TravelStream™ news feed for member mclubbe on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mclubbe en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 16 Jan 2004 12:51:16 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1074267900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1074267900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1074267900/tpod.html Fri, 16 Jan 2004 12:51:16 -0500 Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands.

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Rio de Janiero, Brazil

I guess that's it then, my last full day away - tomorrow afternoon I'll be flying home.

On Tuesday I went to visit the Argentinian side of the Iguassu Falls - they're on the border so to do them properly you have to visit both the Argentinian side and the Brazilian side. The falls are huge - they're made up of 275 individual falls of various sizes from the very small to El Gargantua del Diablo - the Devil's Throat - where every second, 2000 square metres of water fall over the edge. I followed the various trails and took the boat ride at the bottom of the falls right up under the waterfalls where you get completely soaked. Then I took the train out to the end of the falls - the Devil's throat end where you can see a huge rainbow in the spray. Then on Tuesday I went to the Brazilian side where there is less to see but you get a much better overview of the falls as you can see the whole expanse of them at the same time. Again we got a soaking but this was just from walking around as there was so much spray flying around. And that was that really. Took a plane to Rio - not very eventful apart from being late and them losing my tent in the baggage handling again - they found it after a while on the air side - it had just fallen off the conveyor. And now I'm in a hostel in Rio - the very comfortable Che Lagarto (thanks Jane for recommendation) and I had plans for spending the day on the Copacabana Beach - unfortunately though it is raining. So what do you do in Rio in the rain - no idea but I guess I'd better go and find out. Here's some photos and I guess I'll be seeing you all again soon ........


It's the end of the world as we know it .... Ushuaia from the Air


The Beagle Channel separating Argentina and Chile in Tierra Del Fuego


Lazy seals in the Beagle Channel near Ushuaia, Argentina


More Magallenic Penguins - near Ushuaia, Argentina - we saw some Gentoo Penguins here too


The Little Train at the End of the World - in the Ushuaia National Park, Argentina


Ushuaia National Park as seen from the Little Train at the End of the World


Ushuaia National Park as seen from the Little Train at the End of the World


Our host sings for us at the Tango show, Cafe Tortoni, Buenos Aires


Jose and Luciana dance the Tango for us in Cafe Tortoni, Buenos Aires


and points for Iceland ...... Null Points .... (or something like that)


Jose and Luciana dance the Tango for us in Cafe Tortoni, Buenos Aires

AND NOW THE IGUASSU FALLS, ARGENTINA AND BRAZIL


Overview of one half of the falls from the Brazilian Side


Overview of half the falls from Argentinean side


Close up - Argentinian Side


Close up - Argentinian Side


Even Closer to the Falls - Argentinian Side


Getting close to the falls on the Argentinian Side by boat


El Gargantua del Diablo - the Devils Throat


Rainbow across El Gargantua del Diablo


Getting close to the falls on the Brazilian Side
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1073954100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1073954100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1073954100/tpod.html Mon, 12 Jan 2004 19:49:44 -0500 Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands.

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Ushuaia, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Arrrrgh! Only 4 days to go!

From Punta Arenas I headed down to Ushuaia on a delightful 12 hour bus journey! Remind me not to do that in a hurry again. Anyway, Ushuaia is as good as the end of the world - there's a small place slightly further south in Chile but Ushuaia is the most southerly town of any size. Then of course there's Antartica and one of the depressing things about being in Ushuaia is listening to people telling you about what a wonderful time they've just had on their cruise to Antartica and wishing you had a spare US$ 2,500 and a couple of weeks.

Still Ushuaia is a fun town and we went off to see some more penguins and some of the scenery around the beagle channel - oh and a couple of very lazy looking sealions. This time we saw some Gentoo penguins as well as the Magallenic ones. Apparently you occasionally get to see King Penguins but there were none around the day we went. King penguins are the ones that look like the penguin on a penguin wrapper (a penguin is a chocolate biscuit for non UK readers)

Another day we went off to the National Park to check out the scenery there from the comfort of a little narrow guage steam train - all very pretty but not really a match for some of the scenery further north.

Ushuaia was a fun place to hang out for a few days though and much beer was drunk in the local irish pub. Then all too quickly it was time to head up to Buenos Aires for a bit more partying and a bit of Tango. On Saturday night we went to Cafe Tortoni to watch Jose and Luciana's Tango show - like stepping back in time. They danced, a guy sang, the old guys at the back played their hearts out on the accordian, piano, fiddle and double bass and everyone applauded wildly as it was a really good show. Then it was time to head out to the bars and check out some of Buenos Aires's famous nightlife finally getting back to the hostel around 7.30am!

