Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Back on the road!
Happy New Year everyone and welcome back to the antics of Jo and Jane! It's been a very long time since I sat at a computer nad wrote this so forgive me if it all sounds a bit rushed - theres a lot to record but I'll try keep it short and sweet!
So we successfully got to Sydney and seems missed the heat waves as we were greeted with some cloud and rain and according to the locals wintery weather at 23 degrees! Although from the reports coming form home this was a sever heat wave compared to what you guys were getting! We were very excited to be in a home with family friends and little things like having a clean bathroom, a duvet and a fridge were very comforting. We nearly had heart failure when Bess brought us to the supermarket and we realised that there was a whole section just of hummous and you could get goat's milk, gluten free bread and protein powder ( the last 3 items were more exciting to me incase you think Jo's gone food weird too!) So about an hour later after wandering around the supermarket admiring nad oohing nad ahhing at food products we hadnt seen in over 4 months we made our way tot he checkout where we nearly had heart failure again when she told us how much it was going to cost - huge reality check - we were no longer on South America prices!
The countdown was on before Adam arrived so a trip to the beauty salon and the hairdresser was called for , way too much money and hours later I emerged form the hairdressers no longer what I would call blonde and with at least 4 inches less of hair- this was very upsetting but the man in the hairdressers told me this was the only option to save my disgraceful sun bleached, salt and chloring dried out hair. I trusted his judegemnt but the end result was not so cool. Anyway Im living with it and hoping the sun will do its work again but this time maybe not quite so much drying out!
Anyway hired a car and made my way to the airport and stood checking flight arrival boards for waht seemed like an eternity. Worried Adam would no longer like me with short brownish hair I made a sign for him on recycled A4 paper using my mini sharpie -I hoped this touch of affection would win me some favour! What seemed like forever later I saw a very white Adam appear through the doors and I ran right past the "dont go past this line" red line trying to wipe my tears of excitement at the same time as jumping up and down and trying to unfold my by now very crumpled welcome sign (If Love Actually had been auditioning for extras for the scene at Heathrow arrivals I would defintiely have got a part) (That will make no sense if you havent seen the movie!) So 5 and half months later I got to see my man again and thank you Mum and Dad for the best Christmas present!
Poor Adam was given no chance ot settle in and get over hte jet lag as we drove straight up the coast to visit some friends form the Macchu Picchu trek and Adam got straight into Aussie life as he was assigned to BBQ duties at the lake. Had a great few days up there and then back down to Sydney for Christmas day. Managed to get in a swim before the rain came down - very disappointing to have rain on my first ever Southern Hemispher Christmas but the Homan family made up for it with delicious food and great company. The day involved a lot of food, wine, the unusual addition fo Harvery Wallbanger cocktails and the traditional board game. Al in all an excellent Christmas but the family at home were dearly missed. Christopher and Leahs happy news at the end of the day made it all the more a very special Christmas!
On St.Stephen's Day we rented a car - again! and headed off in the torrential rain on the long drive down to Melbourne where the sun was shining! Stayed at our friends apartment there (thanks Jon and Blu!) and made hte most of our days there with some lovely coastal runs and drives, beaches and city tours and ofcourse a meal on Lygon Street!
Back up to Sydney a few days later and New Year's Eve was celebrated at the Asian themed party at Andrew and Suzannas (thanks guys for great food and company!) and we had spectacular views of the fireworks without having to go right into the city, what more could you ask for!
After New Years myself and Adam headed up to Hunter Vaslley for a couple of nights - we should have shares in car rental companies by now! Stayed in these amazing log cabins in the middle of bush land, with kangaroos out our front door! Organised to hire a tandem to do vineyards the next day bt ofcourse it lashed rain so we had to cancel that and settle for driving. We were a bit concerned about wine tasting and drigin but according to the owner as long as we stayed off the main road wed be fine - you wouldnt get aaway with that at home! So several wineries , chocolate shops, olive groves, gelato stands and cheese shops later we arrived back to the cabin very full and with a lot of wine in toe! A highly recommended place ot go and great accomodation.
