New Zealand - South Island

The ferry ride to South Island lasted 3.5 hrs, we waved goodbye to Wellington and North Island and eagerly sat outside until the winds grew too strong and the air too cold for us to handle. At one point a gust so strong nearly took Al off his feet, so we decided to retreat inside, emerging when we approached the Marlborough Sounds and the port of Picton. We disembarked at around 4.30pm and drove for the Sounds which were just round the corner.

The Marlborough Sounds are a series of inlets and islands, where the sea cuts into the mountains and has formed little white sand beaches and shallow pools. It is stunning on a clear day with the blue sky and blue sea illuminated by the sun. We drove up a small peninsula called Kenepuru Sound looking for somewhere to spend the night. We found a small layby on a quiet country road and pulled in. The cliff overlooked a small village, dwarfed by the rolling hills which shone with the setting sun – as you can see from our lovely photo – and a perfect place to cook dinner. Unfortunately by the time it came to washing up it was dark and so I had to make do with washing up without the nice view.

We had the usual cull of the pesky sandflies that managed to sneak in when the doors were open. For those of you who haven't been to NZ our biggest problem with camping has been these nasty little buggers called sandflies. You park up your campervan at a beautiful white beach and jump out to take in a breath of fresh air. However as soon as you relax you begin to notice several small black dots all over your skin? Strange. You brush over these black dots with your hands and they fly away leaving a painful small red bitemark as evidence. They're a real pain. I've been bitten a few times, however Al has again been unlucky – as in Peru – and become their main victim. He must have sweet blood, they don't like me much though. The main problem is that when campervanning for free, the best places to stay are by the by the sea, so we have to do a nightly cull when the doors are closed to ensure that we don't get bitten while we sleep.

The next morning we headed round the sounds. We stopped by a well-known track called the Queen Charlotte Track and set off for a couple of hours trekking. However the best view of the coastline was actually from the road and so we drove round to a couple of inlets to admire the beautiful view.

After a day on the sounds we decided that our next stop would be a nearby national park – the Abel Tasman. We headed west with a mission to arrive in time to book a kayaking tour of the park's coastline for Al's birthday, 21st November. We arrived at the small town of Marahau and found a great local kayaking company called Kahu Kayaks. We pre-booked the tour for the next day and asked them to recommend a nearby 'free camping spot', we were directed to a spot covered in signs forbidding 'camping' but, we reasoned, campervanning is not really camping is it?!
Another van pulled up nearby and two Canadians came over to chat, they happened to be on the same kayaking tour as us. They were a bit worried about not being able to park in the same spot overnight, but, as we discovered, about 20 other campervans and cars had decided to ignore 'no camping' the sign. The next morning we awoke early and met the group at the kayaking office at 8.30am, the sun was shining and the wind was light. In the carpark we all piled into a boat (that may sound strange) being towed by a tractor which was towed straight into the sea.

We sped off across the sea further up the coast to a large white sandy beach where we all jumped out of the speed boat and into our kayaks with our guide. I took up the front of the kayak and Al took up the rear, commanding the steering peddles.

We steered around the coastline watching the seals and penguins playing in the water. We were able to row right up close to the rocks and the seals swam around and under our boats. We stopped on a deserted sandy beach for a coffee break (we had a choice of cappuchino, mocha, latte... top notch service) and relaxed in the sunshine. The guide informed us about the history of the area (Abel Tasman was a Dutchman who first sailed to the shores of NZ to attempt to start trade links with the Maoris. As his ship anchored a group of Maoris rowed out in their canoes to determine whether they were friend or foe. The Maoris blowed a message into a conch shell and Abel Tasman responded by blowing into a trumpet – unfortunately this was a war signal for the Maoris and they attacked a group of officers sent over in a small boat. He named the bay Murderer's Bay (now renamed Golden Bay) and left. Abel Tasman never set foot on the shores of NZ but the park is named after him).

We continued rowing round the shoreline, through the rocks, until we came to another beach for lunch. We were so hot by this time that we all quickly changed and jumped into the sea to cool down. It was freeezing! But very refreshing.

Lucas, one of the Canadians, went on a walk and found some treasure around the rocks – he actually found an old NZ shilling with the face of King George V on it. Pretty amazing! After lunch and a cappuchino we jumped back into our kayaks and proceeded down the coast. A brisk wind picked up and we hoisted the spinnaker (the tablecloth held up with two oars from the guys at the back and the corners held up by two of us girls at the front). We sailed along at top speed, water rushing into our boats and the waves lifting us up. We covered a lot of ground like that and gave our aching arm muscles a small rest in the process. After a further hour paddling round we put down our oars for the day and sped back to the port by speedboat.

Al and I enjoyed some spring rolls from this cool little stall near the office which sold 'Cow Pat' and 'Ewe Beut' burgers. It was a brilliant day and a great way to spend Al's b-day.

The next day we awoke to strong winds and rain... really unpleasant when you're camping, but we were thankful that it had held off for Al's birthday. We had a mission - to get down to the West Coast of NZ – a place described in our guide book as the 'real NZ'.

We drove down in the rain, windscreen wipers on full blast. It took a few hours to get down to the West Coast from the North. We took the coastal road from Westport and headed south to Tauranga Bay, Cape Foulwind where we had dinner at a little restaurant (green-shelled mussles - a local speciality), took a look at the local seal colony and found a place to camp up for the night.

The next day we followed the coast road south in the persistant rain, our clothes and van a little damp by now. The guidebook described the road as 'one of the world's top roadtrips' but unfortunately due to the rain and cloud and mist we couldn't see the mountains or the best of the coastline. Apparently that weather is typical for the west coast and it can rain non-stop.

We drove on to the famous Pancake Rocks – rocks which are formed of layers stacked up like pancakes and which form blow holes that the sea rushes into and spurts out of at the top. Along the way Al noticed a small puncture in the tyre, just enough to begin to deflate the wheel slowly. Al dealt with it swiftly, showing off this competence at these things that I have no idea about. He managed to change the tyre and find someone to repair the old tyre for a very reasonable price – bingo, I have a great boyfriend! We had however... encountered another problem.... a rather large chip at the bottom of our windscreen which we watched slowly forming into a crack of about 7cm. At first we debated telling the hire company (maybe they won't notice?!) but it soon became apparent that it would be unavoidable. We took the car to a glass-fitter who said that we would probably have to fit a whole new windscreen :.-( $350 down the drain, we were pretty upset, Al had even seen the stone coming, flying out from the wheels of another car but there was nothing we could do. So our trip wasn't without it's little dramas... the final one which hit us on our last evening of camping, but I'll leave that til later.

On our third day on the west coast it still hadn't stopped raining. It rained constantly (although there was one two hour reprieve one evening which gave us a chance to do some cooking), our clothes were all moist, the floor of our car dirty, and we caught colds. We invented a new way of getting from the driving seats to the back compartment without having to step outside but when you gotta go outside, you gotta go outside... and toilet trips where a bit of a nightmare. We were also worried that our car would get stuck in mud in one of the campsites, a fear very well founded as we drove past numerous houses that were floating in their gardens, completely flooded.

