! X

AMAZING ARGENTINA ONCE AGAIN WHERE CATHY TURNED 16 !

our return to argentina

so we left chile for argentina just after breakfast on sunday july 26th. we expected to arrive in salta at around 6pm with tom and dad finalising plans to go for what else but steak ! unfortunately the bus journey over the andes took alot longer than expected. our final journey in altitude thankfully !! no more journeys watching your crisp bags expand until near explosion or face creams burst all over your bag !! it was almost mid night before we sat down to dinner. cathy choose sensible for the hour it was and had a nice pasta dish, i unable to eat with tiredness choose nothing, tom determined ordered steak and dad made a mistake ... dad decided it was too late to have steak especially as we had told him how huge argentinian steaks are so instead he choose pizza. this choice was made simply because he thought it would be a small sensible pizza that he could digest easily before going to sleep ... oh how wrong could he be ... how we laughed when this family size pizza landed on the table. after about 2 slices he threw in the towel and asked for it to be boxed and us travellers enjoyed it for lunch the next day ...

we stayed 2 nights in salta. it really is a beautiful city. we had been there on our first visit to argentina a month back but were too tired after bariloche and mendoza to really appreciate it. this time we stayed in a much nicer part & really immersed ourselves in the whole ambience. cathy and myself even sampled the local hairdressers while the boys enjoyed pints of beer in the afternoon sunshine. we also decided to walk the 1070 steps up to the view point of the city again just so my dad got to walk off that pizza !! on our second night we went for dinner again and this time all indulged in steak. it is just simply the tastiest steak in this world .... so for us this was steak number one, for tom 2 nights 2 steaks !!

from salta to buenos aires

so the following day we were off to the bright lights of buenos aires. this was a long bus journey, 22 hours. luckily for us all it was extremely comfortable and we all managed to sleep well that night. of course the very next day cathy was turning 16 so to entertain ourselves on the bus we had a bag of presents for cathy. there was about 12 or so small gifts in the bag which we gave her every half an hour, the last of these was a piece of paper with the booking confirmation of the claridge boutique 5 star hotel in buenos aires where we were bringing her for 2 nights. one of these nights was for her birthday and of course the 2nd night was the last night of cathys world trip.

cathy turns 16

when we arrived to our hotel which was located downtown buenos aires we quickly dumped our bags and hit the shops. it only took us about 5 minutes to decide it was best to separate the boys from the girls ! so we browsed the galleries and shops of a very busy florida street for many hours before meeting up again & resting our feet in starbucks. we then agreed we should stick to the plan of boys together, girls together for the next couple of hours. while cathy & myself tried to squeeze in every shop possible we discovered the boys had gave up on the shopping and once again were to be found supping pints, this time in the hotel bar.

cathy & myself had a bedroom next door to gaga and tom. so we again went our seperate ways to get ready for the big night of celebrations for cathys birthday. when dad and tom were ready and they walked into our room they couldn´t believe their eyes. so bad was the mess of clothes and make up everywhere tom ran to phone to ring reception to say the room had been ransacked, not funny right !!!!! they couldn´t believe their eyes, it was hillarious ... i walked in then to peek at their room and seriously it looked like nobody had even checked into it !!!

so for dinner that night we all dressed up and with the addition of some funky ties and flowers we looked like we were out celebrating oh and of course the clowns hats for the two clowns ! we choose the area of puerto madero to eat. it is so like albert dock n liverpool, recycled docks facing the river where you can find first line shops and restaurants and the most modern buildings. the restaurant was just lovely and the staff were great fun too. after dinner much to the delight of cathy they brought her a cake with a candle and more importantly free champagne for us all. we ate and drank until we were fit to burst before retiring to our 5 star luxury for the night.

la cabrera

the next day following a big lie in we headed of to an area of buenos aires known as palermo. this is the young and hip part of the city. it is so vibrant and home to many fashion and decoration shops which they say set the trends of this city. but that was not the reason we set off for palermo, the reason was something much closer to a man´s heart, steak !! we were told more than once that there is a restaurant in palermo called ´la cabrera´ and it does the very best steak in the whole of argentina !! it took us 3 hours walking to get there which was fine as it was a nice relaxing day and we thought dinner about 5 would be perfect. but when we arrived we learned that la cabrera closed from 5 until 8.30 when it reopened until the early hours. in argentina people eat dinner much later than we do at home. you see they have a siesta during the day and then all the shops reopen until about 8 or 9pm at night so dinner for them is usually 10pm. anyway after a small discussion we thought we would wait. so when we finally sat down to order we had walked 3 hours and waited another 3 hours for this steak !! and oh my word was it amazing, to even try to describe to you the feast that was put down in front of us in this beautiful quirky little restaurant is not possible. it was just to die for ... what a way for cathy and dad to spend their last night eh !

the final day

so we woke up the next morning and the mood in camp tlc+g was not good. it was the end of dad´s 2nd visit out to us and the end of cathys adventure around the world after 10 and a half months. for those who dont know when we decided to go travelling for the year cathy asked could she come home a month early to go to the gaeltacht. basically this is where you go to the west of ireland for a few weeks to a region where the irish language is still spoken as a first language and you spend a few weeks here improving your language and taking part in all things involving the irish culture except drinking of course !!!! this sounded like a good idea at the time, our thinking was it would get cathy back into some sort of frame of mind for school but as the time approached it became increasingly difficult to both think and talk about the departure date. the week previous their was tears falling and there was even talk of cathy changing/cancelling her flight but in the end she boarded the flight to dublin with gaga. we said our goodbye with brave faces and as soon as they walked through the gates i just exploded into tears. i just couldn´t believe the 31st of july was upon us. tom & myself went back to the hotel & when i walked into the room where cathy and myself had previously created a female bomb site i burst out crying again because everything just looked wrong ! all that day tom & myself just couldn´t get our heads around it. 24/7 for 10 & a half months the 3 of us had been like three peas in a pod and now there was this missing pea .........

back to the rough

so the next day we set off to another part of the city, san telmo. this is where the origins of the city lie. narrow and cobblestone little streets, colonial buildings with wrought iron railings, lots of arists. art galleries and antiquarians. we booked into this hostel in a very old building and tried to settle in for what was meant to be 3 nights. even though we were meeting chris, a friend of ours from germany who we had met in santiago we were very restless. we couldn´t settle. we were i guess just missing cathy being around. everything seemed so quiet. we even talked about coming home early !! tom decided there and then to book back into a hotel after our second night here as he was blaming the downgrade from extreme comfort to the very basic of hostel conditions in addition to cathys absence for our gloomy form. he found a great deal online ... don´t worry cats it was only a 4 star !!! so not only did we go there but as it was our last night in buenos aires we also went back to la cabrera ... it was again the most amazing dining experience you could ever imagine. i think everyone should go to buenos aires even just for one night to have dinner here. the steak in argentina is amazing anyway so how can this be even more amazing, its crazy but its true. i am so glad we dont live here or we would seriously weigh about 20 stone each!!! anyway we were indulging so much that we didn´t realise we were actually eating for about 3 hours. there was a table of 5 men sitting next to us and after their meal they came over and said to us ´did you guys seriously eat those 2 steaks´ we were like ´sure didn´t leave a bit´ ... they were shocked and said they had 3 between 5 and had to take some home as they couldn´t finish it !! as good as a night as it was it didn´t end without tears, as soon as we starting talking about what cathy might be doing at home the tears were falling again !! cathy we miss you ...........

la boca & caminito

i forgot to mention that before we left san telmo we walked with chris to la boca to visit la bombonera. la boca is the area where maradona grew up and la bombonera is the home to the world famous football team, boca juniors. this area is a really rough part of town. i wasn´t so sure about this trip at all especially as chris had been there before and was chased by some local with a gun !! why he wanted to return with us i´ll never know !! anyway tom was determined, football is football at the end of the day and tom wanted to see this stadium more than he wanted to see the great wall of china !! we did a stadium tour & museum tour and tom really enjoyed it. he was just fascintaed by every aspect of it while chris and i were more fascinated by the fact that the pitch sprinkler was a little robot !!

from la boca we then visited another truly rough part of the city, caminito. this area is where all the building are made of corrugated iron and sprayed in very bright happy colours. it is a tourist attraction but you cannot venture from the one tourist street in the area. you can however enjoy some tango dancing too.

buenos aires to iguazu

so a week later we left the city and we took a night bus to puerto iguazu. this was 18 hours up to the north of the country. we spent 2 nights here and of course took in the spectacular iguazu falls. it was breathtaking. i never imagined a sight like it. there is a very well designed series of walkways that bring you through wonderful nature and then all of a sudden you can hear the roar of the falls like thunder and then the falls are exposed and your jaw just drops. you just stand there not beleiving what your are looking at is real. the sheer force of the water falling is actaully frightening too !

