Jul 2008

New Zealand welcomed us not only with the same language we speak, after 4 months of half understanding Spanish and Portuguese, but also, as it turns out, the weather. It's winter in this southerly country so we were well used to the dull grey drizzle that greeted us as we left the airport in Auckland. In fact, to anyone from the U.K New Zealand will feel and look oddly familiar and also strangely different. I can see why so many Brits move to the far end of the earth to live here. It's a strange mix of Hampshire's green rolling hills and Scotland's highlands in places with a few palm trees, massive ferns, weird animals, jungle and wild seas thrown in for good measure.
We picked up our small camper which was painted with trout on the side(?) and made our way to the North of the North Island. Although the winter months are in full swing the weather in the North Island was mild and sunny. We made the most of it by visiting beaches and just milling about. New Zealand was turning out to be one of the easiest places to travel around by car. The road rules almost the same. The road s are free from traffic and the people very friendly. It appears to have it all. The only problem we are having with this beautiful country is it's bloody expensive...for us anyway. Fuel and food is draining our bank accounts and our daily budgets have been thrown out the window. Apart from that and the two storms that battered the North Island to it's knees, New Zealand is near perfect for those who want the no-hassle easy travelling.

We've travelled right up to the northerly-most tip and explored both the North and South islands. We've had close up encounters with fearless seals, who smell very strongly of foxes wee; been pulled out of mud on a logging track by a giant logging truck (we ended up on this track, totally unsuitable for our trout van by accident - we took a wrong turn and didn't notice); watched the All Blacks beating Australia in rugby in the local pub; been lost in a giant 3D maze in puzzle world; seen glow worms in a flooded cave, where incidently the cast of Corrie have visited; admired and walked in miles and miles of amazing scenery; had a snowball fight in the snow; Dan is now the proud owner of a branded circle to mark his travels (photos to follow); eaten limpets cooked on a hot stone (Dan saw Ray Mears do it), even cracked the stone it got so hot; route planned to take in all the swimming pool where we can go in and have a shower, as don't have to stop on campsites in NZ; have experienced tropical heat after 2 1/2 months of being very, very cold, by driving round with teh heating up full in t-shirts; and driven nearly 5000km so far...

We fly to Papau New Guinea to try our hand at speaking Pigeon on Sunday, where our experiences will be poles apart from NZ and South America...

After Puerto Madryn we headed to Bariloche, a town resembling Switzerland (we even had a cheese fondue here) in the Argentinian lake district. There was no snow (or rather not the right snow for skiing) so the town was full of frustrated skiiers walking round town in their full ski suits - presumably it also meant they were ready to go straight away if it did start snowing, rather than waste time returning to the hotel to change.

We spent a full day walking round the surrounding areas in the lakes and up mountains/large hills. This was the reason we´d come here rather than the skiing, (although we did spend a lot of time riding ski lifts for non-skiiers in a town with no snow!)
The scenery around Bariloche was amazing.

We then went to Mendoza, where our main reason for visiting was wine tours. We hired bikes and spent the day cycling to wineries and sampling the wines, some of which were really nice. So that we could spend more on the wine we economised and hired the cheapest bikes going. This meant that my brakes worked, but only just, and Dan had a cheese grater for a saddle - after a few glasses of wine this didn´t seem too important though.

We were also in Mendoza for independence day, which they celebrated by erecting a huge stage in the park and eating a lot of meat - Dan obviously joined in this celebration with gusto.

From Mendoza we brought our bus tickets to Santiago and climed aboard expecting a 7 hour journey as described. The route was really interesting scenery and when we turned a corner from being in the desert, we were suddenly up in the Andes surrounded by snowy mountains. The bus climbed it´s way up to the boarder crossing which was at the top of a particuarly snowy mountain, and then the blizzard started. We sat outside the immgration house, which looked like an aircraft hanger with the snow getting harder and harder and after 2 hours were allowed to drive in.
Getting our passports stamped and bags searched was relatively straight forward and we jumped back onto the bus only to spend the next 6 hours sat on it as the snow was too heavy. We were being to think we´d be saving on a nights accommodation and would be spending the night on the bus when the driver announced we were off - the whole bus cheered as after so long sat without the engine running it was bloody freezing - they even brought us round a coffee and wagonwheel to celebrate our departure. The engine started and we drove out of the hanger into the snow, then stopped just outside... we stayed there for another 2 hours while the snow ploughs finished clearing the winding roads and daylight well and truely succumed to darkness.

By this time it was dark and although it had long since stopped snowing, there was about 2 foot of fresh snow everywhere. This didn´t put our driver off though and after fixing the snow chains to the tyres we set off following another bus, snow plough and patrol vehicles down 12km of winding, slippery, snow and ice covered roads. There were abandoned trucks all the way down and when the patrol car found a driver sleeping in one he insisted he get out and he boarded our bus. To the drivers credit he drove really well, and thankfully slowly (a rarity in South America).

We arrived into Santiago around 2am to find that the cash machines at the bus station didn´t work. Luckily we managed to find some other travellers, one of whom had some money to get us to the nearest hostel and we crawled into dorm around 3am - The most memorable and spectacular border crossing so far!

Santiago is another spectauclar city as the snowy Andes are visible surrounding the town - the downside is that these mountains also help to trap in the visible layer of smog over the city.

We fly to New Zealand tomorrow to begin our camper van adventures. Sad to be leaving South America, but excited to be heading somewhere new.