So let the countdown begin....

10. The love affair with Tim Tams
Oh start the diet tomorrow... At tenth place it has to be said that one of the finer things to come from Australia is the Tim Tams. Beautiful choco coated biscuits with different fillings. And now for all those who love a bit of choc indulgence, the breast cancer association has teamed up with the chocolate guys and there are pink tim tams, pink kit kats, pink everything.. and it definately satisfies that "time of the month" chocolate craving.

9. Playground Etiquette .. Aunties dont have to play by the rules.
While taking my 2 year old nephew on an outing to one of Sydneys millions of playparks, we were educated on playground etiquette and how mums should and shouldnt negotiate "toy scuffles". It appears that the mums have to be very pc about letting the toys be shared around equally in the playpark. So if little Johnny with his toothless scowl, wants what your kid is playing with, you have to tell him he can have it in a moment, then let your kid have a go for another 30 seconds before handing it over. Oh no not I.. when little Johnny wanted to take the wheelie truck away from my nephew, I got down to his level, looked him in the eye, and told him to swiftly press on and find something else to play with.

8. The Castle
Anyone who hasnt seen The Castle really ought to. Its an absolute Auzzie classic that will have you in stitches with some of the chirps that get thrown out. Its about this family that live near an airport, the house they live in is really nothing special, but when the authorities try to take it away from them they kick up a stink showing up all their typically Auzzie character traits which makes for seriously humerous viewing.

7. The Irish Club
None of us quite remember how our folks used to party as by the time the party kicked off, we were all in sleeping bags in the spare room or in the back seat of the car. Going to the Irish Club with my Aunt & Uncle in Brisbane was a real window into how our folks must have partied "in their day". Drew and I were the only ones under the age of 50. Everyone was sitting around the parque tiled dance floor eating guiness pie n' chups. When the band struck up, the ballies got their groove on. Beer bellies were shaken around, party frocks where shimmied in time to the beat, sweet nothings were whispered, and serious dance moves were going down. "Blame it on the Bassenova/Bassenoba" was a huge party anthem.. and there we were thinking it was a lullaby

6. The Hawkesbury Classic
Surely deserves a mention. Its a 100km canoe race that starts at 5pm in the afternoon and goes throughout the night along the Hawkesbury River. All seconders along with the kit for the paddlers, pack red bull and coffee to keep their eyes open the whole night. Some of the stops eg. "Wisemans" are named after ex cons which were early settlers in Auz. It makes the race a little more quirky. My brother and his partner finished in style, although looked remarkably corpse like at the end of the race.

5. Whale watching in Jervis Bay from a Kayak.
Usually you have to pay a mint for these types of 'close to nature' experiences. Luckily for us, while going for a quick early morning kayak in Jervis Bay, we spotted a hump back whale mum and her calf. It was really peaceful following them around - at a safe distance - while they graced the water. Truly special.

4. Rollerblading / Rock climbing along the river in Brisbane
The one thing that my husband lets me be better at.. is roller blading. He saw his backside about 4 times before he reached the door, then traded his blades in for a scooter (a scooter with a basket in front, but dont tell him I told you)
But he did manage to pull a bit of rank and scaled some of the cliffs that line Brisbanes river. Rock climbing is not something that I see us doing "as a couple"

3. Learning to Surf in Byron Bay
Without much success, I tried my luck with surfing. The only thing that seemed to pop to the surface was the board and without a whole lot of grace I was pounded by the waves until I raised the flag and called it a day. Respect to those who can do it. Its hard!

2. Winning the World Cup
The reason that this features as #2 and not #1 is that you dont get the hype that comes with featuring in a final, and all the pomp and ceremony that comes with winning. At 4am all we got to see was the game and a quick commentary afterwards. When that was all over, the next programme was on as the bitter Auzzies didnt really want to dwell too much on it. But I must say we wore smug looks and springbok jerseys all day. Hopefully the hype hasnt died down by the time we get back.. we can savour the tail end of it!!

1. The Great Barrier Reef
This was absolutely an unforgettable experience. We went out to the reef from Airley Beach. Passing the Whitsundays on either side of us we arrived at our home for the night, a pontoon in the middle of the ocean and turquoise heaven it was. We snorkelled and dived to our hearts content taking in sights of manta rays, turtles, reef sharks, groupers and loads of travelli. We went in a submarine and checked out he reef close up, and at night we watched the bigger fish feeding from an underwater viewing chamber.. and when that was all over we watched the sun go down as the calm waters lapped against edges of the pontoon. A little piece of heaven.

From there my husband left for SA for 4 days on his own and the trouper came back with a job.. So tired, but happy, we boarded our flight for Singapore.