so as our time in argentina drew to a close we had one final thing to do yesterday before crossing into brazil, we had to visit this very unusual river crossing. the river forms a T shape. where we went to was the top middle part of the T and we were in argentina. looking out on our right hand side of the T was paraguay and then to our left side was brazil. another beautiful moment as we looked upon three countries all at once.

this morning we took a bus across the border of argentina and brazil and are now in a town called foz de iguacu. we are trying to re adapt to these tropical temperatures after many months of braving the cold. from here we will travel to rio de janeiro where we plan to put our feet up for the next 4 weeks and mentally prepare for home ....

lots of good pic´s being prepared by tom, check out the link above, argentina part 2 X

a last visit to chile

san pedro de atacama

so after crossing from bolivia back into chile we made the short journey to san pedro de atacama for the weekend. we absolutely loved this place when we visited previously so decided on our way back to argentina we would return here with gaga.

it was only a short visit, 2 days and 2 nights. we had planned 3 but with the cancellation of our salt flat tour we arrived one day behind. we still managed to see the best of this stunning desert town & the surrounding areas.

the first day was all about relaxation in the sun. after bolivia we needed that badly and some good food so when evening came we treated ourselves to a nice feed. an early night was had by all and the next morning we set off on our bikes to the valley of death to give my dad a go at sandboarding. once again tom stole the show and pulled off some great moves on the board. the rest of us tried !!! we did however get another glimpse at this amazing desert and climb the dunes to see the incredible views it has to offer ....

from here we took a bus the following day up over the andes and into argentina ....

chile part 3 photo album is now ready to view ....

ON TOUR IN BOLIVIA

from peru to bolivia

so from puno in peru we took a bus to the border of bolivia where we got off the bus and walked through the archway into our next country. it was then only a short distance to the little town of copacabana in bolivia where we enjoyed a bit of lunch before continuing onto la paz. this part of the journey was incredible. lake titicaca sits like a jewel amongst the bolivian countryside. it is the highest lake in the world and easily the most beautiful especially from the bolivian side. the lake actually has an unmarked border through the center, half of it belongs to peru, the other half to bolivia.

as our bus brought us on our way to la paz we actually had to get of the bus and take a boat across the lake as they have not yet built a bridge to join the roads. the bus was then driven onto what looked like a giant raft with a tiny motor and sailed across to pick us up on the other side much to my dads amusement.

la paz

so upon our arrival in la paz we went straight to our previously booked hostel. the guy wouldn´t let us cross the door step, he was just saying there was a problem & shoved the deposit back into tom´s hand. so off we went in search of a new hostel which on a saturday night during peak season in la paz is not the easiest thing to find. we did find one in the end, double our basic backpacker price but it was worth it for the comfort ....

the death road

the following day we got ourselves booked on the ´death road cycle´ much to the delight of my dad & tom ! men eh !! basically just outside la paz there is a road built into the side of the mountain which was once considered the main road into la paz. due to the amount of people who lost their lives driving on this road, approx 100 per year, it beacame known as the death road. they have now built an alternative for vehicles but the road has become a huge tourist attraction where they tempt you to cycle the 64km stretch listed as the most dangerous road in the world. literally 64km of cliff edge scary cycling, any lapse of concentration could easily see you over the edge. thirteen tourists to date have gone over the edge & none have been taken up alive !! i was hoping cathy wouldn´t want to do it so i could have an easy excuse to get out of it but it wasn´t the case, the little dare devil was determined ! we all went off & honestly had an amazing day, despite the sheer vastness of the cliff drops the scenery was some of the most stunning scenery you would ever see on a day out cycling and thankfully despite cathy being knocked off her bike by some careless idiot we all survived.

that night we all returned to the loki hostel for a few beers. we were all yawning with tiredness after our long day. dad & cathy retired to bed & tom and myself planned to do the same but a chance encounter with a couple from london saw us downtown la paz on the dance floor in club2 until the wee hours of the morning !! the following day tom suffered like i have never seen him suffer before ... nothing to do with the litre bottles of la paz brew he was drinking all night !!! the poor fella was doing the chin run all day, you know that moment where you run to the toilet thinking your going to puke before you get there, endless hours of amusement for us all watching his torture !! while he didn´t puke in the end he did develop a serious case of the ´runaway bum´ which lasted for a staggering 7 days & caused tom to develop a serious hatred for this the 19th country of our travels .....

la paz to uyuni

that night to add to tom´s pain we had to take an overnight bus in order to add to our bolivian adventure ... the next on our ´to do list´ was the salt flats in uyuni. a 12 hour bus journey from the city across the mountains seemed liked nothing out of the ordinary with all the bus journeys we have endured to date. the bus was an hour late departing but once we all got on board and wrapped up everything was fine. that all change though 2 hours into our journey as the bus driver slammed on the brakes to avoid a serious accident that occured right in front of us. the bus much to our horror skidded out of control into the embankment & then ground to a sudden halt titlted to one side. everyone on the bus went pale faced, silent & completely still. no one would dare move for fear the bus was going to topple. one by one they got us off, the whole place was chaotic. there was tourists all sitting in the freezing cold on the side of the road wrapped in blankets trying to keep warm, our bus was looking seriously unbalanced in the ditch, a mini bus ahead was overturned, a truck was completely smashed into the embankment, there was lights & sirens everywhere and then before you know it the local bolivian news crew are on the scene. they run straight over to tom with the microphone to interview him and then they turned to me, we were so embarrassed but hey at least we made it onto bolivian tv !!!

eventually a replacement bus arrived & we were nervously back on the road, i say nervously because the bus driver decided to drive twice as fast to make up for lost time & more than once did it feel like the bus was going to leave the road again especially as we were off roading across the top of the mountain. but fair play to the driver as he broke all records and still got us to uyuni on time the next morning !!

uyuni & the salt flats

so our salt flats tour was to begin at 10:30, just 3 hours after we arrived. we had time for breakfast .... but not tom, he spent this time on the toilet and most other meal times over the next few days. when 10:30 ticked by on the clock we were left standing on the street waiting, time passed by, 11:30, 12:30, 13:30 and still no tour. there was a power cut in the town & we were told because of this they could not get fuel. come on who are they kidding ... they are so far behind the times in bolivia especially uyuin they couldn´t even have electric pumps ! as well as this the other girls who were due to join us on our tour had not yet paid and with the power cut all two bank machines in town were out of service. they eventaully cancelled our 3 day tour until the next day. we were pretty damn p***** off with company who wouldn´t refund our money or be of any real assistance but i guess this is when you have to stand back and realise that things don´t run smoothly for these people on a daily basis & i guess the simple things in life to us like electricity cannot be taken for granted although i still don´t believe them that they couldn´t get fuel !! so we ended up booking ourselves a room for the night. indoors was the best place to be as a sandstorm passed over the town. in hindsight it was probably a good thing we stayed there as it gave tom some extra time to try to recover & cathy who by then had in her very own words got ´the shits´ !

salar de uyuni

so the next morning we set off the see this world famous salt flats. it´s the floor of an ancient lake over 4000m high which everyone said was truly amazing. we arrived there within an hour of leaved the town of uyuni in our 4x4. it was just incredible. all you could see for miles and miles was the white floor of this dried up lake. we all got out and started taking photos which are so fuuny. due to the mass of pure white everywhere and some clever camera work you can seemingly remove the perspective and develop some very funny pictures. one particular picture looks like dad is driving cathy & myself in tom´s shoe ! another looks like i am climbing on tom´s face ! then there is one where tom´s ipod looks bigger then him ! it was just brilliant ..... the scenery was brilliant, being there with tom, dad & cathy was brilliant, the 2 girls who joined us on our tour was brilliant but the guide was the biggest assh*** i have ever met in my life. he just kept being an assh*** from the moment we set out so much so that dad learned a phrase in spanish that said ´can you stop being a b****x for one day in your life´ !!! oh my word he was seriously annoying. the thing was we were stuck with him for 3 blinking days !!

anyway as we drove across the salt flats it was as i said just incredible. we then stopped at this island called fish island. it was just class. obviously it no longer is surrounded by water as the lake is dried up but it sat on the salt flats with loads of coral and cactus plants. that evening we also visited caves before retiring for the night into a salt hotel. a hotel made completely out of salt. we have since read that this building is completely illegal which makes sense i guess but it was still pretty cool to stay there. calling it a hotel is probably doing it a fierce amount of justice. it was just basic rooms that actually resembled a prison except the walls were a brighter shade due to the salt bricks. we were fortuntate enough to see an amazing sunset from our window too that night as temperature dropped to minus 7 dgrees.

