ROTORUA

AUCKLAND

ADIOS SOUTH AMERICA! The journey to Santiago, quicker than we had been led to expect because of the road closure, was marred by another person, this time a grown-up, throwing up on the bus. But we were in a buoyant frame of mind. It was our last night in South America, and we had high hopes that the hotel we were about to stay in and review would provide a fitting end to our time on the continent. As we headed to the hotel by taxi Duncan tempted fate by saying ...

FROM WIERDO TO ZERO Our bus journey from Mendoza across the Andes to Valpariaso in Chile, one of those stunning drives that everyone raves about, did not pass off without incident. The views were spectacular, of the Andes in general and Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the world outside of Asia, in particular. But the environment inside the bus was less pleasant. We were sat behind a couple with a very cute little daughter. Cute, that is, until she threw up al...

DOZY IN MENDOZA We arrived into Mendoza tired and bedraggled from our long bus journey, only to find that we couldn't check into our hostel until midday and that we had to pay 7 pesos if we wanted to have breakfast - unlike normal hostel practice. Grrr. Not only that, but we realised we had to wait even longer as it was only 8am when we arrived, not 9am as we had thought, because Mendoza is an hour behind the rest of the country. Not the greatest of welcomes int...