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The sunscorched Bondi beach

View from Sydney harbour national park

The famous Sydney opera house

AND THATS JUST SYDNEY.... much more to come... I would never deprive you all of Dee's rollerblading pics in Brisbane!!!

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You see, rugby is not just a sport in New Zealand its a religion and passionate does not even begin to describe the kiwis feelings towards the great game of rugby. We were lucky enough to be in Auckland in the lead up to the big occasion - the rugby world cup 2007 and be a part of the excitement and expectation. Auckland's main street had massive clocks counting down the seconds to the start of the tournament - the people all so friendly and chatty and excited for what was surely theirs for the taking - I hope that didn't change too drastically after the quarter final playoffs -we were outta there by then!

Anyway, back onto the weather... In any other country our excitement would've been well and truly drowned. Even when it seemed destined to be a great sunny day, the clouds were looming and would without forewarning suddenly engulf us and and we would find ourselves fighting the on-off drizzle again - we could've just been in a bad 3 week spell possibly???

Nevertheless you have to hand it to the kiwis for their outdoor positive friendly attitudes. People are out and about making the most of it all, running, cycling, tramping, paddling, rafting, jumping out of planes - you name it they will be doing it - forget about complaining about the weather - there's no time. It seems the kiwis motto is "There's no such thing as wrong weather - just wrong clothes".

I guess some of their "crazy" zest for life attitude rubbed off on Dee and I and we felt almost compelled to get involved and be part of the infectuous vibe - Without knowing it we were swimming with dolphins, jumping out of aeroplanes, rafting down waterfalls, hiking, tramping, dune boarding and just exploring some of the most beautiful countryside on offer.

They say a Picture tells a story of a thousand words - and with views like this who can blame the kiwis for not paying much attention to the clouds above them...

A beautiful sunset near lake Wanaka with NZ's most popular inhabitants.
(apparently sheep outnumber humans 10 to 1 in NZ)

Sunset over Lake Wanaka, just be-a-utiful

Dee getting up close and personal with the iced walls of Frans Josepph Glacier

The view up along one of the glacial walls at Franz Joseph - something out of this world!

The serene beauty of Abel Tasman National Park

A murky green sulphur pool in Rotorua - looks like my old digs pool!

Hot Sulphur pools - Rotorua

Shew!! 1 times successful jump out of aeroplane at 12000ft! Tick!

The beauty of Ha Hei beach on the picturesque corromandel peninsula

Cathedral cove - Corromandel peninsula

The beauty of Cathedrals cove - corromandel peninsula

The endless 90 mile beach

Dune riding on the dunes of the 90 mile beach

Tasman sea meets Pacific ocean

Cape Reinga

Mucking around on another beautiful beach up in the northland

Hole in the rock - Bay of islands

Our dolphin friends - bay of islands

Whangarei Heads coastline

Auckland skyline

Rafting down waterfalls!

Caving in Waipu caves

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So when the giant Maori skipper of "Dolphin Adventures" offered us to jump in and have a swim with these critters, I was only too keen. The fact that the water was about 5 degrees did not phase me, and neither was the fact that we had to get changed into wetsuits in front of the entire boat. But hey, whats a bit of bum cheek and boobin flashing going to harm anyone??

The Dolphins were swimming madly in and around the boat, this was going to be my Disney moment. Irish mate April and I waddled to the side of the boat in our luminous yellow flippers, goggles and snorkles, and in we leapt reeling from the cold of the water.

They say that you have to interact with the Dolphins if you want them to play with you and it is amazing how this reduces people to their lowest level. People were making noises that sounded like a dying cow, some were letting out high pitched squeeks, some were clapping, some were flapping their flippers around and others were just choking and hyperventilating from the salt water.

Drew stayed behind as chief "Dolphin-Pointer-Outer-From-Birds-Eye-View". And kept shouting "they're behind you, they're infront of you, they are underneath you, swim left, swim right" It felt a little bit ludicrous and after a short while and a lot of energy the dolphins seemed to disappear.

So with the waves splashing salt water and hair into eyes, we made a very unglamourous exit shivering, coughing and spluttering, and started making our way home.

Next thing a 2m dorsal fin appears on the horizon, and skipper, starts skipping and getting excited about killer whales lurking about in the sea. He then excitedly tells us that Dolphin is the food of choice for this big guys which is possibly why they disappeared.

Lucky the sheer lack of grace in the water made it easy for the Orcas to see which was which on the menu and we all got off unscathed.

So double whammy for us. Whales and Dolphins in the same viewing.

And with that, we headed back to our Campervan for another night of 2-minute noodles under the stars.

* Couple of extra pics of the 90 mile beach, our campervan, hole in the rock, larking about on the beach

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One generally is fulled with nothing but romantic ideas when thinking of horse riding along the beach - 2 newly weds, alone, galloping along a beautiful stretch of untouched pristine coastline...

