so after much debate about costs we decided to hire a car from Dublin Airport and just wing it bascially. We arrived in Dublin to…yep you guessed it, rain! After managing to find our car, it was a relief to dump my 20kg bag which i can tell you I am fast getting sick of carrying, in the boot and take a hold of the steering wheel again. Happy to be designated driver of our little Corsa, we took off….. ah so good to be in a car again….

Until i hit the first exit at the airport and was met with a traffic signal controlled round-a-bout. WTF?! since when do round-a-bouts have traffic lights? doesn’t that defeat the purpose? So after circling it a few times and getting cut off by people and generally bluffing my way through with no idea, we eventually managed to get onto the correct motorway out of town and headed straight for the town of Kilkenny. A busy little Irish town with a lot of pubs (how unusual….) we found our first night’s accomodation no problems and enjoyed a hearty pub meal with a pint of Kilkenny, in Kilkenny. Whilst in town we visited the Castle which was quite cool… and very complete compared to everything else we would see on the trip! With a vast green lawn sprawling out around it and autumn coloured trees dotted aorund the grounds, the big grey castle was quite spectacular. Here we also visited the first of many ruins on our trip, Kell’s Priory, an old monastic site that has absolutely no information posted anywhere, and the only visitors there were us. This was also the first time in years I actually walked through green, green, wet grass! We wandered through the site which had the remains of an old church and the rest was left up to our imaginations. I was quite shocked that such a beautiful place could be left so much to ruin… the grave sites were overgrown and we were allowed to wander over these ruins as we pleased. I thought that such a place would have moe upkeep… but then Kate pointed out, in a country that is so so old and is littered with old sites like this, how do you maintain all of them? How do you decided which sites are the most important? Very true.

And so we ventured on, headed towards Cork. On the way we stopped at (another) monastic site The Rock of Cashel, and a cottage Kate wanted to see, and then we hit the mayhem of Cork, a drivers nightmare of one way roads and peak hour traffic. I was so frustrated by the end of it that by the time we found our hostel we decided to get out of there early in the morning and move on. So we didn’t see Cork at all. The next morning we headed (in the rain) toward Blarney to kiss the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle (and receive eternal eloqouence aparently). I remember doing it as a kid… and nothing was different the second time around!

Blarney Castle

So after creeping through the tiny stairwells of the castle in the rain we set on our way again and ended up in Trallee, a town near the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula. The town itself was fairly ordinary, and our attempts to find a cute Irish pub to drink at were met with dissapointment as we again entered another one to feel completley like we were intruding on the locals. This would be a recurring thing on this trip. Maybe we were just choosing the wrong places but we never felt entirely comfortable wherever we went.

Using Trallee as a base for a few nights after finding a very comfortable hostel we decided against driving the Ring of Kerry due to the famously narrow roads (which i hate to imagine after already driving through some ridiculously narrow roads already on the this trip) on which i may be met with oncoming buses (no thank-you). so instead we decided that the Ring of Dingle (western most point of the country) would be just as spectacular… and it certainly was well worth it. After driving over the Connor Pass, the highest pass in Ireland and a most spectacular drive through a barren brown landscape, we were met with the beautiful peninsula of rolling green hills dotted with sheep, that meet the beautiful blue ocean, all against the backdrop of blue skies.

Dingle Peninsula

This was the moment we realised the benefits having a car, because seeing this countryside would be very difficult without one. We visited the visitors centre for the Blasket Islands which lie off the coast of the peninisula and used to be home to a small community of gaelic people up until the 50′s when the last inhabitants were evacuated… no wonder since the islands were subject to such harsh weather conditions and life was increadibly hard. One has to wonder why anyone would have chosen to live there.

The next day was a similarly beautiful drive along the Burren, a coastline of grey rocky outcrops and cliffs almost moonlike in appearance. We were headed toward the village Doolin and the nearby Cliffs of Moher. Doolin was a small fishing village with a lively pub with traditional music, at which i ate the most beautiful piece of atlantic salmon i have ever tasted. And a few doors down was a home made fudge shop which Kate and I nearly died in. I’m not one for fudge usually but this was something else! The Cliffs of Moher were quite stunning although the time of day we visited wasn’t the greatest for lighting, and i do believe we didn’t see it at it’s most beautiful.

