Santiago

Arrived in Santiago nearly four hours before we left Auckland. No wonder we've been shattered. Not helped by the macho guys who held an all-night party down the hotel hall on our first night here. I was about to confront them at about 4am when fortunately the night porter got there first. Unfortunately, the night porter decided we needed an early morning alarm call today - maybe the fiesta guys were getting their own back.

Pleasantly surprised by Santiago thus far. It's a good city to walk, and with the snow-capped Andes in the background it's far more handsome than I suspected. Our room - on the 20th floor gives great views across the city as does the pool on the roof (as you can see).



We've decided to base ourselves here for the week with day trips to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar - and maybe the wine country.

Plenty to do in Santiago - walk the parks, stroll through the modern art galleries - and quite a bit of politics too with a fair amount of grafart around the city, the Salvador Allende solidarity art collections and the national museum. The Palacio de la Moneda - the site of the bloody 1973 coup - is also housing an exhibition of Frida and Diego; so too birds with one stone. On top of that Madonna's here. Flew in the day before us - and doing a couple of nights at the National Stadium.

Strange then that we walked about half an hour last night before we could find a decent bar to drink in. City centre streets crammed with night strollers, but nobody going anywhere apparently. Eventually found a place quite close to the hotel - and discovered that a large whisky means half a pint. Probably explains why J is still sleeping at 3pm.

Big thanks

We're now at Auckland airport waiting for the flight to Santiago and just enough time to write a huge thanks to all those who made our stay in NZ so special:
Paula, Stevie and the little athlete Josie (Hel - she's taking after you) and the smile muffin or chorizo del amore: marvellous to see Kay and Tom there too before we left.Big thanks to Rita and Gareth in Christchurch - you made us so welcome and not to mention fab dinners; Rebecca&Tony and children,Matthew and Meredith - great to meet you.

And big thanks to Darrin and Andrea - who made time somehow - for looking after us so well.

Six weeks flew by in NZ much too quickly - thanks and love to you all.

M&J

The beautiful South

We leave NZ today - time flew here too fast. Here's just a few images of the south island. For me it was magical. Lynda told us that after her round the world trip including Latin America, Asia and China - NZ was here favourite place. I can see why.

Mount Cook - the day we drove from Queenstown to Christchurch. Lucky in the wet west to have such a clear day. Only that morning a rescue helicopter saved a Japanese mountaineer trapped for six days in atrocious weather near the top. His climbing companion died - the 69th victim of this beautiful mountain.




Images from the fjord at Milford Sound









Queenstown: the adventure capital of the adventure playground of the world. I loved it - maybe not forever, but I could live there. First pic shows an image of Queenstown from the spot where I chickened out of bungy jumping...



Queenstown: the 'Remarkable' mountain as seen from the park


Walter Peak, Queenstown - midway through the journey on the Twin Screw Steamer Earnslaw.


Sailing on the huge glacial lake at queenstown - Amanda if you read this, NZ south island is a paradise for you.



Akaro - near Christchurch - where we went swimming with dolphins. Little ones - Hector dolphins that live only in NZ. Spent about 40 mins in the water with them. We were told to sing through our snorkels to attract their attention. Fields of Anfield Road worked a treat. J tried 'My Hen laid a Haddock' (aka Welsh Nat anthem) but found that flower of Scotland worked better.

Reader, I nearly died...

The Helihike, Franz Joseph Glacier, Nov 28

The way J tells it, I tried to kill her. I forced her to walk two hours over blue ice half way up the glacier. The problem, J reckons, is that her legs are too short, and the deep crevasses in the perfect blue ice a tad too wide.

You see the picture unfolding.

Most of the day was perfect. It rains about 6 metres a year here - but this day was glorious powder blue cloudless sky. True,health and safety reminded me of Asia, as the blonde YOP's pre-flight safety talk was obliterated by the whirring of the helicopter blades. True, our guide on the ice was Pearl, a 20-something Kiwi, kitted out in shorts and T-shirt, springing across the ice like a mountain goat.

It started well. We got used to the crampons. We slithered on our backs down ice slides and posed with our picks in ice caves.


Up we went, higher and higher. The great ice blocks around us became mountainous, the crevasses deeper and wider. The ice is 30-50 metres deep in places; the blue ice the most dense compacted over the years, sucking in all light except blue.



The moment came when our guide Pearl tried to squeeze us through a tiny gap in an ice wall to a descent of some 2/3 metres. The ice was too hard to carve out steps with her axe and she screwed in a rope to the ice wall. I was right behind and slithered into a tiny ice crack, just managing to haul myself down the rope.

Behind me I heard a noise, and as I turned there was J hurtling towards us. she managed in mid air to throw away her ice pick and somehow pivot so that she landed with a sickening thud on her side. For a heart-stopping moment she said nothing - telling me later she was running through the check-list of limbs for breakages. Amazingly nothing was broken. J's years of hockey goalkeeping saved her. As she felt herself falling towards Pearl and me she had the presence of mind to chuck the icepick away from us and twist in the air so that she did not hit the ice arms and face first.




Shaken and bruised, but somehow nothing worse.


Although that has not stopped her telling all & sundry that I tried to kill her...again.

A bit of chocolate, a nothing-else-for-it mentality and she was back on her feet, as unbelievably Pearl tried to hack her way still higher up the ice mountain.