This is clearly not the case when one signs up to go horseriding with Bryan - the village psycho, who comes across from the outset as being a few chocolates short of a chocolate box and disturbingly a bit too attached to his horses!

Bryan lives in a caravan in a paddock with his 4 horses looking out at the beautiful entrance to the abel tasman national park and its coastline - but he intends to move very soon due to the fact that he wants to settle high up on a hill somewhere due to the imminent threat of a flood. Also he is highly pissed off with how society screws every last cent out of everyone and charges people for electricity and water usage - he wants to build himself a well.

I tell him I am an engineer - which goes down like a wet fart. He then proceeds to tell us how his beautiful horses will only play up when they can sense if someone doesnt know what they are doing. Enter novice riders Dee and Drew... I can see my horse hates me already and I haven't even gotten on him yet. Dee is looking like she wants to run for the hills.

Nevertheless we get a brief 1 minute speel about how to ride these precious horses interspersed with plenty of rantings about government and corruption and the end of the world stuff. Charming! I think he mentioned somewhere in there George Bush but I am not concentrating on him now as I am merely trying to send happy thoughts to my horse who looks ready to bolt at any second.

We manage to get on our horses without falling and off we trot - luckily Dee's and my horse are quite used to just following Bryans horse so we dont have to do anything - except hold on and act like we know what the hell we are doing. The kicker to our romantic ride is that Dee's horse hates my horse even more than my horse hates me - so we are separated by at least 20m at all times - very romantic! Any infringement on this causes both horses to rear up and buck madly - which is great news for us as we have no clue how to control or hold on to our horses.

My horse luckily for me fancies Bryans horse and sticks to him like glue, so I get to have a 1hr lecture on how screwed up the world is and how armageddon is coming (Nostradamos predicted it after all) - all the while my horse is continually thrashing his head up and down covering me in spit! Bryan seems unphased by this and by the fact that Dee is doing her own thing 20 odd metres behind us.

I tell you romance doesnt get any better. The hour lesson seems to drag on for days and at the end of it all we scuffle off our horses , thank crazy Bryan for his lovely horses and scintilating commentary and bolt off as quickly as possible to our campervan, aches and pains all over from trying to sit correctly on the horse without having a clue how to do so.

"Hurry up love - we r leaving NOW!" as we speed off as quickly as possible in our clapped out combi - all too keen to get the hell outta there - which is a pity as it was a really beautiful neck of the woods - as shown in the photo below.

Hint to fellow travellers - GO HIKING IN ABEL TASMAN! Far more enjoyable - unless you know how to ride skittish horses that is...

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Tired to the core, we made sure our places in the front of the taxi queue were well retained and hairy eyeballed anyone who looked like they may "accidentally" step in front of us.

Barriloche is a town which specialises in chocolate making... It is made of Apex wooden ski chalet's, set on a lake that reflects the snowcapped Andes lying behind it. Sounds terrible hey ;-)

But a trip is not a trip unless you have brilliant company..

For Sale: Dan & April (Answer to O Keefe or O Gorman, depending on who your asking). Quality Irish couple who love a pint and a laugh.. brilliant fun for all types of backpacking trips, please enquire within for price list.

It was a brilliant arrangement. Each night someone would cook, we would drink loads of red wine, play cards, speak rot and solve the worlds problems.

And the skiing was brilliant too, We were lucky to catch the last good snowfall of the season. Laura and Dan, two Americans on tour with us were demons down the runs and left us chasing them as they whizzed down any slope type. I guess you have to grow up on the slopes to have that kind of grace as a skier. No intense snow ploughs for those two!

And then there was the bar called mute. Its set at the base of the ski slopes in Barriloche. One would mistake it for the den of Apre Ski. It has a "no ugly chicks can work here" policy and as such only Argentinas next top models seem to serve you beer.

No problem at all for our male counterparts who purposefully placed their glasses across the table so that she would have to lean over to pick them up, they asked for one too many beers, jaws dropped to the floor, and waited for their next pint, panting with the anticipation of her return. Pathetic I tell ya.

Its all good times and good fun, and at the end of the day, its all about the laugh.
And so back to Santiago on a loong loong bus journey.

We had our last "Once's / Elevenses" with Liz and with that we boarded our plane to Auckland.

What a journey.

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As we came through the border between Bolivia and Chile we sighed a massive sigh of relief as the dirt roads turned to tar.

At last a country where, in comparison to Bolivia, there seems to be a sense of law and order.

Our first few nights were spent in San Pedro de Atacama. Right up north, it was a right little treat for travellers coming in from Bolivia having done the Salar de Uyuni.

Lots of cute little restaurants, some with open roofs where they would light a fire at night, and you can sit around it on cushions drinking red wine until your head starts nodding and you mooch your way home.

