After an adventure packed few days in the jungle we took a day off in Quito to sort out pictures, blogs, washing, resting etc - and time well spent it was. Nice to have a whole bag of clean clothes again as we (and our gear) smelt really bad after the humid jungle trekking.
Just 2 hours north of Quito is an area called the cloud forests. They are at an altitude of 1300m and famous for their large population of hummingbirds. We arrived in the pouring rain (this is a theme in Ecuador) and found safety in Hostel Cecilia (only $5 per night!!) The little town of Mindo is not a very happening place and facilities are rather limited, but we did manage to find a spot with nice red wine and fire to get us warm and dry. Comedy is that the whole town had no electricity that day and late into the night - but we had a torch to keep us safe...until we came across a bull in the middle of the road mooing angrily at us and then the torch was not a useful weapon (we opted for the 'run away' option)
The next morning we were thrilled to find that the electricity was back on, but oh, no water!! Un-phased by this we decided a country stroll was in order - the butterfly farm first. On a budget and having it described as 'a 20min walk' we headed off on foot up the valley arriving 40min (and 3kms) later so hot we didn't know what other item of clothing we could roll up or remove. Nice butterflies though!
Already being hot a sweaty we thought we would just walk the 3km downhill home again (and butterfly farms don't generally have a taxi service)
2km down the road we saw a sign for canopy ziplines (1.7km away) - oh what the hell! Now this is where we questioned our own sanity...it turned out to be 1.7km up a steep hill (repeat of our Malaysia tea plantation experience) and right at the top of the mountain! The ziplines (13 in total) through the jungle were excellent, until we did the superman (will have to show you - not pretty) or the butterfly (Simon did this one...upside down and resembling a starfish more than a butterfly) no pictures unfortunately!
Seeing as we had walked all the way there why not walk the 2.7kms home!! Knackered we were and very glad to find water in the taps for a much needed shower. Perfect afternoon in the hammocks on the deck watching the hummingbirds drinking in the garden.
That evening Alex, Ed and Matt arrived from Quito. We had met Alex at the Secret Garden and they were planning to stay in Mindo for some hiking for the next few days. We had already booked a trip with taxi and zipline for the next day, so they joined us.
Dinner that evening was a chilled affair in a cafe that didn't on the face of it look like it would normally serve food but did have a special on the local brew, imaginatively named Pilsener!! The music was provided by the huge truck rig parked outside, he only had a BoneyM megamix compilation CD but it seemed to smooth the conversation and evening on nicely. A few beers and some reasonable pasta later we retired to our beds in preparation for the waterfall hike the next day.
Cecelia provided a decent breakfast to get us going and an early start was on the cards as we had an afternoon bus to catch back to Quito so we got an early taxi to the park entrance...only to wait an hour for the guy who works the cable car over to the other side of the valley.
Once there we trekked for an hour to find one of the nicest waterfalls we have seen so far, up a few steps and out of the way a little but a beaut none-the-less.
Wednesday 28 May 2008
Amazon Day 4 & 5
The treat for staying an extra day in the jungle was a paddle upstream - I know most people will not think that as a reward, but the current is not strong at all and we got to see loads of animals a birds as we traveled slowly and quietly along the river. One downside to being a small group - the Shirley Express! Now we have not mentioned her before (not sure why) but she was a complete pain in the rear. The first three days she had complained about silly things like the juice at breakfast (it was really nice blackberry juice) and the fact that Pancho would not climb on her for a photograph (wise monkey) and during the hikes she kept getting lost and straying way behind the group. Lucky us to have her in our boat of four. She positioned herself at the front of the boat and basically found any excuse not to paddle all morning e.g.
- looking at a bird though her binoculars that was not there...this was the most popular one, complete with 'oh, what was that?'
- putting suncream on for the 9th time in 30min
- changing her paddling side without any notice and then splashing us.
In the end I called our morning on the river the Shirley Express. And when we did get to the lake and did a spot of Piranha fishing, she moaned the whole 20min that it was so cruel and 'as a vegetarian she was opposed to what we were doing'. Good news is that we finally caught a Piranha, only a baby one, but one none the less.
For the 6km we paddled along the river we were rewarded with sightings of lots of monkeys in trees over the river (Red Howler, Woolly, Squirrel, Pygmy) and stiff arms the next day!
Vicious little blighter!!
We were definitely being watched
Scarper!!
Shirley opted out of the afternoon jungle trek and we headed off at a good pace in search of more wildlife. We found lots of mud, short-nose bats, the equator (marked on a tree) and ate lemon ants...but no big animals sadly. The best way to finish our time in the jungle was a final swim in the lake, but we would pay for this treat...as swimming at sunset means there will be lots of mosquitoes when we get out! Below each knee we averaged 70 bites per leg!
A hot Simon at the jungle equator line...GPS is quite handy tool.
Day 5
We opted for an early transfer out of the jungle as the journey back to Quito was 2hr by boat, 3hr by van and 8hr by bus. This did mean we had to depart at 4.30am!
Simon had wished for a thunderstorm in the jungle the whole time we were there and it finally came - at 3am the morning of our departure. We have NEVER heard such loud thunder or seen such dramatic a storm than we did this morning... great timing! We left camp in the pitch dark, pouring rain and did our best to huddle under ponchos and an umbrella all the way back upstream...soaked through was our final outcome.
The journey from Lago Argio was horrid. Firstly our sandals were wrecked as there is so much crude oil on the street of the town that they were covered in a black stickiness. There is a very interesting case that is being tried in Lago Agrio at the moment where the local indigenous people are taking Chevron to court over terrible oil extraction pollution. link
This time we could also see the road we had travelled in the dark 6 days earlier - single dirt track winding high into the mountains without any barrier (and they go at break-neck speed) over a 4300m climb. Getting stopped twice by men with guns wanting to see our passports was also a little scary. Esp as we don't know much Spanish and the bag search and check were conducted through a series of gestures. Boy were we glad to be back in Quito and safely at the Secret Garden (best hostel so far) Our weary bodies were soon saved by some great Thai Green Curry and a chocolate brownie.
- looking at a bird though her binoculars that was not there...this was the most popular one, complete with 'oh, what was that?'
- putting suncream on for the 9th time in 30min
- changing her paddling side without any notice and then splashing us.
In the end I called our morning on the river the Shirley Express. And when we did get to the lake and did a spot of Piranha fishing, she moaned the whole 20min that it was so cruel and 'as a vegetarian she was opposed to what we were doing'. Good news is that we finally caught a Piranha, only a baby one, but one none the less.
For the 6km we paddled along the river we were rewarded with sightings of lots of monkeys in trees over the river (Red Howler, Woolly, Squirrel, Pygmy) and stiff arms the next day!
Vicious little blighter!!
We were definitely being watched
Scarper!!
Shirley opted out of the afternoon jungle trek and we headed off at a good pace in search of more wildlife. We found lots of mud, short-nose bats, the equator (marked on a tree) and ate lemon ants...but no big animals sadly. The best way to finish our time in the jungle was a final swim in the lake, but we would pay for this treat...as swimming at sunset means there will be lots of mosquitoes when we get out! Below each knee we averaged 70 bites per leg!
A hot Simon at the jungle equator line...GPS is quite handy tool.
Day 5
We opted for an early transfer out of the jungle as the journey back to Quito was 2hr by boat, 3hr by van and 8hr by bus. This did mean we had to depart at 4.30am!
Simon had wished for a thunderstorm in the jungle the whole time we were there and it finally came - at 3am the morning of our departure. We have NEVER heard such loud thunder or seen such dramatic a storm than we did this morning... great timing! We left camp in the pitch dark, pouring rain and did our best to huddle under ponchos and an umbrella all the way back upstream...soaked through was our final outcome.