Cliffs of Moher

From Doolin we didn’t have much of a plan, so we took off north again, deciding to give Galway city a miss. We ended up driving up into the Conemara region at the suggestion of the Lonely Planet… which turned out to be one of my most favourite drives of the trip. Like a few of the other areas we had visited, like the Dingle Peninsula, Conemara is Gaelic speaking, which we had great entertainment in witnessing at a local servo. It has to be one of the funniest languages i have ever heard. It’s easy to forget that they actually speak various forms of Gaelic in many parts of Britain, and when you actually hear it, it’s so intriguing! It literally sounds like nothing else, it’s like jibberish. It certainly adds something to the feel of the country, it’s hard to describe. The landscape in this region was so different to anything we had seen so far, and nothing like i had expected to see in Ireland. Brown barren mountainous landscape with glassy lakes dotted around, and the whole place covered in an eery mist. It was much more like the highlands in Scotland than what we had been seeing in Ireland with the green rolling hills. We stumbled upon Kylemore Abbey which was a stunning grey building set in the hills overlooking a beautiful lake… so very picturesque.

Kylemore Abbey

I had hoped that we would be able to find somewhere nice and picturesque along the way to Dublin to stay at overnight… but I now realise there is a reason the centre of Ireland is not mentioned in the Lonely Planet… there is jack all there! We attempted along the way at various points to find tourist info centres but they were all closed. Trying to find accomodation was a nightmare, and 70Euro for a very ordinary b&b was not a favourable option. Well into the evening we ended up finding ourselves in Slane which was much further than we had intended to get, but the accomodation there was cheap and we got a private room so we stayed for 2 nights. From here we explored the Boyne Valley and the Bru na Boinne monument, a neolithic burial ground created 5000 years ago, predating Stonehenge by 1000 years.

Bru na Boinne (Newgrange)

From Slane we also visited the seaside village of Blackrock, which I of course had to visit, my hometown in Melbourne being Black Rock. I could see a slight similarity between the two towns, although I’m not sure if this was psychological with me wanting to find similarities rather than there actually being any.

And so we headed on to Dublin to return the car which I had grown quite fond of, and spend a few days in the capital of the country. Kate has a friend in Dublin who we were luck enough to be able to stay with. While we were in the city we went to see the Book of Kells which is an illuminated manuscript containing the 4 Gospels of the New Testament, dated in the 8th century I think, and complete with some amazing artwork and calligraphy. And on a similar theme we visited the Chester Beatty Library which was an amazing collection of manuscripts and artwork collected by Chester Beatty himself, who then donated the collection to the people of Ireland. We saw illuminated copies of the Qu’ran, pieces of papyrus with gospels printed on them dated 150AD, and other amazing artefacts from the far east and asia. Even a quite increadible collection of snuff bottles. Quite increadible that this one man aquired all this himself personally during his lifetime. This is a museum I would definately recommend to anyone visiting Dublin. We also visited the Guiness factory which i am very glad for having a free pass to, as we both found it a total waste of time. You don’t actually see any brewing of the stout beer at all, it’s just a loud, over the top exhibition. Of course we had a pint at the end, which i attempted to finish but just couldn’t. At least i tried! The most exciting part of the factory was seeing Vince Vaughn… and not just a glance from afar. I remember seeing this guy on the escalators and saying to kate “haha, that guy really looks like Vince Vaughn…” then i realised that was because he was was Vince Vaughn! We then somehow got stuck behind their tour group and managed to follow him the whole way through.

Vince Vaughn

Callum was kind enough to take us on a drive through the Wicklow mountains just out of Dublin one afternoon, where we drove past a farm they used to film at for one of my favourtie movies P.S. I Love You, and visited the famous Johnny Fox pub… where many a many a famous person has visited. Actors, musicians, and politicians including Johnny Howard. Quite a cute lively pub with some great live music and some food that i was salivating at each time the waiters walked past. I would have loved to have eaten there but by the time we got a table and got our food it would have been several hours later. To our amusement we were having a sticky beack at the rooms at the back of the pub (all the rooms walls are covered in weird and wonderful paraphernalia) and there was a single table of people eating dinner in there, which i didn’t take any notice of until Kate started giggling… and we realised it was Vince Vaughn, again. Twice in 2 days, seriously I was starting to think he was stalking me…
hehe.