In total the ice walk was just over two hours but from that point on it felt like an age before we finally made it back to the ice helipad. To all mountaineers and ice climbers, even bigger respect. As J put it - it's very real out there. It's not Disney.
Pic: still smiling at the end of the glacier walk...



PS: anonymous commented on one of our recent blogs:
'your public is impressed'
A little later anonymous posted again:
'sorry that should read 'unimpressed'...

Whoever you are, keep posting

Napier and chocolate

Catch up time again. We're now in the South Island - and it is magical and more dice-with-death experience, this time on the Franz Joseph glacier. But before that back to the North and our sojourn with Paula.

P & Stevie are unbelievably busy - not just with the pocket dynamos but with work, re-doing the entire garden, garage sales, the gym and pilates, not to mention cooking for us - and Stevie was the kitchen star. His chicken curry and Paula's fab lemon cakes rate honour in dispatches.

We all on impulse bundled everyone and everything up in our cars for a few days in Napier, a city recreated in Art Deco after the 1931 earthquake and located in the Hawkes Bay wine region. Despite the ducktruck through the harbour, the kiwi in the aquarium and the kiddie heaven of SplashPlanet, my favourite was definitely lunch at the Mission vinyard, beautiful converted seminary set on a hill where we ate home-reared lamb and drank a Mission reserve Pinot Noir to die for. Not to mention the dark chocolate coated orange and cinnamon ice cream pud for Paula and me (K - avert your eyes)






The little chocolate-coated love muffin seemed to enjoy his desert too:


Have to rush now. J, waiting for our trip to a glacial lake, has dumped coats on the table and declared 'no pressure'! More follows later...

Before I go Big love and beams to Chris.

Quintessential New Zealand, eh?

We took a float plane (flying boat to me) from the mighty volcanic Lake Taupo for a tour of the distant mountains (all live volanoes - the manificent ski mountain Ruapehu with its blue crater lake, Mount Tongairo and the classic volcano shape of Ngaurihoe). Beautiful morning - clear blue sky and hot sunshine. The best weather we've had yet - stopped Jenks from shivering and whispering 'Fiji'

Here's some pix:








Deep joy to be using Paula and Stevie's computer - pics upload in virtually seconds compared to the 20 mins/half hour of Asia. We off with Paula to a 'ladies who lunch do' shortly, Josie and Thomas having been safely deposited as fairies and elves at the kindie. double deep joy.

Corn plaster update: J's come out with a monstrous cold sore. My pulled stomach muscle (an injury from clambering aboard the dive boat) finally better. Paula's looking askance at my prickly legs though. Heat's out here now - must take care. Love to all.

NZ and best 5

A few folk have noticed we haven't updated the blog regularly. Oops - but admit it's nice to be missed.

We're in NZ now. Trekked over to the beautiful Coromandel coast for a couple of days and hooked up with Darrin and Andrea (LSE folks will remember Darrin - old colleague and friend from LSE now at Waikato. spent a few great days with them - especially Saturday. Jenks, Andrea and I went to Rotorua and geo-thermal wonderland, while Darrin slow-roasted a leg of lamb ready for our return, lit a fire and we all watched the NZ election results. V. quiet elction here - v. little prop posters and whatnot on the streets. Sorry to see Helen go -and D&A worried that new National govt may be hard right. There's always Australia....

of course Obama THE big news of the week. Time difference as large as it is we heard the news on NZ radio as we drove down from the Coromandel. Wierd - and doubtless we would have had a big event had we been in the UK. No doubting the interest here though - Obama all over the papers. We knew it was a big deal - but quite how big has only just dawned on me

the blog update top five favourite places visited...

in no order
Ha Long Bay
Fiji - for its fantastic diving, sunshine, beaches and that it had an edge - fascinating and not so simple country - the 'Fiji paradise' tourism stuff is 'bula'-shit. But it was beautiful endlessly interesting and the diving the best we'd seen in 20 years, magnficent and diverse coral.

Jenks scared the wits out of a poor reef shark on one dive, the terrified animal took one look at her, spun round and high tailed out in a cloud of dust. Marvellous. A couple of days later, our heroine of the high seas was chased out of own gentle harbour by a hungry 12 inch trumpet fish. She swears it was a monstrous eel. Uh hum.

Here's a couple of pix of Fiji - Nananu-I-Ra - where we stayed for a week and dived with Papoo, who knows the reefs like the back of his hand.





Sydney Memo from Sydney:
Please send funds sufficient for flat and modest boat. We are not leaving.

Memo from Fiji:

Please amend previous memo.Stop. Please send sufficient funds for modest Sydney accommodation, small boat plus expenses for yearly time-out in Fiji

The Mekong - that's Laos -from the amazing journey to Luang Prabang to the finish in Vientienne - the Mekong was unmissable.

We hunted around for the fifth - Siem Reap and the amazing wats, Hanoi and its constant buzz of motor bikes and street life and the best restaurant we've found on our travels (Green angerine) Byron Bay, Hunter Valley - but we decided on Hervey Bay - not just because we had a cool relaxing week in a self-contained apartment with a sunset balacony over the sea - and therefore easy smoking opportunities - but also because of the awesome whale watching and the spectacular wildlife shows treated to us just walking along the shore - the thousands of bats hanging out in woods and the show-off pelicans.

memo to Steff: we're completely miserable.