The journey from Lago Argio was horrid. Firstly our sandals were wrecked as there is so much crude oil on the street of the town that they were covered in a black stickiness. There is a very interesting case that is being tried in Lago Agrio at the moment where the local indigenous people are taking Chevron to court over terrible oil extraction pollution. link
This time we could also see the road we had travelled in the dark 6 days earlier - single dirt track winding high into the mountains without any barrier (and they go at break-neck speed) over a 4300m climb. Getting stopped twice by men with guns wanting to see our passports was also a little scary. Esp as we don't know much Spanish and the bag search and check were conducted through a series of gestures. Boy were we glad to be back in Quito and safely at the Secret Garden (best hostel so far) Our weary bodies were soon saved by some great Thai Green Curry and a chocolate brownie.
Amazon Day 3 - Where's the monkey
This was our longest day, no siesta so we were really tired when we finally got home and glad of our dinner and beds...I think we flaked out at about 9 o'clock!!
It started with a game of spot the monkey...we were searching out Pygmy Monkeys...the smallest in the world. It took some fun and games with binoculars and a camera to capture an decent image but I think you will agree that they are quite cool. See if you can spot them?
Mini Monkey
Once we had enough of this fun sport we were off for a spot of Piranha fishing, all of the normal jokes about using the gringos for bait etc came out before we cast our rods into the shallows around the lake near the lodge. I say rods, they were more like long sticks with a bit of fishing wire attached and a hook with some steak on the end. We were assured that despite this low technology option and the fact that there were so many places for the little critters to feed we should be able to snag at least one!!
After a while the guide said that we should move as the spot we were fishing in didn't look much good...we thought it may have been an idea to assess this before spending 30 mins there...although it could have been something to do with the continuous chatting and general goofing about. After the 2nd, 3rd and 4th spots were also found to be barren fish wise we decided to call it a day and move on and see if we could find some luck later.
We stopped for a spot of picnic lunch at a local Secoya village where we also got to see and taste the fruit that is the bain of every dieter around the world...the cocoa bean...it tastes sweet and soury on the outside and once you bite into it (not usually recommended) it is bitter as an English football fan in June!! The great thing about travel is not having to worry about footie at home, we are currently following our new adopted friends at Liga Universitad de Quito who are playing their semi-final Copa Libertadores tonight, suerte amigos!!
Local village
Cath with a bean of all evil
My markings to meet the Shaman - I'm supposed to be a Jaguar...grrr!!
...and Cath the Anaconda!!
Once we had finished lunch it was off to see the Shaman of the tribe to see if he could do something about our fishing problems and to find out about how the community deals with tourism. After a wait for another group to clear out (these medicine men are quite popular you know) we had a guided tour of his garden and a talk through all of the different kinds of herbs and plants used in his rituals including a local viagra for men and women and a drink that will take you from paralysis to saturday night fever in 7 days...I am making light of the situation but he was a very well spoken, personable chap who is off soon to represent the Ecuadorean rainforest at tourism conferences in Germany, Spain and France...bit of a joker too!!
Deep in thought
He looks a little scared doesn't he?
We had a group blessing for our continued travels and after a bit of persuasion he agreed also to ask the gods to provide us with some fish...2 in fact or so he reckoned - this ended up being one the following day and our guide did not want to give up till we had the promised 2 but we assured him the one that got away from Cath's rod should count!!
Like being back at school
The day was rounded of by a decent dinner but not before a dip in the lake and a magnificent sunset that we all tried and failed to photograph...try taking a long exposure photo from a dug out canoe!!
As you can see I have mastered no-handed swimming!
It started with a game of spot the monkey...we were searching out Pygmy Monkeys...the smallest in the world. It took some fun and games with binoculars and a camera to capture an decent image but I think you will agree that they are quite cool. See if you can spot them?
Mini Monkey
Once we had enough of this fun sport we were off for a spot of Piranha fishing, all of the normal jokes about using the gringos for bait etc came out before we cast our rods into the shallows around the lake near the lodge. I say rods, they were more like long sticks with a bit of fishing wire attached and a hook with some steak on the end. We were assured that despite this low technology option and the fact that there were so many places for the little critters to feed we should be able to snag at least one!!
After a while the guide said that we should move as the spot we were fishing in didn't look much good...we thought it may have been an idea to assess this before spending 30 mins there...although it could have been something to do with the continuous chatting and general goofing about. After the 2nd, 3rd and 4th spots were also found to be barren fish wise we decided to call it a day and move on and see if we could find some luck later.
We stopped for a spot of picnic lunch at a local Secoya village where we also got to see and taste the fruit that is the bain of every dieter around the world...the cocoa bean...it tastes sweet and soury on the outside and once you bite into it (not usually recommended) it is bitter as an English football fan in June!! The great thing about travel is not having to worry about footie at home, we are currently following our new adopted friends at Liga Universitad de Quito who are playing their semi-final Copa Libertadores tonight, suerte amigos!!
Local village
Cath with a bean of all evil
My markings to meet the Shaman - I'm supposed to be a Jaguar...grrr!!
...and Cath the Anaconda!!
Once we had finished lunch it was off to see the Shaman of the tribe to see if he could do something about our fishing problems and to find out about how the community deals with tourism. After a wait for another group to clear out (these medicine men are quite popular you know) we had a guided tour of his garden and a talk through all of the different kinds of herbs and plants used in his rituals including a local viagra for men and women and a drink that will take you from paralysis to saturday night fever in 7 days...I am making light of the situation but he was a very well spoken, personable chap who is off soon to represent the Ecuadorean rainforest at tourism conferences in Germany, Spain and France...bit of a joker too!!
Deep in thought
He looks a little scared doesn't he?
We had a group blessing for our continued travels and after a bit of persuasion he agreed also to ask the gods to provide us with some fish...2 in fact or so he reckoned - this ended up being one the following day and our guide did not want to give up till we had the promised 2 but we assured him the one that got away from Cath's rod should count!!
Like being back at school
The day was rounded of by a decent dinner but not before a dip in the lake and a magnificent sunset that we all tried and failed to photograph...try taking a long exposure photo from a dug out canoe!!
As you can see I have mastered no-handed swimming!
Amazon Day 2 - Singing in the Rainforest
After the exertions of our solid day of travel and quite a decent sleep considering all of the little friends who shared our room we were ready to intrepidly reach out into the jungle and see some wildlife.
The first small stumbling block was that the rainforest decided to live up to it's name and as soon as we got out of the motorised launch it pelted down, on with the rather fetching ponchos for a 3 and a half hour walk through some of the most inhospitable woodland on the planet!! The continuing precipitation meant that most of the sensible animals and birds buggered off and hid for the afternoon but thankfully we did manage to see some rather poisonous frogs who yum up the rain. After about 2 hours I lost my sense of humour and started coming up with suitable Facebook profile updates...Simon is wet, Simon now has one wellington boot full of water, Simon now understands that they call it the rainforest for a reason and won't be so silly as to come back again... My morning however wasn't quite so bad as a German woman with us who upon entering a particularly swampy bit misjudged the depth and went knee deep with both boots which rather quickly filled not just with water but mud and bits of dead tree!!
Frog
Gandalf and I in our ponchos
After a cold shower and some lunch we settled down for a nice siesta (which are now a solid part of our day...I think BP should include them into the working day!!) and a bit of a play with Pancho. Our next outing was blissfully dry and involved heading first to the nearby lake to see pink dolphins (they have pink bellies and don't jump like Flipper but are kinda cool anyway) and then on a nightwalk to find some of the things that had gone bump the previous night. The walk was very very cool, we all had our little torches and played follow-my-leader with Nasir our guide...Cath and I initially had a little trouble as our lights were headmounted and when you are walking towards bug that fly towards the light you either keep your mouth closed or have an early dinner. The highlight of the evening was seeing a tarantula as big as a man's fist (I won't say my fist as it is more girl sized) sat near it's pad waiting for dinner to trot past, the spookiest part was when we all switched off our torches and stood in the dark looking at the luminescent mushrooms and listening to the forest come alive around us.
Before the bug sandwiches
Big spider!!
Caiman attack...well actually it was only a baby and about 50cm long
After that it was off to bed after another slap up meal and a snooze in the hammock.