I wouldn’t say Dublin is the prettiest city or that there is particularly much to do there… but the few things we did see were quite cool. Except the abundance of Australian Ugg brand ugg boots nicely priced at an average of 200Euro =$400. I’m not sure if Europeans just really love our ugg boots and are stupid enough to pay these ridiculous prices for them, or if the recession (particularly bad in Ireland I might add, everything was sooooo expensive) has just hit the old sheepskin slipper in a big way. Either way… Ugg boots are an obsession over here and I for one just do not get it!

So that bought us to the end of our trip through the lovely Ireland and the end of our Kate reunion. It was a great opportunity for me to see a part of the world I vaguely remember seeing as a child… it was quite a strange feeling going to a place having a strange recollection of having been there before. It was really nice to go back and do it myself and being able to properly appreciate it as an adult. Especially the difficulties my parents must have endured of driving the tiny country roads… where the speed signs will say 80 on one side of the road but 100 on the other (what the??), and where there will be a painted “very slow” on the road with a speed sign post of 100 planted right next to it. Not to mentioned the fact that these speed limits of 100 are on tiny, winding, bumpy little laneways with blind corners that terrified me at times. But it’s all a part of the experience hey?! A great few weeks with a good friend was just what I needed before settling in to the coming months of cold wet and dark England. But more on that next time

So off I flew in a few short days still feeling a little worse for wear, to Munich. Super excited about meeting my girlfriends from uni there, Cass and Amelia, who had both been doing the Europe circuit over summer. We met at out ‘hostel’, rather aptly called the Tent… as this is basically all it was, a large semi-permanent tent with a thousand and one dodgy squeeky sagging bunk-beds filled with drunk Aussies sleeping off their sins. After a lot of squealing and lots of hugs the three of us were reunited after what seems like a lot longer than 3 months. We promptly went about finding a place to eat, and once we did, spent the next few hours chatting non-stop about all our travels.

Thankfully Cass and Mealz actually looked into what sightseeing there is to do in Munich, as opposed to me who thought we were there just to drink beer… it’s a good thing we only spent one night doing this I think. So we had two things on the list, Dachau concentration camp, and Nuchweinstein Castle. Dachau concentration camp we set off to on a guided tour which was excellent. The camp was the longest running camp of all if my memory serves correct. It was the first Nazi concentration camp in Germany, housing over 200,000 prisoners from 30 countries during its operation. The only word I could think of to use to describe what I felt in the first few moments walking through there was that it was disturbing. It’s very difficult to describe the emotion that comes over you. It was very sobering. We spent a few hours walking around the grounds, through the prison cells and guard’s quarters. We heard of some sickening accounts of abuse and torture, and stories of attempted escape. We read excerpts from diaries of the prisoners and accounts of their experiences in the camp.

You learn about these camps in history lessons at school… you can read about them in books and memoirs… but visiting one of these places is something else entirely. The emotions that went through me were a combination of sadness, disgust, nausea, anger, empathy… and shame… for knowing that human beings were capable of doing this to their own.

Wandering through the halls of this camp, there is an eerie atmosphere… Time has not allowed the terrible atrocities to become mere vague memories… it’s still feels very much as though it were yesterday. Which I suppose is not a bad thing, in order to not let society forget… in order to not let it happen again. Whish is exactly the theme of the memorials outside… simple words on a plaque stating ‘never again’. The most disturbing moment of this day was visiting the crematorium, which I don’t wish to write about in detail… but what I felt was just sickened. There isn’t any other way to describe it.

A few things we saw/learnt that were interesting and quite disturbing in themselves, were that what used to be the SS Barracks of the camp, which are closed to the public, are now used to train the Police. Kind of wrong, if you ask me. Secondly, one of the memorials outside in the yard is a plaque with the different coloured triangles used to distinguish the different types of prisoners… yellow for jewish, red for political, etc. But there were colours missing… pink, for the homosxuals, and green for the criminals. When the plaque was made the survivors of Dachau still didn’t want to be associated with these people… so their colours were not included. Which begs the question… has anything actually changed when it comes to attitude?