Its amazing how you crave creature comforts when you have been travelling for a long time. Tea, toast, toilets that flush and hot water seem like 5 star luxury after spending time without them.

We were lucky to stay with some mates when we arrived in Santiago. They were amazing to us and so generous with letting us use their home as a base while we gallavanted north and south of Chile.

We lurked around Santiago for a few days, went to Pablo Nerudo´s house who is a famous Chilean poet who won a Nobel Prize for literature. His house is one of the funkiest you will ever see. Lots of trinkets which he collected from his journeys around the world, its a great place to just spend an hour checking out all the junk in his trunk!

We also tried our hand at a bit of wine tasting at one of the more well known wine estates in Chile called Concho y Torro. After a separate wine tasting session with Liz and Felipe we reckon we are quite pro and can come up with all kinds of wino talk that makes us sound like experts. Not quite!

After a short break in the US for my sisters wedding we arrived back in Santiago, and went to a gorgeous little fishing villiage called Horcón. The guidebooks dont rate this place very much, but all the better as it was completely off the gringo trail and sold the best seafood empanadas in South America.

La Serena was another gem. We were lucky with the weather, and hired bikes and took off into the sunset. One beach picnic and a bottle of wine later we tried to fumble our way back to the main village only to have Drews pedal fall off his bike. An interesting style of cycling when you only have one pedal.

Star gazing in Vicuña was another highlight. We got to look through these kick ass telescopes in a observatory which was very high tec!, I have never seen the milky way so clearly pointed out and also got to see Jupitor, different types of star clusters, and Scorpio which was pretty mean!

Bike rides through the vineyards of Pisco Elqui, checking out the quirky coloured houses of Valparaiso, hiking through the Andes, getting panoramic view of Santiago from the top of San Cristobel, watching the local fishermen sell fresh fish at a fishmarket in Valdivia and throw the scraps to the sea lions that come up out of the lake, Red wine, great steak, great seafood!! Have you booked your flight yet?

This has been one of the most surreal countries, and the best part has been that our trip has been a little different to the average gringo. Because we stayed with Liz and her Felipe, we got to hang out with Felipe´s Chilean family. Very funny Spanish misprounciations which end up being massively insulting but we have had some serious belly clutching laughs which is always good.

So we wrap up this quirky little continent with one week left to go skiing in Barriloche Argentina will be the cherry on the top of what has been the most kick ass trip through South America.

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When a stray dog takes its chances and chooses to lie down in the middle of a main road to take a nap, its a sign that La Paz and its inhabitants are not your average city slickers.

3 months into our marriage, my husband, otherwise known as the Minister of Finance.. had recently updated the travel budget and announced that our days of clean sheets, warm showers and decent food were over.

And so into Hostal Gloria we walked, signed up to the room on the 3rd floor conveniently located next to a heaving disco by night and overlooking the unofficial black market by day. Aah peace and tranquility!

And oxygen deficiency seemed to be a common theme running through our experience in Bolivia. It seems to make people a little loopy to say the least.

If it wasnt the stray dog taking a nap in the middle of the road it was the village lunatic who went round telling people he had just got out of prison and needed some money to see him through the next few days.

We signed up to cycle "The Worlds Most Dangerous Rd". It goes from La Paz to Coroico and is a single lane dirt road with a sheer 500m cliff drop to one side of it.

Its claimed many a victim. Politicians running for government have been known to deposit their opposition over the side of this cliff, busses have overturned killing all their passengers, and cyclists admiring the view have lost control of their bikes and high tailed it off the edge.

Perhaps it was the little 94% alcohol toast to Pachamama (Mother Earth) at the start of the ride that had the gods on our side, but to be truthful, if you are cautious about the speed that you go, you will most likely arrive alive at the bottom. That said, there are some sections of it which are a little hairy, and a moment of lost concentration would add you to the roads list of victims.

I guess the scariest part of ride is not on the way down, but rather the trip back. Having already reached for the oxygen mask once that day we found ourselves with sweaty palms, gripping the seats, closing our eyes and attempting to think happy thoughts as the tour combi weaved in and out of traffic, overtook on blind rises, took corners on two wheels and narrowly missed people walking across the street.

The thing about Bolivian drivers is that they dont get upset with each other when they cut each other off. Its all just a hoot and a wave and we all move on .. heartrate and blood pressure all still in tact.

Upon arriving back into the "loving" arms of our hostel, we spent the next week lying in bed and hugging the toilet. One drop of Bolivias water (even on your toothbrush) will bring the hardest man to his knees. Lets just say it was altitude sickness at its worst. When Drew turns down food, and opts for herbal tea, you know the man is at an all time low.

But the mood quickly took an upward turn as we headed out of La Paz and south to Uyuni to start our 3 day tour of the Salt Flats.