The first small stumbling block was that the rainforest decided to live up to it's name and as soon as we got out of the motorised launch it pelted down, on with the rather fetching ponchos for a 3 and a half hour walk through some of the most inhospitable woodland on the planet!! The continuing precipitation meant that most of the sensible animals and birds buggered off and hid for the afternoon but thankfully we did manage to see some rather poisonous frogs who yum up the rain. After about 2 hours I lost my sense of humour and started coming up with suitable Facebook profile updates...Simon is wet, Simon now has one wellington boot full of water, Simon now understands that they call it the rainforest for a reason and won't be so silly as to come back again... My morning however wasn't quite so bad as a German woman with us who upon entering a particularly swampy bit misjudged the depth and went knee deep with both boots which rather quickly filled not just with water but mud and bits of dead tree!!
Frog
Gandalf and I in our ponchos
After a cold shower and some lunch we settled down for a nice siesta (which are now a solid part of our day...I think BP should include them into the working day!!) and a bit of a play with Pancho. Our next outing was blissfully dry and involved heading first to the nearby lake to see pink dolphins (they have pink bellies and don't jump like Flipper but are kinda cool anyway) and then on a nightwalk to find some of the things that had gone bump the previous night. The walk was very very cool, we all had our little torches and played follow-my-leader with Nasir our guide...Cath and I initially had a little trouble as our lights were headmounted and when you are walking towards bug that fly towards the light you either keep your mouth closed or have an early dinner. The highlight of the evening was seeing a tarantula as big as a man's fist (I won't say my fist as it is more girl sized) sat near it's pad waiting for dinner to trot past, the spookiest part was when we all switched off our torches and stood in the dark looking at the luminescent mushrooms and listening to the forest come alive around us.
Before the bug sandwiches
Big spider!!
Caiman attack...well actually it was only a baby and about 50cm long
After that it was off to bed after another slap up meal and a snooze in the hammock.
Amazon day 0 and 1 - Getting into the jungle
After a couple of uneventful days in Quito trying to sort ourselves out for what we planned to do we plumped for a few days in the Amazonian rainforest to get our appetities whetted for the upcoming Galapagos trip. After a long chat with the local tour operator (who looked scarily like Wayne from Wayne´s World but very kindly bought us lunch so we overlooked this) we rocked up to the alloted meeting place for our first South American night bus...after reading the Lonely Planet chapter about how you should never take night buses in Ecuador and Colombia. Hey ho though and we set off for Lago Agrio (near the Ecuador - Colombia border) where we were to meet our group and guide for the next part of the trip. Now normally here I would tell you about a mishap with a bus or the wrong train but lo and behold there was absolutely no drama and we even managed a few hours sleep.
We arrived relatively fresh faced in Lago and had some breakfast before another 3 hour bus journey and lunch. This is where it all went very Indiana Jones, we climbed in dug out canoes with little outboards on and gently pootled up the river looking at various birds, monkeys, sloths and all of the amazing vegetation. About an hour into this delightlful trip we were handed out our ponchos...which we needed 10 mins later and for the whole of the next hour until we reached our destination all a little bedraggled and thankful of a warm cuppa.
Nothing much of interest happened that evening other than chatting with the fellow guests and having a jolly good nosh up....oh and meeting Pancho. This little fella is a wooley monkey of 9 months who´s parents were killed by poachers who intended to sell her at a local market, when they were stopped by the local park police she was confiscated and sent to the lodge to be looked after with a view to being reintroduced into the wild. I am not sure what happened but she now seems more of a house guest who pops in for some food and cuddles from those staying at Samona. As you can see from the pictures she is quite hard to resist...and I wasn´t eating all of that Papaya anyway...just watch out for the course of nature as one of my shirts will atest!!
Me and my wooley scarf - and yes I was very very tired
Pancho and her fave
We arrived relatively fresh faced in Lago and had some breakfast before another 3 hour bus journey and lunch. This is where it all went very Indiana Jones, we climbed in dug out canoes with little outboards on and gently pootled up the river looking at various birds, monkeys, sloths and all of the amazing vegetation. About an hour into this delightlful trip we were handed out our ponchos...which we needed 10 mins later and for the whole of the next hour until we reached our destination all a little bedraggled and thankful of a warm cuppa.
Nothing much of interest happened that evening other than chatting with the fellow guests and having a jolly good nosh up....oh and meeting Pancho. This little fella is a wooley monkey of 9 months who´s parents were killed by poachers who intended to sell her at a local market, when they were stopped by the local park police she was confiscated and sent to the lodge to be looked after with a view to being reintroduced into the wild. I am not sure what happened but she now seems more of a house guest who pops in for some food and cuddles from those staying at Samona. As you can see from the pictures she is quite hard to resist...and I wasn´t eating all of that Papaya anyway...just watch out for the course of nature as one of my shirts will atest!!
Me and my wooley scarf - and yes I was very very tired
Pancho and her fave
Sunday 25 May 2008
First of South America - Buenos Aires
Time travel across the international date line was interesting...arriving in a place 6 hours before we took off!! And although our connection in Santiago was 3 hours, I was only awake for 40min - it is amazing how comfortable airport chairs can be when they need to be.
We arrived in Buenos Aires at 7pm, so that would translate into ´late afternoon´ for them. Easily enough time for a nap and then out for early dinner at 9pm! But instead we went straight to bed and only rose again at 11am on Saturday! The day itself was rather uneventful, some wandering around San Telmo (where we stayed - very gorgeous old part of town with cobbled streets et al) and finding a Spanish teacher to help us get started with the lingo. The evening on the other hand was delightful. We joined Florencia and her friends in Palermo for dinner (at 10pm!) and sampled some of the best Argentinian beef and red wine. It was a perfect way to get into the spirit and they chose all the local specialities for us to try and designed a whistle-stop Buenos Aires tour for our next week. I do also have to mention Dulche de Leche - a sweet caramely type dessert that is a local speciality - too much of this dining (beef, Dulche and red wine) and we are in deep trouble! Flo and all her friends on the other hand are as thin as reeds - we don´t know how they do it?
Flo, me and Meeeeeeaat
Sunday we were treated to a local tour by Florencia and her parents. After the 2am to bed, the 9.30pm pick-up was a little bleary eyed, but we soon warmed up. Marcelo (Flo´s dad) took us through everything from local history, architecture and then politics of Argentina. We drove from Puerto Madero all the way out of town to the north and then to the Palermo parks for a much needed walk. It was here we discovered how everyone stays slim - EVERYONE and their dogs were out running, cycling, rollerblading (you name it) and the walk around the lake was a bit ´dodge the oncoming traffic´. Florencia´s parents treated us to a wonderful family Sunday lunch, which here is empanadas (small pasty like things stuffed with savory items) more beef, roast pork and potato and green salad. More politics and geography followed as we were full of questions. The evening we spent around San Telmo as on Sundays all the streets are closed to traffic and turn into a big market until about 6pm. When the market stalls pack-up, the bands take over and the (mostly) locals try their hand at Tango in the street. We went in search of some tango lessons, but decided our time would be better spent absorbing the atmosphere and eating undoubtedly the best ice-cream in the world (if you ever get to Buenos Aires, Freddo is a MUST on the list of places to visit - we visited it 3 times in 6 days!)
Take a look at this video of the dancers in the street - here
Monday morning found us bright eyed and in the classroom (the courtyard in our hostel) for our first Spanish lesson. We were fortunate to have found a teacher (the wonderful Ian) in the hostel who just happened to have a Post Grad in Education and Degree in Spanish who was making some extra cash helping gringos master the lingo. I cannot believe how much we crammed into the 9 hours over the week, but Simon appears to have mastered the basics beautifully. We spent some of the afternoon being little geeks (i.e. doing our homework) and eating empanadas.
