On arrival back from the Easter Island we spent a day gathering our thoughts and preparing for our next adventure: the Torres del Paine. This was to be one of the most eagerly anticipated parts of our journey but first we had to get there... ...one flight and a bus later we were at our first stopover, Punta Arenas. You could certainly tell how close to the Antarctic we were: it was cold! However, before we had shaken off the icicles, our friendly but oh-so-sligh...

The Easter Island showed 2 sides of itself to us: one was the beautiful countryside, fascinating and weird statues and petroglyphs, gorgeous weather and interesting culture and the other was the money hungry islanders (unfortunately). Despite this we had a wonderful time and made the most of the good part: the island itself. On arrival at Mahina Take Take (note: do not go here!) we were told we could use the fridge and dining area whenever we wanted but after op...

Santiago first impressions were that of a massive city surrounded by hills and mountains - the mighty Andes. Our hotel was situated in the very pretty colonial area of Paris Londres, a quaint cobbled set of streets with quiet cafes dotted about. Our first taste of the city was the food, in all its rich, meaty, fried potato-y goodness. As we strolled around the lively streets watching magic acts, dancing, singing and viewing the many displays of the street artists...

We were not quite sure what to expect from Ork land otherwise known as the North Island and Auckland (geddit?!) as everyone always raves about the South Island and says not to bother with the North so much, and for the first few hours driving up from Wellington we thought perhaps they were right, but the North Island had several jewels waiting for us to discover them. We started off driving up as far as we could and hoped to just pull off the road but due to very...

We picked up what was to be our home, kitchen and transport for the next 4 weeks and drove off into the sunset ready to explore New Zealand in the campervan. We started off in Christchurch but went very soon to the Banks Peninsular where sparkling waters and rolling hills made New Zealand appear like a very nice, sunny version of the English Lake District. We stayed in Pigeon Bay and then scooted off to Mount Somers. Here, we indulged in a long walk through rolli...