December Wrap Up

Another year is almost over and it spells a huge change for me. I resigned from my current, secure full-time employment and have taken the leap into some kind of locum work. January will be the start of training for a job at a laser vision clinic and the end of work at my current job. It is exciting and stressful and all things good and bad at the same time.

Christmas at the coast

This year we headed up to the Sunshine coast in Queensland to spend a few days with Brandon's family for Christmas. It was a really nice break away, and got us back into the beach feeling. Even though we live so close, we have been pretty lazy about heading to the beach regularly. Christmas day was beautiful and we explored the rock pools near our hotel to find nudibrachs of all things! Nudibrachs are sea slugs and I honestly didn't realise they were hardy enough to live in rock pools!

Piles Creek Loop

On Sunday we drove down to Giarrakool Picnic ground in Brisbane Water National Park to do a short walk. Unfortunately I had not read that the park gates shut at 5pm, and we arrived at 3pm to start a 2hour walk. On top of that, the main purpose of going walking was to take some photos. I was pretty angry. Well, very angry. Angry at the park for shutting so early in summer (especially with daylight savings!!) and at "hooligans" who are probably the reason the park needs to shut at night anyway.

"Catho" Catherine Hill Bay

Last weekend we drove to "Catho" to take a break from Brandon's assignment work, and just generally get out of the house. It was a really nice afternoon and I thought I would try out some silhouette photography. There's a number of instructional posts about it online, but as far as I'm aware all you need to do it have the light source behind your subject and hey presto.

My top 10 travel tips (from South America)

Sporting an accidental matchy look in our zip-off pants

Panic attack at 11m

So yesterday we go up early for a dive at Terrigal, on the New South Wales central coast. I was feeling a tiny bit nervous because of the dive I had to abort in Chile because I couldn't equalise, but otherwise I wasn't thinking much. We got to Terrigal, signed our release forms, set up our gear and headed out on a bumpy boat ride to a "reef" (not a great barrier reef style thing, more of rocks with kelp). I had taken antihistamines and used an antihistamine nasal spray to make sure all my mucous membranes were nice and shrunken to help with equalisation.

Quick Queensland trip

On Friday we headed towards Queensland to meet our new little nephew and catch up with both of our families for the first time after South America. On the way we stayed overnight with our friends at Inverell and had some fun playing with some new puppies.

A final Post: Santiago

So it's over and we are back. Back to work, back to life. Back to normalcy. Unfortunately things didn't go that smoothly this morning. After celebrating that our car batteries were not flat yesterday, Brandon promptly (and accidentally) left my headlights on overnight. Stress and calling road side assist ensued. I eventually got to work.

I realised too late that I had forgotten to cover our first few days in Santiago, so I will do them all in this post.

Living the high life: Zapallar

Playa Zapallar

We found a nice hotel on the net for a very good rate in Zapallar, an apparently good diving location and so we booked it. Only to find out from our hotel that there was apparently no way to get there because the buses there are limited to very early and very late to try to keep poor people away from the exclusive area. That was not going to stop us.

Coastal days: Valparaiso and around

On Wednesday we got into 'Valpo' earlier than we expected and rougher than we had hoped. The bus from Pucon had been far too warm and it was just not an ideal sleeping environment (again with the randoms getting on and off). Thankfully we were booked into a hotel and they let us check in straight away, and we had a nap. In the afternoon we went on the tours 4 tips walk because we didn't feel like doing much and everyone says said how great they are. It was good, in that we got some knowledge of the area and we got tips about where to eat.

Snow and horses: Pucon

On Friday night we got a night bus to Pucon, the only place we could find with ski fields that were still open. It is officially part of Patagonia, so we can say we've been to patagonia! Woo! It turns out that Saturday and Sunday were the last days for the ski field, and it was open later than normal. So when you read that Chile ski field are open until October what it really means is September, because all the slopes near Santiago were already well closed.

Cycling the Atacama and volcano climbing: San Pedro de Atacama

Our breakfast spot on the morning of our volcano climb

So on the day we arrived in San Pedro we thought we should book something to do some we had ages there, even though we weren't very interested in what there was to do. If you're coming from Uyuni, it's pretty much the same stuff so you won't need that long.

A salty tour: salar de Uyuni

On Wednesday we left on our 'salt flat tour'. It's more like a tour of South Western Bolivia, since you only spend one afternoon on the actual salt flats. Plenty of time by the way, we got a bit bored. We did a 3 day tour ending in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.