Tuesday we finally ventured out of our local area and enjoyed a tour of the cemetery - loads of famous people are buried in crypts here. For your info, a medium sized crypt is about $30,000 with $40 per year tax. They hold up to 24 coffins and stay in the family as long as the tax is paid. Some of the designs are a little weird, but each to their own. Most interesting was Eva Peron´s crypt, still covered in flowers from her recent (would be) birthday. Flo could not understand our fascination with it, but we loved the giant flower. It opens with sunrise and closes at sunset each day...and is just cool. Down through town to Puerto Madero for lunch and then back in time for some more Spanish. Very close to our hostel is a very popular parilla (grill) restaurant called Deneivel and we had to sample some of the fare. Armed with our words for rare (jugoso) fillet (lomo) and ´bill please´(la cuenta, por favour) we did okay - not so well on the DECAF coffee request! Needless to say I was still awake at 5am!
Evita...no crying here!
Simon is obsessed with this big flower
After a really bad night´s sleep we made it to half way through breakfast before I got grumpy and almost threw my medialuna at poor Simon. He sent me back to bed so as to venture around town and do his Spanish homework in peace. Our Spanish class was a little too much for me and I am not sure I will ever get my fork vs spoon words correct!
Our last full day in Buenos Aires was action packed. Shopping list in hand we managed to sign language our way though to some altitude sickness medication and some more deodorant - ask Simon to do those two requests for you some day - hilarious! We took in the city with mucho gusto as we marched it flat. We had the intention of visiting a museum filled with some great modern art from the likes of Picasso, Mondrian and Leichenstein...but it was closed for a refurb, not to be put off we walked to another museum detailing the history of Argentina...closed again!! We did try to take in some culture but were thwarted wherever we turned. The only culture we ended up witnessing was quite a nasty bag snatching near La Boca.
Lunch was a luxury for backpackers (although we looked out of place) as we dined at the famous Faena hotel. Designed by Phillipe Starke, we took lunch in the lounge and admired the wine list we would not be able to afford. A beer, orange juice and shared club sandwich was in order as we dominated the leather sofa and practised our Spanish with flashcards!! Dinner was pizza and wine with Florencia and her brother - did you know there are more Italian descendants in Argentina than Spanish - and this means brilliant Italian food and as Florencia says ´we are Spanish speaking Italians!´
Farewell Buenos Aires (we will be back) and hello Ecuador...real backpackers on the road again.
We arrived in Buenos Aires at 7pm, so that would translate into ´late afternoon´ for them. Easily enough time for a nap and then out for early dinner at 9pm! But instead we went straight to bed and only rose again at 11am on Saturday! The day itself was rather uneventful, some wandering around San Telmo (where we stayed - very gorgeous old part of town with cobbled streets et al) and finding a Spanish teacher to help us get started with the lingo. The evening on the other hand was delightful. We joined Florencia and her friends in Palermo for dinner (at 10pm!) and sampled some of the best Argentinian beef and red wine. It was a perfect way to get into the spirit and they chose all the local specialities for us to try and designed a whistle-stop Buenos Aires tour for our next week. I do also have to mention Dulche de Leche - a sweet caramely type dessert that is a local speciality - too much of this dining (beef, Dulche and red wine) and we are in deep trouble! Flo and all her friends on the other hand are as thin as reeds - we don´t know how they do it?
Flo, me and Meeeeeeaat
Sunday we were treated to a local tour by Florencia and her parents. After the 2am to bed, the 9.30pm pick-up was a little bleary eyed, but we soon warmed up. Marcelo (Flo´s dad) took us through everything from local history, architecture and then politics of Argentina. We drove from Puerto Madero all the way out of town to the north and then to the Palermo parks for a much needed walk. It was here we discovered how everyone stays slim - EVERYONE and their dogs were out running, cycling, rollerblading (you name it) and the walk around the lake was a bit ´dodge the oncoming traffic´. Florencia´s parents treated us to a wonderful family Sunday lunch, which here is empanadas (small pasty like things stuffed with savory items) more beef, roast pork and potato and green salad. More politics and geography followed as we were full of questions. The evening we spent around San Telmo as on Sundays all the streets are closed to traffic and turn into a big market until about 6pm. When the market stalls pack-up, the bands take over and the (mostly) locals try their hand at Tango in the street. We went in search of some tango lessons, but decided our time would be better spent absorbing the atmosphere and eating undoubtedly the best ice-cream in the world (if you ever get to Buenos Aires, Freddo is a MUST on the list of places to visit - we visited it 3 times in 6 days!)
Take a look at this video of the dancers in the street - here
Monday morning found us bright eyed and in the classroom (the courtyard in our hostel) for our first Spanish lesson. We were fortunate to have found a teacher (the wonderful Ian) in the hostel who just happened to have a Post Grad in Education and Degree in Spanish who was making some extra cash helping gringos master the lingo. I cannot believe how much we crammed into the 9 hours over the week, but Simon appears to have mastered the basics beautifully. We spent some of the afternoon being little geeks (i.e. doing our homework) and eating empanadas.
Tuesday we finally ventured out of our local area and enjoyed a tour of the cemetery - loads of famous people are buried in crypts here. For your info, a medium sized crypt is about $30,000 with $40 per year tax. They hold up to 24 coffins and stay in the family as long as the tax is paid. Some of the designs are a little weird, but each to their own. Most interesting was Eva Peron´s crypt, still covered in flowers from her recent (would be) birthday. Flo could not understand our fascination with it, but we loved the giant flower. It opens with sunrise and closes at sunset each day...and is just cool. Down through town to Puerto Madero for lunch and then back in time for some more Spanish. Very close to our hostel is a very popular parilla (grill) restaurant called Deneivel and we had to sample some of the fare. Armed with our words for rare (jugoso) fillet (lomo) and ´bill please´(la cuenta, por favour) we did okay - not so well on the DECAF coffee request! Needless to say I was still awake at 5am!
Evita...no crying here!
Simon is obsessed with this big flower
After a really bad night´s sleep we made it to half way through breakfast before I got grumpy and almost threw my medialuna at poor Simon. He sent me back to bed so as to venture around town and do his Spanish homework in peace. Our Spanish class was a little too much for me and I am not sure I will ever get my fork vs spoon words correct!
Our last full day in Buenos Aires was action packed. Shopping list in hand we managed to sign language our way though to some altitude sickness medication and some more deodorant - ask Simon to do those two requests for you some day - hilarious! We took in the city with mucho gusto as we marched it flat. We had the intention of visiting a museum filled with some great modern art from the likes of Picasso, Mondrian and Leichenstein...but it was closed for a refurb, not to be put off we walked to another museum detailing the history of Argentina...closed again!! We did try to take in some culture but were thwarted wherever we turned. The only culture we ended up witnessing was quite a nasty bag snatching near La Boca.
Lunch was a luxury for backpackers (although we looked out of place) as we dined at the famous Faena hotel. Designed by Phillipe Starke, we took lunch in the lounge and admired the wine list we would not be able to afford. A beer, orange juice and shared club sandwich was in order as we dominated the leather sofa and practised our Spanish with flashcards!! Dinner was pizza and wine with Florencia and her brother - did you know there are more Italian descendants in Argentina than Spanish - and this means brilliant Italian food and as Florencia says ´we are Spanish speaking Italians!´
Farewell Buenos Aires (we will be back) and hello Ecuador...real backpackers on the road again.
Monday 19 May 2008
North Island counter-attack!
For me Auckland was a little like a home coming...11 years after I left! Some things were different (like good friends being married and babies) and other things were thankfully the same i.e. Lloyd is still naughty and Zinny (the collie) still alive and everyone still knows how to party.
Meeting Allanah (exchange sister) at the airport was strange, but good - mainly because she was pushing her lovely little 2 year old Matthew in a pram. We soon caught up on the basics of what had happened in the last 10 years and then didn´t stop talking all afternoon. Simon and Matthew played every game under the sun and man does Matthew have the most wicked laugh...a bit chucky-ish! Michelle came to pick us up and we went to her home in Howick and for a really lovely dinner in the village. Nic - Michelle´s boyfriend - is the fastest drinker of beer in the world (no really, he should enter a competition) Dinner of delicious NZ lamb was a fabulous welcome to the North Island.
So, Friday we were intending to go into town and see some sights, but after a late morning, some washing and a few emails, we decided a wander into the village was all we could muster up (stocking up on drinks and supplies for a weekend away) After some local grub we headed off to the beach for the weekend. Thanks for smooth driving Nic, Simon and I napped most of the way!