On January 3rd we moved next door from John and Bess in Sydney to the neighbours who we would be house and dog sitting for for the next 2 weeks - a 3 bedroom house and a pool all in exchange for feeding 2 finches and looking after a very cute dog - not a bad deal for backpackers!! So we explored the city basing oursleves there,had high tea in the Opera House (thanks Mum and Dad - again!)went out fishing on John's boat (where we managed to survive the freak waves while crossing the mouth, the 3 Manly ferries and the enormous amount of boats racing around the harbour), surfed in Manly, walked the coast from Coogee to Bondi, Coogee to Maroubra and Spit to the city , all great walks - Mum and Dad you'd love the Fore shore walk - lots of cofffee stops enroute!! Put it on the lost for to dos for next month! Got ot meet up with lots of emigrated friends and all in all had a fab time in Sydney area. Poor Adam got dragged around a few jewellers searching for the perfect pink diamond and a few days later we celebrated the find with a cupcake and coffee (Wendy and Ian your voucher was used for this occassion - promise Ill get onto emailing the coffee stop pics soon!) Our last day in Sydney we spent doing a self-made aquathon (what else would you spend your last hours in Sydney doing when you're engaged to Adam!!) But what other city can you run out of your door, across the Sydney Harbour bridge, have a swim for 3 euro in an Olympic sized outdoor swimming pool with views of the bridge and Opera House and then eat in one of the endless eateries in the city - I will be getting onto immigration very soon asking them for 2 entry passes to this amazing country!
So the day had finally come when Adam had to come home. We had been blessed with an extra week together because of the airport closures and stuff at home so we couldnt really complain! After a re-packing and throw out session at check-in (poor Adam was at least 15 kg overweight cus all my stuff I was making him bring home!) we made our way ot the gates and got quite a few strange looks as we said goodbye ( this was mainly because in the sad and teary moment I completely forgot I still had my new ring on - I was miliking wearing it until the very last minute but it was too precious to backpack with so was going home with Adam).. So the scene looked a little like this - 2 people hugging and crying at the departure gate followed by me trying to pull off my now very tight due to swollen fingers engagement ring and hand it back to Adam as he went through the gates. Reckon we looked like a classic engagement over scene!
2 hours later I boarded the bus at the airport where Jo already onboard from Sydney central greeted me with a cheer up chocolate croissant (good call Joker!) and we were on our way to Canberra where we were goingto spend 2 nights with some friends we met in Hawaii. When telling people we were going to CAnberra the usual response is 'Why?' ! However Canberra with its Canberra Blue sky and 34 degrees heat and very organised buildings is actually much nicer than youd expect it to be form all the negative you hear about and it has the biggest Australian Institute of Spport which was a very exciting visit! Thanks to the Spencer clan we had a very fun packed 2 days there visiting all 3 major sights in the city, picnicing in the Botanic Gardens, riding Hasrleys, learing to skateboard and enjoying the nearest homecooked food to Mums I've tasted since we left in July! We had such a great time and it was sucha nice feeling to be part of a family again that we are taking up the invite to join them all there again for Australia day!
Myself and Jo are now in Cairns battling through the cyclone at sea weather! It has been raingin torrentially here everyday but we arem aking hte most of it. We hored a car, drove up to Port Douglas, got rained on, stayed one night then did a self tour of hte Atherton Tablelands. We walked through rainforests, swam under waterfalls, visited dairy farms and mango wineries and laughed hilariously at a cow hangin in a winch by a tractor at hte side of the road - Ill pit up pics soon and that will explain it more!! From there it was back to Cairns where we went out on the reef yesterday. Between Jo and her fear of boats and fish and me with my not so good sea legs we wernet overly excited when they told us that the boat was still goign out event hough there wwas a cyclone out tere and it was going to be very rough! However we took our only chance ot visit the reef as we are leaving tomorrow and hopped on board. A bit anxious as to whether we should eat the free breakfast we risked the chance that everybody on board might see it again very soon! Thankfully the motion sickness tablets and ongoing popping of ginger tablets onboard saved the day and miracoulsly neither of us were at all queasy the whole trip and it was ROUGH!!
