The road, if you can call it that, from La Paz to Coroico has earned the epithet of “The World’s Most Dangerous Road” due to its morbid reputation for being the route on which the most deaths occur annually. It’s estimated that 200-300 people die or are seriously injured each year as a result of taking a tumble over the sheer drops, which are the main feature of the road’s 64km length. Naturally, such a road attracts the attention of maniacs intent on mountain biking at speed along the narrow, crumbling, rock-strewn track and round the many hairpin bends into…

“…A new job!” Well, that would be top of my list if I had to spend 10-14 hours a day in the hot (up to 45oC), dark, dusty airless tunnels chipping, packing, exploding, sorting and shifting heavy rocks and minerals. Also on my list for Santa would be: a professional massage (to ease away the back ache from crouching and bending all day), some jasmine scented bath oil (to wash away the grime and stink of hard graft) and some decent protective hand cream (the dust and rocks are very drying and chafing). Do the miners of Potosi have the…

This was Cristian Castro’s philosophy, our 4×4 driver and guide to the Uyuni salt flats. It became our motto for Bolivia. We started our tour of Uyuni on a crisp Friday morning; 8 of us in a Toyota Landcruiser (Cristian, his girlfriend – our cook, an Auzzie couple – Laura and Alex, their friend Seb, a Japanese girl called Megumi, Ise and I). First stop was the “train graveyard”, where 100-year old decommissioned trains lie rusting in the desert. After that, we headed into the salt flats, which are most surreal – huge expanses of blinding white salt, crystallised into…

Argentina. We love it. It’s been our favourite country so far and that’s mostly down to the food and drink! Here’s a list of the culinary highlights: – Amazing steak; juicy, pink and full of flavour. Some of the best we had was at “Don Julio” in Palermo. – Submarino (see pic below). A cup of hot milk that comes with a bar of chocolate that you stir in to melt and congeals at the bottom – a proper hot chocolate. – Picadas. Ise’s favourite snack. A plate of meats, salami, ham, cheeses, olives etc, served with nice bread and…

After a 25 hour bus journey from Iguazu (I’m really not exaggerating!), what did I want most in the world when I arrived in Rio? How about… – an amazing apartment overlooking the beach, complete with its own hammock – a hot shower in my own bathroom with fluffy white towels – a big cuddle from one of my bestest friends who was waiting for us – a very large G&T Yep, that was pretty much the perfect start to my 30th birthday week in Rio. We quickly nick-named David “Diego” and he and I put in some long hours,…

Quite a few, when you’re at Iguazu falls! We visited both the Brazil and Argentinean sides and were treated to some breath-taking vistas, cute critters and beautiful waterfalls. Ise has made this video so that I don’t bore you with superlatives… According to the Guarani Indians, the story of how the falls were created goes like this: Every year the Guarani tribe would sacrifice a beautiful virgin to the Serpent God (M’Boi) who lived in the calm waters of the Iguazu river. Naipi, however, was not one of these condemned girls. She was to be married to Taruba, a great…

After a pretty horrific bus journey from Mendoza (10 hours, with an unexpected 4-hour, red-tape entangled border crossing), we arrived in Santiago after midnight. We managed to find a hostel that afforded us a lie-in, then left our bags at the bus station and went to explore the city. We took a turn around a craft market and a park with fountains and a castle-type look-out with great views over the city. Then we tried some coffee from the “legs” cafes, where the waitresses wear short skirts in a hangover from the time of the ultra-conservative dictatorship, when it was…

Apologies for the delay between blogs. Both New Zealand and Australia have very limited (and expensive!) internet and wi-fi access, so although this entry has been written since just after Christmas, we’ve been unable to upload pictures and videos or to post it until now. I hope it’s worth the wait..! The Mauri (pronounced Mowdi here) story of where New Zealand came from is rather odd… Maui (a demi-god who started life as a miscarried foetus that was cared for by the sun, winds and guardian of the sea), was the youngest and most mischievous of 5 brothers. One day…

Yep, we’ve been in Australia – home to the most dangerous and deadly of all the creatures in the world! We met quite a few of them, thankfully behind glass, at Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife World, including sharks, stingrays, spiders, snakes, crocodiles and jellyfish. However, we weren’t prepared to meet one face to face… We were staying the night in a little cabin on the Great Ocean Road near Torquay, which had no electricity (just gas) and was very cute in a Little House on the Prairie way. We were playing cards on the bed when I saw something move…