the following day we continued our tour south . this day entailed an awful lot of driving which took from the day especially as we had now fully developed tension between all of us and our guide/driver, a full on hate hate relationship. he refused to speak to us in any way that we could understand. we were getting virtually no information about the surroundings. we did stop at many colourful laguna´s though which were self explanatory, one in particular which had so many flamigo´s. that was so unbelievable it made our day. that night was spent at the biggest hovel ever. in fact it just looked like an old run down building with on going roof repairs. with no heating, electricity or running water we thought we were in for a night of hell. luckily the banter between the tourists was enough to lift the spirits of everyone & a few bottles of wine that we someone managed to secure out in this very barren land !

the following morning we had to rise a 4am. this was to make it in time to see the geysers before sunrise. what a sight, the pressure of the steam coming out of the ground at full force. the only thing was it was so bitterly cold it was difficult to hang about outside. from there we went to hot springs but not one of us dared to get in. we have had the hot spring experience many times before on this trip & just felt this time it was not worth it. the water was warm but the temperature outside was so cold that the thought of getting out after the warm water was just too painful. add that to the fact that we had to bus it back to chile before having a shower or accessing clean clothes !! and if we didn´t do the hot srping our tour with captain assh*** would end quicker so we choose a quick end.

we parted ways at the border between bolivia and chile full of excitement as we were returning to san pedro de atacama and bringing my dad to this desert town, easily one of our favourite places in the world.

all the pictures as always are on the link above .......

the wonders of peru

from chile to peru

from arica in chile we took a taxi across the border to the town of tacna. we wanted to catch a bus at 8 am to puno. having just arrived in arica on an overnight bus and with very little time on our hands we thought making the bus would not be possible. but there was no need to worry, paying the taxi driver a few extra dollars will get you anywhere you want whenever you want !! we managed to cross through immigration in chile to get our exit stamp, then entered through immigration in peru and got our entry stamp & got to tacna with 10 mins to spare. it was a huge shock to the system. all of a sudden we were catapulted back into the 3rd world. the first thing that hits you is how unbelievably poor everyone is again & then you step onto the bus & it´s back to overcrowded smelly buses although nowhere near as bad as africa ... at least here all the parents keep hold of their children and you mangage to keep your seat for the journey !! it was a pretty cool bus journey though, we had no idea what to expect or what route the bus would take but we spent 7 of the 11 hours driving through the peruvian desert which was so scenic in places. the last 4 hours of the bus really dragged and with all the rushing at the border we didn´t have a chance to change any money which meant we couldn´t buy anything to eat, not even a piece of bread ! so desperate did it get that at one point i looked around and tom & cathy we´re eating mayonaise ... yes mayonaise with mayonaise, it was the only thing that resembled food in our bags and 24 hours after we had last eaten they tried to eat mayonaise !!! yuck yuck yuck !!!

puno

puno lies at 3800 meters above sea level. living at sea level back home its just difficult to adapt. you do adapt but never fully, it always catches you unawares and you find yourself walking down the street gasping for air. i have to admit it´s been nowhere near as bad as tibet but it still affects us all the same. anyway we just put the feet up & totally chilled out in puno. we really took it easy & just enjoyed strolling the streets & going out for dinner without feeling guilty ! it´s so cheap here it´s great, cheap as in about 2 euro for a meal .... bliss.

cusco & bruce peru

from puno we took a bus to cusco. i´m sure you must think we are sick of buses, well yes your right we are !!! ha ha no honestly they can get a little tiring but most of the time the scenery is so stunning you don´t even notice the journey as was the case from puno to cusco. we took a touirst bus which was mega comfy and again had spectacular views of the countryside, just endless rolling hills & outstanding beauty.

we arrived in cusco & found ourselves a hostel for the week & a good irish pub, the highest irish owned pub in the world ¨paddys¨. it wasn´t drink we were looking for but a good old irish meal & that we found in this pub. it was yum .... after which i cut tom & cathys hair ! cathy has always trusted me with the scissors and now tom does too !!!

the reason we were staying in cusco for a week was because we had volunteered to work with a charity for the week in cusco. the charity is called bruce org. the organisation exists to provide education to the quarter of latin american children who are not in school. their mission is to help as many of the poorest children in the third world as they can to receive as good an education as their circumstances permit. bruce org does all it can do all to befriend them, motivate them to want to get educated, to help with their nutritional, medical, psychological, clothing and family well-being: and finally to get them into as good an educational institution as they can find for them. In the places of work many of the poorest children have only a single parent at home, an abandoned mother. the mission includes working to improve the prospects and quality of life of abandoned mothers.

so we all got involved for a week. initially we thought cathy would not be allowed as they don´t accept volunteers under 18 years of age but we managed to get them to bend the rules. on the monday morning we set off to our respective schools. tom & myself went to tica tica while cathy went to huancara. in tica tica we had just 15 students and one classroom although all 15 children never turned up. the parents of the children rarely care for their welfare so turning up to school almost always depends on the child. the age of the children in the class ranges from 4 to 16 and with just one teacher trying to teach all different levels things can be a little chaotic especially as all the children want to do is put their hair clips in your hair or climb all over you. although i must admit the older children weren´t much more advanced then the younger ones, some were even struggling to say the days of the week without help. in the short week we had there we became pretty fond of these young children, it´s just so hard not to. most of them don´t have a father figure in their life and they craved so much affection from tom it was so sad. every child has their own background, each equally tough. one little girl beatriz works for 3 hours before making the hour long journey to school, school starts at 9, she is only 8 years old. another young chap called dante was so malnourished he looked at most 10 years of age, when we learned he was 15 we just couldn´t believe it. then there was another young lad called guida. tom renamed his volunteering experience the ´guida experience´ after guida threw several rocks at his head & then preceeded to throw all his copy books into the open sewer that runs by the school class. this poor young lad is one of only a few to have his father in his life but suffers serious abuse at the hands of his alcoholic father. not the most realxing week of our travels but something we felt we wanted to do all the same because of our fortunate position in this world.


the charity also does alot of fundraising during the week. we got involved with the table quiz one night which takes place in a local pub. cathy was nominated to stand on the bar & read out the questions. i still can´t believe she done it, a reflection on how much she has come out of herself in the past year. one other day we gathered at the plaza de armas which is the main square in cusco to welcome into town 3 young english lads who had just spent 5 months horse riding from equador to cusco in peru raising 15000 pound for bruce org. the night that followed their arrival was superb with us all ending up on the dance floor in mama africas nightclub until the early hours !!

gaga comes to peru

this week also saw the arrival of my dad more commonly known as ´gaga´ to peru. having left dublin on the tuesday gaga finally touched down in cusco on thursday after spending one night in miami & another in lima. we were all delighted to see him & once again take him on board our travels. of course we took him straight to paddys for a good feed & a few pints to help him adapt to the altitude !! cusco stands at 3360 meters which resulted in gaga having a few dizzy spells & the usual breathing restrictions. the few days after gaga´s arrival we hung out in cusco & the surrounding area. we climbed up the hill to the cristo blanco which is a huge statue of christ that overlooks the city & also indulged in a little more horse riding. tom & myself had managed to squeeze in a trek earlier in the week and a couple of days after gaga arrived we convinced him it was worth doing even though he said it was at least 50 years since he was on a horse !! we promised no galoping & stuck to our word although gaga´s horse did seem to have a mind of it´s own & kept trying to break free !! all in all it was a great day.

the inca trail

next up was the inca trail. the night before we were due to do this trail we had a pre inca trail meeting. excited & nervous we listened to what lay ahead of us for the following 4 days. after the meeting we thought it was best to squeeze in one more meal in paddys as what we ate for the forthcoming days lay in the hands of someone else. for me this turned out to be a really bad decision, i choose this chicken curry with peanuts which sounded, looked & tasted amazing. but for some reason that little chicken decided it didn´t like me. i woke to some really loud tummy rumbles at 2 in the morning, ran to the toilet & thankfully made it in time & spent the next 4 hours there. every so often betwen tom´s words of sympathy i could hear him bursting out laughing, i think he was just so glad for once it was him & not me !! at 6.30 we got on the bus to the start of the inca trail, a 2 hour journey with a stop for breakfast along the way. needless to say i didn´t have breakfast & was just so glad of the stop to use the toilet .....

so when we reached km 82 we set off on the inca trail after a few group photos. also in our group was 3 girls from sao paulo & our guide george. running on ahead of us were the 6 porters assigned to us for the trail also known as sherpas. this first day was to be pretty easy. for everyone else except me it was. as we walked the trail i just felt worse & worse. as vomiting took over i thought this was the end of the trail for me but thankfully by evening all the symptoms passed and i seemed to bounce back to normal. that evening we camped at huayllabamba. it was here we saw the most amazing sky in the southern hemisphere.