We stayed in a Salt hotel. Literally all made of salt, Salt chairs, salt tables, salt floors, salt walls.. get the picture? It was one of the coldest nights I have ever experienced..we put every bit of clothing in our backpack on before going to bed. And with that, high fived each other, climbed into bed and said goodnight to the other 4 people sharing our dorm with us. Honeymoon sure has its little ironies some days!

It has to be said that the Salar de Uyuni was photographic wonderland. Train graveyards, pristine white salt flats, green lakes, blue lakes, red lakes (yep, when the sun shines on certain types of algae it can make the lake look red), pink flamingoes, a desert crossing and nights spent drinking red wine next to a bonfire with a sky full of more stars than we will ever see, add to that a couple of cacti and a woolly llama and you got yourself a pretty good travel recipe.

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It´s been a month since our last entry and soo much has happened. We´ve been predominently in and around Peru, racing down daunting sand dunes, trekking in amongst snow capped mountains, visiting awesome sites like Macchu Picchu and Ballestas islands (poor mans Gallapagos islands) and Lake Titicaca.

Where do we start???

How would we have known Peru had so much diversity - when we thought of Peru we obviously thought Macchu Picchu, Nazca lines and lake titicaca on the way to Bolivia - which we saw along with so much more.

We started in Lima, which was pretty uninspiring due to a constant grey mist which hangs over the city for 8 months of the year. This gives London a run for its money! needless to say we high tailed it outta there and booked onto a tour going South to see the famous Nazca lines.

We ended up having such a wicked time - not only did we fly over the famous nazca lines, which still have Dee and I second guessing why they were made and for what reason (we obviously have plenty of theories but we´ll save it for when we bring out our bestselling book - Mysteries of South America sorted by D&D!), but we also managed to go on a dessert safari, sand board down some bloody impressive dunes, visit the Ballestas islands (poor mans gallapogas) to see sea lions, penguins, beautiful rock formations and caves, birds and plenty of bird shit!

With the wind in our sails we headed off to the legendary little backpacker town of Cusco to try get to see the famous Inca city of macchu picchu. Blind luck struck us again as we arrived during 1 of the biggest festivals of the year (Inti Raymi - festival of the sun), so things were happening and the town was a buzz. We managed to book into some sweet accommodation at a convent! This meant lovely clean rooms, tranquil atmosphere and best of all hot water - although I do confess 1 of the old nuns took a fancy to me and made me sit down next to her on the bench and hold her hand while she muttered sweet nothings in my ear.

Alright, moving on - we managed to book onto an alternative inca trail called Salkantay trail as the main renowned inca trail was fully booked (thanks Clive and Jayne!). While we were waiting for our start date we found the worlds highest irish pub and the rest was a bit of a blur!

The Salkantay trail was awesome - 4 days/80km of hectic hiking through ravines and valleys, past glacial mountains and through rainforests, ending up on the last night at the little backpacker town of Aguas Calientes at the foot of Macchu Picchu mountain. This allowed us to wake up before the crack of dawn to hike up the steepest path in the world to the Macchu Picchu ruins 500m above. Once our eyes had stopped watering, we could reel our calves again and breathing had resumed to normality we realised that we were infact shrouded in a thick cloud so couldn´t see the legendary sunrise over macchu picchu. Still not thinking clearly from over exertion we decided to take the opportunity to climb the nearby mountain overlooking Macchu Picchu called Winay Waynah. This path made the first 1 seem like childs play! The good news is somewhere in our unconscious state while crawling up the mountain it started clearing and the most beautiful birds eyeview of Macchu Picchu was revealed below us. We got our picture postcard of Macchu Picchu and rolled back into Aguas Calientes.

After Macchu Picchu we headed to lake titicaca where we visited these communities that live on these floating islands made out of reeds. Bad neighbourly relations make for some pretty interesting times as if you have a disagreement you just unhook your island from the anchor point and float downwind to some other spot. Better still, we were told, if you dislike your fellow islanders you can always just cut the island in half and quite litterally go your separate ways! (Ok - maybe we were being spun a story there but a good one nonetheless!)

We stayed with a local family for a night on another 1 of lake titcaca´s natural islands (Amantineen) which was quite a humbling experience and a highlight of our trip.

Took some great photos with our not so great disposable camera and headed onward with our dodgy stomachs into Bolivia...
not the best place in the world to arrive with an already dodgy stomach!!!

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The taxi driver looked in his review mirror, glaring at us as our stifled giggles grew into loud snorts when Celine Dion finished the last few notes of her song.

Its just that¨The worlds greatest Divas¨CD seemed inappropriate for someone whose driving skills were similar to someone off Prison Break. Perhaps it was part of his anger therapy.