A quick update before our salt flat tour

La Paz from the hostel breakfast room

So, where we left off allwas good in La Paz. Until the middle of the night on Sunday when Brandon started vomiting again and had the shivers. And I was down at reception having a terrible conversation with the spanish speaking guy there. Brandon survived until morning and the hotel called a doctor to come and look at him.

Bum ticks: La Pampas

This little guy is from our hostel in Rurrenabaque but he is a tucan from La Pampas

We woke early on our last day in the jungle and were taken back to Rurrenabaque to be driven about three hours to La Pampas, a wetland. On the way Brandon spotted a tick on my arm and Avar picked it off when we got to land. we were in a group with a Brittish couple, who were very nice and made the whole trip a lot of fun.

Jungle medicine: Madidi National Park (Via Rurrenabaque)

Red howler monkey

On Sunday we met up with Mas and Suzanne and flew to Rurrenabaque. The airport is not really an airport. There is a landing strip and mini buses wait beside it to take you to the airport building (pretty much just a shed) and on to town for 10BOB unless a tour operator is collecting you from the airport. We decided to stay at a hostel reccommended to us by the Qiwis from the bike tour because it had a pool and a pet tucan and macaw (Ambibo or something like that). The Macaw turned out to be a little sadistic, not surprising when I saw how the tourists (mainly the male tourists) tormented the poor thing.

Death Road: La Paz

On thursday we bussed it from Puno to La Paz. After the boarder crossing, where you get out and walk across after having your passport stamped, we had a lunch stop in Copacabana. This is the more popular place to see lake Titicaca from. For some reason everyone says Puno is this horrid place. There's not that much to do there but it's not that different from any other small city that isn't built for tourists.

One slow boat: Lake Titikaka

Celebrate! A photo is added - Uros Islands

Yesterday morning we rocked up at the dock just before 7:30 to see if we could sort out a home stay on Amantani Island. This turned out to be extremely easy. There is a window for each island (Uros floating islands included) where you go and ask about the boat trip and the overnight stay. We didn´t really need to be there that early the boat didn´t leave until 8 or something.

Why the bad reputation: Puno

So of course I woke up early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, so I started looking for another hotel or hostel immediately. After a sad breakfast of rolls and jam with jugo de naranga (oranhee as our host helpfully explained in Spanglish - that is orange juice), we checked out and walked a couple of blocks from the centre of town. It turns out even though the internet said there were rooms they had none, so they took us to another hotel they also ran. It is much, much more pleasant and even costs less. Fingers crossed for a good nights sleep.

Canyon country: Arequipa and Colca Canyon

Arequipa

Originally I wrote this post sometime after midnight and I was in a very bad mood due to some very loud and very awful music. At the time I was feeling pretty disgruntled towards Peru. It started with an overpriced taxi ride, continued with a slightly horrid day at Machu Pichu and ended with an expensive (time and money) side trip that didn't seem worth it.

Landing safely in Nasca

Our little plane

On tuesday night we took our first overnight bus from Cusco to Nasca. We went with Cruz del Sur and it was pretty much like an international flight except the toilet was a bit grosser and the chairs reclined a lot more (although mine kept unreclining). We had spent the day just wasting time; doing washing, going on a fruitless search for a good ceviche place, going to a historical museum because it was included in the tourist ticket.

Machu Pichu and Wayna Pichu

This photo is our favourite of Machu Pichu: The llama that wanted my banana

On Monday it was another early start to go to Machu Pichu. It should be known as a day of standing in lines. You stand in line to get on the bus to go up, then to get in, then to get into Wayna Pichu, then again to get on a bus to leave. The bus ride up was spectacular, you can't get the height and steepness of the mountains into perspective until you are actually there. When we did get into the site, it was already daylight and we got to watch the rays of sun peep over the horizon and hit the ruins.

The Lares Trek

On top of the pass looking to where we were headed

Last Thursday was the last day before our trek started with Llama Path. We had a relax day and bought anything we might need. We had a pre-trek meeting that night and we were off at 5am the next morning on a bus.

Salt & ruins: Moray & salinas

Brandon had a stroke of genius yesterday afternoon. The reason we couldn't get money out from the bank was because we got money out at an atm on monday at the airport and it was still the same day in Australia, and so we couldn't get out money because it was adding to more than the thousand dollar a day limit. So after going to the bank last night we now have money, horay!

Getting ripped off in Cusco

View of Cuzco

Well we had a quick lunch stop in Lima on our way to Cusco yesterday. Where we literally had to walk out of the airport and then back in again to check our bags in. We also discovered the most you can get out at an atm here is 1500 soles which is not much money. No one tells you that side of things. If we had known, we would have got out a lot of US dollars before leaving Ecuador and just exchanged it here.