the next morning we were up at 5am to begin the toughest part of the trail. the porters woke us with tent service ! coca tea before breakfast. the coca plant when mixed with other substances gives you cocaine but here they just put the coca leaves in boiling water to help with the altitude sickness. after a 5 hours walking we reached the first pass, named warmiwañiusca or dead woman's pass, at 4,215 meters high it is the highest point in the inca trail. along the way we stopped many times to take in the views and take a few snaps. you would think that the hardest part was over when we reached the top but the down hill was equally as challenging. with rugged paths & steep steps all the way, geting to the camp on the second evening was such a relief !! here at pacaymayo we were well fed again by the cook on the trail before retiring for the night into our tents.

day 3 looked like it was going to rain. as we came out of the tents in the morning we were literally in the clouds. we couldn´t see a thing but thankfully as the day progressed the clouds lifted and the scenery once again was amazing. this was without a doubt the longest day. we stopped to do a cermony on the mountain where each person had to do blessings. darkness was starting to fall as we reached the camp on this our third and final night. for the first time in 3 days we were able to shower & trust me after hiking over 20 miles during the previous 3 days we all needed a shower badly. it was here we all had a chance to thank the porters for all their effort. i have to say it´s the one thing i really didn´t like about the inca trail. seeing these young lads carrying so much equipment & knowing how little they get paid for their work. we carried our own personal stuff even though you could get the porters to carry it but they still had to carry all the tent equipment cooking equipment, food etc ! one guy even had a bottle of gas on his back, it´s crazy !! there was one little porter in our group who we all took a serious liking to, we called him charlie ... on the last night dad & tom kept buying the little lad beer. i´m pretty sure he wasn´t allowed to be drinking as he turned his back and downed every bottle in one go resulting with him stumbling all over the place for the night ......

so our final morning we were called at 3 am, had breakfast & set off on our way in time for sunrise at Machu Picchu. after a one hour walk through the forest towards the inti punku or the gate of the sun, also known as the entrance gate to Machu Picchu you have the most impressive panoramic view of the citadel. it was so amazing. we then walked on down to the site itself where we had a very informative guided tour ......... the setting of Machu Picchu is one of the most beautiful ever seen. we spent about 4 hours here trying to take it all in ........ truly amazing stuff.

with tired legs and some time on our hands we made our way to some hot springs near by where we sooted the aches and pains before taking a train back to cusco that night. it was so hard to believe the inca trail was complete having booked it last january !

return to puno

the next morning we didn´t even manage a sleep in. we were up & out and off back to puno. the 7 hour bus jouney was just perfect, feet up all the way ! we spent just 2 nights in puno when we returned. in this time we took a boat trip out to peru´s famous floating islands. they are built using the buoyant totora reeds that grow abundantly in the shallows of lake titicaca. the uro tribe who live on these islands have their lives interwoven with these reeds which are partially edible and are also used to make their homes and boats and crafts. the islands are constructed from many layers of the totora, which are constantly replenished from the top as they rot from the bottom so the ground is always soft & springy. it´s incredible, every day we see & learn something new.

from peru to bolivia

so that brought our time in peru to an end. from puno we took a bus to bolivia, just 3 hours drive by lake titicaca saw us enter our next country, bolivia. more updates from bolivia soon ..... tom´s photo album is also ready to view .... this time there will be 2 photo album links above for peru ! X

OUR RETURN TO CHILE

across the andes
so we left the subtropical lowland province of salta in argentina and took a bus to san pedro de atacama in northern chile. to get here we had to cross the glorious andes which line the edge of west argentina where only hardy cactus and scrubby vegetation survive. the eight hour bus journey was absolutely incredible despite everyone wanting to vomit with altitude sickness when the bus soared to heights in excess of 6000 metres. it was funny just looking at everyone on the bus in a serios state of ´pale´ ! it really was pale faces all around. even when we came down to 4500 metres everyone was still feeling the effects. it was here we exited argentina through the most remote border crossing we´ve seen in south america so far.

san pedro de atacama
nyway we continued on until we eached the beautiful town of san pedro (saint peter). san pedro lies a bit lower at 2600 metres and is in the most arid desert in the world, the atacama desert. as it happened we arrived on the eve of their huge annual festival. on this day they pay huge respect to san pedro. it´s a little bit like st patricks day back home in ireland except i observed there was a lot more prayer and a lot less booze !!!! so after enjoying the day of celebrations we had an early night in preparation for our horse riding trip the following day ...

horse riding in the desert
we heard about this cowboy called ´bernardo´ when we were in santiago, he is known locally as a horse whisperer. and with my obsessive love of horses we went to san pedro on a mission, that mission was to find this cowboy. it took a little bit of time but we got a contact who arranged for us to spend a day out in the atacama desert on horseback with the man himself. we were told we would be picked up at our hostel and of course we thought that meant someone would collect us and bring us to meet bernardo to start the trek ... but no we opened the door of our shanty hostel cabur and there was bernardo sitting on top of his horse complete with cowboy boots, cowboy hat & a lasoo. beside him stood our three horses. within minutes we were all on our way into the heart of the desert. my cheeks were hurting from smiling. it´s just the most amazing thing for me, always. nothing compares to a day with the horses.

so about 15 minutes later bernardo looked at me with a glint in his eye and said ´senorita do you want to trot´ ´si senora´ i replied ! with that we broke into a trot which within seconds increased to a full gallop. i couldn´t even tell the transition from canter to gallop it happened so fast. behind me i could hear cathy squealing & sensed we had left tom behind. honestly i didn´t expect to go straight to gallop but it was bernardo who influenced what the horses did. cathy looked petrified. she said she just wasn´t comfortable with going that fast. tom was just looking at me as if to say ´what the f*** is going on, this is only my third time out horse riding with you´!!!

i have to say at that moment i was a little disappointed that both tom & cathy didn´t have a bit more experience as i felt they weren´t going to get out of the day what i knew and hoped they could. anyway remaining at trot level we continued through the most dramatic & fantastic desert scenery we have ever seen until we reached ´valle de la muerte´ or in english ´the valley of death´. here you can observe a geological phenomenon of enormous mineral sculptures formed by wind & rain in varios colours. it was so special. the best thing about it was that when we reached the dunes we all ended up galloping full throttle side by side. tom & cathy embraced their fears & galloped across the desert like true cowboys. i nearly fell off my horse looking at tom next to me grinning from ear to ear screaming yeeeeeeeee haaaaaaaa. it was a magic moment !!!! the worst thing about that day was that it had to come to an end. i did not want it to end, i wanted that day to last forever.

it was without a doubt the best day of our travels ... along wth all the other best days !!!! it wasn´t just the horse riding but this perfect location. we agreed that we haven´t seen a 360 degree view like that anywhere in the world. sitting on horseback on top of these enormous sand dunes in looking all around valle de la muerte ... it was just surreal. all i kept thinking was ´why did nobody tell us about this place´

sandboarding on the dunes
the next day we hired bicycles and sandboards and cycled back out there just to check that it really did exist and we hadn´t been dreaming ! it did exist & we had a totally different day but completely enjoyable. we spent the day sandboarding on the dunes. it was crazy but crazy good ! tom just stole the show. he was boarding down the dunes like a true pro while cats and myself spent more time tumbling over or slidding on our ass ! by the end of the day every bone in our body was aching not just from all the tumbles and falls down the dunes but also because we had to climb up the dune every time to slide down ... no ski lifts around here !!! it was another amazing day.

so that night we had to move on again, reluctantly and i mean reluctanctly. none of us wanted to leave san pedro but we had to move on. an overnight bus brought us to the very north west of chile where on day 5 we arrived just after sunrise. we jumped in a taxi which brought us over the border of chile & into peru where we are now ... another huge adventure awaits us over the next few weeks and of course with the arrival of my dad on thursday it makes it all the more special.

as always we hope you enjoy the photo album tom created ....

and just so you all know we are starting to freak out as this trip is approaching the final stages. cathy will fly home with my dad in 3 and a half weeks, tom & myself will fly home 6 weeks later ... scary sh*t going back to that thing called work !!! anyway for now we´ll keep on making the most of this incredible year :)

STEAK & WINE ... THE HEART OF ARGENTINA !!!

on july 16th we left chile for argentina. it was to be a simple bus journey that would see us travel 4 hours further south into chile and then cross into argentina, another 4 hour bus journey would bring us exactly where we wanted to go, the wonderful town of bariloche. this town is known as the urban center of the argentine lake district with a beauty to match that of queenstown in new zealand.

bariloche

anyway it was to take us longer to get there than we thought. just after we went through the usual immigration procedures we crossed into the country and the snow began to fall. within minutes we were in this amazing white winter wilderness. the ground was just a blanket of snow and all the trees were so white. amazed by the sight we were failing to recognise that cars all around us were struggling through this thick snow. we thought there was no way a bus that did this journey on a daily basis would be unprepared for a situation like this in northern patagonia but how wrong were we !! while trying to trudge up a hill the bus began to skid and then just ground to a halt. it took over 2 and a half hours for the driver to attach the snow chains. all the locals just sat on the bus waiting while all the backpackers ran about taking photos and having snow ball fights !!!