Buckled over from the weight of our ever growing backpacks and from the laughter, it was obvious for Ilea to spot the gringos in the crowd.

Ileia is the sister of Ilce from Rio, whose friend the paster, is staying in Annes mums house in Welkom!! Complicated ??? Try explaining that in Portuguese!!

But what a little ripper she was. She welcomed us into her home, and soon enough ushered us out of the door to meet some of her mates who could speak English.

After sampling the local Moqueco (fish stew) we found ourselves invited to the beach the next day.. got to love it when life takes care of itself.

Guarapari is an awesome little coastal village just south of Vitoria, and at long last we got some sun. The beach was amazing, but what a place to people watch.

To Drews delight, the girls hardly wear a thing!! One ¨Post It¨ on the front, one on the back, and one over each boobin seemed to be all the kit that was required. Tie together with a piece of string and Bobs your uncle!! And the girls really work it!! Even with all their shapes and sizes.. its brilliant!

We made our way to a mates grandparents house where we were blown over and given the biggest family welcome ever!!

You have to love Brazilian familys.. 6 kids on this farm raised singlehandedly by their mum (after the dad passed away at a young age). As we arrived, the brothers / husbands were all mucking in doing alterations to the old farm house, while the sisters / wives looked on drinking wine and chirping them.

We caused such a commotion, that it took about 20 minutes for them to figure out our names... they couldnt seem to get it. So they settled for Andreas and Joanna. Fine by us!!

Just as we thought all would settle down, the 10 year old hyperactive cousin arrived flung down her bicycle and before I knew it she had me by the hand dragging me to the kitchen to help make Brigadero - a little Brazilian sweety treat made from condensed milk.

The little girl was like a tasmanian devil and when she wasnt on Drews shoulders or getting a piggy back from me, she was hanging upside down from a Mango Tree, or hurdling over broken farm gates.. pretty intense

Ilea is a pretty religeous girlie, so she took us to her church with her, and roped people out of the congregation to translate the songs and prayers, everything!! It was awesome.

The most special part was when we were invited to a ¨cell group¨the night before we left and they all sang to us and prayed for us.. It was so emotional!! But very very special.

We met such increadible people and were super sad to be leaving Vitoria, but our flight to Peru was booked and so we closed the Brazilian chapter of the tour and climbed onto the bus.

* The picture is Naiara (whose grannys house we went to), me in the middle and Ileia on the right. This was at Guarapari where it was a public holiday and locals were decorating the streets making motifs out of sand!!

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There have been a few occasions on tour so far when music has lifted the mood with an uncannily relevant song popping up just at the right moment...

No more was this the case than on our ferry trip across to Ilha Grande.

Just hours after our near gun point robbery at our hostel in Rio, we had made our way through the mad rush of Rios bustling streets and had managed to get on a bus headed for Angro Dos Reis.

We were now sitting aboard a modest fishing boat in another world. The calm waters either side of us, the sun setting over the rickety old port town of Angro Dos Reis behind us, the imposing shadow of Ilha Grande on the horizon in front of us and blaring over the speakers on board Bob Marley ¨Dont worry about a thing ... cause every little thing is gonna be alright¨
My how life can change in the space of a few hours!!!

Truly relaxed or should I say chilled to da core maahn, we arrived at Ilha Grande under the cover of darkness and booked into our hostel excited for the next few days.

Unfortunately for the first time on tour, weather decided to play its ugly hand and we woke up to rain. Not to be set back by this, we ventured into the surrounding hillside on a trail headed up and over the mountain behind us to the surfing beaches on the other side. Regardless of the fact that the mountain was covered in a shroud of mist.

We only managed half an hour up the mountain before the rain really turned torrential and soaked to the bone we turned back, and scurried back to the safety of our room, looking like drowned rats.

Rain persisted for the next few days, and being a small island with no vehicles or roads, a few restaurants and very over priced internet, there wasnt too much to do.

When the rain finally lifted. We very excitedly signed up to a boat trip around part of the island. Although a little bit cold, we managed to get in a bit of snorkeling and explored some of the remoter parts of the island which (as you can see in the pic) included a little school which the kids get to by boat every day.

We would have loved to have stayed as the island had loads more to explore, but the rest of Brazil beckoned.

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We were told by one of Jax´s friends that when you drive into Rio de Janeiro you will be totally gobsmacked by the amazing views and beautiful surroundings.

I was gobsmacked yes. Drew told me to close my snoring gob, stop drooling, and buck up because we had missed the grand entrance into Rio that we had been promised. And then said.. no you do not look like an angel when you sleep.

We clambered onto the first bus in Rio that said Copacabana. What they dont tell you is that every bus is like an obstacle course. You have 15 seconds to get on the bus, pass the turnstiles, shot put your backpack over the turnstile, pay your fair and find a seat before the bus takes off and sends you flying.