And now today I caught a plane up to Iguazu. It took some time as the couple in front of me managed to take 30 minutes to check in - not sure how they managed it but it meant that my flight was closed so I had to go standby on the next one. The woman on the counter was clearly having a bad day as she decided that if I got on the flight I was going to have to pay for 9kg of excess baggage - because I wasn't connecting with an International flight my allowance was down to only 15kg. Nice touch!

That flight was full and eventually it was the 4th flight before I got on the plane although at least they forgot about the excess baggage. Then my tent went missing but it had been on the earlier flight so it turned up soon enough. I then checked into my hostel and set about finding a bus to Rio - they're all full till next Sunday (when I am meant to be back home) so I had to buy a flight - even that wasn't without complications and managed to take 4 hours including a trip over to Brazil, a long wait at immigration and a bus driver who couldn't be bothered to wait for us any longer at the border.

So now I'm hear and I have my ticket to Rio and tomorrow I'm off to see the falls at Iguazu - supposed to be one of the most spectacular sights on earth.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1073347320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1073347320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1073347320/tpod.html Fri, 09 Jan 2004 12:14:45 -0500 Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands.

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Punta Arenas, Chile

And so begins a new year and with only a couple of weeks left, I really need to pack things in. But before I tell you what I've been doing in the last day or two, here's a couple of photos from the past couple of weeks.


The Atacama desert from the plane


View of one of the lakes on the lake cruise between Bariloche in Argentina and Puerto Montt in Chile.


Another lake on the same cruise


Waterfall on the border between Argentina and Chile - lake district cruise


This was supposed to be a photo of the ferry for the trip from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales but actually the ferry is behind the boat you can see in the photo. You can just see the ferry in the background and it looks exactly the same as this one anyway!


Sailing through the Fjords of Patagonia, Chile


Another day, another Fjord

So what about the last couple of days? Well once everyone had recovered from their hangovers it was time to get organised and while most people headed off for a week or so of trekking around the Torres del Paine National Park I jumped on a tour bus - unfortunately I did not have the luxury of a week to spare or anything remotely resembling suitable clothes for trekking!



The Torres del Paine National Park, Patagonia, Chile. This has to be one of the most visually stunning national parks in the world. The actual Torres (towers) are to the right of the photo - there are 3 vertical peaks in granite. To the left you can see Los Cuervos (the horns), the pointy peaks with black tops. And the bird you can see in the photo is a condor.

We took a day trip through the National Park stopping at various lookouts to see the mountains and whichever way you look at them, they're stunning. Needless to say I took loads of photos so here's a few for you.....


Torres del Paine National Park


Torres del Paine National Park


Torres del Paine National Park


Torres del Paine National Park

Also in the park we went to visit a lake that's fed by a glacier - Lago Grey and the corresponding Grey Glacier. You can walk along the end of the lake and just see the terminal face of the glacier. If there was more time we could have gone and climbed on the glacier or taken a boat trip right up to the face - oh for more time ....


Lago Grey and some of the chunks of ice that have fallen off the glacier floating around as icebergs


Lago Grey and its glacier - you can just see the terminal face of the glacier in the distance

While travelling through the park we also saw some of the native fauna. There were condors all over the place although they proved difficult to catch on film as they were usually soaring way above us. As we drove through there were loads of Guanacos - a relative of the llama, alpaca and vicuna. And loads of Rheas, or Nandus as they're known locally, a bizarre looking bird related to the Ostrich and Emu.


Guanacos grazing


Rhea or Nandu

While on the subject of native fauna I ought to mention the Milodon. Now the Milodon was a ground dwelling sloth that stood about 4m high that lived in Patagonia about 10,000 years ago and as well as finding fossilised skeletons around they found some skin in a cave near the Torres del Paine national park so on the way you have to make a stop at the cave to see the cave (not that impressive as caves go) and the very tacky plastic model of a milodon - hmmm, nice! I'm sure there's a better model in the Natural History museum in London actually!


The milodon - grrrrrr!