The trip we were on included a free intro dive. I took the chance with my ears and Jo faced her fears and soon we were in the water, tanks on back and regulators in mouths and hanging on to the steps of a very rocky boat! I hjeld on toght to Jo's hand and soon we were down under the water swimming around like mermaids. The hand signals were very entertaining and we tried not to laaugh too much so our masks wouldnt leak! Jo played a stormer and was soon being the liitle mermaid deep below as I unfortunately had to retire early due to ear pain and didnt want to risk perforatign my ear drum especially with a flight in a couple days. We saw some amazing fish and coral and a big reef shark and enjoyed being mermaids for the day! Had to leave reef early to avoid incoming cyclone but back on terra firma now and off to Canberra tomorrw. Chat soon, love ot all xoxox
So we successfully got to Sydney and seems missed the heat waves as we were greeted with some cloud and rain and according to the locals wintery weather at 23 degrees! Although from the reports coming form home this was a sever heat wave compared to what you guys were getting! We were very excited to be in a home with family friends and little things like having a clean bathroom, a duvet and a fridge were very comforting. We nearly had heart failure when Bess brought us to the supermarket and we realised that there was a whole section just of hummous and you could get goat's milk, gluten free bread and protein powder ( the last 3 items were more exciting to me incase you think Jo's gone food weird too!) So about an hour later after wandering around the supermarket admiring nad oohing nad ahhing at food products we hadnt seen in over 4 months we made our way tot he checkout where we nearly had heart failure again when she told us how much it was going to cost - huge reality check - we were no longer on South America prices!
The countdown was on before Adam arrived so a trip to the beauty salon and the hairdresser was called for , way too much money and hours later I emerged form the hairdressers no longer what I would call blonde and with at least 4 inches less of hair- this was very upsetting but the man in the hairdressers told me this was the only option to save my disgraceful sun bleached, salt and chloring dried out hair. I trusted his judegemnt but the end result was not so cool. Anyway Im living with it and hoping the sun will do its work again but this time maybe not quite so much drying out!
Anyway hired a car and made my way to the airport and stood checking flight arrival boards for waht seemed like an eternity. Worried Adam would no longer like me with short brownish hair I made a sign for him on recycled A4 paper using my mini sharpie -I hoped this touch of affection would win me some favour! What seemed like forever later I saw a very white Adam appear through the doors and I ran right past the "dont go past this line" red line trying to wipe my tears of excitement at the same time as jumping up and down and trying to unfold my by now very crumpled welcome sign (If Love Actually had been auditioning for extras for the scene at Heathrow arrivals I would defintiely have got a part) (That will make no sense if you havent seen the movie!) So 5 and half months later I got to see my man again and thank you Mum and Dad for the best Christmas present!
Poor Adam was given no chance ot settle in and get over hte jet lag as we drove straight up the coast to visit some friends form the Macchu Picchu trek and Adam got straight into Aussie life as he was assigned to BBQ duties at the lake. Had a great few days up there and then back down to Sydney for Christmas day. Managed to get in a swim before the rain came down - very disappointing to have rain on my first ever Southern Hemispher Christmas but the Homan family made up for it with delicious food and great company. The day involved a lot of food, wine, the unusual addition fo Harvery Wallbanger cocktails and the traditional board game. Al in all an excellent Christmas but the family at home were dearly missed. Christopher and Leahs happy news at the end of the day made it all the more a very special Christmas!
On St.Stephen's Day we rented a car - again! and headed off in the torrential rain on the long drive down to Melbourne where the sun was shining! Stayed at our friends apartment there (thanks Jon and Blu!) and made hte most of our days there with some lovely coastal runs and drives, beaches and city tours and ofcourse a meal on Lygon Street!
Back up to Sydney a few days later and New Year's Eve was celebrated at the Asian themed party at Andrew and Suzannas (thanks guys for great food and company!) and we had spectacular views of the fireworks without having to go right into the city, what more could you ask for!