Our aim on the west coast was to get to the Franz Joseph glacier to do a sky-dive, but after three days of rain we decided 'that's it, we need sunshine and a chance to dry our clothes' and we turned tail and fled across the mountains to the east coast sunshine. 'Cowards' you're probably thinking... but we would have persisted had we not actually discovered that we were very short on time now – yes New Zealand turned out to be a lot bigger than we thought it would be, and traversing the high mountains on small winding roads in a bulky campervan took a lot longer than we had anticipated. We were disappointed to have missed some of the main attractions that the south island has to offer, but it gives us a good excuse to visit again!

As soon as we passed the main mountain range dividing west from east the weather improved. The rain stopped, the sky cleared, the temperature soared – we had just entered into an east coast heat wave – some of the hottest weather they've had for a while apparently. And according to the same news report we had just left behind some of the worst rain and flooding that the west coast has seen for a very long time. We were treated to one of the most beautiful roads we have driven on in our travels so far (from Greymouth to Kaikoura) – mountains, fields, rainbows – it was stunning and a welcome change.


We arrived in Kaikoura and set up camp in a small patch of unused land near the sea (it took about half an hour of driving round to find). It is always a bit of a challenge to find somewhere before the sun sets. We cooked up some pasta and slept, ready for our big day of whale watching. We awoke to a glorious day of sunshine and set off to our campsite. After a few days of not showering we decided that we would treat ourselves to a powered campsite with kitchen facilities and hot showers. It was gooood! We went to book the whale tour but found that unfortunately the sea was too rough and the tours canceled for the day. 'No worries' we thought, booked the tour for the next day and took off to spy on the local seal colony. It was fun watching the seals sunbathing and swimming. Al says that seals are his new favourite animal.

We spent the rest of the day strolling along the beach and chilling in the sun.


The next day we woke early and sped off to the whale watching departure point. We hopped in a bus which took us to a boat and boarded (along with about 50 other tourists). We were both very excited as this was something we have always wanted to do. The tour was very good and told us about the whales we would be seeing (sperm whales), about the geology and ecology of the area complete with video displays. The team used a detection devise to discover the whereabouts of the whale and we waited... for a long time... eyes staring out watching for the whale. Apparently the whales dive to the bottom of the sea for around an hour to feed before surfacing for ten minutes or so to fill their lungs. After waiting quite a while we began to worry that the whale had swam off in another direction maybe, bored of being stared at by tourists. We waited in anticipation... and then there was a shout from Al “there it is!” and everyone started gasping as the whale rose above the surface, his nose and head in the air. He was actually quite far away so our boat had to rush, full speed ahead, to catch up with it. We hovered nearby, out on deck watching the magnificent animal. Most of its body was below the surface but we could see the head, the surface of its back and the spout ejecting water. It was beautiful and a moment to remember. Slowly the whale took its last deep breath and dived under the sea again, waving its tail at us as it went.

Kaikoura was our last major stop before the great journey back up north. We returned on the ferry to Wellington and headed up north. We spent the night at a beautiful beach which it took us a while to find, but which had an amazing sunset.

And Al did the washing up - a rare sight...

On our way up to Auckland we decided that we can't leave NZ without seeing a kiwi. As they are nearly impossible to see in the wild (being endangered and nocturnal) we stopped by a bird sanctuary to inspect. The were a lot bigger than we thought they would be but very cute and cuddly looking. We weren't allowed to take pictures but I took a bit of a hazy one without a flash:

We also detoured through a stunning national park to see Mt Ngauruhoe – those Lord of the Rings aficionados among you might recognise this as the famous Mount Doom.
On our last evening of camping we ran into a spot of bother. We were trying to find a place to park at and sleep but we were quite near to Auckland and therefore space for free camping is scarce. We drove off route 1 and deep into the countryside in an area populated mainly by Maori people. We ended up in a remote logging area which wasn't quite what we had envisaged and so Alex made a three point turn on a narrow dug-out road to turn back. As he was preparing to finish the turn the car stalled and stopped... strange as it is an automatic and hasn't stalled once. We couldn't restart the car. Al tried and tried but it wouldn't start. We started to panic, we were blocking off the whole road but luckily there were no cars coming for miles – or was that maybe a bad thing?! We ran round to the back of the car to find that our exhaust had embedded itself in the clay soil piled up on the sides of the road. It was a thick, gooey soil and the exhaust was completely stuck. In desperation Al got a spoon and began digging around the exhaust, but to no avail (unsurprisingly). Just as we were about to give up I saw a trailer speeding our way. Hope!
It stopped next to our car and before we could explain the problem three large Maori men and a dog jumped out, took a chain from the back of their trailer hooked it to the underside of our car and began to pull us out of the sand – all with about three words muttered. We then saw two bicycles whizzing up the hill towards us, the local children had come to watch the evening's entertainment.
The next issue was to expel the soil which had become lodged in the exhaust pipe. We tried with the spoon but it proved just as useless as before – spoons are really not made for this kind of thing. “Jus' press on the accelerator mate!” said one guy. Al pressed hard on the accelerator and the soil shot out from the pipe like a bullet, much to the glee of everyone watching. We were back in action! We chatted to the guys for a bit, they lived round the corner and had seen us in difficulty. Their accents were unlike any we had heard before – almost South African sounding, very peculiar. So they jumped back in their trailer and off they went and we continued on our merry way and found a great place to sleep a few minutes later and we slept very well in the knowledge that we didn't have a thousand pound debt to pay to the car hire company.

The ride into Auckland wasn't entirely straight forward as there was a Christmas parade on and the whole of the centre of town was closed to cars. We eventually found our way to our campervan office and dropped it off. We showed the man our cracked window screen and he called a mechanic for a second point of view. Luckily for us they decided that it could be repaired and so we were only charged $75 (still a bit of a dent to the already diminishing wallet, but not as bad as it could have been). We checked into our backpackers and the lady at reception handed us a key “Room 101” she said... we have just finished reading 1984 together and so this was a little daunting for us,. We headed up the stairs with trepidation and opened the door to Room 101... a smell, a terrible smell of rotting feet hit our nostrils... “hi!” called out one of our new roomies, “welcome to the room that smells of dead goat!” After settling into Room 101 (aka Dead Goat Room) we headed outside to check out the Auckland Christmas Parade.


The main streets were lined with children and parents cheering at the floats and marching bands passed by. At first we thought nothing of it, we cheered with everyone else, then we began to notice that the 'Christmas' parade was nothing more than a carefully planned marketing scheme – and a not too subtle one at that. The main sponsor was Farmers supermarket and their logo was emblazoned everywhere, there were floats with people dressed in Farmers t-shirts waving to the crowd and a float with a giant birthday cake saying 'Happy Birthday Farmers – 75!' There were also adverts for mobile phones, Mcdonald's hats for kids, ads for cars and a huge float for Nickelodeon with a giant Spongebob Squarepants waving at the crowds of children who cheered “Spongebob! Spongebob!” It was quite sickening and we left as soon as we could – very disappointed with Auckland's council for allowing such an unashamedly tacky event to take place. Having said this I did like the bagpipe parade which made me feel 'at home'.

We next made our way to the Sky Tower – tallest building in the southern hemisphere – and took the lift up to the top floor. At 230m above the ground it was an impressive view. We could see the whole of Auckland below us at 360 degrees, complete with glass floor. Al was running around pretending to leap out of the window and jumping on the glass floor, I took more of a backseat, a bit dizzy at the prospect of getting too close to the edge – heights aren't my thing. We had a little coffee in the restaurant, staring at the hundreds of sailing boats out on the bay and departed for our next treat of the day the new James Bond - 'Quantum of Solace'.