Then yesterday I went to Argentina for the day to see the Moreno Glacier. This is one of the world's few advancing glacier and although it was a very long day (6 hours drive there on gravel roads and the same back) it was worth it to see one of the world's great sights. The glacier isn't just a visual experience, you can hear it creaking and groaning as it makes its way into the lake and you only have to be there a short while to see huge chunks of ice crashing down into the lake.


Approach to the Moreno Glacier, Patagonia, Argentina


Terminal face of the Moreno Glacier, Patagonia, Argentina.

Which brings me nicly up to date - well up to today at least. This morning it was time for another tour conveniently combined with a bus trip to Punta Arenas, the town in Southern Chile where I am right now. On the way down we stopped off at the Penguin Colony in Seno Otway. Here they have about 6,000 pairs of Magallenic penguins - this is relatively small as just in the middle of the straits there's a colony of 50,000 and up in Argentina there's a colony of half a million. Even so, there's penguins wherever you look and that's plenty penguins for me. In the penguin reserve you can wander round and watch the penguins coming in from the sea, washing themselves in the sea, preening, feeding their chicks and just generally waddling around in that funny way that penguins do.


Penguins coming in from the sea and bathing on the shore


Magallenic Penguin


Magallenic Penguin

So that really is me up to date. Now I'm in Punta Arenas in the very South of Chile but really there isn't very much to do here so tomorrow morning I'm heading off to the Land of Fire, Tierra del Fuego to head back into Argentina.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1073086200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1073086200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1073086200/tpod.html Mon, 05 Jan 2004 13:47:40 -0500 Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands.

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Puerto Natales, Chile

Happy New Year to you all - as you can see I'm back in Chile - down this part of the world you can't help keep crossing over the border back and forth between Chile and Argentina. From Bariloche I took a tour across to Puerto Montt in Chile - it was a combined tour taking in 3 lake cruises and buses in between - I figured this was the easiest way to see some of the lakes, volanoes and mountains and get to my next destination as quickly as possible. The tour was nice and the mountains and lakes very beautiful even if it was cloudy and overcast all day and it even rained at one point. Ther was fresh snow on the mountains just a few hundred meters above where we were - this isn´t what I was expecting, I thought that even this part of South America would be warm in the middle of summer! Now I'm slightly regretting posting my jacket, hat and gloves home from New Zealand as it's not even a cheap place to buy a new one.

Puerto Montt itself has nothing to offer tourists but it is the gateway to Patagonia and the starting point for the Navimag cruise down through the fjords of Chile to the town of Puerto Natales which is how I spent my new year. The cruise lasts for 3 nights dropping us of in Puerto Natales on New Year's Day. As I'm sure you can imagine, the boat dropped us off then very quickly everyone found a hostel and went to sleep of their hangovers. 3 days on the boat was highly entertaining with a great bunch of other backpackers, lots of card playing and a large amount of beer, wine, whisky, pisco sour, wine and the odd bottle of bubbly on New Year's Eve. During the tour through the fjords if you're lucky you'll see plenty of wildlife but all we saw of much note was a couple of seals and some whales in the distance. Well we could see their breath in the distance when they came up to surface but that was all.

Now that I'm in Puerto Natales I'm taking a couple of days to explore around here. Again the town is nothing much but it's the scenery around that is special. Many people who come here go off treking into the Torres del Paine national park for days at a time. Unfortunately time is against me with just 2 weeks to go so I'll be going there on a bus tomorrow for a very quick look around then off to Argentina to see one of the world's most spectacular glaciers then off to Punta Arenas via a penguin colony. With a bit of luck I'll then be able to find somewhere to upload some photos.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1072453800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1072453800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1072453800/tpod.html Fri, 02 Jan 2004 16:28:03 -0500 Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands.

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

BA for christmas - it was my fourth visit to Buenos Aires and I still love the place - especially so as this time my money was worth about 8 times more than when I last went - last time was just before the currency crash.

I flew in and checked in to the Milhouse hostel which was a really nice friendly hostel right in the middle of town. Given that this was my fourth visit I didn't spend much time sight seeing but instead concentrated on the going out side of things. If you've never been to Buenos Aires you really should go - it must be the most european of the south american cities - comparable in many ways to the best that Spain has to offer.