So we left Dachau thankful for having the opportunity to visit, but feeling somewhat depressed. It is certainly something I recommend to people to do if they can stomach it, it is not a nice experience, but it is well worth it.

The second sight we visited was Nuchweinstein Castle… the “Disney” castle set in the Bavarian mountains. Now I had been here once before with my family as a kid, but at the height of the tourist season there was a queue a mile long so we never saw the inside. So this was my opportunity. I had some rather great expectations, and they only grew after sitting on a train and bus for nearly three hours to get there. It looks quite beautiful perched there in the mountain side…
We took a horse and cart up, the driver of which took a liking to Amelia and spent the whole time flirting with her… note that he was about 70 years old and spoke little English! Cass and I spent the whole trip up giggling madly. When we got to the top we learnt the castle was built only in the 1800′s… but wasn’t finished because King Ludwig drowned. So the castle only has a few rooms open to the public, and they are all tack tack tack I tell you! I’m talking coloured glass beads made to look like jewels on massive copper chandelier things. All over the top and quite ridiculous. And then you go to the room where the throne should be and there isn’t one… cos he died. It’s just odd! So, Mum and Dad, don’t worry we didn’t miss out on much all those years ago! To top it off the place was covered in scaffolding, not a just a bit, but one whole facade top to toe… the side that you get magnificent photos of from a veiw point that we climbed up to. Anyhoo… at least it was a memorable day!

So apart from these sights and a bit of shopping around town, the rest of our time in Munich was devoted to, yep you guessed it, beer. We visited the Hoffbrauhaus (sp?) one night for dinner and I had the traditional pork knuckle with potato dumplings and saukraut and a Radler (=shandy) and we listened to some quality big German band beer music. The place is so massive you can get lost in it, and it was bustling with an boistrous atmosphere that I’m not sure if it is always like this or is excentuated by Oktoberfest. I also want to note here… the beer maidens that serve you in these places and at the festival, are some super strong women… my God! I’m talking at leat 6 steins in hand at all times… they are some strong wrists! I also want to point out my amusement at the local taditional get-up, the dresses and lederhausen… i never realised they actually wear these things for reasons other than tourism… but aparently they do! The boys love getting into their suede capri overalls on the weekends for a beer… cute!

Which brings me to… Oktoberfest. After trawling around the stores for days to find the apporiate bust enhancing beer maiden dress for Amelia, we found one suitable, got her dressed up, and set about meeting up with an Aussie friend of the girls Joel, and a German wearing his lederhausen (sp?), a friend of Mealz’s, Phillip. And then we hit the tents. We managed to find a possie in amongst some locals at the Augustina tent and i ordered my first stein, which surprisingly i didn’t find too difficult to get through. Many a ‘Prost!’ were said with the slamming down of stein glasses… it was all very merry! The elderly men sitting next to us certainly didn’t hold back their excitement… horny old buggers! And from Merry it quickly turned to very messy when we decided to move on to a tent which I can’t remember the name off and remember very little of. I do remember about 10,000 people dancing on tables which we promptly joined in with… and a third stein later resulted in my bottom meeting table as i slipped and fell… Table 1, Kate 0. Dammit. My bum still hurts to this day. The rest of the night is a serious blur…I remember sausages, saukraut, hot chips, a massive gingerbread heart, and a sore bottom. But thanks to German purity laws ensuring their beer only has 4 ingredients, my head wasn’t too bad the next day! The next night we returned to the grounds to see it sober, went on the ferris wheel, ate some more sausage and saukraut ( i never want to see cabage again) and took some photos that we were too intoxicated to do the night before. I must mention here too, the number of Aussie blokes who, normaly so stingey, actually forked out in excess of 100euro for lederhausen, all cos it involves getting pissed…typical! And of course we had a laugh at the drunken messy people and wondered if we were so bad the night before… i have sneaking suspicions we were…

And what did I learn from Oktoberfest? That i had a ripper of a time and intend to go back next year. Prost!!