At Opoutere we found Alicia, John & Adrienne and Greg & Gweneth just as I had expected...a few chardonnay and beers later! Much of the evening´s conversation was about how naughty I was as an exchange student - I don´t remember being all that bad, but I clearly made an impression!
The beach is mainly about drinking, eating, relaxing and talking...which we did in abundance. A Sat morning fry-up was just perfect - baked beans and everything. Then off the Whangamata for the Beach Hop (festival of hot rods, motorbikes, dragsters and scooters of the golden era)
After a long walk on Opoutere beach with Alicia, the weekend descended into typical beach BBQ / drinking / laughing at each other chaos. The only non-traditional item was Allanah and Kevin announcing the pending November arrival of a new Johnson clan member. I could hardly believe it when all had gone to bed except Simon, Lloyd and myself - we were left to decipher the tunes Lloyd was playing on his guitar. The Sunday morning brought rain to the lovely beach spot, so all soon packed up and headed back to the city - to an evening by the fireside with some local snapper and chips...new favourite fish for me.
Thanks to Michelle for lending us her car, as this enabled us to head off south to Tauranga and Rotorua for two days. Jeremy, Kym and their little Jake live in Tauranga, so it was well worth the visit (not much else to do there) and Kym´s Roast Lamb and Lemon Meringue Pie would be worth the visit on any day of the year...Simon even had a second slice under duress!
Rotorua was next and 11 years later it still smells really bad. John Booth is Fire Chief for Rotorua, so we were able to visit him for a beer and a bed. Adrienne had also left us a great tourist summary for the highlights and residents cards so we could get in for free at everything (they were terribly suspicious of the English accents, but we did an okay job at a few white lies)
Wai-o-Tapu geothermal area was wonderfully interesting and covered in bubbling mud, smelly geysers and tropical coloured sulphur pools. I have visited twice in my live now and never again (like a thousand rotten eggs I tell you) but the Waikete Valley hot springs provided a great reward for 2 hours at Wai-o-Tapu and left me feeling nice and sleepy for the drive home! Here is worth a mention of Michelle´s car CD collection - songs from 1998 that I know all the words to, but am not sure I should or why. The retro tunes made for many giggles and kept me awake for the journey this time!
7th May is Michelle & Alicia´s birthday and it was celebrated in style at Gwyneth & Greg´s with bubbles and Chinese food. Having the extended crew together was great for more trips down memory lane, but yet again it was the two of us and Lloyd up latest with a drink or two to finish - great tipsy debates about global warming everyone.
Our New Zealand farewell was killer burgers at Rock Fire with the twins and Nic in Howick on the Thursday evening and then Friday morning at Lolly-pops playground with Allanah and Matthew. Simon and Matthew spent most of the morning in the ´ooose´ (house with coloured balls) until Matthew wet his pants and they came back to find mum! Sad to say goodbye to all in NZ as only Lloyd, Nic and Shelley look like they will be heading to Europe any time soon, but it was great to catch-up with the old crew and set a few records straight after so many years. The only thing that made it easier was that we had finally managed to wash all our clothes in preparation for South America (thanks Nic & Shells) and the last day poured with rain.
Meeting Allanah (exchange sister) at the airport was strange, but good - mainly because she was pushing her lovely little 2 year old Matthew in a pram. We soon caught up on the basics of what had happened in the last 10 years and then didn´t stop talking all afternoon. Simon and Matthew played every game under the sun and man does Matthew have the most wicked laugh...a bit chucky-ish! Michelle came to pick us up and we went to her home in Howick and for a really lovely dinner in the village. Nic - Michelle´s boyfriend - is the fastest drinker of beer in the world (no really, he should enter a competition) Dinner of delicious NZ lamb was a fabulous welcome to the North Island.
So, Friday we were intending to go into town and see some sights, but after a late morning, some washing and a few emails, we decided a wander into the village was all we could muster up (stocking up on drinks and supplies for a weekend away) After some local grub we headed off to the beach for the weekend. Thanks for smooth driving Nic, Simon and I napped most of the way!
At Opoutere we found Alicia, John & Adrienne and Greg & Gweneth just as I had expected...a few chardonnay and beers later! Much of the evening´s conversation was about how naughty I was as an exchange student - I don´t remember being all that bad, but I clearly made an impression!
The beach is mainly about drinking, eating, relaxing and talking...which we did in abundance. A Sat morning fry-up was just perfect - baked beans and everything. Then off the Whangamata for the Beach Hop (festival of hot rods, motorbikes, dragsters and scooters of the golden era)
After a long walk on Opoutere beach with Alicia, the weekend descended into typical beach BBQ / drinking / laughing at each other chaos. The only non-traditional item was Allanah and Kevin announcing the pending November arrival of a new Johnson clan member. I could hardly believe it when all had gone to bed except Simon, Lloyd and myself - we were left to decipher the tunes Lloyd was playing on his guitar. The Sunday morning brought rain to the lovely beach spot, so all soon packed up and headed back to the city - to an evening by the fireside with some local snapper and chips...new favourite fish for me.
Thanks to Michelle for lending us her car, as this enabled us to head off south to Tauranga and Rotorua for two days. Jeremy, Kym and their little Jake live in Tauranga, so it was well worth the visit (not much else to do there) and Kym´s Roast Lamb and Lemon Meringue Pie would be worth the visit on any day of the year...Simon even had a second slice under duress!
Rotorua was next and 11 years later it still smells really bad. John Booth is Fire Chief for Rotorua, so we were able to visit him for a beer and a bed. Adrienne had also left us a great tourist summary for the highlights and residents cards so we could get in for free at everything (they were terribly suspicious of the English accents, but we did an okay job at a few white lies)
Wai-o-Tapu geothermal area was wonderfully interesting and covered in bubbling mud, smelly geysers and tropical coloured sulphur pools. I have visited twice in my live now and never again (like a thousand rotten eggs I tell you) but the Waikete Valley hot springs provided a great reward for 2 hours at Wai-o-Tapu and left me feeling nice and sleepy for the drive home! Here is worth a mention of Michelle´s car CD collection - songs from 1998 that I know all the words to, but am not sure I should or why. The retro tunes made for many giggles and kept me awake for the journey this time!
7th May is Michelle & Alicia´s birthday and it was celebrated in style at Gwyneth & Greg´s with bubbles and Chinese food. Having the extended crew together was great for more trips down memory lane, but yet again it was the two of us and Lloyd up latest with a drink or two to finish - great tipsy debates about global warming everyone.
Our New Zealand farewell was killer burgers at Rock Fire with the twins and Nic in Howick on the Thursday evening and then Friday morning at Lolly-pops playground with Allanah and Matthew. Simon and Matthew spent most of the morning in the ´ooose´ (house with coloured balls) until Matthew wet his pants and they came back to find mum! Sad to say goodbye to all in NZ as only Lloyd, Nic and Shelley look like they will be heading to Europe any time soon, but it was great to catch-up with the old crew and set a few records straight after so many years. The only thing that made it easier was that we had finally managed to wash all our clothes in preparation for South America (thanks Nic & Shells) and the last day poured with rain.
New Zealand - Southside Mutha Ucka
Having properly rediscovered our party shoes in Australia it was off to New Zealand for more of the same please. We may have told everyone that we were heading to see some of the most amazing ranges of hills and mountains coupled with stunning coastal scenery and the odd sheep but in fact New Zealand was stop two on the Australasian Drinking leg of our honeymoon!
The main (only) reason for our stop in Christchurch was to see the much missed Miranda Charles, ex colleague and Moorgate drinking buddy of mine. A few years ago she decided to leave us in the UK and hightail it back to her homeland, now settled with a v nice house and quite a moody cat.
After picking us up from the airport (a great luxury also meaning that there was no need for the usual bus vs taxi discussion which I usually lose) we were whisked to drop off our bags followed by a whistlestop tour of the surrounding hills so that Tracker Cath could get her bearings and I could get some photos...which you will all have to wait for.