After New Years myself and Adam headed up to Hunter Vaslley for a couple of nights - we should have shares in car rental companies by now! Stayed in these amazing log cabins in the middle of bush land, with kangaroos out our front door! Organised to hire a tandem to do vineyards the next day bt ofcourse it lashed rain so we had to cancel that and settle for driving. We were a bit concerned about wine tasting and drigin but according to the owner as long as we stayed off the main road wed be fine - you wouldnt get aaway with that at home! So several wineries , chocolate shops, olive groves, gelato stands and cheese shops later we arrived back to the cabin very full and with a lot of wine in toe! A highly recommended place ot go and great accomodation.
On January 3rd we moved next door from John and Bess in Sydney to the neighbours who we would be house and dog sitting for for the next 2 weeks - a 3 bedroom house and a pool all in exchange for feeding 2 finches and looking after a very cute dog - not a bad deal for backpackers!! So we explored the city basing oursleves there,had high tea in the Opera House (thanks Mum and Dad - again!)went out fishing on John's boat (where we managed to survive the freak waves while crossing the mouth, the 3 Manly ferries and the enormous amount of boats racing around the harbour), surfed in Manly, walked the coast from Coogee to Bondi, Coogee to Maroubra and Spit to the city , all great walks - Mum and Dad you'd love the Fore shore walk - lots of cofffee stops enroute!! Put it on the lost for to dos for next month! Got ot meet up with lots of emigrated friends and all in all had a fab time in Sydney area. Poor Adam got dragged around a few jewellers searching for the perfect pink diamond and a few days later we celebrated the find with a cupcake and coffee (Wendy and Ian your voucher was used for this occassion - promise Ill get onto emailing the coffee stop pics soon!) Our last day in Sydney we spent doing a self-made aquathon (what else would you spend your last hours in Sydney doing when you're engaged to Adam!!) But what other city can you run out of your door, across the Sydney Harbour bridge, have a swim for 3 euro in an Olympic sized outdoor swimming pool with views of the bridge and Opera House and then eat in one of the endless eateries in the city - I will be getting onto immigration very soon asking them for 2 entry passes to this amazing country!
So the day had finally come when Adam had to come home. We had been blessed with an extra week together because of the airport closures and stuff at home so we couldnt really complain! After a re-packing and throw out session at check-in (poor Adam was at least 15 kg overweight cus all my stuff I was making him bring home!) we made our way ot the gates and got quite a few strange looks as we said goodbye ( this was mainly because in the sad and teary moment I completely forgot I still had my new ring on - I was miliking wearing it until the very last minute but it was too precious to backpack with so was going home with Adam).. So the scene looked a little like this - 2 people hugging and crying at the departure gate followed by me trying to pull off my now very tight due to swollen fingers engagement ring and hand it back to Adam as he went through the gates. Reckon we looked like a classic engagement over scene!
2 hours later I boarded the bus at the airport where Jo already onboard from Sydney central greeted me with a cheer up chocolate croissant (good call Joker!) and we were on our way to Canberra where we were goingto spend 2 nights with some friends we met in Hawaii. When telling people we were going to CAnberra the usual response is 'Why?' ! However Canberra with its Canberra Blue sky and 34 degrees heat and very organised buildings is actually much nicer than youd expect it to be form all the negative you hear about and it has the biggest Australian Institute of Spport which was a very exciting visit! Thanks to the Spencer clan we had a very fun packed 2 days there visiting all 3 major sights in the city, picnicing in the Botanic Gardens, riding Hasrleys, learing to skateboard and enjoying the nearest homecooked food to Mums I've tasted since we left in July! We had such a great time and it was sucha nice feeling to be part of a family again that we are taking up the invite to join them all there again for Australia day!
Myself and Jo are now in Cairns battling through the cyclone at sea weather! It has been raingin torrentially here everyday but we arem aking hte most of it. We hored a car, drove up to Port Douglas, got rained on, stayed one night then did a self tour of hte Atherton Tablelands. We walked through rainforests, swam under waterfalls, visited dairy farms and mango wineries and laughed hilariously at a cow hangin in a winch by a tractor at hte side of the road - Ill pit up pics soon and that will explain it more!! From there it was back to Cairns where we went out on the reef yesterday. Between Jo and her fear of boats and fish and me with my not so good sea legs we wernet overly excited when they told us that the boat was still goign out event hough there wwas a cyclone out tere and it was going to be very rough! However we took our only chance ot visit the reef as we are leaving tomorrow and hopped on board. A bit anxious as to whether we should eat the free breakfast we risked the chance that everybody on board might see it again very soon! Thankfully the motion sickness tablets and ongoing popping of ginger tablets onboard saved the day and miracoulsly neither of us were at all queasy the whole trip and it was ROUGH!!