A trip to the Big Apple wouldn’t be the same without a trip down Fifth avenue and Park Avenue. 5th Avenue is a shoppers dream… a fashionista’s paradise…and a backpackers shameful nightmare. I threw on what decent clothes I could find in my ruck, thankfully I had been shopping already, and went on my outing down the famous avenue. Actually I did this on two separate occasions, once on my own, and once with Sarah, as it’s much more fun with company! One day I found myself in the cosmetic heaven Sephora, where I think I spent nearly 2 hours. This place is make-up paradise. They have every brand known to man and little stations everywhere where you can try on whatever you like. They have professional make-up artists all through the store, and I jumped at the chance to get made up as we were going out clubbing that night. I watched a very passionate gay male make-up artist use some fancy electrical airbrush make-up on a girl… it was so intriguing I think the poor girl got a little freaked by me staring at her with a stupid look on my face for 20mins. I left he place a little poorer but a little better looking, hehe. Also on 5th Avenue is Abercrombie & Fitch, the most pretentious preppy American casual clothing outfitter. But Sarah and I walked by here and were met on entrance by a shirtless guy with quite an impressive 6-pack, who we could have a Polaroid with for kicks. Of course we both walked out of there empty handed as far as clothes were concerned, but with a very nice looking photographic souvenir. I swear that every sales assistant in that place is a model, both girls and guys, all of them were hot hot hot. Sarah and I played Who Would You Rather with many of the male models in posters in the big stores like GAP, but honestly, in this one, neither of us could choose. We both left feeling a little flustered, haha. I have to admit, I found even many of the male mannequins in the shop windows throughout the city strangely sexy… yes I know that is strange, but that is the desired result of the work of some very very clever visual merchandising artists… who have clearly succeeded in doing what they aim to do when it comes to me! I have to say, the visual merchandising on 5th Avenue is fantastic.

What else on 5th Ave? Well, Saks, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany’s, Jimmy Choo… In Tiffany’s I spent a couple of hours checking out the bling, which in all honesty I didn’t get that excited about. I do think the Blue Box has a lot to do with the excitement over Tiffany’s. Sarah and I spent ages looking at the engagement rings picking out which ones we liked, and it took me quite a while to find one I really liked. Don’t get me wrong, it’s Tiffany’s, the diamonds are big and sparkly and impressive, but not my taste in most cases…too common… I prefer Cartier…

Hehehe

We did have a chat to a security guard there who pointed out a massive diamond to us, which he mentioned cost $6million… honestly, it was ridiculously massive, and kinda ugly for a ring in my opinion, but there’s no denying that that was one impressive diamond. And despite my lack of interest in owning a Tiffany’s Diamond Ring…there was something kinda special about being inside Tiffany’s on 5th Ave in New York… I could almost here Moon River playing in the background too…

We went into Prada also and I nearly had an orgasm over the shoes in there, not to mention the handbags, And on the day I was there on my own I was strolling past Bergdorf’s and was met by a film crew parked outside the front. Then I realised they were filming he Sex and the City Movie Sequel… I hung about with a few others for a while hoping to see some action but eventually got bored and figured it wasn’t gonna happen any time soon and left. Ah well, no star spotting for me this time. Not far up from Bergdorf and Goodman’s is F.A.O. Schwartz, the toy store of the Upper East Side spoilt brats. It was pretty cool though, I was met with shelves full of cuddly Spot the Dog, Elma the Elephant, and Peter Rabbit. There were beautiful dolls houses with all the cute accessories to go with it, the most delightful baby clothing, a fantastic lolly section which I went crazy over like a little kid, and a massive piano that you step on the keys and it plays the notes. A cool present for your kid… if you have a spare $200,000 to burn. Certainly for the Children of Park Avenue. I also took a walk down this famous promenade one day… I’m not sure I really had any expectations but this avenue is one very wide street just lined with flat fronted apartment buildings. Practically no shops, just miles of brick apartments, all the same height, and perfectly manicured garden beds on the pavement outside and in the middle of the road. Looking up the street from one end it actually looks quite impressive. And it is straight out of the movies, with a doorman at each entrance and drivers’ cars parked outside the front. The men walking up and down this part of town are well dressed businessmen and the women immaculately groomed with clothes to die for. Their dogs too, actually. The children in strollers are all down the road in Central Park with their nannies. I’m not joking, it is exactly the way we imagine from the TV. I’d love to know if their private lives are just as messy and if their wardrobes are really as impressive….