D&D 0 - Bus 1

Although we missed our first sighting and views of the city, we made up for it, and spent the next few days exploring all viewpoints, hiking up sugarloaf mountain, walking along the Copacabana beach and not to forget training up Corcovado to view the city and take our shots of the infamous Christ the Redeemer.

But as with most trips the most rewarding parts are those that not all the tourists do. We caught a rickety train into one of the suburbs called Santa Tereza. The train is really old fashioned and only goes about 20 kph. But whats great is that the Brazilians throw health and safety to the wind.

The trick with the train, is that you have to jump on and off while it is still moving. The locals run, grab on to the railing, pole vault on to the train, then lean back holding on to the railing and high five all their chommies cheering along the side of the railway.

Rio seems to dance to the beat of its own drum. Thanks to Annes mum we managed to link up with a friend of a friend, Ilce who showed us around Rio and tried to explain the ¨Brazilian Way¨.

¨In Brazil, a red light is only a suggestion¨ was one of her chirps.

¨Do not eat food from the local street vendors¨ was another suggestion - too late for that one...

¨Rio is a dangerous city¨ - pff, Drew and I laugh in the face of danger we are from South Africa.

Do they do smash and grabs here?? We asked.. No. Well then I guess we are safe.

After a night out at the local Samba club, we went to draw money.
We came back to find that our hostel, 30 minutes earlier had had an armed robbery.

We had missed it by moments. We swallowed our bravado, saddled up our backpacs and skulked out of Rio to our next destination. Not so cock sure of ourselves after all.

Rio (Hio) De Janeiro remains copyright of the author doubledrtw, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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This part of the trip has certainly been the highlight so far.

We ended up on a tour of the Iguazu falls on the Brazlian side with 3 local Brazilians, one of which was dressed in his suit pant and flashy leather shoes, obviously didnt read the fineprint describing the hiking, kayaking and cycling aspects of the tour.

The area has experienced soo much rainfall in the past few weeks that it was pretty much in flood - this meant in parts on our ¨hike/biking¨we had to get into kayaks and paddle along the pathways. The highlight was when the 1 brazilian chap dressed in his best decided it wasnt too deep and started wading through the water shouting at us in Portuguese expletives to follow him. After seeing him waist deep we opted for the kayak instead!

It was quite an ünplanned adventure¨shall we say and by the time we finished in the surrounding forrests we were quite psyched for the falls... and they didn`t let us down.

Being pretty much in flood - they were absolutely awe inspiring... Our photos do not do the falls any justice - the power of the water raging around us, the deafening roar, the thick spray drenching us and causing rainbows all around us - it was all quite amazing. We snapped up soo many photos as at every turn there was another amazing view of the falls and the size and immensity of them. Apparently (from those that have been!) Niagra is a piss in the park in comparison - to put it bluntly!

Our last experience was getting into a boat and roaring right up to the falls ramping over the rapids, feeling like we were about to capsize at any moment, and actually being dunked under some of the falls. It was a soaking, freezing and yet highly energising experience.

Priceless remains copyright of the author doubledrtw, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Uruguay is the wall flower of South America.

Before we headed off on our trip we didnt know much about it. The good thing is that always leaves one open to be pleasantly surprised.

The locals seem to be more chilled and its capital Montevideo, seems far more relaxed in comparison to Buenos Aires.

The old city seems to have a certain romance about it, the buildings are derilect old colonial, the streets are cobbled and these are interspersed with a couple of quaint little plazas where the locals sit on benches sipping their mate (strange bitter tasting tea drunk out of a small pot through a straw!!! Dont ask questions - just accept it.)

One night, we accidently fell into this gorgeous little pub just to the side of the town theatre. Its quite famous judging from the photos of various celebs on the wall and seemed to have all the actors and actresses from the local playhouse pour in for a drink after the show. We had a drink there, that they only serve there. Begins with an N.. obviously quite a good drink, as we cant remember the name.

A three hour bus trip from there and we found ourselves in Punte Del Este. A completely different vibe - the Monte Carlo of South America. The whose who all seem to holiday there in the summer and locals slog hard for one month of the year to sit on their porches enjoying the view for the rest of the year.

The prices fluctuate accordingly, and whats more is that it seems to get better the more you leave the centre of the city.

We stayed at Manantiales just outside Punte, which can only be described as Ballito 20 years ago. A couple of beach houses, a supermarket, dirt roads, stray dogs and untapped beaches - best one being Montoya which hopefully wont get too exploited in years to come.

Unfortunately, being off season, this awesome little spot turned out to be a one horse town, so we chilled for a few days and headed off to the lure of world renowned Iguazu Falls...

