LIMA, CUSCO AND THE GRAND FINALE...THE INCA TRAIL Ever since leaving New Zealand, excitement and anticipation have been building about visiting Peru, finishing my trip with the Inca Trail in the Andes. After a long day´s travelling, via Colombia, from Santiago, I was in Lima. Peru´s capital city is home to 9 million people. As I weaved my way through the streets in the back of a "taxi" from the airport, the crazy traffic and lack of road rules re...

My first experience of South America was flying in to Santiago over the snowy mountain range of the Andes. I wasn`t exactly sure what to expect in the sense of how well developed, how safe and how much I would enjoy the city. As ever, I went with an open mind and thought I would take it as it came. As I was collecting my bags at the airport, a voice from behind me said "nice shoes" - I had the red Salomons on which do tend to stand out in a crowd! A...

Having spent the majority of my time in NZ on the South Island, I flew up to Auckland in the North for the final few days of my NZ trip. It was great to meet with Greg´s mate Kingy who lives there - familiar faces are always a treat in far off lands. I checked into a hostel in the city centre and then set off to explore and see what Auckland had to offer. With a massive sailing and maritime heritage, I wandered around the wharfe and harbour areas, looking a...

5 Days of solid rain! I must be in New Zealand...I think I've had my fair share of good weather over the last few months, so I guess I can't complain. I'm currently in Queenstown, the adventure capital of the Southern Hemisphere. I arrived in NZ last Friday and my aim has been to do a whistle-stop tour of the South Island, before flying up to Auckland in the North Island next week and leaving NZ from there. I spent the first day and a bit in Christchurch, t...

Slightly later than anticipated, as I'm now in NZ, I thought I'd better wrap up my time on Oz with a summary of the last couple of weeks. As many of you will have seen, I tried my hand (or feet) at surfing with surprising success. As you can see from the picture above, I did manage to hit the big waves. [what do you mean that dude looks nothing like me???]. Yes, I've also had plenty of stick for the "bruised toe" incident, especially as it meant I b...