we arrived safely that night in bariloche. while the bus was stopped we got chatting to chris & kate, a couple from england who are also travelling the world. also in our company was another cathy, a girl from england who lives in sydney and is also on her travels. we actually met cathy back in santiago and have been keeping in touch along the way. all we did was talk about how good the steak in argentina was supposed to be so as soon as we were about to part ways we decided the next night we would go out and test it out. all i can say is it was more than delicious, absolutely mouth watering. i thought tom was gona explode when he saw the meat feast arriving at our table !! the 6 of us indulged in bread and dips before tucking into the finest largest steak you could every imagine ! beer and wine to wash it down of course !! the total bil for the 6 of us came to just ten pound each, you would not believe it ... no steak at home will ever be the same again !!

the next day we thought we gota do something to burn off a few calories so we got ourselves on a local bus that took us to the starting point of cerro campanario. this was a hike recommended by the national geographic. they actually stated the view point came in at number 7 in the top ten most stunning world views. and i have to say it was pretty special when we got to the top, it was spectacular. from every angle you had stunning sights, snow capped mountains and lakes filled with little islands. we didn´t walk down, they had a ski lift in place so we took the easy option, it might sound like we cheated a little but it would have been worse if we had of got the ski life up !! as soon as we got to the town center we were lured into argentinian indulgence again. on the street was this local guy cooking up ´churasco´ which is the finest steak sandwich ever seen. the queue was huge and with a price tag of 8 pesos a piece (just over a pound each) we couldn´t refuse, it was so worth the wait !!

so that evening we met up with chris, kate & cathy again but this time just for a bit of a chat. all equipped with our bottles of water we thought we´d have a quiet night and arrange to meet at 8am the following morning to go on a bike ride around bariloche. but little did we know there is no such thing as a quiet night in argentina. well not in our hostel anyway. we were staying in pudu hostel, a hostel run by john & emma, an irish couple. they are the soundest pair you would ever meet. the craic in the hostel just reflected their huge personalities. so when we arrived back for our quiet night with bottles of water in hand we were met by a huge bunch of partygoers rocking the hostel. with our bedroom being located right next to the bar the only choice we had was to join them !! the night ended shortly before sunrise and much to our delight it was snowing heavily so ther bike trip was cancelled ....

cathy had a great day the next day. she met some gap year students, namely becca and ed who were 18. with cathy fast approaching 16 she finally got to hang out with people similiar to her age. they spent their day making snowmen and drinking hot chocolate while we nursed our sore heads. it was only a matter of time before she had them singing & dancing to westlife too, her favourite band in the world !!!!

the night that followed was another fun filled night organised by emma & john. the title of the night ´all you can eat and drink - steak & wine´ ! for 8 euro each you were seated in the hostel and served by the staff for the night. the meal that lasted several hours consisted of 5 rounds of steak. fit to burst emma thought their was only one solution to bring everybody back to life ... shots from the snowboard !! basically she had a snowboard with extra large shot glasses attached to it which she filled with whiskey, gin or vodka ... the photos say it all ... and don´t worry mam cathy´s shot glass only had water in it !!

mendoza

the next morning we walked to the bus station and got a ticket for a bus out of bariloche, way too much partying so it was time to leave .. not without grabbing another steak sandwich first thou ! our next destination was mendoza. so off we went on the road once again, 18 hours on the overnight bus but once again no complaints as the level of bus comfrt here is really high. we all slept pretty well that night and arrived just in time for breakfast at our hostel in mendoza. we were all devastated to learn that included in our price of 5 euro each a night was not just free breakfast but unlimited free wine ! could you believe it, the dude who owned the hostel had a share in a local vineyard. we had a lazy day that day and when evening came sampled ´just one glass´ of wine. in the hostel there is a kitchen with a big kitchen table next to which lies his big 5 litre bottles of wine. every backpacker strikes up the same conversation in the kitchen ... the conversation always started by the mention of free wine and before long there is neither an empty seat at the table or an empty glass in anyones hand & when he said unlimited he meant unlimited !!

the next day we choose the hot springs which as always is so relaxing. we spent the whole afternoon there and when we got back to the hostel ran through the kitchen to avoid engaging in any red wine conversation. the following day we were doing the ´must do´ mendoza wine tour on bike ! seriously because of all the unexpected partying in the previous week we were going to knock this on the head but then decided seen as we would only be in mendoza once we would give it a shot. we caught a local bus to the vineyards the next moring along with a few other people we had met in the hostel. we arrived at mr hugo´s, it is he who rents out the bikes. he gave us the map of the area with all the vineyards highlighted. we began in the wine museum which was pretty cool, we got a tour and some good info followed by a free tasting. after here the 7 of us cycled to the next vineyard a few km´s away. lets just say we got very comfortable and ordered more than one bottle of wine ! we then ventured a little further to another highly recommended vineyard. after having our fair share of wine here it was time to go. we had to be back at mr hugo´s by 18:30 to hand in the bikes. looking a little shaky on our wheels the lady in charge suggested we leave the bikes with her and get the bus as opposed to cycling the 8km´s back. she said she could arrange to have the bikes picked up. but determined to finish where we started we insisted on cycling back. as a result of this we ended up being escorted back by the local police, it was the funniest cycle ever. i´m pretty sure the wine must be free flowing down the mountains in argentina because when we got back mr hugo insisted we have a few bottles of wine for free !! we ended up back on the 45 min bus journey and into our hostel, yes the hostel with free wine !! it was just a lot of chatting and laughing which turned into a bit of an irish sing song. it must have been 3am when we were belting out songs such as ´ i´ll tell my ma when i go home´ & ´the star of the county down´ .... as we were mid way through ´wild rover´ the man that owned the hostel appeared in front of us shouting something like ´the only time there is a problem with unlimited free wine in my hostel is when irish people stay here´ !!!!!!!!!!!!!

salta

we left mendoza the next day & took a 20 hour bus journey further north to salta. thankfully there was no free wine on the bus & our hostel in salta does not offer free wine !! we did however hit the jackpot again. we booked our hostel on line for the usual 5 euro a night with free breakfast. when we got to the hostel they said there was a mistake with our booking and the price was 10 euro each a night for our triple room. tom talked them around to giving it to us for the origional price & then we learned the price also included dinner. so for 5 euro a night we´ve had a room, breakfast & dinner for 3 nights ......... we have had an easy couple of days here in salta. yesterday we did however climb the hill here in salta . you could get a cable car but we thought we´d do the walk. 1070 steps to the top. all good fun !!!!

oh and yeah did i mention argentina has some of the best chocolate in the world ...... !!!

tom is putting together the photo album as i write which should be up by this evening.

so tomorrow we leave salta and will cross the andes and back into the northern part of chile, san pedro de atacama to be exact ...........

and it my mam´s birthday today, while i won´t reveal her age all i will say is this day next year we´ll have a great day when she turns 60 !!

here´s hoping you have a lovely day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAM, LOVE YOU LOADS, LOVE TOM LYNN & CATS XXXXXX

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FINLEY!!

Wishing little Finley a big happy 4th birthday from the 3 of us here in Argentina.

We´ll have to see you blow out your candles once again when we get home.

Big hugs lots of love,

Uncle Tom, Lynn & Cats x x x

TEN DAYS IN CHILE

so i can´t start this blog on chile without mentioning the last day in new zealand which was just full of drama. we headed to the wicked campers depot to leave back the campervan, our 4th and final campervan of the trip might i add. the policy there was that you get the van empty, you leave it back empty. we took this statement to the extremes though and ran out of fuel about 3km´s from the fecking place with only 20 mins until closing. just minor drama !! considering we had to get to the airport to check in for our chile bound flight an hour later. we were upside down to say the least. although it could have been worse because when we ran out of fuel we were just coming over the top of the hill in the town of onehunga. as the van conked tom just willed it to move a few extra feet which it did which of course meant it could roll all the way down the hill by itself getting us that vital kilometer closer. as it rolled down this busy street i dreaded the end result but thankfully tom very subtly manovered it into a free parking space. me and cathy were in stiches laughing. to add to our little-big situation the heavens opened and the rain just poured down.

team tlc mastered a plan. tom being the driver would stay with the van. i would run as fast as my legs could carry me to the nearest fuel station to get some fuel. cats would get to the wicked campers depot and pretend she had arranged to meet us & act really surprised that we weren´t there yet. then she would simply say ´they are definitely on the way´!!