My lonely planet book says that to even consider going to a night club before 1am in BA is to commit social suicide - they're not wrong. For Christmas eve night the hostel put on a special trip to a local nightclub - they took you down there at 2am with the do party likely to finish around 11am on Christmas day. Unfortunately I missed this as I had to fly on Christmas Day - I wanted to head south to the Lake District - unfortunately it seems that everyone else in Argentina wanted to do the same thing and it was impossible to get a bus down before the middle of January and the only flight I could get was on Christmas Day. So now I'm down south in Bariloche which has a feel about it very similar to Queenstown in New Zealand - will have to see what it has to offer!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1072020600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1072020600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1072020600/tpod.html Sun, 21 Dec 2003 12:24:11 -0500 Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands.

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San Pedro de Atacama, Arica, Chile

Now I'm in Arica, at the very northern end of Chile and I've found an Internet place where I can upload some photos so here's some more on San Pedro and Bolivia.


First of all, a last photo of Easter Island, taken at sunset on my last night there.


Then here's a shot of a nice colonial building in Santiago, the Palacio de la Moneda - I'm sure this was painted a dark red colour last time I was in Santiago!


And now San Pedro - this is the main street in San Pedro - nice isn't it? Well behind the shabby facades some of the insides of the buildings are quite nice. Some of the restaurants have an open courtyard around a fire - it never rains here so they don't really have to bother with a roof although they tend to have some kind of roof to protect from the sun's rays during the day.


And here's a shot of the Valley of the Moon towards sunset.

And now the main story, the 4 day trip to Bolivia. One thing I forgot to mention last time was the music - now it seems that Chileans and Bolivians, and in fact all Latin Americans love their 80's music. If I never hear another Boney M song again it will not be a day too soon. Not only Boney M but delights such as 'the Lion Sleeps tonight' by Tight Fit and 'Tarzan Boy' by whoever that was. Not just played but mixed together into one great big 80's megamix! Nice! This was infinitely preferable to a 15 minute live mix of 'Christo Vive' by some random latin band which wouldn't have been so bad if they'd had any other lyrics besides 'Christo Vive'. Anyway, enough of that, we did persuade our guide to play some English music for a little while until he decided it was all too depressing and he needed another 80's fix.

First thing we did after crossing the border is to stop at the Laguna Blanca for a spot of breakfast and to get into groups of 6 as we transferred from the trusty old Toyota bus to a fleet of Land Cruisers. I got in the 'Brit' truck with 5 of us brits and an Irish girl with our driver Pauli. Then we headed off to the Laguna Verde, just round the corner ....


The Laguna Verde and Vulcan Lincancabur as seen from the Bolian Side - Chile is just the other side of the Volcano.


Then we climbed up to the highest Geyser field in the world for steaming jets of water, bubbling mud and all round noise and smells.

Then came the Laguna Colorado or coloured lake which is an amazing red colour. The colour apparently derives from Borax and is intensified by the micro-organisms that live in the lake. It's these micro-organisms that make up the diet of the thousands of flamingoes who live here.


Laguna Colorado


Flamingoes feeding on Laguna Colorado


On the second day we saw some more lakes and in the distance a smoking volcano - the second day was all about getting to the Salar de Uyuni though really, the massive salt pan.


This is us checking out the salt crystals on the Salar de Uyuni


More salt crystals! White as far as the eye can see.

And then in the middle of the salt pan is an 'island' - well it would have been an island when the lake was full of salt water. The island, Isla de Pescados is home to hundreds of ancient Cactus plants - the oldest of which are around 1200 years old. Apparently they only grow by about 1cm each year.





Then finally we got to Uyuni in Boliva and here's a couple of shots of the market before we headed back to Chile.





And so I was back in San Pedro when I last wrote to you stuck there with only a few pounds to my name and no means of getting any more money until I left the town. There was no bus the night I wanted to leave as it was full so I had to stay an extra night only to find that virtually all the hostels and hotels were full - well their single rooms were anyway. There was room in the dormitories but in a town where one of the main tours is a trip to a geyser field that involves leaving at 4am it's not a good idea to be sharing a dorm unless you're doing the trip! Eventually I settled for a double room to myself and made myself at home in a restaurant with Internet where I could pay on my credit card and spent the day catching up with you lot.

Then last night I finally got on the bus which is a Semi-cama (semi-sleeper). I'd been led to believe that this means you get similar leg room to a business class seat on a plane. Anyone who tells you this clearly hasn't flown in business class but overall it wasn't too bad apart from this is holiday season. The bus was full of Chileans - which normally would be a good thing if it wasn't for the fact that whole families are moving around to visit other family members for Christmas and so the bus is full of kids. Now most were well-behaved - apart from the one sat opposite me who was doing his best to keep the whole coach awake all night with his screaming - good thing I'm a heavy sleeper -I knew I didn't live next to a railway line for 4 years for nothing!