Once we had taken in the scenery it was time to acquaint ourselves with the local brew, Steinlager was the first we tried in a kooky little bar overlooking the port in Lyttleton...followed by dinner where Miranda spotted a local comedy / radio celebrity.
After a very pleasant night´s sleep in the honeymoon suite (thanks for use of your bed M, we behaved) we set off for a walk around Christchurch. Continuing on from our Anzac day experience we went to a great little exhibition about the war and pension graves that are kept up by some very dedicated people around the world, if you have a few minutes check out this website to see what they do. - War Graves Commission After more strolling we stopped for some coffee and snacks where I had a sausage roll which was more a leg of pig covered in a thin crust - yum!!
Seeing as we hadn´t had any beer yet that day we soon found oursleves being drawn to the Lanes (cute, artsy shopping area) and a pub with it´s own microbrewery where we sampled a few of the ales and patiently waited for the arrival of the enigmatic P. Buchanan who appeared on all of the drinking wall of fame on the wall inside...sadly he didn´t show.
That evening was a chance to meet some of Mirandas friend´s and hopefully we didn´t show oursleves up...the homemade pizza we made seemed to go down well as did the Classic Cocktails provided by a couple of other Poms!! Much talk of travels and a few more beers to try saw a late night and not a particularly early start the following day for our trip out into the South Island countryside. We were off to Akaroa which prides itself as being a little French enclave...but in fact only the amusing road names show any sign of Gallic influence. Getting a little peckish we searched for something such as a baguette but to no avail settling for fush and chups...another amusing name as the local catch of the day was Groper.
After a long day on the road and with Miranda suffering as much as us from the night before we decided it was a good idea to have a night in...and obviously finish off the beer from the previous evening. This gave Miranda and I the ideal opportunity to educate Cath in the Way of the Conchords. The Flight of the Conchords are a NZ band / comedy duo who are only matched the Richard´s Stillgoe and Digance (ask your dad) for music based comedy. I won´t bore you with details but click here and here if you want a small slice of their mirth and then go and find their DVD, album or show which is prob on BBC2. Six or seven episodes later we all toddled off to bed tired but happy, our last night with the Charles well spent!!
Normally this is where a post would end as you don´t really want to hear about our trip to the airport or what we get up to after we have checked in...but Christchurch came up with a cunning idea - they set up an Antarctic Exploration Centre within a couple of minutes walk of the main airport terminal. So after checking in we trotted over the road and learnt all about penguins and sub zero wind chill first hand...and got to ride in one of the vehicles used to mount great snow dunes, driven by one of those chaps who enjoys making sure everyone knows firstly how wacky he is and then scaring the bejesus out of them.
Right that really is it now, go and read something else...or do some work...which you probably should have been doing anyway...or you could send us a comment?
The main (only) reason for our stop in Christchurch was to see the much missed Miranda Charles, ex colleague and Moorgate drinking buddy of mine. A few years ago she decided to leave us in the UK and hightail it back to her homeland, now settled with a v nice house and quite a moody cat.
After picking us up from the airport (a great luxury also meaning that there was no need for the usual bus vs taxi discussion which I usually lose) we were whisked to drop off our bags followed by a whistlestop tour of the surrounding hills so that Tracker Cath could get her bearings and I could get some photos...which you will all have to wait for.
Once we had taken in the scenery it was time to acquaint ourselves with the local brew, Steinlager was the first we tried in a kooky little bar overlooking the port in Lyttleton...followed by dinner where Miranda spotted a local comedy / radio celebrity.
After a very pleasant night´s sleep in the honeymoon suite (thanks for use of your bed M, we behaved) we set off for a walk around Christchurch. Continuing on from our Anzac day experience we went to a great little exhibition about the war and pension graves that are kept up by some very dedicated people around the world, if you have a few minutes check out this website to see what they do. - War Graves Commission After more strolling we stopped for some coffee and snacks where I had a sausage roll which was more a leg of pig covered in a thin crust - yum!!
Seeing as we hadn´t had any beer yet that day we soon found oursleves being drawn to the Lanes (cute, artsy shopping area) and a pub with it´s own microbrewery where we sampled a few of the ales and patiently waited for the arrival of the enigmatic P. Buchanan who appeared on all of the drinking wall of fame on the wall inside...sadly he didn´t show.
That evening was a chance to meet some of Mirandas friend´s and hopefully we didn´t show oursleves up...the homemade pizza we made seemed to go down well as did the Classic Cocktails provided by a couple of other Poms!! Much talk of travels and a few more beers to try saw a late night and not a particularly early start the following day for our trip out into the South Island countryside. We were off to Akaroa which prides itself as being a little French enclave...but in fact only the amusing road names show any sign of Gallic influence. Getting a little peckish we searched for something such as a baguette but to no avail settling for fush and chups...another amusing name as the local catch of the day was Groper.
After a long day on the road and with Miranda suffering as much as us from the night before we decided it was a good idea to have a night in...and obviously finish off the beer from the previous evening. This gave Miranda and I the ideal opportunity to educate Cath in the Way of the Conchords. The Flight of the Conchords are a NZ band / comedy duo who are only matched the Richard´s Stillgoe and Digance (ask your dad) for music based comedy. I won´t bore you with details but click here and here if you want a small slice of their mirth and then go and find their DVD, album or show which is prob on BBC2. Six or seven episodes later we all toddled off to bed tired but happy, our last night with the Charles well spent!!
Normally this is where a post would end as you don´t really want to hear about our trip to the airport or what we get up to after we have checked in...but Christchurch came up with a cunning idea - they set up an Antarctic Exploration Centre within a couple of minutes walk of the main airport terminal. So after checking in we trotted over the road and learnt all about penguins and sub zero wind chill first hand...and got to ride in one of the vehicles used to mount great snow dunes, driven by one of those chaps who enjoys making sure everyone knows firstly how wacky he is and then scaring the bejesus out of them.
Right that really is it now, go and read something else...or do some work...which you probably should have been doing anyway...or you could send us a comment?
Sunday 18 May 2008
Australia - 12 days, one entry!!
So how do you do one blog entry to cover 12 action packed days? We are about to find out!! Sorry no photos...they will follow soon.
The flight from Singapore arrived in Melbourne at 5am and the jetlag for this flight was worse than any other flight so far! Customs going into Oz (as anyone who has been there will know) are rather threatening, so in good faith we located the acorn in the bottom of Simon´s pocket and ticked ´been walking in forest in the last 30 days´box and braved the scary customs people. Our shoes didn´t offend enough for confiscation or even a cleaning and our honesty was met by an ´is this all?´
Poor Adrienne - our taxi managed record time from the airport and we were ringing her doorbell at 6.10am - followed by a long nap. Day 1 was all about the luxuries of a 1st world city: haircuts in a real salon, shopping (Simon!!) on Chaple Street and then out to party. Adrienne´s friends sing in a band, so we felt very rock ´n roll with our new haircuts heading out to the lead singers house for drink first and then off to the gig. I have to confess that the rockstar illusion was smashed when we discovered the lead singer drinking tea (and not champers like the rest of us) before the big performance!
Melbourne is a rather wonderful place and day 2 we headed out to meet up with friends in Sandringham, long story why we didn´t meet up, but Simon and I had a great walk along the beach with our coffee and croissants. Back to the city to hunt down the sights and with the weather a wonderful 25 degrees it was easy to do. We walked all over Federation Square, through the park and up to the Shrine of Remembrance...and squeezed in an afternoon nap, because the weekend partying continued on the Sat. Adrienne had just arrived back in Oz after being in the UK for three years, so we partied in style at her welcome home bash. As backpackers don´t carry high heals and party frocks, I had to borrow an outfit!! The bar (Baroque House) was very fancy and the music rather good. It felt like such a long time since we had drunk champagne, had canapes and dressed up...and a long time ´til we would do it again!!
Day 3 after all that partying was sleeping mostly. We did manage to fit in walking around the Botanical gardens (more by accident than design), watching our first game of local Aussie Rules Football and then pizza and movies on the couch. Simon nearly made enemies of the rather large football captain by insulting the game...and we made a swift exit!