so i found a petrol station and completely out of breath was trying to ask the guy who worked there for a ´thing of fuel´ because i had run out of fuel & the car was way back up the town & i needed it real quick !! he was just looking at me really blankly but with a stroke of luck there happened to be an irish guy standing behind me in the queue who overheard me & treated the situation like a very normal situstion in ireland (girls running out of fuel that is !!). he got things in order for me and even drove me back to the van. we filled the van and arrived back at wicked campers depot with not even seconds to spare.

just before we got out of the van tom asked me for the wallet back which of course he had given to me to get fuel. the wallet with our 6 bank cards and money which tom takes care of all the time. (i lost an envelope with 300$ on the third day of trip and tom banned me from minding anything to do with money since !!) i checked all my pockets and realised i didn´t have it. i glanced at tom who was watching me with steam coming out of his ears !! i thought ´oh shit tom is going to kill me´ !!! i kept checking my pockets and then turned to tom and said ´i don´t have it´ tom then in a slightly raised tone of voice asks ´what the f*** could you have done with the wallet, you only had it for 20 mins, i knew i shouldn´t have given it to you .....´ to which i replied ´maybe i left it in the guy´s car who gave me a lift´ to which tom replied ´*** **** ***** **** *** **** *****´ !!!! i got out of the van feeling a little sick in the pit of my stomach. then the woman came to check the van and there it was the wallet in the sink in the mini kitchen at the back. i think in the panic when i arrived back i must have flung it into the back of the van. thankfully all was well and our relationship survived phew !!!!!!!!!

so we boarded our flight to chile at 16:00 on sat 6th june. after 11 hours in the air during which we crossed the date line for the first time in our lives we landed in santiago. the time was 11:20 sat 6th june. it´s just plain weird how you can fly for 11 hours and end up arriving in your destination earlier than you left the last country. we were absolutely shattered when we landed to say the least and with absolutely no research done on south america we felt a wee bit lost. we rambled around the airport & eventually found a local bus that would bring us to the city. when we arrived there we set off on foot in search of a decent hostel. we choose the area of barrio brasil as it is described as a bohemian enclave close to the city centre. we booked into a hostel and spent the next 3 nights there. the first night we made the mistake of entering the table quiz in the hostel. really we should have just had an early night but after a power nap that afternoon we felt well up for it. as soon as tom realised that we were back in the land of $1 beers (and thats for a litre of beer) our time at the quiz was extended greatly & we didn´t leave till the early hours. we didn´t win the quiz either !!!!


when we woke the next day we weren´t sure what planet we were on. when we pulled ourselves together and got our bearings we ended up having a great few days hanging out in the city of santiago. it was during these days that we deeply regreted ignoring the advice given to us by other travellers which was ´learn some spanish even if just a little´ ! we were cringing as we were trying to converse with these lovely friendly people who just kept blurting out realms of spanish as us 3 looked on in a massive state of confusion ! but as i said despite this we did really enjoy our time in santiago especially our jaunt up to cerro san cristobal, a hill 880m tall that offers really impressive views of the city. at the summit there is a huge white statue of the virgin mary. of course us 2 catholic girls took time out to say a prayer. i´m pretty sure i caught tom out of the corner of my eye blessing himself & no he didn´t go up in flames !!!!

so now being campervanless for the first time in almost 3 months it was time to take an overnight bus out of santiago. the 11 hour journey took us south to a beautiful little town called pucon. having experienced some of the worst bus journeys of our lives on this trip we were pleasantly surprised with the extreme comfort of the buses here. it made the overnight journey very tolerable. we reached pucon at about 10am. this town with a population of 21,000 is the home of volcan villarrica which is one of chile and south americas most active ones. it´s stands at 2847m high under which lies a shimmering lake. it stands out like a big huffing puffing cone & with it´s snow capped peak is stunning.

we immediatley & without hesitation thought we gota climb it ! luckily when we got to our hostel there was all the info we needed to do this & we got ourselves booked in the very next day for this big hike. this is a guided hike because aswell as the snow that covers the top 700 metres there is huge patches of ice which means you must wear snow boots and attach crampons that are used for glacier hikes. unfortunatley when we woke up at 6am the next morning to prepare for the hike we were to learn the weather conditions were not suitable. we had no choice but to go back to bed, the smile on cathys face was enormous !!! but trust me none of us had a problem with that especially since we were staying in the most comfortable and homely hostel of our travels so far. it was just so cozy. a beautiful wooden house with maximum comfort & views of farm animals & the volcano from our bedroom window. also as the hostel was so cheap we were able to get a room for just the 3 of us which we much prefer.

so the follwing morning we peeled ourselves out of the bed again at 6am. just like the morning before we had our breakfast, prepared our lunch and waited for the word from the guide. just before 7 we got the green light to go as the weather conditions were perfect. we all climbed into the jeep and drove 18km´s to the base camp of the volcano. from there we had the long and challenging climb to the top. the first couple of hours were not too bad. we were climbing on rough terrain with lots of loose rock but all in all it was fine. we then reached the ice and all attachd our crampons to the boots. we then watched as the guide showed us the safety procedures required if you happen to slip on the ice. with the pic in his hand he was demonstrating and at the same time the colour was draining out of all our faces !!! anyway we set off up across the ice at a pretty slow pace. when we reached the 2500m we were starting to feel the pain, by now cathy was really struggling. i was so proud of her though as she just refused to give up. there was 4 of us in the group and 2 guides. one of the guides was so nice, he stayed right with cathy all the way holding her hand and giving her that extra push and then at the end he pulled her to the front of the group to make sure she was the first one on the summit ... although i think she was just acting so she would get to hold his hand !!!!!!!!

the views of the lakes and other volcano´s from the top was like something out of a movie. you could see the hole in the middle which was constantly smoking, the smell so bad it was choking us all & it was freezing up there. all i kept thinking was ´imagine one of us fell in´ !!!! anyway thankfully we didn´t !!!! so after about a half an hour we started our descent. this obviously was the best part & we managed to reach the bottom in less then 2 hours after our 6 hour climb up. going down was like skiing without the skis. when we got back to the hostel cathy walked in and fell onto the sofa, she was out cold for 5 hours ... then she had a hot chocolate and went up to bed and slept for another 12 hours !!

we were supposed to leave pucon the next day but with the arrival of a few irish people and our new buddy chris from germany the craic was great and we stayed on. we had such a funny weekend and are still here today !! we have though booked our bus ticket for tomorow to bariloche which lies in northern patagonia, argentina. tom just can´t wait for his first of many argentinian steaks ...

we plan to spend the next 10 days in argentina and will then cross back into chile as our time here is incomplete. of course we will be returning to argentina again in july.

hope you enjoy the latest photos, big hugs tlc xxx

New and improved journey map!...

...just coz I had a bit of time on me hands :)
We've almost come full circle!!!! Hit image to enlarge or smaller image in right column for googlemap...

FOUR WEEKS IN NEW ZEALAND

a quick word from me

so here we are in auckland on the eve of our last day in spectacular new zealand. our campervan will be handed back tomorrow just before we head to the airport for our chile bound flight, probably just aswell seen as we have already received 3 traffic violations & got a warning from a very angry policeman !!

much to our delight tom's mam (anne or mrs p as we call her) and my parents (nana & gaga is the name cathy created for them as a young baby & by which we all now call them) joined us out here & we had an absolute blast. they all kindly contributed to the blog so i'll hand over now to tom who is going to fill you in on week one, mrs p will then give you her account of week 2 which will be followed by nana & gaga describing week 3. cathy will then complete this blog update telling you about week 4 ....