The shower tried to kill me: A quick post from Quito

Quito

Last night we got back to the same hostel we stayed in before we left, but in a room with a private bathroom because the shared bathroom rooms were booked out. There's nothing better than a nice hot shower after a long hard day. Except when that shower super heats and starts spurting practically boiling water at you. That's when you yell for your husband. It was like that scene from final destination where the girl dies in the shower because she gets stuck in there and it's really hot. I feel like it would take longer than 5 mins to die of boiling water spraying on you. Maybe if you were submerged in it it would take less time. Anyway, it seems the showers in the private rooms are not worth the extra because it tried to kill me again tonight...

At the base of a very active volcano: Banos

So we got to Banos (on doritos and ice creams, and coke of course) in the early afternoon, 3pm I think. We first went to a lookout over the small town. The guidebook basically describes it as a horrid place. "The town itself, with drab architecture, garish tours and over crowded backpacker-ghetto feel". But we liked it and didn't get a backpacker-ghetto feeling from it at all. Yes it has a lot of tour outlets but there's also a lot of lolly shops with people making candy by throwing it over the hook on the doorstep.

The early bird does not get to ride a donkey back out of the volcanic crater: Cotopaxi and Quilotoa

Volcan Cotopaxi

On Thursday morning we got up early (not really) to drive in luxury to Cotopaxi National Park, about an hour south of Quito. Volcan Cotopaxi is 5897m high with a refugio at 4800m that is currently undergoing extensive remodelling. Before we entered the park, Diego our driver enlisted Thomas to drive us to the volcano. On the way in we saw a baby white tailed dear, which is apparently pretty rare.

To the middle of the world: A day in quito

View from the top of the tower

Yesterday we didn't do much in the Galapagos before leaving. We bought some tourist shirts and then just hailed a taxi to go to the airport. It just happened to be Fabian, who drove us to the lava tunnels and the craters (I read today that they are actually sink holes not volcano craters). So that was cool.

A different perspective: The Galapagos continued

Sad tortoise at Charles Darwin Station

Happy tortoise

To continue where I left off last time. A taxi collected us from the Charles Darwin station and took us to the lava tunnels that are just outside Puerto Ayora. I will just point out that for most of this, we had no idea what was going on. Our driver spoke some very scattered Spanish and I didn't realise Carmen had organised anything for us.

A 10 year old little girl's dreams come true: the Galapagos

We arrived at about 10am on Sunday from chilly Quito and were thrust into... a desert... I wasn't surprised, I knew what to expect at the airport, but the 10 year old inside of me was disappointed. There was no stepping off the plane onto black recently laid volcanic rock, or a thick jungle, this wasn't a documentary and I was David Attenborough. There was just dry dusty land with large volcanic rocks strewn about and what I assume is a Galapagos prickly pear.
Customs is a lot like Australia. It sounds like they're going to take away your toothpaste because it has some small suggestion that the factory was near a insect infested tree. They even bring out the alsation sniffer dogs. But no one so much as peeked in our bags even though we had most boxes ticked to declare things.
There are two airports in the Galapagos, we landed on Baltra island, which only has the airport on it and a ferry terminal to Santa Cruz Island. After making it to the shore it is a 40minute drive to the town of Puerto Ayora, where most of the tourist action is. Unfortunately we are here in peak tourist time and I hate everyone here because they don't love it as much as me and haven't wanted to come here as long as me. Especially the kids. I hate the kids... End petty rant. We both were feeling a bit under the weather on our first day and were hoping we weren't about to get a healthy dose of travelers diarrhea...

Don't drink the water: Ecuador

We have been in Equador for 3 days now. It began pretty crummy to be honest. The flight to Santiago was fine but when we got off and checked on our connecting flight to Quito we found there was a flight with the same number but it was going somewhere else and it was at a different time. We walked around for a bit and eventually found a LAN staff member to ask. Look at the board she said, so we thanked her and walked off.

See ya later Australia!

Our bags are packed and weighed! With almost 20kg to spare and still a fair bit of room in Brandon's bag. Our accommodation is confirmed. Our passports are ready to be stamped, both fresh new passports! I'm stuck somewhere between excitement and being terrified. But it's going to be A Mazing!

Packing for 10weeks of travel - eek

No more pink togs :(

Today I tried to jam everything into my backpack. And then I decided Brandon has to carry a few more things, like the toiletries and the medicines. Here is everything laid out before I packed it. I have since culled one pair of togs, considering we are only at the beach for a week...