The trip we were on included a free intro dive. I took the chance with my ears and Jo faced her fears and soon we were in the water, tanks on back and regulators in mouths and hanging on to the steps of a very rocky boat! I hjeld on toght to Jo's hand and soon we were down under the water swimming around like mermaids. The hand signals were very entertaining and we tried not to laaugh too much so our masks wouldnt leak! Jo played a stormer and was soon being the liitle mermaid deep below as I unfortunately had to retire early due to ear pain and didnt want to risk perforatign my ear drum especially with a flight in a couple days. We saw some amazing fish and coral and a big reef shark and enjoyed being mermaids for the day! Had to leave reef early to avoid incoming cyclone but back on terra firma now and off to Canberra tomorrw. Chat soon, love ot all xoxox
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Hippyville to the Middle of the World
Hola!
Well the countdown to Christmas is truly on and cant believe we only have 2 more sleps left before we fly to Oz! We spent a week chilling in Montanita on the coast Ecuador. weather was warm but cloudy for 6 of the 7 days so we entertained oursleves surfing, getting annihilated by huge waves. eating and drinking in cafes and hanging out with our new huge clan of Israeili friends!
One day we decided to go in search of the local waterfall that wa supposed to be an amazing natural sight, one bus ride later, 5 stops at local stands that pose as supermarkets later looking for information and one taxi ride later we find ourselves at the end of a dirtroad with a river to cross and a pile of rabied looking dogs howling at us. So we arrange for the taxi driver to pick us up 4 hours later and gingerly cross the river to start our supposedly hourish hike to the waterfall. After an hour of crossing rivers and walking in the middle fo nowhere we find oursleves at a random little place that claims it has a natural pool - they were very keen to tell us it had no chemicals in it. It might not have had any chemicals in it but it did have a lot of dirt and a few random locals. It didnt look the most enticing. This was part of the attractions that you could avail of for 4 dollars including a look out point of Montanita and the view of the waterfall. We couldnt see or hear any waterfall and considering we were only a couple of hundred metres from it we decided it wasnt worth spending 4 dollars( thats at least a meal or 2 cocktails worth of money!)
So ever the budget backpackers we hiked on much to the surprise of the people running the waterfall "attractions" who told us htere was nothihng but a dirt track ahead. we decided there surely must be a way to the waterfall if we kept going. An hour later after trepsing through mud and mistaking chickens for monkeys we came across the most desolate school Ive ever seen and then made a final effort to get to a viewpoint by clmabering up a dried up mud hill.Much to our disappointment we were not greeted at the top by a view of the waterfall or coast as we had hoped but rather 4 mules chomping away at dried up grass looking very bored! We paused for a 10 minute fruit break and wondered what wed do to fill in the next 2 and half hours before taxi was to come back for us! we opted to strat walking back instead hoping to meet the taxi back on the main road. We reckoned the walk tot hte main road would take us a couple of hours. Tired out after about an hour we haile ddown the only visible vehicle that wasnt animal powered - turned out to be the local church bus , driven by the foreign missionalry woman and including the local ancient priest riding up front. we piled in the back with all the locals who spent hte next half hour chanting some form of prayer and a bit of singing. A quick stop at the convent on the way back to pick up some more women and a few handshakes with he esteemed pries t up front and soon we were on our way back to Montanita. They very kindly dropped us off righ near our hostel and that was the end of our day out in Montanita!!