week 1 - by tom

we decided to cover new zealand in a similiar method to oz - by way of a campervan ! of course we rented another 'wicked' version, this time a 'wiwi experience' - kind of a play on the new zealand tour bus 'kiwi experience', but a complete p*** take. we had 9 days to play with before mrs p flew in, so we decided to head out of christchurch to explore. one of the first things we noticed was the weather ... it rained ... and rained ... and bloody RAINED. in fact, it pretty much rained for 6 and a half days of the 9 !! yeah, thats worse then home. it was also quite a bit colder here aswell, after the nice climate in oz. lets just say we were glad of the extra quilts and had no trouble sleeping in the campervan. so not to let the weather stop us, we drove out to banks peninsula. first night we spent at governors bay followed by a picturesque morning walk by the waters edge. we then headed to quaint akaroa for lunch, before heading a few hours south to oamaru, the home of penny farthings. this town marked number 1 of our 2 campsite saving or tight travellers tips ! parking up & sleeping in mc donalds car park !! in all seriousness in our experience these establishments are one of the most secure sites for a campervan with enclosed large car parks, plenty of tables to play cards, heating, cheap food & toilets on hand 24 hour ... what more can a traveller need ! there is also a rumour that i washed my hair in the toilets but i'm neither confirming nor denying that i stooped to that level ;)

we continued south along the coast reaching dunedin a city of scottish heritage, (dunedin is actually the gaelic word for edinburgh), it was here where we founded number 2 of our campsite saving 'tight' travellers tips. ok so we had the overnighter covered - mc donalds car park. but how to you get showers ? the swimming baths (swimming pools to the irish) of course !! a mere 10 new zealand dollars between us provided hours of swimming pool fun. it had wave machines, diving boards, slides, jacuzi pools & yes showers ! and a whole lot cheaper than your bog standard campsite ... perfect so now we had the budget campervan living in operation once again, all we needed was for it to stop raining ! what the hell, we headed off in search of baldwin street in dunedin. this street is in the guinness book of records for being the worlds steepest residential street. in the pouring rain we climbed to the top laughing at how it is actually impossible to stand straight. i wanted to have a go at driving the wicked campervan up to the top but the girls forcefully talked me out of it. probably a wise choice based on the condition & insurance policy excess should my attempt fail.it was very steep ! following this we discovered that dunedin also had a cadburys chocolate factory so cathy was not leaving town until we had checked it out. we were all made wear big hair nets, they even gave me one for my beard ! check out lynn in the photos as she forgot she was wearing one at the end & we let her walk on around with it !!!! it proved a worthy visit which included a tour, loads of free choccies & a giant chocloate fountain. i was like augustus gloop.

we left dunedin & reached balcutha & gathered some tourist info before driving out to nugget point. a beautiful rugged coastline with rock formations known as 'nuggets'. extreme blustery winds came from the antarctic added to the intensity of the point. i have to mention here that cathy had no rain jacket so lynny handed over hers as only a mother would do & ended up having to wear a quantas oversize plastic luggage bag - very funny pics ! incidently all this weather was due to antarctic blasts that new zealand experiences from time to time due to it's southerly position which we were hoping would blast off some where else. we continued our 9 day exploration down towards invercargill. on route we stopped off at the most southerly point of new zealand, slope point. we walked out to the point which was identified by a signpost marker, and looked out to the ocean. it was weird knowing that the next piece of land you would reach if you headed out from here would be the antarctic. invercargill claims to be the worlds 'most southern city'. i was impressed by this statement ... until i read a similiar statement about a city in southern chile. i guess it doesn't really matter, all i know is that we were a long way from home. invercargill didn't have much to offer to be honest, we've since been questioned as to why we actually went there by a few kiwi's. it did however fit the campers criteria of a swimming baths, mc donalds car park & large domino's pizza on special offer !! next morning we began to head back north though not back tracking on the road already travelled. we reached te anau after stopping briefly at mc crackens rest (the photos says it all, you could park your bike!!) & at the world famous sausage stop much to my delight. te anau is a pretty little town by a lake. it is generally the hub town linked to milford sound. as the milford sound track is one way only we decided to leave it until the family visited us. just for reference that same day the clouds parted & blue skies appeared all but brief but the potential was there for later in the trip. from te anau we drove to queenstown. queenstown is where we stayed for the next 4 days solid. it is a great town stunningly set into a mountainside overlooking the lake. it has so much to offer. the centre itself is quite small but has great shops & restaurants for every thing you need. it's outdoor possibilites are immense with a range of walks & water activities on offer. it is also the extreme sports capital of the world & home to the worlds first bungy ! none of us did one ... nor plan to ... lynn did one before & said never again but cathy would given half the chance !! queenstown is also the home of 'fergburger' - mega sized burgers in all varieties & open 21 hours a day 7 days a week. the lonely planet to new zealand mentions it as a must do, suffice to say wehad one ... or 3 fergs !! they gota open one of these at home ...

so our nights were spent parked up in a public car park & our days accordingly depending on the weather, shopping & bowling when raining then walking the hills on one of the two beautiful days we got here. on that day we reached summit hill which holds stunning views looking down on queenstown & the valley below. it was well worth the climb. to be honest over the course of the first 9 days in new zealand we really started to question our decision to plan a family holiday here, not because of the lack of beauty but because of the poor weather conditions. queenstown had given us a boost as we now could see the potential however we now felt we needed a real slice of luck. we drove the lenghty journey back up to christchurch (blighted by diversions due to road closures) and promptly checked into a hostel to give us a break from the van & this gave us a chance to sort our belongings and more importantly freshen up before my mun flew in the very next day ! the next afternoon we drove to meet my mum after her monster journey from newcastle - dubai - sydney - christchurch. we were expecting her to look like, in her own words 'the wreck of hesperus', but she surprised us all by looking great & adapting to this travelling life with ease. i'll let her take over from here ...

week 2 - by mrs p

Hi bloggers it's 'mini traveller' Anne ( Tom's mum ) again reporting my adventures on the first 7 days of 2 fantastic weeks in New Zealand. My journey started on Sat 16th May from Newcastle on the first of 3 planes bound for Christchurch. This time round I got a pleasant surprise from Emirates, as my stop over in Dubai was 10 hrs I was issued with a voucher for a hotel room where i managed 4 hrs sleep - much better than a hard chair like last time! My second stop after a 14 hr flight was Sydney where I earned brownie points from Tom by washing my hair in the ladies loo there, ( a bit more upmarket from McDonalds ) ended up with a tea towel bought from a souvenir shop on my head, then stuck it under the hand dryer much to the surprise of the other occupants, but it did the job! After another 3 hr flight I arrived in Christchurch to be greeted by 3 very welcoming smiling faces......yes, more tears from me ( some things never change )

After lots of hugs I was introduced to the ' Wi Wi Experience' a campervan which was to be our home for the next 12 days. It took the mickey out of the proper Kiwi Experience coaches and had a kiwi spray painted on the side doing a wee with the inscription ' always drink upstream from the herd'. We arrived at Stonehurst - a great hostel for us travellers - Lynn had prepared lots of dips, veg and crackers but more importantly there was a bottle of Lindauer waiting for me!

Next morning we set off for Hamner Springs, the weather was improving constantly and we arrived in bright sunshine and had tuna melts on the roadside, enjoying my first taste of campervan life. These hot springs were amazing, it was freezing cold as you moved from pool to pool but it was really magical as you immersed yourself in 41 degrees of hot water with snow capped mountains surrounding you. It was that good we went back in the evening when it was floodlit and looked different again. Lynn had the great idea of running our already wet swimsuits under the hot tap before putting them on again - it worked a treat! That night we all slept in the van, a van meant for 3 people but the 4 of us squeezed in !!( within a few metres of a loo just in case ) and managed to sleep fully clothed no bother. Next morning we had a lovely walk up Conical Hill - great views over Hanmer - the autumn colous took your breath away. Still feeling active we hired one of those bikes for 4 cycling all round the village and having a real laugh. Lynn and I then treated ourselves to a facial as Cathy had one the day before and highly recommended it, whilst getting ready after it we made use of the posh showers there and smothered ourselves in the gorgeous complementary body cream. Im beginning to learn that you use anything offered while travelling! The afternoon drive to Kaikoura brought snow and rain but we arrived at a campsite where Tom pitched the tent for him and Lynn and Cathy and I slept in the van. That night Lynn made a gorgeous massaman curry - it went down a treat - reminded me of Thailand!

Next morning the sun came back and we did a great peninsular walk with yet more fantastic views, my first sight of the Pacific, couldn't believe the vivid turquoise colour of the water, my best friend Pat had told me about this but I didn't appreciate it till I actually saw it. The warden at the camp site told us where we could find lots of baby seals, after a short drive and walk through some woods we came across a waterfall and pool with dozens and dozens of gorgeous shiny black baby seals playing about - it was so lovely we stayed watching them for quite a while - totally mesmerised by their antics. The afternoon was spent wine tasting at Blenheim in the Marlborough region, never seen so many vineyards, we just had to sample lots of wines - it would have been rude not to! My favourite was the Reisling whereas Tom and Lynn are both red lovers. One place we went to had a chocolate liquor and I could see Cathy was desperate to try it. The lady poured us 4 glasses then looked at Cathy and asked if she was old enough to which Lynn replied ' she's 19 actually' then Cathy chipped in brilliantly ' no-one ever belives me'. How I didn't choke.......

That night we drove on to Nelson and slept in.........McDonalds car park!! Great facilities, sat in there playing uno and using the internet, nice and warm before retiring into our campervan for another night like sardines !! it's one way to keep warm !! Next morning dawned another lovely day where we drove to Lake Rotorua and had a great picnic by the most beautiful lake. A bottle of wine was opened, Cathy set up the ipod and after a couple of glasses found myself dancing to Amy Winehouse. It was the most lovely afternoon, we were joined by 3 black swans who were eating bread out of our hands, think they enjoyed themselves as much as we did. Later that day we drove back into Hanmer over the Lewis pass - more spectacular views. We spent that night in another caravan park but to our surprise we were the only ones in there so we brought our sleeping bags into the lounge area and spent the night on settees watching the final of American idol. Next day we drove back to Christchurch but not before another visit to the springs as it was so good, even the sulphur smell of bad eggs didn't put us off.