Having got to Arica I tried to find a cash-point - no luck of course, who would think of putting one near the bus station. Then I tried to find a taxi-collectivo - a shared taxi to take me to my hotel. Well I asked in the information desk in my best Spanish which isn't very good I admit - I asked which taxi collectivo to take to get to the railway station. The woman behind the desk just said that was the train station. I said that I knew that but there was a residential near there that I'd like to stay at - she just said that it was a train station and started making choo choo train noises. Again I tried to explain that I wanted to stay at a residential nearby - again more impressions of a steam train. At which point she directed me to the information desk 3 doors down where there was apparently someone who spoke English. So I went and asked if the woman there spoke English - "No" she said. Just "No" - not even a polite smile to suggest she might try to help me if I attempted some more pigeon Spanish. Undeterred I set off for the Taxi Collectivo rank outside and asked the first one where he went - I wanted to know what route he followed (they operate a bit like a bus service following a fixed route but in a car instead of a bus). He just said that he went all over and when I pointed at my map of the town and asked where he just looked blankly wondering why I was showing him a map. In the end I just got him to take me to the place I wanted to stay but going via the bank so I could get some money - of course it cost me twice the price to go via the bank and of course, when I got to 'La Maison de France' where I'm staying I found out that the bus station is literally round the corner and I could have walked it. So I felt a bit ripped off - but since the total taxi fare was only 2 pounds, I sometimes wonder why I bother! Hardly worth worrying about! So now I'm in Arica at La Maison de France which as it's name suggests is run by a French guy and is wife who are very friendly and it's good to be able to actually make myself understood again even if it's a bit bizarre speaking French in Latin America.

So Arica doesn't have a great deal going for it - it's got some nice beaches and that's it - in fact it's the only place in Chile where the water gets warm enough to actually go in the sea - most of it is freezing water brought up from the Antarctic by the Humboult current. The town is nothing spectacular so it will be good to get out tomorrow and head to Buenos Aires. As for this afternoon, I guess I'll just have to go and lie on the beach for a bit. Ho hum .....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1071872520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1071872520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1071872520/tpod.html Fri, 19 Dec 2003 18:06:57 -0500 Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands.

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San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

From Easter Island it was a 5 hour flight to Santiago where I stayed at the HI hostel with 5 people I'd met on Easter Island. Not much to report from Santiago besides a couple of drunken nights out and then on Monday morning I was on a flight to Calama in the north of Chile in order to get to San Pedro de Atacama where I am now.

San Pedro is not much of a town - it's a collection of Adobe huts round a couple of streets. The reason to come here is to see the scenery of the surrounding mountains and Altiplano. So on the monday evening I went on a tour to the Valley of the Moon - I suspect that each country in South America has a Valley of the Moon - a valley that looks pretty desolate with odd rock formations etc. etc. It was interesting to see and was particularly pretty at sunset but nothing compared to what was to come.

On Tuesday morning I set off on a 4 day tour to the Altiplano region between Chile and Bolivia and in particular the Salar of Uyuni. After Chilean passport control we seemed to just drive up and up the side of the valley - not doubling back on ourselves as you might going round some hairpin bends in Europe but instead just driving straight up! Before long we were at an altitude of around 3,600 metres - I've only ever been that high on a chair lift. But that was nothing compared to what was to come - later that day we climbed to 4,600 metres - at this altitude, altitude sickness is a real danger, especially after spending 3 months just a few metres above sea level like I have! Fortunately all I had to contend with was some serious headaches and a bit of diziness and being shattered after just walking a few metres! Some others were not so lucky and were sent off to hospital!

Anyway, after clearing Bolivian passport controls - a guy in a hut at the top of the mountain we went on to a lake called the Laguna Blanca (white lake). Then it was another lake, the laguna verde (green lake), some thermal springs and the laguna colorado (coloured lake which was in fact red). All the lakes had flamingoes wading around although the Laguna Colorado was by far the most spectacular and must have had thousands of flamingoes. The scenery all the time was amazing with huge towering volcanos either side or desolate plains dotted with a few llamas and vicunas (relatives of llamas) here and there. That first night was pretty cold though - we stayed at an altitude of 3,600m and in the winter the temperature can drop to minus 35 at night - we were lucky, I think it only dropped to around minus 5 for us - this after it hits around plus 30 during the day!

