Phew that was a long flight! Santiago to Auckland - 14 hours in a tiny seat with only 3 movies... and then arriving in Auckland at 3.45am. Luckily for me a wonderfully kind family friend, Rachel, who lives in Auckland, picked me up from the airport. I am staying with her for a couple of days to get my bearings and sort out what I'm doing here. I have opted to use one of the hop-on-hop-off bus routes around the North Island, starting on Tuesday. Will keep you post...

My last blog from South America! I can't believe the time has gone so fast... What a trip! We arrived in Pucon, the adventure capital of Chile's Lake District, in the pouring rain. Not ideal. We checked into Hostel Mayra, near the main street, a nice and cheap hostel overflowing with Israelis! We have come across a lot of Israelis on our travels in Chile but never had quite so many in one hostel. Our main reason for travelling to Pucon was to climb Volcan Vil...

Hi again, We travelled from Puerto Natales to El Calafate in Argentina so we could see the Perito Moreno glacier. The bus was a short trip (only 5 hours) and involved crossing the border, with more spectacular views over the Andes. It was fairly quick as we were leaving Chile, though Olly got into a bit of trouble for not having a customs form-oops! After some huffing and puffing from the customs official he was allowed to fill in a new one and we could leave th...

Chilean Patagonia. It lives up to its name-it´s chilly! It is also incredibly beautiful with wild scenery (and weather!) and lots of wildlife. We flew down from Santiago on Sunday 26th to Punta Arenas, the largest Chilean town in Patagonia. Mor beautiful views of the Andes. It was from here that we visited the Magellanic penguins at the Seno Otway reserve. They were amazing! I very nearly took one home with me. Most of the reserve is not open to the public bu...

Hello again. If you saw my last photo album from Buenos Aires, you will have seen the spectacular entrance into Chile I experienced. Crossing the Andes by bus was undoubtedly the best way to arrive in the country. The views were spectacular and the border crossing straight-forward and quick, if a little strange: after having passports checked we all had to queue up to then stand in a little room with a baggage x-ray machine, where our suitcases were put throu...