New Zealand is an amazing country and we definitely want to return. 2.5 weeks isn't enough to see everything but we crammed in a fair deal. There is a great quality of life here – even the brickies eat in nice cafes and read broadsheet papers: We hope that next time we can catch up on the bits we missed – there will definitely be a next time – we're definitely returning to this awesome country.

New Zealand - North Island

I have a theory – that when God created the world he decided to create a little piece of paradise in the corner of the world and blessed it with the greenest, quirkiest and most serene countryside in the world. And for some reason only 4.1m people live here?! What's going on! Well if I had my way it would be 4.1m + 2 people because this country has to be the most amazing place ever.

We touched down at 4am after a 13 hour flight... after our numerous overnight coach journeys in South America this was no problem for us and we slept for pretty much the whole thing. There was a gruelling customs process to contend with (my Chilian honey was confiscated and my walking boots sprayed) and we then sat down with our Lonely Planet to see what on earth we were going to do here. We soon realised that there is more than enough to keep even the most restless person entertained. The main feature of our New Zealand trip is the fact that we have decided to rent a CAMPA VAN!! Yes Vix and Al are turning into trailer-park trash and doing New Zealand in a mobile home – yeeha! We had found a suitably cool company on the internet (Escape) and went to their offices as early as we could to pick up our new home on wheels. This company graffitis all their vehicles with different designs and we have a cool purple and gold one called Pearly (apparently the design is meant to represent the 'pearly gates' – as long as that is not some kind of omen I'll be quite happy).

It's kitted out food storage, a sink, utensils, dining table and seats and then you can dismantle everything to create your comfy doublebedded bedroom. Perfect for us. So in we hopped and off we went. Time to tackle Auckland's five lane motorway – yippee! Al was having kittens while I was attempting to navigate without a map (we hadn't really planned that one too well) and he was trying not to damage our new campa. Just to spice things up the van is an automatic and in NZ they drive on the left (like any sensible nation in my opinion) whereas we had grown very comfortable with the right side of the road from Chile by now. We managed to stumble upon a petrol station and get directions to a large supermarket where we stocked up on all the basics necessary for any fine camping trip – pasta, tomato sauce, beans, noodles – you get the picture – we are broke after Chile. No actually the plan was to stock up on the basics and buy the fresh goods as we went along, excellent considering that many enterprising New Zealanders sell fresh fruit and vegges from their backyards. After our stock up we picked up route 1 southbound and were on our merry way. The plan for NZ is to focus on South Island. But after seeing how beautiful North Island is as well, and because we want to do this at a fairly relaxed pace, we decided to spend a few days up north. We headed East from Auckland to an area called Coromandel where the countryside looks as if it has come straight from The Shire (aka Hobbit land). Very beautiful and quite unlike anything we'd seen before. The hills rise up and down in a very perky manner, unlike in England where the hills roll smoothly. And the fields are a magnificent shade of bright green, against the blue sky it is really beautiful. We stopped off at a beach along the way and went for a walk. It was really stunning, white sands and crashing waves. We walked along the sands to the end of the beach, observing a sign which said 'birds nesting'. On we walked happily lost in the beautiful scenery, when suddenly out of nowhere we saw a seagull heading straight for us... with a mean look in its eye... We were wondering what to do – run into the sea? face up to the savage beast? - when, just before it hit us, it veered upwards with a loud, high-pitched squawk, and then turned around and came right back at us! Despite my slightly irrational fear of birds (mainly pigeons – rats with wings) I found this all very amusing while Al was more worried that his eyes might get pecked out. We took a little video: (to be added later as takes aaages to upload) and ran on until the bird gave up and returned to its nest. Some of the other birds are much cuter though and they prefer to walk rather than fly which is funny. And they always hang out in pairs too - very sweet.

So our first night of camping brought us to a small campground in a national park. We parked up and set about cooking straight away on our small gas stove. Al whipped up a pasta feast and we both congratulated ourselves on our choice of transportation/accommodation and great cooking. The only slight downside were that the toilets were little more than a hole in the ground (I contended with this in the middle of the night with my little head torch on, trying not to look at the many spiders that had gathered in the cubicle for the night) and the shower was only hot for 3 minutes after inserting a NZ$ coin. That was certainly interesting. But the experience was a good one and in the morning, after a hearty breakfast, we took a little tramp (NZ lingo for a hike) through the national parkland to a waterfall.

The weather was glorious sunshine, blue skies and the forest was incredible, made up of giant ferns, palm trees and normal trees. We walked along a river that was so clear we could see right to the bottom and climbed up the hill to the waterfall which took around an hour in total. The waterfall looked great but I wanted a closer look so climbed down to the base of the fall on my own. I climbed onto a large rock and from there hopped on lots of different rocks in the pool to get a better view. It was so tranquil down there I could have stayed all day. On my way back I leaned over a rock to see how far I had to jump when, shock horror, Alex's precious sunglasses, with which I had been entrusted, fell from my head into the river. Ahhh! So I had no choice but to jump in after them. It was annoying because I had spent so much energy hopping around keeping dry but I was also rather pleased that I had an excuse to get wet as it was such a hot day and the water was so inviting. Al wasn't too pleased that I nearly lost his sunglasses but he's found it in his heart to forgive me I think.

So we continued up the coast to a small place called Cathedral cove where there is a beautiful cove surrounded by cliffs and a cave that goes straight through the cliff to another beach. The sea was beautiful aqua-marine blue and the Southern Pacific Ocean waves crashed on the beach.

After 2 months in South America we are still in awe at the first-worldness of this place. Every town we pass through makes us stare in amazement at how advanced it is here, and every cafe we pass is like 'wow, real coffee!' But I don't think it's just because we've been travelling, they really have a great quality of life here. It's very comparable to Britain here – the countryside, the people, the towns; but it is a bit different i.e. the hills are green and in parts look very much like the Scottish Borders where I come from or the Scottish Highlands, but with the exception of palm trees amid the forests and the colour of the sea being a beautiful aqua-marine from anywhere on the island; the weather is a lot better – at least it is actually sunny in summer; the towns all have fish n chip shops and cafes but somehow they look much nicer than in the UK; and the people, who essentially are of the same stock as the British, look more relaxed and are much friendlier and chattier than the Brits – although not necessarily healthier and sun-exposure has taken its toll on quite a few of the older people.