Great Ocean Road - fancy name for a road on the coast. We decided to give Adrienne a break for two days and headed down the Great Ocean Road. Took all the obligatory pictures of Kangaroo and Koala signs and made it to the the Twelve (well 7 - the rest have fallen down) Apostles in time for a cool sunset. A couple of challenges along the way:
1 - the smallest car we could hire was a tank
2 - it was automatic
3 - I always fall asleep, so Simon enjoyed the last 30min of driving on his own!
Apollo Bay was our retreat for the evening and we dined at a lovely restaurant called Buffs - fish and red wine..yummy. The coast is really lovely (although a little too cold for a swim) and our favourite spot was Lorne with there very nice Aussie Meat Pies. On the way home we saw a Koala 25kms sign and thought ´yes, but we will never spot them in these trees!´ But they were everywhere. We must have seen about 20, all drunk on the eucalyptus trees and mostly sleeping in the branches. And Simon saw a kangaroo (I was asleep again) so we did well for our local wildlife spotting.
Back to cosmopolitan Melbourne and we met up with the lovely Paul and Kate in Lygon street for dinner. It is just like little Italy with hundreds of Italian restaurants lining the street and everyone out for the warm evening. Excellent food too - recommend Tiamo if anyone is in the area and Paul and Kate did a great job of selling Melbourne in a ´come and live here´ kind of way!
This eating theme in Oz continues...and on Wednesday we met Em and Jim for some home cooking at their house in Sandringham. Great Lasagna Em, good new music (check out Fat Freddies Drop and Sneaky Sound System) and rather good Aussie red wine too.
Thursday was city day and we visited Chris Lokum (my old boss who has moved back to Oz last year) for a coffee. Great to catch-up on some BP gossip and get some much needed career advice about setting up in Australia...and the BP office in Melbourne is rather well located vs Sunbury. Finally getting my bank cards after 2 months without them meant some much needed retail therapy in the very cool Aussie fashion stores, but sadly only sensible purchases like new walking trousers and cotton t-shirts were purchased!
Anzac Day (Friday 25th April) and we rose at 5am to join 40,000 locals at the Shrine of Remembrance from Dawn Service. It was rather moving seeing so many people pour up the hill into the dark to stand in silence and remember their heroes. Amazed too that we knew so many words to the national anthem. Glad we went, but back to bed for more sleep! Simon and Tony (Adrienne´s boyfriend aka John Farnham) watched a very one sided Aussie rule match and then we all got drunk and ate Thai food that Simon prepared. Too much dancing around the lounge saw superman dives onto the couch, Adrienne´s bleeding toe and another rendition of my ´Call on me.´
Our last weekend in Melbourne was spent like good locals - at a footie match. Paul and Kate took us to the MCG for a big Adelaide vs Carlton game (Paul is a Carlton supporter, so this was a big game) and Kate did a great job of explaining the rules. Most impressive was the National Sports Museum in the stadium - Paul is Artistic Director so we felt very special having a personal tour of his work (very impressive) Second most exciting was having a pie & a pint at the game! Sadly Carlton lost, but we don't talk about that anymore. We love Paul & Kate house and you can tell they are into design.
Dan - we need to tell you about Paul's 'man-zone' aka workshop and you will pleased to know they had a picture of you hanging in their kitchen (with a stylish orange in your mouth a la Sunday Curry Nights)
Saturday evening was a house party (not been to one in so long) and we spent many house dominating the ping-pong table. Not sure how good we were after all those vodka jellies? Sunday night we joined Em and her mates for their curry quest. Very serious about this they are with a scoring system and everything. I don't think this placed did too well as the waiter struggled to cope with 15 orders at once, but the quality of the food was excellent and Paul & Kate were happy as it was a new local for them!
Now you will never believe the next part - Paul came with us to the airport the next morning at 4.30am! He had a later flight to Sydney that day, but insisted on getting us to the airport the company taxi account...Paul - get some sleep!
Verdict is out on weather we will move to Melbourne, but for now it is good bye Oz...hello New Zealand!
The flight from Singapore arrived in Melbourne at 5am and the jetlag for this flight was worse than any other flight so far! Customs going into Oz (as anyone who has been there will know) are rather threatening, so in good faith we located the acorn in the bottom of Simon´s pocket and ticked ´been walking in forest in the last 30 days´box and braved the scary customs people. Our shoes didn´t offend enough for confiscation or even a cleaning and our honesty was met by an ´is this all?´
Poor Adrienne - our taxi managed record time from the airport and we were ringing her doorbell at 6.10am - followed by a long nap. Day 1 was all about the luxuries of a 1st world city: haircuts in a real salon, shopping (Simon!!) on Chaple Street and then out to party. Adrienne´s friends sing in a band, so we felt very rock ´n roll with our new haircuts heading out to the lead singers house for drink first and then off to the gig. I have to confess that the rockstar illusion was smashed when we discovered the lead singer drinking tea (and not champers like the rest of us) before the big performance!
Melbourne is a rather wonderful place and day 2 we headed out to meet up with friends in Sandringham, long story why we didn´t meet up, but Simon and I had a great walk along the beach with our coffee and croissants. Back to the city to hunt down the sights and with the weather a wonderful 25 degrees it was easy to do. We walked all over Federation Square, through the park and up to the Shrine of Remembrance...and squeezed in an afternoon nap, because the weekend partying continued on the Sat. Adrienne had just arrived back in Oz after being in the UK for three years, so we partied in style at her welcome home bash. As backpackers don´t carry high heals and party frocks, I had to borrow an outfit!! The bar (Baroque House) was very fancy and the music rather good. It felt like such a long time since we had drunk champagne, had canapes and dressed up...and a long time ´til we would do it again!!
Day 3 after all that partying was sleeping mostly. We did manage to fit in walking around the Botanical gardens (more by accident than design), watching our first game of local Aussie Rules Football and then pizza and movies on the couch. Simon nearly made enemies of the rather large football captain by insulting the game...and we made a swift exit!
Great Ocean Road - fancy name for a road on the coast. We decided to give Adrienne a break for two days and headed down the Great Ocean Road. Took all the obligatory pictures of Kangaroo and Koala signs and made it to the the Twelve (well 7 - the rest have fallen down) Apostles in time for a cool sunset. A couple of challenges along the way:
1 - the smallest car we could hire was a tank
2 - it was automatic
3 - I always fall asleep, so Simon enjoyed the last 30min of driving on his own!
Apollo Bay was our retreat for the evening and we dined at a lovely restaurant called Buffs - fish and red wine..yummy. The coast is really lovely (although a little too cold for a swim) and our favourite spot was Lorne with there very nice Aussie Meat Pies. On the way home we saw a Koala 25kms sign and thought ´yes, but we will never spot them in these trees!´ But they were everywhere. We must have seen about 20, all drunk on the eucalyptus trees and mostly sleeping in the branches. And Simon saw a kangaroo (I was asleep again) so we did well for our local wildlife spotting.
Back to cosmopolitan Melbourne and we met up with the lovely Paul and Kate in Lygon street for dinner. It is just like little Italy with hundreds of Italian restaurants lining the street and everyone out for the warm evening. Excellent food too - recommend Tiamo if anyone is in the area and Paul and Kate did a great job of selling Melbourne in a ´come and live here´ kind of way!
This eating theme in Oz continues...and on Wednesday we met Em and Jim for some home cooking at their house in Sandringham. Great Lasagna Em, good new music (check out Fat Freddies Drop and Sneaky Sound System) and rather good Aussie red wine too.
Thursday was city day and we visited Chris Lokum (my old boss who has moved back to Oz last year) for a coffee. Great to catch-up on some BP gossip and get some much needed career advice about setting up in Australia...and the BP office in Melbourne is rather well located vs Sunbury. Finally getting my bank cards after 2 months without them meant some much needed retail therapy in the very cool Aussie fashion stores, but sadly only sensible purchases like new walking trousers and cotton t-shirts were purchased!
