Amazing Atacama

After the small town of Pisco Elqui, we then moved onto Copiapó. A similar town to La Serena, but one which was based on mining, so was a bit more industrial too. It wasn’t the main reason for stopping here, except for it being on the main route northwards for the very efficient Chilean buses. […]

Going “Out of Town”

After the city of Valparaiso, there are not many big places to visit, as Chile starts to get more spread out. Our first stop going north was La Serena, which was the starting point of the Atacama Desert region. La Serena is a small town, about the size of Reading, and where we realised how […]

Moving North

After our start into Chile, we moved north towards, hoping for warmer climes. As it is technically winter in Chile, it can get cold at night, but is generally warm during the day. However, this was put to the test slightly when we go to Valparaiso. Valparaiso, and it’s neighbouring seaside town of Viña del […]

The Wonders of Easter Island

After a few days in Santiago we flew six hours into the Pacific to Easter Island. Known as Rapa Nui by the locals, this is a relatively small island on the edge of Polynesia, and we had arrived at the most remote airport in the world and almost 1,800 miles from the nearest other people. […]

Part Two – On to South America

So we have started the second phase of our travels. After four months running around the UK and Europe, we are geared up for travelling again. Paul has had a good result from all the doctors’ tests, so it is a good time to start again. South America holds a whole different set of places […]

End of Part One

So we have come to the end of the time in Australia, but not before we had the chance to experience Australia Day. After the road trip to Byron Bay, we got back to Sydney in time to see the fireworks from Mrs Macquarie’s Point. This was a fitting finale to eight months of travelling. […]

Outside the Metropolis

As well as spending much of our time in Sydney and Melbourne, we also rented cars and explored some of the areas beyond the cities. This proved an interesting experience in lots of ways. From Melbourne we took a car and drove one of the world’s great car journeys. The Great Ocean Road south of […]

Our Time in Sydney and Melbourne

We will be spending five weeks in Australia, rather than the expected four days. This has given us a unique opportunity to see Australia in a different light. Instead of just being tourists, we have had a chance to live in different places, and experience life like the locals. Our first area we discovered was […]

Welcome to New Zealand

What a beautiful place New Zealand is. Whilst our stay, this time, is in South Island only, it is still a great taste of the country. First some simple lessons to help understand “kiwi”. Note that “e” is pronounced “i” as in “yis” and “iggs”, whilst an “i” is pronounced “u” as in “fush and […]

Everything grinds to a halt….

Apologies for a hiatus in blogging, but everything did grind to a halt. After a few days in Thailand relaxing, we flew to Sydney for four days to catch up with friends. However, this went a bit “pear-shaped” after a chance encounter with a pharmacist. After asking a seemingly innocuous question, she pointed out that […]

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