Another night was spent in Stonehurst, found myself really looking forward to tuna melts and Tommy's Ommys ( thats omelettes ) for supper - brill! On Saturday morning we had arranged to meet Kay and Harley ( Pat and Steve's friends who live in Christchurch ) for a starbucks. I hadn't seen them for 4 years and it was lovely to catch up with them. While Tom, Lynn and Cats went to the airport to pick up Tony and Pauline, I went to Kay and Harley's gorgeous house set in the hills about 15 mins from Christchurch. It had huge glass windows everywhere with the most stunning views. There I met Suki their little grandaughter along with son-in-law Alan, stayed for lunch and guess what - more wine! Harley dropped me back to the hostel but not before a visit to meet Kay's daughter Lucy in the health food shop where she was working.

On arriving back in the hostel I was very pleased to meet up with Tony and Pauline who I hadn't seen since the day the gang left for their travels. We had another brilliant week ahead of us but i will hand you over now to Lynn's mam and dad who will write the blog for our second week. All I can say now is I had the most fantastic time in New Zealand, im still jet lagged but wouldn't have missed it for the world. My love and thanks to Tom, Lynn, Cats, Tony and Pauline for lots of happy times and wonderful wonderful memories xxxxx

week 3 - by nana & gaga

The long awaited 19th of May finally arrived and we were soon on our 22,000km, 22hr. journey to New Zealand to meet up with our world travellers, Tom, Lynn and Cathy. Tom's mum Anne had joined them a week earlier. We stopped off in Bangkok for 4 days and enjoyed Thai food, friendlines and temperatures of 90 degrees. Soon we were on our way again to Christchurch via Sydney.We were met by the 3 travellers at Christchurch airport and they all looked fantastic after their 8 months of travels through Africa, Asia and Australia. The temperature in New Zealand was only 7 degrees which was a shock to the system after Bangkok !!

On monday we collected our camper van and started on the 7hr journey to Queenstown. The van was called 'gollum' after the little lord of the rings character so we travelled in 'wicked' convoy along side the wiwi experience. The light rain gradually cleared as we began to head south. We drove through the centre of the country stopping at lake tekapo for lunch & visiting the church of the good shepherd for nana to say a quick prayer for us all !!! New Zealand's roads were a joy to drive on with little traffic and beautiful scenery.

We had an overnight in Queenstown where we all wined & dined in speights ale house, the food was superb & went down a treat especially for the 3 long term travellers who had not seen the inside of a restaurant like this since they left home !! The next morning we continued our journey to Te Anau where we booked an afternoon cruise on Milford Sound. When we arrived at Milford Sound we all quickly changed plans. We managed to get a deal for an overnight boat trip in the fiord much to the delight of everyone. We set sail reaching the tasman sea for sunset watched by playfull dolphins and seals. We enjoyed a great meal on board that night washed down with a few bottles of red wine. The next morning was time for kayaking on Milford Sound before returning to dry land. The scenery was something else.

That evening we returned to Queenstown this time stopping along the Milford track to appreciate the scenery. The most spectacular sights were definitely by lake gunn where the relections on the water were perfect mirror images. That night we stayed in a hostel again where we sampled some of the regular food the 3normally have, eggs & beans with toast ! The next morning (Thurs) Lynn and myself hiked up to the top of Queenstown Hill while Tom and Girls!! hit the shops. A mighty Fergburger lunch followed and then we were on our way again to Franz Josef via Lake Wanaka. After supper we went out in search of glow worms and found them shining brightly.

The plan for friday was a guided climb of the Franz Josef glacier but unfortunately the weather turned bad with lots of mist and rain after our 5 days of blue skies & sunshine. We decided to walk to the glacier ourselves and were rewarded with fantastic views, we even crossed over the safety barrier to get our hands on the ice & take the opportunity to get a few worthwhile snaps.

It was then time for another long journey back to Christchurch over Arthur's Pass and a celebratory meal in Winnie Bagoes. The most enjoyable trip was fast coming to an end. Anne was returning home on saturday and Tom,Lynn and Cathy were leaving for Aukland early on Sunday. Our own flight to Sydney was also on sunday. We had a fantastic time and travelled over 1,100 miles through New Zealand's south island, while sampling campervan life although nana did refuse to sleep in the van ! For this week we all just travelled in the vans but upgraded to backpackers hostels at night ...

Thanks to tlc for organising all the trips which gave us so much fun and enjoyment. New Zealand is a wonderful country with magical scenery, good food and friendly people. We are now in Sydney for a week before starting the long journey back to Ireland via Hong Kong for a few days. Safe travels to Tom, Lynn and Cathy and will see you all in 6 weeks in South America. Love Nana & Gaga X

week 4 - by cats

aftr wavin anne off we settled in2 the hostel 4 our last nite wit nana & gaga. everything just went so fast it was hard to believe it was almost time to say gudbye. but not b4 anothr good nite. mommy prepared the food and tom poured the wine ... then gaga startd buyin jugs of beer! this resulted in a very late nite. wen gaga and tom decided to go to bed at about 3am they were hilarious. gaga was jumpin up and down on the top bunk of the bed, while a terrified nana was down below. im not sure why but tom and gaga were on the top bunks looking at each other laughing hysterically all the while going "vroom vroom" !?!?! weird.... anyways my poor nana was distraught thinking the bed was goin to collapse on top of her.

only 3hours later the alarms were going off and it was time to say goodbye. we boarded our flight to auckland amid very tight security. not one person asked us for id or passports and tom got through with his pen knife in his hand luggage!!!! the previous day, tom and mommy were tryin to book a hostel in auckland for our first 2nites and came across an amazing deal in the hilton hotel. i could hardly believe that we were goin to a 5star hotel after lik forever in the camervan! soas we stepped outside after we got our bags in the airport we immediately noticed a difference in temperature! it was warm!! yey it was a plesant shock....so anyway we needed to get in2 the city. and being to cheap to get a shuttle or taxi we got the public bus that dropped us near enough to the hotel... so we walked the rest of the way. as we walked in a door panting under the weight of our smelly packpacks i think the receptionist thought we were lost!! haha when we confirmed that we had a reservation he just laughed and said... oh ive never seen any guests come through that back door before! we spent 2days in the luxury room which over looked the harbour... only leaving to walk to the foodland supermarket to buy cheese and bread for our dinner. thankfully breakfast was free :O so we ate as much as possible... the tv helped us with our mission to spend as much time in the room as possible! the fab bathroom was a mega treat 2!

we reluctantly checked out after forcing ourselves not to book the rest of the week there and mommy & tom headed off to get our 4th and final wicked campervan...i waited with the bags in the lobby and when they pulled up in the "gorilla" camper the bellboy helped us take the bags to the van...theres no better feeling than driving out of a 5star hotel in a shitty campervan...haha i wish!!! lol yea so then instead of hitting the road we buzzed around the city for the day and settled in the van for the night on the roadside!

and the next day i was pretty excited because we were heading to ohope where my friend dara now lives. i havnt seen her since she left ireland almost 3years ago. the 4hours drive was lovely but i really just wanted to get there. they have such a beautiful home in such a beautiful surrounding and were so welcoming to us all. the next day i was lucky enough to get to go to school for the day! it was a cool experience but totally different to school that im used to! it was so relaxed and fun! a great day... atfer school dara and her friends showed me around the town of whakatane...it didnt take to long! lol while all this was going on tom and mommy were taken on a 10km hike(id prefer school to that any day! ) with daras parents murray and jean. they said that the views and beaches were stunning. mommy really enjoyed the craic with jean as she is also from our hometown dundalk, while murray(who is from NZ) and tom compared notes on how crazy the irish really are. after 2nites of homely bliss we returned to auckland where we are now...so that means that 2nite, our final nite, is in the camervan. fun! and tomorrow... santiago, chile......
=] x

a final word from me

so there you have it, the new zealand update. i just want to sum up by once again thanking our parents for coming all the way across the world to see us & for their kindness & generosity when they were with us. we are all officially a few kilo's heavier !!!!!!!

the final leg of our world tour begins tomorrow. i can hardly believe i am writing those words ! we will spend the rest of our time in south america. the first 3 weeks we plan to spend in chile and from there we will go to peru where my dad is going to join us again for 3 weeks which will be amazing ... we will travel through bolivia and on into argentina and end this trip of a lifetime in brazil. ah the pain of knowing it's gona end !!!

tom as always is beside me getting the photo album in order, here's hoping you enjoy this very special post & pic's - luv tlc xxx