Al's new 'fro from a windy NZ hilltop:

Another beautiful beach where Al made himself comfy on the sand dunes:

We've had a lot of fun giggling at NZ road signs. It seems that everything in writing (be it a sign, a shop name etc) is a message written to rhyme or in slang. E.g. instead of simply saying 'stop at red light' the sign will say 'Red means stop, end of bloody story!' Instead of saying 'don't drink and drive' they say 'Drink + drive = Grave result!' Instead of 'mind the pedestrians' they say 'Don't burst their bubble!' (with a pic of a bubble around some walkers or cyclists) And they like to say 'Merge like a zip' (with a picture of a zip) when your coming onto the motorway. However our favourite so far has to be 'C'mon guys, get firewise!' written outside every town's fire station. Alex has adapted it for general everyday use 'C'mon guys, get streetwise' (which we say to bad drivers and generally anyone who crosses our path) - it's a very versatile slogan. There are many street signs in NZ telling people how to drive, but there is a reason for this – the people here are terrible drivers. They speed around corners, driving over the central line, they overtake on corners and they drive on your ass when they want to overtake. Driving a campa is very different to driving a car, for the obvious reason that you are the enemy. Manys the time I have cursed caravan drivers on the small winding Scottish roads, desperately trying to find a space to overtake on. Well now that's us! Although I do hasten to add that our campa is more like a van, less like a whole house on wheels. Still although we're considerate campies, leaving plenty of space for overtaking, we're sure we can see the poor kiwis who are stuck behind us mouthing the words “rattle yer dags mate!” (i.e. get a move on!)



As we want to concentrate on the South Island we have had to do a fair bit of driving through the north. We've tried to sleep outside camping parks as it's free and we're extremely poor after having been raped so much in Chile, however occasionally it's been unavoidable i.e. when we've needed power or when we haven't been able to find somewhere to park. The first camping ground we stayed in was in a town called Napier and we really needed to charge some of our electrics and have a decent shower etc. We marveled at how some people live, those whose homes are caravans which remain parked in the same camping ground for years (you can always tell cos the grass is longer around their wheels). And we also marveled at the size of some people's campas, which literally dwarfed our small van. Whole houses on wheels, complete with bathrooms, living rooms and probably a jacuzzi on the roof if you look hard enough.

We, however have been managing fine with our little bed/kitchen/dining room conversion:

We were a tad disappointed to find that campers aren't as friendly as we thought they'd be, probably cos most of them are tourists (the English are the most unfriendly) and unlike my preconception of joining up barbies with your neighbour and clinking beer bottles as the sun goes down over the caravan rooftops, it's more like doing your washing up in silence and getting up early to beat the race to the showers. But hey, we enjoyed our campa van trailerpark trash experience, but we probably won't make a habit of it. Unfortunately the next night we had to stay in another camping park. We had finally made it down to Wellington for our ferry, scheduled for the next day, but couldn't find anywhere suitable to park up. The sea was too rough for us to stop at a beach lookout and we were worried we would be swept away and we didn't want to sleep at a motorway lay-by. Plus it's quite built up around Wellington and all the small country roads only led to private properties.

After two hours of driving round, with the sun getting lower and lower on the horizon, we stopped at a proper trailer-trash camping ground. I hopped out to inspect, privately praying they would be full, and went to the manager's office to inquire. I rang the bell and was greeted by a huge man, skin-head, tatooed down both arms and wearing a wife-beaters vest and a snarl on his face – I had just interrupted his T.V dinner – a grave offense as far as trailer-trash ar
e concerned.
“Hi!” I beamed brightly and falsely “Do you have any sites available?”
“Ur, yuh.” he grunted (in trailer-trash speak this means 'yes').
“Oh great! And how much is that for an unpowered site?”
“Twenny-sux” (NZ's pronounce the number six as 'sux').
“Ok, is that per person or per van?”
“Er, yuh for the two a yuz”.
“Ok well could I let you know in a minute?”
Big mistake to ask this question as it involved the prospect of disturbing his T.V dinner again.
“No!” he barked, “You can tell me now, are you gunna take it or not?” Yikes!
“Oh... ok” I stammered, “but I must check with my boyfriend first...” but by then he had slammed the door in my face.
I scuttled back to Al and opened the door shouting “drive! let's get the hell outta here!” and off we sped as fast as our little campa could take us.
We eventually found a camping place at a nearby happy clappy 'Christian' camping ground where alcohol was banned and the sounds of a guitar strumming kumbaya could be heard on the wind. We cooked up a tomato-rice dish, enjoyed a furtive beer and settled down for the night, happy campers and ready to hit the South Island the following day.

Torres del Paine / Punta Arenas

Southern Patagonia is a very cold place! The weather seems to change every ten minutes from freezing wind, to rain, to sunshine and back to wind again. The wind from the south is particularly vicious and no amount of thermal underwear or Peruvian woolly hats seems able to keep it out.

We arrived at the Torres del Paine national park, checked into our ridiculously overpriced hostel (fiscal rape is the new term we like to use, we have been raped quite a bit in Chile) and set off on our merry way to the base of the torres (towers). I had mistakenly thought that it would be an easy dander across rolling hills in the sunshine, oh how wrong I was.

We began a stiff climb upwards, which never really got any easier. Half way up our first hill the spring in our step was quickly extinguished when a fierce snow storm began. The Torres that we had been admiring just minutes earlier disappeared behind a thick dark cloud. Oh dear, we hadn't been reckoning on not being able to see them – that's what we were here for!
On we ploughed, through the strong wind which whipped through our woolly hats, and the snow which smacked into our faces until we couldn't talk because our mouths were so numb. Around us the trees bent from the wind and the pathways we were following quickly became slushy and impossible to walk quickly on.

Our trek took us through snowy forests which reminded me of Narnia, across rapid icy rivers and down muddy banks. After 4 hours of this – Al galloping ahead like a hardy mountain goat and I trying to keep up with his pace with the odd call of “what's the bloody hurry?!” - and a little grumbling from me (actually a lot of grumbling from me) we reached the foot of the mountain we had to ascend before we were at the base of the Torres. It looked impossible, it had snowed so hard that we couldn't even see the track ahead of us and in places the path was marked out by rivlets and waterfalls which we had to climb up. After pulling ourselves up the mountain side in the snow for an hour and a half we finally made it to the base.
The clouds cleared slightly and we had quite a good view of the magnificent 3000ft granite towers above us. A small pond sat picturesquely below the towers – we later found out that this 'pond' was in fact a 2km long lake – it just looked small in comparison.

The way down was even more fun, I slid down on my bum (was wearing waterproof trousers which came in very handy for this) and Al clung onto trees and rocks along the way. At one point he decided to rest on a signpost which promptly came away in his hands causing a landslide and a huge boulder to crash down the mountainside and a booming sound to echo through the mountain range. We stood in shock for a minute or two, if anyone had been in the way they would certainly have died, but thankfully no one was there and no one saw. As our own mortality became all too clear to us we decided to get out of there as soon as possible and rushed, slipping and sliding on the ice to the safety of the forest.

Back at the hostel we warmed our freezing fingers and dried our boots on the fire. We were sharing a dorm with two Australians and an American, all really nice and it was fun. The Aussies had been traveling for two years and were coming to the end of their travels. We figured that the extortionate cost of the dorm (C$24,500 pp inc. bedsheets which are extra – to give you a comparison our average stay in other places has been around C$5,000 pp) was due to the great view that we had of the Torres. The clouds suddenly cleared and Alex took this great picture.


Why did we bother climbing all the way there to see them when we could have stayed in the warmth and looked out of the window! We spent a freeeezing night in the hostel, they make you pay extra for bed sheets (seriously!) which are only an inch or two thick, in an unheated dorm at zero degrees celcius outside. But hey, it was either that or camp outside and we didn't fancy that too much.