Uruguay remains copyright of the author doubledrtw, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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According to our Spanish book of many tricks ¨Playa¨is not someone who goes out and scores loads of birds but rather, it means beach.

So bearing this in mind, we jumped on the first bus that said Playa.. something or other, paid our 15 pesos and high fived each other with yet another successful navigational feat.

30 minutes into the journey, celebrations were cut short when the bus clearly took a wrong turn and headed east towards the slums of Montevideo in Uruguay.

Not to worry, according to our London experience, ALL busses turn around and come back at some point, and ALL beaches with exception of those along the UK coastline are gorgeous.

Two hours, and a dropped lip later, we disembarked our bus, with the view of the main city across the bay, the sun setting behind the burnt out cars and shanty shacks of Montevideo¨s distant outskirts.

With that another bus came round the corner, and Drew leapt on delighted to be seen to be heading in the right direction. Before he could say ¨Ekskusimar, ipi lo bus del la Montevideo Por Favor asseblief¨ the bus driver took off, and Drew not knowing the word for stop had to do a tuck and roll from the moving vehicle itself.

Lucky the bus came to a screetching halt before flattening Drews head.
And with me holding back the hysteria we boarded the next bus headed back to starting point A in silence, with dropped lip in tow. Mission not accomplished...

Ground Hog Day

We woke up the next morning determined to find some beach. Boarded a bus that we were positive was heading in the right direction. Until again, on the other side of slumville we asked the bus driver the all important äre we nearly there yet¨.. he cracked up. Asked us if we had seen the series LOST, and proceeded to call Drew - Jack from theron out. A real thigh slapper for him and all his chums who he relayed the story to.

We eventually got to our destination, and being completely over blinking busses, we walked 20 kms back to the hostel along some pretty impressive coastline to avoid a repeat performance.

Getting Playa´d - Ground Hog Day remains copyright of the author doubledrtw, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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See the itinerary of this trip, and details about each destination.

Hola Amigos

Thats about as far as our spanish reached in the first few days of Buenos Aires.

Our world tour has kicked off in style and at a manic pace in Buenos Aires.

We arrived armed with our 15 KG backpacks and a pocket sized Spanish phrasebook ready to conquer the gauchos and city slickers that roamed the streets of Buenos Aires.

After a 16 hour flight I was making eyes at the taxi driver when Drew a.k.a World Tour Minister of Finance marched me straight past and on to a local bus. Why spend $US45 when you can spend 1 peso 50 for a two hour scenic ride into the heart of BA. Take care of the pennies and the pounds take care of themselves apparently.

Our time in BA improved after that and we booked into a Spanish school and started lessons that same afternoon. Our classmates seemed to breath a sigh of relief when the two class idiots from Sudafrica arrived late and spluttering excuses which sounded more like kitchen zulu than spanish.

The sales lady at the reception did a sterling job
(promotion well overdue) as we swiftly signed up for a 4 day tango course in the afternoons aswell.

Between spanish classes in am and tango classes in pm and uncomprehendable homework we were quite tied up but we did manage to get out and see two tango shows, a local soccer match -La Boca Juniors vs Arsenal (Not that Arsenal - a local side) and have one or two fantastic Argentinian steaks.

The lowlight was without a doubt sharing a dorm with two Israeli backpackers who farted and smoked the room into a mangy hotbox. (I think one of them grabbed my hand during the night.. but Drew seems to think that that was part of my dream) - Lucky for us we swiftly moved into what we thought was the ritz penthouse but then again, anything would look seem like luxury in comparison.

We managed to find the spot where Evita sang ¨dont cry for me argentina¨ .. I do wonder if she had shared a room with some dodgys before she squawked that tune out

Ciao and Adios

Hope work is treating you all well

D&D

Buenos Aires remains copyright of the author doubledrtw, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Enough of that - Home was absolutely fantastic, as can be expected on a 2 month holiday, and i can barely remember any day that we haven't woken up to blue skies and sunshine (well except the past 2 days in London!). Long lazy days on the beach, surfs on the south coast, hikes in the berg, plenty of golf, bulls parties in underberg meandering in the midlands, hens nights in durbs, plenty of quality time with the folks and mates, a couple weddings stretching from Cape Town to durbs to midlands (4 to be precise) ... oh and ofcourse our fantastic wedding thrown in the middle of it all. All in all its been a great time and we are so excited for the rest of the year and our travels.

So Buenos Aires tonight - we have just realised that we booked our first nights accomodation for Sat night only to realise we will be on our 16hr flight to Buenos! Strike one!
Watch this space - we will keep you all updated on our weird and wonderful adventures as the action unfolds but until then... a point to ponder... can you cook a spatchcock chicken on a braai in its plastic bag?

It all starts now remains copyright of the author doubledrtw, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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