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.