The next day we joined our tour bus which was to take us around the rest of the park in the comfort of a heated van. Unfortunately we had very little time on our hands and so this was the most time-economical way of doing things.
It was great though, we didn't spend much time in the minibus at all and went on walks to see waterfalls and mountains and the lakes of the park – Lago Pehoe, Lago Torres, Lago Azul and Lago Grey and of course the glacier at Lago Grey and the icebergs that come from it - freeeezing! And very windy! It was very strange to see icebergs in the middle of a park and we ran over in anticipation. The wind was very strong here and we struggled to hold onto our cameras as we took photos.










There are also lots of condors in the park, they are such amazing birds and we watched a group of ten of them gliding in circles searching for food.

We also saw this llama carcass which had been eaten by a puma:


On the way home we came across two hitchhikers, standing next to their overturned car. They had skidded on the road, lost control and flipped their 4x4 over and come out of it relatively unscathed.


We suffered a sad loss on the way home. I misplaced my red Peruvian alpaca hat at a restaurant... I'm extremely saddened by this loss as it has come a long way with us and has kept my head very warm on numerous cold occasions. If anyone reading this happens to go to a cafe at a cave near Puerto Natales where there is a big statue of a bear, please return it to me :.-(

That night we stayed in another freezing hostel in Puerto Natales, they don't believe in central heating here so both Al and I are sniffing away like crazy. Puerto Natalies is a nice little touristy town, strangely everyone here looks the same – it's a bit creepy actually... especially all the women, they are all small, with pale skin, dark long hair, dark eyes and small noses and mouths... it really is a bit odd – I thought that maybe 20 years ago or so there was a man in town who seduced a lot of women and had a lot of love children? Probably not, but everyone here is probably related in one way or another.

So we moved on and caught the 7am bus the next morning... in the rain with our rucksacks again... to Punta Arenas on the Straights of Magellan. Here is me in the rain, sans red woolly hat - sniff sniff. A very historically interesting area. The city is three hours south of Puerto Natales and even colder! We stayed in a great, clean, homely little backpackers hostel here called Hostal Independencia run by a really friendly guy and at a great price (although the room was a little cold as usual). We spent the day in the natural history museum which was extremely interesting. They had decided to stuff every bird and animal in the area so we were treated to an exciting aray of stuffed puma, rat, fox, hare and even... most distastefully... vulture and condor. Really gave me the heeby jeebies, especially as they were really badly stuffed and a bit mouldy. Anyway, there were interesting sections on the first settlers from Europe to the area, the early sea-farers including Magellan, Drake, Shackleton and Cavendish and the local tribes people in the area. The natives used to run around naked (in this weather!) and paint their bodies in strange stripes, it looked really freaky and we bought a few postcards to hang on our wall when we get home – just to scare us a bit every now and then.

Later we visited the local penguin colony. I was particularly excited about this having been a big fan of the movie March of the Penguins.

The colony contained 10,000 Magellanic penguins however most of them were out swimming but we still got a good view of a group of them. They are very funny creatures and it was awesome to see them swimming and waddling about in the wild.


Punta Arenas was a great town and we would have liked to explore the area more but our onward travels beckoned and the next day we flew to Santiago on the strangest flight ever... we had bought a ticket to Santiago on the internet, however once we boarded we found out that the plane was also making stops at two other cities along the way! So our plane journey was a bit like a bus journey, we took off and touched down three times in total and different people came on and off the plane. we sadly suffered another tragic loss - Al's new fishing rod, we left it at the hostal by mistake. Al was very sad, esp as he hadn't even caught something with it... we decided to leave the fishing until we're next in Scotland.
Anyway back to the plane journey - funnily enough we actually had one of our best meals in Chile on that plane, this may sound strange to you since it is widely known that aeroplane food is nothing to get excited about... however it is if you have had to put up with the terrible Chilian cuisine for three weeks. Apart from a couple of exceptions which I mentioned in the blog the food in Chile is absolutely dire. I would say that it's on a par with Bolivia. For a country that has probably the longest stretch of coastline in the world you would think that they know a thing or two about cooking fish... well we had better fish in Bolivia which has only one lake and NO coastline, than in the WHOLE of Chile (bar Santiago where it seems all the good fish goes to). The wine was good, I'll give that to them, but when you get to a city at the end of a long day's driving and there is only a hot dog/pizza place open you wonder what is going on here. I'm ashamed to admit that we actually resorted to McDonald's and Pizza Hut on a couple of occasions... it was that bad, and this has been the only country in which we've done this.
Many other travelers we spoke to complained about being fiscally raped, it wasn't just us, people really felt that Chile was an overpriced country – budget accommodation was also an issue with most 'hostals' being stuck in a 70s time warp, complete with bathrooms that make you feel dirtier when you exit than when you enter. On our tour in the Torres del Paine park we met an American girl who was married to a Chilian and living in Valparaiso. We discussed the situation in Chile and brought up the very valid question – where does all the money go? The people here are certainly poor despite the amounts we spend in their hotels/restaurants, so it is a mystery to us. She told us that there are about 70 of rich families who own all the land and big businesses in Chile and that basically all the money goes to them and the ordinary people on the street have no chance at setting up any kind of competition. It all sounded rather corrupt to us and helped to explain things a bit better e.g. high prices, monopolisation and poor standard of living despite high prices. Chile is a geographically amazing country and we saw so many amazing things here, however I wouldn't rate it as a country that I want to revisit anytime soon. Al on the other hand really loved it and wants to come back... so... each to their own I say.

Anyway Santiago to Auckland... the adventures continue. And to make matters more exciting we're rebooking our flights so that we return early March after visiting Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand – woooooo!!!!

Voyage to Patagonia - Log Book

Log Book – Maiden voyage of Alex and Victoria, through the ocean, to lands unknown...

Monday 3rd November:

14.30. hrs

Arrived for embarkation aboard our ship Evangelista. We were given a short presentation from two girls who are to be our the guides. Anticipation growing by the minute. Our room number (131) is called out: “could those from rooms 131 – 138 please come forward.” “Yes that's us!” Al says, leaping up. We felt that our street cred was ruined slightly by having to walk up in front of everyone but we were so excited about boarding that it didn't matter. We walk onto the boat with a group of people who aren't backpackers. All the other backpackers are probably heading for the 24-bed dorms with no window which would have been the sensible money-saving option. But hey, we didn´t slave away in London for all those years for nothing ;-)

15.00 hrs
Heading: S
Sea condition: Calm
Weather: Overcast

We settle into our little cabin. Very cosy! We have two bunks, a desk topped with refreshments, small sofa bench, a bathroom with shower, wardrobe, and best of all a large window with unobstructed view, looking out over the ocean, It is, in fact, a lot nicer than most of the guest houses we've stayed in on land. What's more we are informed that we are to eat in the small dining room with the captain and senior crew. Yes, we are important people. I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised as we'd been gearing up for a cramped cabin with tiny bathroom and tiny peep-hole window. We do feel it's a bit above our station for a pair of humble backpackers, however when you wanna have a window you gotta pay for a window.

16.00 hrs
Heading: S
Sea condition: Calm
Weather: Overcast

The ship revved up its engines and set sail. We stood out on deck to wave farewell to the workers on the docks. It was fairly cloudy so unfortunately we missed some of the view but nothing could curb our excitement. A few minutes later we already began to spot seals heads bobbing above the water, taking a look at the boat, and a group of penguins swimming past searching for fish. We waved goodbye to Puerto Montt and awaited the voyage ahead of us.