Day two took us to some more lakes, a view of a smouldering volcano and a small salt pan - the salt pans round here were formed by ancient seas drying out and leaving the salt behind as the water evaporates. They're strange places as all you can see is white for miles and miles ahead. On the third day we arrived at our ultimate destination, the Salar de Uyuni (salt pan of Uyuni) - I think this is the 2nd or 3rd largest in the world and it covers an enormous area. We drove to a little 'island' in the middle - a drive of 56 kms across the salt - this funny little island was covered in cactus plants - some as old as 1200 years old apparently. Then after a few hours in Uyuni it was time to head back to Chile with an overnight in the middle of nowhere!

All in all, words can't do justice to the scenery we saw - I'll have to put some photos up for you it was a really stunning place. I hadn't planned on going but everyone I spoke to and mentioned that I was going up north in Chile said I had to do this trip and they were right.

No chance of loading any photos here though, San Pedro itself is a bit of a dump. Am stuck here until tomorrow night when my bus leaves so hopefully I can update soon.

I hope everyone's enjoying the run up to Christmas and hope you have a fantastic Christmas break. I'll be in Buenos Aires from the 22nd to 26th December so will celebrate Christmas there.

Apologies to everyone I owe emails to - I haven't replied to any for about 3 weeks now but I promise I'll find time in the next few days!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1071093600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1071093600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1071093600/tpod.html Wed, 10 Dec 2003 20:22:05 -0500 Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands.

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Hanga Roa, Easter Island, Chile

So having visited most of Polynesia and Melanesia in my tour of the South Pacific I've come to the last stop, Easter Island and what a magical place this is!

We arrived here on monday morning about 11am and found somewhere to stay. This must be the low season as hotel owners were virtually fighting over tourists and rates are about a third of their normal level! All good news for us backpackers!

Easter Island is known by the locals as Rapa Nui and it has just one town, Hanga Roa where virtually every one of the 2,700 or so inhabitants live. The island is roughly triangular in shape with an extinct volcano on each corner.

On Monday afternoon I took a hike up the volcano just to the south of Hanga Roa, the closest one to the town. On the way up you get great views of Hanga Roa and in fact, great views of the whole island. At the top of the volcano is a huge crater filled by a lake and looking down to the side is a small island (motu). Not so long ago there was a cult of the birdman. What happened is every year, the islanders would hold a competition to see who could swim to the island, grab the egg of a sooty tern (a type of sea bird) and return to the mainland the quickest. Whoever accomplished this feat in the shortest time became the island's chief for a year!


View of Hanga Roa from the southern volcano


Crater lake at the top of the southern volcano


The motu that competitors swam to for the birdman competition


Competitors in the birdman competition had to stay in these special houses until the time came for the race

After a tiring day's hiking - well we only hiked back down actually as some guy from the Chilean home office gave us a lift up the volcano - the sky was looking pretty cloudless and a good sunset looked like it was on the cards. So along with about half the tourists on the island, we headed down to a site just north of Hanga Roa where there are some Moai (statues) lined up on the coast conveniently positioned for a good sunset photo!


Moai near Hanga Roa at sunset.

On Tuesday three of us hired a jeep and went off to tour round the island. First off we came across a row of 7 Moai which face out to sea. These Moai had been restored by archeologists as all of the Moai on the island were toppled when Europeans arrived. This is one of the great mysteries of Easter Island! These 7 Moai are meant to represent some great gods and they're unusual in that they're the only ones that face out to sea.



Then we headed off for the South Coast. All along the coast of the whole island are Ahu (stone platforms) with Moai. Unfortunately most of the Moai have been tumbled either deliberately or by natural disasters apart from the few that have been restored by archeologists. We stopped all along the coast and the Moai just got better and better until we reached the Quarry.


Tumbled Moai - unfortunately this is what most of the Moai look like.

The Quarry was really something special. The ancient islanders just cut the moai directly from the rock then transported them about the island. At some point they just abandoned the Moai and so the whole quarry is littered with statues in various stages of completion - very strange!


Initial view of the Quarry with a field full of half finished Moai


A Field full of heads!