Heatons Gap Lookout

Heaton's Gap Lookout: Uninterrupted views to the south

Yesterday we managed to convince a couple of our friends to join us on a walk in Heaton State Forest. It was a pretty hard slog up but the view is worth it. It is part of the Great North Walk and starts at Heaton's Gap.

Swansea bridge dive

All photos in this post are property of and thanks to Newcastle Dive Centre. Not only are the staff great but all the members of the club seem super friendly too. I would definitely recommend a dive with these guys, or joining the club like we did!

Yesterday we did a dive at the Swansea Bridge, about 20mins South of us. The bridge is over an inlet to Lake Macquarie and it is teaming with life! There was an unbelievable amount of fish down there. Every time Brandon hit me to point something out I immediately thought "shark"!

Yacaaba Walking track/ Mount Yakaba

This afternoon we did a quick dash to Hawks Nest to do the Yacaaba walk. You will find it on google maps by searching Mount Yakaba. You certainly won't find any official information on it by searching that name though. Since I found a few people arguing over the name on the internet I decided I will call it what the green sign did.

Itinerary

All right, so here is a rough itinerary for our trip starting in August. I say rough, because we will be making most of it up as we go along. Luckily halfway through this list I realised there was no 33rd of September and something was wrong. That could have made me look silly...

Glenrock State Reserve: Yuelarbah Track

Today we did a short walk to Glenrock Lagoon. There were so, so many bell birds in the area. It was crazy. I have never heard that many in one place before. Kind of frustrating that you couldn't see them but you could hear them all around. I just love the picture above.

Rocky Crossing Walk: Barrington Tops National Park

{The rocky crossing walk is an easy 16km round trip that we did in just over 5 hours easily. Most of the track is pretty flat with only a few steep spots. Because it is a rainforest the track was wet and slippery and probably is all the time, so proper shoes are needed.}

Chipped teeth

Last weekend we went ALL the way down to Soldier's Beach on the central coast to meet up with some people for a surf. My cold was raging and so was the surf so needless to say, I did not want to get in. And I didn't get in. The water was so warm. Especially compared to Blacksmith's, where stopped on the way home. Hello ice.

Bouddi Coastal Walk: 10kms in under 4 hours

Yesterday we FINALLY got to do a nice long bush walk. I have been itching to do the Bouddi Coastal walk for months and months and months and months! We didn't do the entire track, mainly because the part we didn't do it mostly sandy access road not bush track so we figured it wasn't worth our energy.

Somersby Falls

This morning started with driving through torrential rain on our way to the cable park in Sydney to do some wake boarding. It was cloudy but there was no rain in the time we were there, which was good. It was the first time that both of us has done cable skiing of any kind and so it was a bit of a learning curb.

Queen Mary Falls

At Easter we headed up to Queensland for a family visit. After a busy day helping with some renovations on Friday we header to Queen Mary Falls in Girraween NP. It's a fairly short walk from the top of the falls to the bottom. And to be quite honest, I was wrecked from the day before plus a terrible night sleep, so I probably couldn't have done much more walking.

Mount Sugarloaf lookout

On the way to work I head over a mountain every morning and I heard there is a 360 degree lookout at the top of it, so we finally got around to heading up to take a look. I wouldn't call it a 360 degree view, maybe if all the trees were knocked down. It's meant to be a 30min walk each way, try 5. There was amazing signs, as usual with NSW, we just guessed where to go. Actually the map sign was full of bullet holes. Anyway here are a few photos before the rain caught us.

Brandon's rally drive

Today Brandon finally got to do his rally drive at Cessnock (his belated birthday present from me). It was meant to be last weekend but it got rained out. Yesterday was a bit wet too so the track was somewhat muddy instead of dusty, which was actually good. He must have enjoyed it because we waited for a half hour after he was finished because he thought he still had more laps to go :) Turns out he didn't.

Redhead Bluff

This afternoon we had a short walk down to the bluff at Redhead (the closest beach). I should have had my other lens on but I had my zoom. It did mean I could try to photograph a hawk that was flying around... It turns out it's pretty hard to get a good clear picture of a bird at a long distance as it flies around. There was really only one decent photo out of all of them.

Sunday afternoon stroll: Caves Beach

We finally managed to make the mammoth trip to Cave's Beach (20mins). A local beach popular for it's ocean caves. It was pretty nice and a good opportunity to try out the new zoom lens, although there wasn't much to photograph that made good use of its zoom.

Inside one of the caves

Watagan Wanderings

I have had the hankering for some serious bush walking for a while now. Today we finally managed to head the Watagan National Park to do a couple of walks.