16.30 hrs
Heading: S
Sea condition: Calm
Weather: Overcast

We saw a dolphin! Al spotted it. It was black and white (like a killer whale) and jumped fully out of the water three times beside the ship. Most exciting.

17.00 hrs
Heading: S
Sea condition: Calm
Weather: Overcast

We attended the introductory presentation which talked us through safety procedures and gave us an overview of where we would be going and what we would be seeing throughout the trip.
We are to sail down through ffyords and past glaciers, with the potential to spot grey and black/white dolphins, penguins, seals and even possibly... a blue whale! If we are lucky enough to see the world's largest mammal I would probably fall overboard with excitement. Fingers crossed.

18.00 hrs
Heading: S
Sea condition: Calm
Weather: Overcast

Went up to the bridge to see what the captain was doing – for those not in with shipping lingo the 'bridge' is basically the cockpit. We looked at the radar screen and other instruments such as the wind speed and direction monitor, gps and depth gauge. The captain has it pretty easy if you ask me, they were playing music in there, drinking coffee, not a bad job.

19.00 hrs
Heading: S
Sea condition: Calm
Weather: Overcast

Dinner is served. We ate at a table with our fellow v.i.p. passengers in the captain's dining room. Our waiting lady Cecilia is very friendly and we like her. As you know we had stocked up on plenty of supples to help us through what we were sure would be a poor dining experience. However we were pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong. The food was good, varied, well-presented and wine and tea/coffee were served. We left the table stuffed to the gills and unsure at what point we would be able to face eating the mountain of snacks piled up in our room.

20.00 hrs
Heading: S
Sea condition: Calm
Weather: Cloudy/windy


We went out on deck again for a quick look around as the sun went down. Al has turned out to be an avid seal spotter, he always manages to see them from a mile away, even if they have just an ear poking out of the water. I'm quite good at spotting penguins, although most of the time it turns out to be a seagull. We had just passed the island of Chiloe, which we had visited a couple of days before. The sky was beginning to clear a bit and the mountains were silhouetted around us. The wind had begun to pick up and it was very cold so we retreated back inside to watch our film of the evening 'The Motorcycle Diaries'.

23.00 hrs
Heading: S
Sea condition: Slight swell
Weather: Cloudy/windy

'The Motorcycle Diaries' was the film that inspired Alex to come to South America. It follows Che Guevara as a young man, travelling around South America to many of the places we have now traveled ourselves – Lima, Peruvian rainforest, Macchu Pichu, Cusco, Atacama desert, and throughout Chile . As he travels he learns about the great injustices that the indigenous people faced at that time. It is a truly inspiring film and we would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in Latin America. On exiting the dining room where the film was shown we were suddenly aware that we couldn't stand straight – the walls and floor were moving... were we drunk? Then we remembered that of course we were in a ship and ships rock around a bit. We made our way back to our cabin, opened the window for a while watching the waves and then climbed into our bunks and were gently rocked to sleep by the swaying of the boat.

Tuesday 4th November:

07.30 hrs
Heading: S
Sea condition: Slight swell
Weather: Cloudy

It's more cloudy than it was yesterday... hmmm... not good.


09.00 hrs
Heading: S
Sea condition: Slight swell
Weather: Drizzle/cloudy

After a hearty breakfast we headed outside to see what was happening with the weather. The sea was rougher than yesterday and it was beginning to rain. Our spirits were a little dampend by this, but I reminded myself that Patagonia is not meant to be a sunshine destination and, like Scotland, you should probably expect cloud and rain.

10.00 hrs
Heading: SW
Sea condition: Moderate
Weather: Rain/wind

We have just had another lecture from the guides to tell us the itinerary for the day. We will be passing through: Canal Chacabuco, Bahia Anna Pink, Golfo de Penas. We have been warned that we might get seasick later in the day as we pass from the channels to the open sea. Alex thinks he might get sick, I'm hoping I will be ok so will try and go without a tablet as they make me drowsy. We were shown a DVD on the glaciers of Patagonia. It showed pictures of advancing and retreating glaciers which looked amazing, Apparently the sea is 5000 metres deep in some places in this area, there are underwater mountains caused from the earthquake which created the Andes.

12.00 hrs
Heading: W
Sea condition: Moderate
Weather: Drizzle/wind

We have changed heading now and are going west through the channels. We've seen quite a few penguins and seals which is always exciting. Stayed outside until it was too cold and then went for lunch.

14.00 hrs
Heading: W
Sea condition: Moderate
Weather: Rain/wind

We received an announcement 'you are invited onto the deck to observe the channel of Pulluche' Out we went with our boots, raincoats and hats at the ready. I was almost blown away by the strong wind when I opened the door onto the deck. Everyone was standing huddled in a group on the deck, all wrapped up, trying to stay warm and dry. The islands of the channel were hidden by cloud, we could just make out small waterfalls running down the sides, we watched the odd lighthouse or fish farm standing alone on the edge of an island or outcrop – so isolated. We spotted a group of penguins, an occasional seal and... not much else because it was raining so hard that my binoculars steamed up, my hat began to leak and my hands and face became numb. We beat a hasty retreat indoors leaving the few brave souls who remained to face the elements.

15.00 hrs
Heading: W
Sea condition: Strong swell
Weather: Rain/strong wind

The sea feels a lot more rough now. I'm sitting at the window of our cabin, I've engineered the chair to sit on the bench so that I can rest my laptop on the window ledge and look out so that I don't miss anything and I have my binoculars and camera at the ready. The wind is much stronger and it is whistling loudly through the window. Al has a really bad cold and has retired to his bunk. I will have to get him a sea sickness tablet soon too just in case. The weather doesn't look like it's going to improve any time soon. Every now and then the bow crashes into the sea causing a loud bang like a big bass drum that reverberates through to our cabin.

16.00 hrs
Heading: W
Sea condition: Strong swell
Weather: Rain/strong wind

Up and down, up and down... the swell is much stronger as we are nearing the mouth of the channel where it meets the open ocean. We can see waves crashing off nearby rocks. The sea isn't actually rough, it's just the swell which is strong.

17.00 hrs
Heading: S
Sea condition: Strong swell
Weather: Rain/strong wind

Just went up to the deck which is deserted. Everyone is sitting in the lounge area or their cabins, and a few people are standing on the side decks to ease their seasickness, watching the sea which is crashing against the sides of the boat. I'm feeling a little queezy so am going to lie down for a bit. Poor Al is still in bed feeling ill with a cold. I'm nursing him through it, I think he'll pull through.

18.00 hrs
Heading: S
Sea condition: Strong swell
Weather: Rain/strong wind

Swell is incredibly strong, feel pretty ill so am going to take seasickness pill and stand outside for an hour or so to try and pull myself together.

23.00 hrs
Heading: S
Sea condition: Strong swell – 4 metres
Weather: Strong wind - 30knots

Uuuuuuuughhhhh... took pill but it was too late... went for supper at 7pm and attempted the spaghetti bolognese which looked delicious but could only eat a couple of mouthfulls before dashing to the bathroom to be sick. Al was very good and fetched me another pill from the nurse. Have slept since then and feel much better though only when I lie down. Apparently it's going to continue like this until 4am when we reach the channel that leads us to Puerto Eden.