From Montanita we got the gruelling 12 hour bus ride back to Quito. Boarded a bus at 5.30 am to Guayaquil a straightforward 3 hour ride. This was the ride I got robbed on last time so this time I tied my backpack to my shoe, hugged my handbag and sat right up the front in view of the driver and conductor!. Arrived to Guayaquil and had to wait 2 hours for connection bus to Quito which would take about 9 hours. The bus never turned up and we were told to all go back downstairs to where we cought the tickets and get a refund. Ecuadorian Spanish is a little difficult to understand so when we got ourselves and our bags back down two flights to the ticket booth there was nobody there and everyone else who was supposed to be on that bus with us were rusing off somewhere intot he distance. Eager to find out where they were going we tried to keep up, lugging the bags this is not an easy thing to do!
Eventually a man came along and in very rapid Spanish signalled we should go back upstairs as out bus was leaving - yes hte same bus that 5 minutes ago was cancelled! Welcome to South America. So as we raced back upstairs puffing and panting we saw our bus about to leave the station. We ran over nad banged on the door and quickly got he bags loaded and off we set! Tied up the bag to the leg again and settled in for the long ride. A half hour into the journey the bus conductor had us sitting up front woth him and the driver taking photos, wearing our hats and feeding us mangos! We werent sure it was such a good idea to be up here as we were clearly able to see what a maniac driver he was formt his vantage point. Passing out 3 trucks in a row on the wrong side of the road which was under construction on a dangerous uphill bend was nothing unusual for hte next 8 hours! After playing our ipods through the bus speaker system (giving the whole bus the Pogues version of Fairytale of New York , under the drivers request for Pogues music!!) we decided to move back to our original seats with the rest of the passengers as the ride was getting rougher as we started climbing back up to altitude of Quito. The ride seemed never ending and only got worse as was proved by the man pissing out the window right beside us as they wouldnt stop and from wither the wobbly ride or alcohol mangaging to spill most of it at our feet. So along with altitude nad motion sickness and the smell of urine the ride did not get any better! We soon stopped long enough for the conductor to sprinkle highly pungent lemon disinfectant by our feet to cover up the smell urine and wash down the window where the deed had been done!
Eventually we made it back to Quito and gladly got intop bed by 9am in our nice clean and comfy hostel. For the next 4 days Quito was celebrating its foundation of quito festival, which is actually in February but for some reason they celebrate it in December. This involves bullfights everyday for 11 days inwhich they kill 6 bulls everyday. As a strong opposer to bull fights we didnt go but our friends did and we saw the gorey pics ad vids of the first bullfighter being dragged unconscious out of the ring as the savage bull awaited his death by the next so called hero. Not sure if the bull fighter survived but well done that bull!!
From Quito we took a day trip tot he middle of the world as they call it or the Equator. Visited a museum where we learned a lot about hte different tribes on Ecuador, learned that Ecuador was originally called Quito after its frist tribal settleers but he country name was changed to Ecuador because of its position on the Equator and took part in some very cool experiments. Such as balancing an egg on the head of a nail , watching the water go down the sink in opposite directions and straight down right on the Equator , trying to walk along the equator with your eyes shut and weighing ourselves to discover we are 4 kg lighter there!! All in all a very educational fun day out!!
Having suffered with my ears from the amount of water in them from being trashed in the waves in Montaninta nad then the pressure change I was a bit nervous about out upcoming flights to Chile. So our every fiendly Columbian friend form the plane we met came to the rescue again and brought me to her homeopathic doctor who gave me some painful acupuncture and some herbal prescriptions. A quick dash to the pharmacies to look for these and soon we were dropped by the lovely Tulia at the airport. 3 flights later we landed in Chile and after a very dodgy start to our arrival with a near taxi rip off job that we talked and cried our way out of in Santaigo in the early hours of the morning we are currently residing in the most tacky but homely Christmas decorated house in Valparaiso. Moving back to Santiago tomorrow and fly out to Sydney via a 2 hour stop in Aukland on Monday night, woohoo! So one more day of empanadas, dulce de leche and salsa and then its onto barbies and stubbies! Will get some pics up soon, but right now have to go as the impatient computer addicted son of the household is having withdrawal symptoms as Ive been on his computer for over an hour! Love you all, already missing you all at Christmas time. Love to all and a very Happy Christmas if I dont get on again before then!! xoxox
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