Perth and beyond...

Been in Perth, Australia for 2 days now but off into the outback tomorrow!
Checked my finances and realised I need to earn a bit of cash so got a job as a barmaid in a country hotel/pub. Its in a mining town called Mt. Magnet, about 600km north and east a bit from Perth - ie. middle of nowhere! Idea is that I won't spend what I earn on anything as there's nothing to do, so I can save up to continue my travels. Thought of trying to get a bit of locum vet work but decided I want a job where I don't really have to think for a while! Apparentely the bar is usually full of rowdy contract mine workers so could be interesting...
Enjoyed my few days in Perth; its a nice little laid-back city, have spent my time wandering along the riverside and visiting the museum.

New Zealand

Been in New Zealand for 5 days now and leave for Oz tomorrow...
Was extremely jet lagged when arrived so spent a couple of days in Auckland recovering an doing the cultural thing - art galleries, museums, etc.
Then had a couple of days up in the Bay of Islands; one of the parts of the country I didn't make it to when I was here 5 years ago. Had fantastic sunny weather there and met some great girls on the bus who I went on a crazy moonlight walk with when we arrived. We climbed a hill behind the hostel to watch the sunset, saw some glow worms too. Then we cooked up a feast for dinner back at the hostel. I spent the next day walking along the beach in the sunshine before catching the bus back to Auckland.

Last of S.America

Last day in South America today, sob!
Had a fantastic days skiing yesterday, lovely fresh powdery snow, bit of a bizarre thing to be doing in July though!
Fly to Auckland tonight - but arrive on 21st so have no 20th July due to the time difference! Bring on the jet lag...

Some photos

Santiago

Well, its been a while since I was at a computer with a fast enough connection to load the blog so thats my excuse for not writing much lately!
Just arrived back to civilisation in Santiago, the capital of Chile.
Had a fantastic last few days in Bolivia - the salt flats were just breathtaking and had lots of fun taking funny photos as if we were standing on top of bottles and things... Then came the drive over the altiplano, where the truck climbed to an altitude of over 5000m at one point, was brilliant. Passed so much varied scenery; pink lakes, turquoise lakes, glacier topped mountains, desert, and much more. Crossed into Chile then and camped for three nights in a little town called San Pedro, where it was absoutely freezing at night so not the most enjoyable camping experience... We visited an observatory there though which was fascinating - the sky is so clear here and there are so many stars to see, got a really clear photograph of jupiter through one of the telescopes too. We then had a couple of nights bush camping; one in the middle of nowhere in the atacama desert, then on my birthday on a lovely beach in a national park where we also took a boat ride and saw lots of pelicans, penguins and sea lions. Next came two nights in a seaside town called La Serena where it was nice just to relax and get clean after all the camping! We had one final bush camp last night with a huge bbq and lots of chilian wine...
I leave Santiago for New Zealand in 2 days and have just booked a days skiing here for tomorrow, can´t wait:-)

Escaped La Paz

Yay, we managed to break free from the city during a lull in the strikes today. Involved leaving at 5am and not arriving at our destination till after 6pm, but never mind, we made it!
So now in a town called Uyuani in the middle of nowhere on the southern altiplano of Bolivia. Tomorrow we take a jeep out onto the huge salts flats which are meant to be very spectacular, and where you can do lots of trick photography as the vast white ´lake´ messes up perspective (ie. pictures of people coming out of crisp packets and balancing on top of beer bottles!). Also we are staying in an amazing hostel with heated rooms, hot water and the best pizza you can imagine, luxury!

PS I´ve been back through my old posts and added some photos finally...

Stuck in La Paz...

Well, we left La Paz yesterday morning to head for the mining city of Potosi, however only an hour into our journey we were told there was a huge miners strike on blocking the road and we had better go back to La Paz. Turns out they have blocked all the major roads in the country and there is nowhere we can go from here until the strike is resolved. Its unsafe to travel on back roads and the strikers are throwing dynamite at any vehicles that try to pass their road blocks. All boils down to the government wanting to nationalise some of the last remaining private tin mines, the workers don´t want this as pay and conditions will be worse. We have just seen on the news that there is a battle with the police now, tear gas being used and dynamite thrown back in retaliation, so not looking good for leaving tomorrow.
On the plus side though, our hotel is giving us free drinks later tonight to apologise for their country´s political situation!
We also had a good night out last night, which involved an oxygen bar to try to offset some of the effects of altitude, was rather amusing as you can see from the photo above!

Survived!

Yey, I survived my cycle down the world´s most dangerous road - from La Cumbre to Coroico in Bolivia!! We had fantastic double suspension mountain bikes and it took us about 5 hours in total, with a complementary, much needed, beer and hot shower waiting for us at the bottom. You basically go from an altitude of 4700m to 1100m down a gravel road no more than 3m wide littered with hairpin bends and at least a 500m drop at the side. Was a real adrenaline rush. There´s now a new road for most of the traffic to use but before this the death toll from road accidents could be over 1000 per year, and the roadside is covered with memorial crosses all the way down... A few cyclists have died doing the mountain biking but reassuringly our ultra safety concious company has had no fatalities!
Leave La Paz tomorrow for a long drive to a mining town called Potosi, after that we go to the salt flats which I am very excited about.
Must go now as I am so tired and achy after today need my bed so much!

PS. here´s a link about the crazy road... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yungas_Road

From La Paz...

Arrived in La Paz (Bolivia) today, the city sits at an altitude of 3800m surrounded by mountains, so a pretty impressive place but unfortunately feeling the effects of altitude for the first time today so not ventured out of the hotel... Planning to take a city tour tomorrow though, and then the day after that we are planning to mountain bike the ´world´s most dangerous road´. Its a ridiculously steep, windy, narrow road and takes about 2 hours to cycle down (don´t worry though mum we´re using the safest company and I´ll go very slowly!!).
My last week in Peru was fantastic, met up with the group I am overlanding to Santiago with in Cusco and they are a really good bunch of people. Had a few crazy nights and good meals there then we set off on a 4 day Inca trail hike. Hike didn´t go quite as planned as a lot of people got ill/exhausted after the first day of climbing (not me I add!)so we did a plan B route which was easier walking and included a night camping next to some hot springs - very nice!! Got to Machu Picchu on the final day and it was just breathtaking, impossible to describe how it feels to actually see it all. We then went back to Cusco to sort ourselves out (have a much needed shower and clean some very dirty clothes!) before leaving for Lake titicaca. The truck we are travelling in is amazing, an actually trick refitted with very comfy coach seats and all purpose built for off roading and bush camping. Stayed in a town called Copacabana on the bolivian shores of the lake for a few nights, did have a beach but sadley not up to that of its namesake in rio!

Photos from left to right aré - a very cute peruvian girl, one of the huts on the lake titcaca floating islands, view from a ruin on isla del sol, and of course Machu picchu.