Wednesday 5th November

07.30 hrs
Heading: SE
Sea condition: Calm
Weather: Freezing!

Awoke feeling much better. We noticed the sunshine streaming through the window and both dashed onto deck to see the beautiful mountains in the sunshine. The sea is completely calm now. Spirits much lifted after sleeping off the sickness. Hungry now... breakfast... yum yum!

08.00 hrs

We just found out the Obama won the US elections over the loudspeaker – yeah! Everyone seems to be really pleased with the outcome. Al and I have been following it all on CNN since we arrived in South America and were planning on celebrating with a toast when we found out the news, but since we have just been seasick our stomachs aren't really up to any morning drinking. Instead we've hung a couple of beer cans outside our cabin window to cool for this evening.

10.00 hrs
Heading: SE
Sea condition: Calm
Weather: Freezing!

Sailed past a stranded shipwreck in the middle of the channel. Many ships have hit the rocks here and this channel is known to be unlucky. The captain of this particular ship was delivering sugar from Brazil to Valparaiso (Chile) decided that he would make a bit of extra money by selling the sugar before he reached his destination, steering his ship onto a rock in the channel and claiming that all the sugar melted after it sank, thus winning the insurance money. He sold his sugar, came up the channel and hit the rock, but his boat did not sink, it got stuck. So the insurance companies arrived on board to inspect the boat and asked him what happened. He told his story – that the boat hit a rock and all the sugar melted. “But if the sugar melted, where are the bags that it was stored in?” The captain had forgotten to replace the bags and ended up in prison. Unlucky or just a bit stupid?

14.00 hrs
Heading: SE
Sea condition: Calm
Weather: Freezing!

After passing through the channels for a few more hours the boat anchored at Puerto Eden, a small fishing village cut off from the rest of the world, completely inaccessible by land.
We queued with around 200 other passengers to receive our life jackets and be placed into a small fisherman's boat. After a short crossing we scrambled onto land and made our way around the tiny village. We passed what seemed to be the only shop, a number of ramshackle houses with dogs and cats sunbathing in the gardens and chickens roaming freely. Some of the villagers made crafts out of what they could, namely grass baskets and painted mussel shells. Others made a living from fishing and we saw seaweed drying on wracks, presumably for selling (to the Japanese?). The locals were all very friendly to the hoards of holiday-goers in bright orange life jackets who temporarily colonised their village. We both thought it was a very picturesque place but agreed that it wouldn't be the life for us. We were only there for an hour, which was plenty of time, before heading back to the mothership.

18.00 hrs
Heading: S
Sea condition: Calm
Weather: Freezing!

The boat coursed through the Patagonian channels, the water was smooth and we spotted the odd dolphin chasing the boat. Snow-covered mountains surrounded the boat, towering above us. We began to see small icebergs – our first icebergs! We were very excited. At this point we were heading towards the Pio XI glacier, one of the world's largest glaciers, 150 square kms and advancing around 2m per day. We could see it for about an hour and a half before we arrived, growing ever closer. All passengers were on the deck at this point and everyone was very excited, jostling for the best view. The captain took the boat closer and closer to the immense glacier until we were wondering if he was actually going to turn around at any point before crashing. The ice from the glacier was bright blue and the wall was split with huge crevasses. The sea beneath it was full of small icebergs, submerged in the freezing water. It was truly awe-inspiring to behold and we felt very privileged to be there. We stayed outside until our hands and faces were numb from the freezing wind and our camera had run out of memory space. As the captain turned the ship round we dashed downstairs to our cabin to get the view from our window, in the warmth where Pepe had a window-side view:

21.00 hrs
Heading: S
Sea condition: Calm
Weather: Sunny

The sky was clear and the sunset over the mountains was beautiful. We took a glass of wine onto the deck and sat watching the mountains passing the boat. The evening entertainment was beginning at the bar with the onboard crooner singing 'I did it my way' and bingo about to begin. We decided to pass in order to plan the next part of our journey instead.

Thursday 6th November

11.30 hrs
Heading: SE/E
Sea condition: Near calm/moderate
Weather: Gales – around 80MPH

If you ever have problems waking up fully in the morning, I'd recommend stepping out into a freezing gale force wind. Certainly works for me! The wind was so strong that we struggled to open the door to get out on the deck. Once out there we clung to the rails as we inched round to the bow. The sea was dark grey with white tips on the waves but there was no swell and the boat glided smoothly through them. With our faces frozen we stood and watched the huge mountains passing us, until we were numb and our fingers aching from the cold.

Near the end of our journey we passed the narrowest channel of our voyage, at 80 metres wide it seemed like our 25 metre-wide boat just fit through.

14.00 hrs
Location: Hostel de Chila, Puerto Natales

As we arrived at Puerto Natales and disembarked from the boat it began to pour with torrential rain. We ran drenched through the town, guide book in hand, to find the first hostel we could. Eventually we came found a place which was cheap and had a huge fire oven for us to dry our clothes on, perfect. There are even some little kittens here sleeping under the stove.

Al just wrote this in a message to a friend: Well I better go and have dinner now before the temperature drops to below a million degrees! Hey before I go, it was sunny all day when we were on the boat. Just as we wanted to get off it started to rain slightly. Then when we finally had to step off there was like a tropical thunder storm in this freezing weather. So 300 people stampeded off the boat and we all ran down the road to the nearest hostels. I was carrying probably 30 kilos and running like a juicy pig through ethopia. I got sooo soaked. My clothes inside my rucksack got soaked and our book had to be put in the oven to dry. But get this....just as we arrived at our hostel it stopped raining and the sun has been shining since. Sods law! Take care.

Our maritime adventures were fantastic, but it is also good to have our feet back on dry land, albeit a bit wet at times here too.

Charming Chiloe

We set off early in the morning, keen to arrive in Chiloe as soon as possible. Chiloe is the biggest island off the coast of South America and is only a 30 min ferry ride from the coast near Puerto Montt. All buildings on the island are made from wood including all the churches which are very beautiful inside, unfortunately not all are maintained as well from the outside. A large amount of indiginous Mapuche people live on the island and the islanders are a very superstitious people creating a variety of folklore. We were aware of the need to watch out for the following: El Traucho – A small, ugly, smelly man who sits in the forest awaiting for virgins to seduce. Apparently the ladies find him irrisistable. If you disturb him while he is seducing one of his virgins you will be deformed beyond recognition and die within 12 months. La Fiura – A small ugly woman who also lives in the forest. She attracts batchelors with her bright clothes. The hapless man is put to sleep from her foul breath and she has her wicked way with him. He then goes insane. There are also said to be mermaids and ghost ships that haunt the island. We didn't see any evidence of this but I kept a check on Al's midnight wanderings less he should stray into the forest.

