After breakfast we packed our bags ready to depart later in the day to Valparaiso on a Pullman bus. The weather was again cloudy and fresh - this hadn't been the hot spot we thought it would be. I spent a little time online checking out camper van companies in New Zealand. We had been recommended two companies called Jucy and Wicked. The Wicked company seemed best as they didn't specify a minimum lease time unlike Jucy which was 21 days. Also the price was half our initial estimate which meant we would remain on budget during our stay there - although I expect hidden costs will balance things out!

Ju had her nose firmly planted in another book and I couldn't get any sense from her. At least now she will have to cut me some slack when I am on the computer in future. The bus journey to Valparaiso was much the same as the other journey we had taken. The only difference was that the movies and subtitles were in Spanish... so we either slept, read books, ate and looked out the window. The scenery started to change as we drove South, it began to get greener and there were more trees. Another positive sign was the sun had been out consistently for the whole journey... perhaps we'll get a chance to build our tans ready for Oz after all?!

We had noticed quite a few weird characters on the bus. One lady in particular who took a shine to Julia. She reminded me of the cat woman from the Simpsons - she sounded confused and upon a stealthy glance I could see she had white foam around her mouth. This was either tooth paste (Ju's innocent theory) or a sex act that had gone wrong! I realised the gentleman in the seat in front was also a couple of cans short of a six pack as I caught him talking to himself. He also seemed to be searching for something outside - I wasn't quite sure what?!

Thankfully we made it to our hostel room without being mugged or assaulted by weirdos on the bus. The street outside, although undergoing construction work reminded me of Bristol - I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was that reminded me of Briz. It may have been the architecture in general, but it wasn't until we entered the building and saw the high ceilings that we both agreed the place had a Briz feel about it. After seven hours on the bus it was good to relax in our own space. I insisted on visiting the local shop to pick up a beer, Austral to be exact - well it is Friday!!