The Moai are cut directly from the rock


It seems they just downed tools one day and left all these heads just standing in the field

Just round from the quarry was perhaps my favourite sight of all. A row of 15 moai have been restored in a small bay to the eastern end of the island - this is what Easter Island is all about!


15 Moai have been restored in a Bay to the eastern end of the island


One of my favourite sights from my whole trip

And finally, I thought I'd check out the underwater world. Easter Island is about 2000 kms from the nearest other land mass and rises sharply from great depths so I had expectations of some deep sea fish - big ones in particular such as a few sharks. Turns out though that most of the sharks have been fished out so instead it's the endemic fish which are of interest and there's a few unusual ones. I did 2 dives and although they didn't have the sharks to match French Polynesia they were still very interesting and we even saw three turtles which is always a good thing in my book.


Cow Fish


Golden Morray Eel


Puffer Fish


Sea Urchin - the reef was literally covered in these!


A Yellow Trumpet Fish - just one of the weird and wonderful Trumpet fish that live in Easter Island
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1070835720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1070835720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1070835720/tpod.html Wed, 10 Dec 2003 19:45:44 -0500 Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands.

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Moorea, French Polynesia

From Huahine I flew to Moorea - this is actually the closest island to the island of Tahiti and since it's a lot nicer than Tahiti this is where most of French Polynesia's backpackers can be found down at Chez Nelson and Camping Moorea. Neither are particularly great places but they're cheap and they're on the beach and there's plenty of other backpackers around to talk to so I ended up at Chez Nelson.

First off was an island tour although it wasn't that good to be honest. Our guide pointed out lots of different fruit plantations and took us to some nice look outs but that was about it. It gave a nice over view of the island in a few hours though which set me up nicely for the following day where I went diving again. Moorea is also famous for sharks but this time of the Black tip and Lemon variety. Again, as soon as we got in the water we were surrounded by sharks. I suspect they thought we might feed them as some of the other dive operators do on the island but we didn't have any food. They hung around anyway along with some grey reef sharks just to check us out.

Moorea was also good for just hanging out on the beach apart from the day when it rained all day. A nice enough place to visit but not one of the highlights of my trip! Overall, with the exception of the diving, I'd say that French Polynesia's all very nice but a bit over rated and certainly doesn't justify the cost!


Tahiti as seen from Moorea


The interior of Moorea


A field full of pineapples - no they don't grow on trees!


Moorea Coastline from the look out


A rare photo of me overlooking Cook's Bay


Mid-morning snack, Moorea Style


Ancient Marae


How the other half lives - Over the water bungaloes on Moorea


Black Tip Reef Shark


A pair of Black Tip Reef Sharks - in fact we were surrounded by them


Lemon Shark


Lemon Shark


Grey Reef Shark
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1070576400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1070576400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mclubbe/mikeski_rtw_2/1070576400/tpod.html Wed, 10 Dec 2003 19:35:10 -0500 Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands.

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Bora Bora, Hunahine, French Polynesia

Next stop was Bora Bora - initial impressions from the plane were good! The marketing people call it the pearl of the pacific. It's a volcanic island with a very verdant 'mountainous' core surrounded by a deep lagoon and a string of motu. Well the expensive hotels are all locate on the motu and so I was off to the main land. I think it's probably an idylic place if you're on the motu but even there, they do seem to have crammed a lot of those over the sea bungaloes in so may be even there it's over rated. I camped for an extortionate fee and took a bit of a look around the island but to be honest I don't think it has much to offer beyond expensive hotels and over the sea bungaloes. I won't be going back! Fortunately I was only planning to spend the one day on Bora Bora and next stop was Huahine.

Huahine is very similar to Bora Bora and probably gives you an idea of what Bora was like 10 or 15 years ago. To see some more of the island I booked myself on an island tour and a quick stroll along the beach on horseback. We got to see some of the ancient sacred sights (marae), our guide fed some sacred eels - sacred apparently because they keep the islands water sources flowing, and basically we took in the gorgeous scenery.


Things are looking good - initial impression of Bora Bora from the air


Bora Bora from the airport - the airport is located on one of the motu


The beach on Huahine - not exactly a white sand paradise


Our guide feeds the eels on Huahine - note the classic example of a mullet!


Ancient Fish Traps - still used today and used for generations on Huahine


The lagoon at Huahine


The lagoon at Huahine


Ancient Marae on Huahine


Seeing some of the sights on horseback
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