Anzac Day (Friday 25th April) and we rose at 5am to join 40,000 locals at the Shrine of Remembrance from Dawn Service. It was rather moving seeing so many people pour up the hill into the dark to stand in silence and remember their heroes. Amazed too that we knew so many words to the national anthem. Glad we went, but back to bed for more sleep! Simon and Tony (Adrienne´s boyfriend aka John Farnham) watched a very one sided Aussie rule match and then we all got drunk and ate Thai food that Simon prepared. Too much dancing around the lounge saw superman dives onto the couch, Adrienne´s bleeding toe and another rendition of my ´Call on me.´
Our last weekend in Melbourne was spent like good locals - at a footie match. Paul and Kate took us to the MCG for a big Adelaide vs Carlton game (Paul is a Carlton supporter, so this was a big game) and Kate did a great job of explaining the rules. Most impressive was the National Sports Museum in the stadium - Paul is Artistic Director so we felt very special having a personal tour of his work (very impressive) Second most exciting was having a pie & a pint at the game! Sadly Carlton lost, but we don't talk about that anymore. We love Paul & Kate house and you can tell they are into design.
Dan - we need to tell you about Paul's 'man-zone' aka workshop and you will pleased to know they had a picture of you hanging in their kitchen (with a stylish orange in your mouth a la Sunday Curry Nights)
Saturday evening was a house party (not been to one in so long) and we spent many house dominating the ping-pong table. Not sure how good we were after all those vodka jellies? Sunday night we joined Em and her mates for their curry quest. Very serious about this they are with a scoring system and everything. I don't think this placed did too well as the waiter struggled to cope with 15 orders at once, but the quality of the food was excellent and Paul & Kate were happy as it was a new local for them!
Now you will never believe the next part - Paul came with us to the airport the next morning at 4.30am! He had a later flight to Sydney that day, but insisted on getting us to the airport the company taxi account...Paul - get some sleep!
Verdict is out on weather we will move to Melbourne, but for now it is good bye Oz...hello New Zealand!
Monday 12 May 2008
Singapore - where eating is a national sport!
After an endless wait at passport control coming across the Malay - Singapore border (what is it with these crossings?) which nearly had our bus driver going without us, we safely arrived in the city that´s a country.
Feeling skint and up for a stroll Cath, Kate and I decided to walk to our hostel Sleepy Sam´s which was located in a very cool area called Arab Street that is slap bang in the middle of the Muslim area of Singapore. Being a little further than we expected we arrived quite sweaty but happy to find a decent cafe, some computers that worked and nice comfy beds!!
Not wanting to waste any time we had a bit of a freshen up, a small snooze and then hit the streets to find some mischief...or at least a much promised and talked about Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel. Given that we had put our best togs on (although you can never really be considered dressed up when backpacking) we were all a little disappointed when we eventually found the world famous Long Bar. Without wanting to cause offense to any North American readers it has the feel of a bar in Alabama - floors crunching with peanut shells, a dark interior and a sultry bar tender. Once we had gotten over our initial let down and found a table we ordered our drinks and started on the nuts (I guess with the shells on it solves the issue related to the popular urban myth about peanuts in bars - ask your mum if you don´t understand that one.) I must admit that I was quite impressed with cocktail though, quite a fruity little number that wasn't too strong and didn't have that slighty chemically taste that some drinks have!!
Sling's in Singapore
Crunchy floor
Raffles isn't the kind of place that you get going on an all night session so we adjourned to a cute little cafe around the corner for some tasty bites and more chatting...something that Cath and Kate were getting rather into!!
The following day we finally managed to find a way of getting our mobiles to work (it is so amazing how nice it is to have them switched off at the bottom of our bags) and gave a colleague of mine, William, a call. He was guide galore and took us on a whirlwind tour over two days of the Botanical Gardens and Orchid-arium (cue loads of photos!), the street track for the upcoming F1 night race, the all new Singapore Flyer (London Eye), all kinds of colonial buildings and landmarks and the BP office (some great views.) As part of our tourist experience we also went to Singapore Zoo and stcuk around for the night safari which takes you around a number of the more nocturnal animal's enclosures while they awake, stretch and eat...some were even roaming freely although thankfully not the hyenas, rhinos or gators.
One of many lovely orchids
Guide and guidee
Tour guiding, however, was not the best thing about having William with us...he is a food buff with a capital B and was very welcome to share his expertise. For lunch on our first day he took up the challenge of bettering the Dim Sum we had in Hong Kong, almost but no cigar...but it is the second best we've ever had. This was followed up with some of the best curry I have had outside Tooting, eaten off of a palm leaf plate with unlimited spicy sauces. On our final evening and after finding out about our recenlty discovered penchant for Roti Canai he took us to his 'local' and introduced a whole heap of different flavours and types including paper roti which stood proudly to attention in a pyramid!! As if this wasn't enough we were then whisked off to the secret of his eating out experience, a small market outside the centre where we found great Satay and a lovely drink whose name passes me by now but William you know what it was!!
Yummy curry on a leaf
All in all another great food experience in a great food city - made possible by a friend very generous with his time, knowledge and secrets!!
Feeling skint and up for a stroll Cath, Kate and I decided to walk to our hostel Sleepy Sam´s which was located in a very cool area called Arab Street that is slap bang in the middle of the Muslim area of Singapore. Being a little further than we expected we arrived quite sweaty but happy to find a decent cafe, some computers that worked and nice comfy beds!!
Not wanting to waste any time we had a bit of a freshen up, a small snooze and then hit the streets to find some mischief...or at least a much promised and talked about Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel. Given that we had put our best togs on (although you can never really be considered dressed up when backpacking) we were all a little disappointed when we eventually found the world famous Long Bar. Without wanting to cause offense to any North American readers it has the feel of a bar in Alabama - floors crunching with peanut shells, a dark interior and a sultry bar tender. Once we had gotten over our initial let down and found a table we ordered our drinks and started on the nuts (I guess with the shells on it solves the issue related to the popular urban myth about peanuts in bars - ask your mum if you don´t understand that one.) I must admit that I was quite impressed with cocktail though, quite a fruity little number that wasn't too strong and didn't have that slighty chemically taste that some drinks have!!
Sling's in Singapore
Crunchy floor
Raffles isn't the kind of place that you get going on an all night session so we adjourned to a cute little cafe around the corner for some tasty bites and more chatting...something that Cath and Kate were getting rather into!!
The following day we finally managed to find a way of getting our mobiles to work (it is so amazing how nice it is to have them switched off at the bottom of our bags) and gave a colleague of mine, William, a call. He was guide galore and took us on a whirlwind tour over two days of the Botanical Gardens and Orchid-arium (cue loads of photos!), the street track for the upcoming F1 night race, the all new Singapore Flyer (London Eye), all kinds of colonial buildings and landmarks and the BP office (some great views.) As part of our tourist experience we also went to Singapore Zoo and stcuk around for the night safari which takes you around a number of the more nocturnal animal's enclosures while they awake, stretch and eat...some were even roaming freely although thankfully not the hyenas, rhinos or gators.
One of many lovely orchids
Guide and guidee
Tour guiding, however, was not the best thing about having William with us...he is a food buff with a capital B and was very welcome to share his expertise. For lunch on our first day he took up the challenge of bettering the Dim Sum we had in Hong Kong, almost but no cigar...but it is the second best we've ever had. This was followed up with some of the best curry I have had outside Tooting, eaten off of a palm leaf plate with unlimited spicy sauces. On our final evening and after finding out about our recenlty discovered penchant for Roti Canai he took us to his 'local' and introduced a whole heap of different flavours and types including paper roti which stood proudly to attention in a pyramid!! As if this wasn't enough we were then whisked off to the secret of his eating out experience, a small market outside the centre where we found great Satay and a lovely drink whose name passes me by now but William you know what it was!!
Yummy curry on a leaf
All in all another great food experience in a great food city - made possible by a friend very generous with his time, knowledge and secrets!!
Thursday 8 May 2008
Just a quickie...
...to let you know that if you click on any of the photos here it will take you through to our picasa website that holds hundreds more!!
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