We drove from Puerto Varas to Puerto Montt, quite a long drive down the motorway. Unfortunately at Puerto Montt we made a wrong turning and missed the petrol station. We were very low on fuel but had just enough to take us to Pargua, the town from where the ferry departs, there was a petrol station clearly marked on our roadmap. We drove fairly conservatively to Pargua – not A/C, no radio, not wanting to waste any fuel. After what seemed like an age we arrived at the town, fuel gauge flashing away at us, completely empty! The town was very small and we couldn't see any sign of a petrol station... we stopped and asked a local who informed us that there used to be a petrol station in Pargua but that it is no more. Ahh!! We began to panic at this point. We decided that the best thing for it was to hop on the next ferry to Chiloe where there had to be a petrol station. We boarded the ferry and took some time to de-stress, watch the seals and dolphins and enjoy ourselves a bit. As we disembarked we asked one of the crew where the nearest petrol station was - “In Ancud, 30kms away” came the response. Ahh!! What were we to do? We would surely run out of petrol before we arrived there! We had no choice but to continue on our way. If we broke down we planned that Al would hitchhike to Ancud, buy some kind of container to fill with petrol and bring it back to the car. We prayed it wouldn't come to that. Al started hitting the clutch pedal and coasting down the hills instead of using the engine, we were crawling at around 50kms/hr and being overtaken by lorries. Just as we thought the car was about to die we rounded a corner and saw Ancud in the distance... just a few more kms!! We made it to the petrol station, practically kissing the man who came to fill the car. He laughed when we told him our story and said that manys the tourist who has ended in our predicament due to the inaccurate tourist map. Darn map!

We drove, with our newly filled car, round Ancud to find lunch and then on to our next destination, a small village called Chepu where the guidebook recommended. The Chiloen countryside is very much like that of Britain – green fields, rolling hills, small farms. It was very picturesque. We arrived at the village but found nothing in the way of accommodation. We had seen a sign a few kms back for an 'agrotourism' residence, somewhere where local farmers run a small hostel and the tourists share their way of life. As we were turning around two German tourists ran up to us and asked for a lift. It turned out that they were staying at the agrotourism place we had passed. They said that they really enjoyed it and recommended it to us. We arrived and met the son of the owner. He explained that his mother (who ran the business) was away at an appointment but that she should be back in a couple of hours. He showed us around but couldn't agree to take us in and quote us a price until she arrived. We agreed to stay for a bit and so spent some time walking round the farm, milking the cows – yes I actually milked a cow for the first time in my life!! - and looking at the pigs and chickens. It came to 7pm and the lady still hadn't arrived, so frustrated by this we decided to move on and find somewhere else.
Off we went again, in a bit more of a hurry this time, and ended up at a small village called Quemchi. We booked into a hostel in this small village and enquired as to the best restaurant in town. We were pointed to a little place called El Chejo and popped our heads round the door. “Come in come in” a voice called to us. Ok, we entered the restaurant. “No come in!” a smiling face invited us from the kitchen. In we went to meet the cook, his wife and daughter. They were extremely friendly and the cook ushered us over to the stove to sample his food. It tasted delicious and we quickly sat down. We had the best seafood at that restaurant that we have had in the whole of Chile. It was amazing! Most of the fish here is just deep fried, but this man really knew how to cook. We asked him for his salmon recipe but he just smiled and changed the subject – Al thinks he's worked it out though so we'll try it when we get back home.

The next day we pressed on taking the coastal road south through the island. We stopped by small fishing villages watching people go about their daily routines and headed through the countryside watching farmers herding cattle. We drove past a small village where the bruja (witch) of the island is supposed to come from (I made sure Al didn't wander into any forests) and past another small town which hosts a beautiful wooden UNESCO protected church. The small coastal roads where in bad condition so it took us a while to get to the capital of Chiloe, Castro, which is situated in the middle of the island. Castro is a fairly large town (large for Chiloen standards) with a plaza de armas, cathedral and a variety of restaurants and bars. We found some cheap accommodation and the coolest bar in town which played '80s rock music on a duke box and were fairly happy for the rest of the evening. As we were about to leave an old drunk Mapuche man came to sit down next to us. The Mapuche's are the natives of southern Chile. When they were discovered by the Spanish conquistadors they were still living naked and hunting with spears. They were a very ferocious people and were actually the only ones to hold the Spanish off, thus retaining their culture which is still evident today. We also saw photographs from the end of the 19th century which showed Mapuche people naked and painted in black and white stripes for a ritual. They have progressed since then but are still very poor compared to average Chileans. The man started talking to us, telling us that his dark skin prevented him from having a job... we couldn't understand much else he was saying and as we got up to leave he took the money we left for a tip and walked off.

The next day brought with it a chance for Al to test out his new fishing rod. We drove to Lago Huillico, a nearby lake where we parked up and hid behind some bushes for a spot of illegal fishing.
Pepe sat watching quietly. It took us a while to work out how to use it but eventually Al was off and I sat back and read my book. After a while Al walked up to me with a sad look on his face. His fly (or whatever it is called) had somehow come undone and disappeared in the lake, lost forever. Fishing over. We headed back to the car and continued to the pacific coast near the national park and found a deserted beach with crashing Pacific waves. It was amazing. We ran around for a bit and then hopped in the car and drove onto the sand, Al practising his handbrake turns. We then found a cliff which looked easy enough to climb and climbed to the top. From there we could look the whole way down the beach, it was an amazing view.





On our way back from the beach we stopped to pick up a hitchhiker. He was an elderly gentleman, Francisco, who wore a big leather jacket and had something of a mafia look about him. “Where are you going?” he asked us. “To Quellon” we replied. “Ok me too.” Off we headed, 100ms south to Quellon. He was very chatty and talked to Alex non-stop about his life, our travels etc. Suddenly about 50 kms down the road we pulled into the roadside and Alex stopped the car. “What's happening?” I asked. “Frank says there's a great place for shellfish down here and we should go for some.” It was 4.30pm and we hadn't had lunch so I was quite happy to eat something. It turned out to be the house of a fishfarmer by the sea, he farmed his own mussels, clams and oysters. It wasn't really a restaurant and certainly no where that a tourist would consider going. Everyone looked up as we entered and Al and I felt a little out of place, but Francisco introduced himself and started chatting happily to the cook. We were invited to sit down and were presented with three huge plates of shellfish with lemon and salsa – yummy! We chatted to the locals for a bit and played with the cat who wanted to steal our food and then Fransisco got up to leave. We weren't sure whether we had to pay or not but nothing was said so we guessed our hitchhiker had footed the bill. After we left Fransisco said he hoped we enjoyed it as he'd wanted to show us an authentic Chiloen experience. We drove on to Quellon and when we arrived we asked him where he wanted to be dropped off. “Oh I was looking for a shop here but it has closed now, I suppose I should head back home to Castro.” We were quite amazed by this – Castro is 150kms in the direction we had come from... was this guy crazy? Once we had found a place to stay he sat down and wrote a note to his daughter in Auckland for us to pass on to her when we arrived there. And then he was off, to find a lift back to Castro. We puzzled over this for a while and figured that he just liked an adventure, like us.
We were in Chiloe over day of the dead and halloween. The graveyards were full during the day with people laying flowers and gifts on the graves and at night all the children came out onto the streets to ´trick or treat´- very cute!


Our drive back north to the mainland was stunning. The sky was clear and in the distance we could see across the sea to the Andes mountains on the mainland and the magnificent volcano which completely destroyed the city of Chaiten earlier this year.





Our time in Chiloe was truly memorable. It is a really beautiful island where everyone lives the simple life. We were sad to leave and head back to the busy mainland, but we had car to return and a boat to catch so off we sped.