And a few of my favourites…

Having just mentioned Central Park, can I just say, this was everything plus much much more than I had expected,. This beautiful park is massive in size,far more than I htough, and you don’t really quite realise from the map, you realise as you are walking from one end to the other. It’s far nicer than Hyde Park in London in my opinion. It’s filled with special places… quiet greens to lay in the sun (great for a hangover…) or to have a picnic. Several ponds and lakes to enjoy, to jog around (which I had every good intention to do every day on my visit but…well, didn’t) or to paddle a boat in (would have loved to, but couldn’t do it on my own as I had visions of me going around in circles helplessly, and had no-one to take a romantic trip for two with). One of the lakes is particularly lovely as on nice day when the water is smooth the Manhattan skyline is reflected almost perfectly in the glass water. There are brilliant fountains, cute stone bridges everywhere, street performers doing their arty thing everywhere, massive fields to play sports, such as volleyball, although it wasn’t quite the same watching white guys in sports shirts and sweaty t-shirts as in Rio watching tanned men in Speedos on the beach. Along the roads that wind through the leafy trees ride horses and carts (Where is Mr. Big when you need him?) and bicycle taxis and yellow cabs… oh so NYC. The only regret I have about my visit to this great city is that it wasn’t a month or so later… the trees of Central Park in fall would be nothing less than spectacular. I will make sure my next visit is timed to see this. I think that this was very nearly my favourite part of the Big Apple.

A close second would have to be Greenwich Village. Again, an unexpected delight. Many visitors to the city probably know this to be so, but I had no idea about anyting really, and this was a wonderful day. Terrace apartments lining the leafy streets, and Bleecker St, the cheekiest place for indulgence whether it be for your taste buds or your wardrobe. We visited the Magnolia Bakery and queued up outside to get inside to purchase a cupcake, and window shopped along the street, home to Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs and many boutique fashion houses. By the end of our ‘walking tour’ we ended up in a park at the end of 5th Ave, and realised as we were taking photos of it that the fountain in the park was the same fountain used in the opening credits of Friends… so that was also quite cool to see. The day even started off well as we visited the Chelsea Food Market by accident. Expecting a flea market, I was more than happy to find this awesome food market in its place. I could have spent hours and much money in here although my waistline in probably thanking me for not. But if I were living in NYC, this would be, in addition to WholeFoods, a supermarket recommended to me by my cousin who shares my obsession of good food, the place I would shop at.

Actually I feel I owe WholeFoods a paragraph to itself. On entering this place I thought I had died and gone to food heaven. The Salad Bar- delicious fresh salads of pastas, grains, Quinoa which I never knew existed until I went to Peru, Thai Beef Salad, green salads, rice salads… Antipasti bars with olives, dolmades everything I love to steal from the platters at home before I go out on a Saturday night, when the folks are having guests over for dinner. The hot food bar full of curries and other fabulous looking stews. The soup bar with soups I could eat all day every day… Sushi that I could also eat all day every day if I could afford it (loved the abundance of sushi bars in NYC). There are so many bagels to choose from it’s impossible, a dessert bar with Tiramisu that you can help yourself to (I was in heaven). There were punnets and punnets if delicious sweet berries that I thoroughly enjoyed munching on in Central Park. Not to mention the bar full of different lasagnes and other specialty meals to take home. You could almost buy an entire roast dinner for 6 and pack it up and take it home. People often complain about the food in America, but NYC is another story all together. There are sandwich delis everywhere to get a great Panini from, and Sushi on every corner. There might be a lot of crap, but there is a lot of good to in the Big Apple, when it comes to cuisine. You just have to look! I regret not making it to Little Italy or Chinatown, but there is always next time. The only complaint I have is the abundance of Starbucks (very ordinary coffee) and lack of smaller privately operated coffee shops… but that is something I will always love Melbourne for particularly I think. But Melbourne, bless its wonderful coffee, is definitely missing out when it comes to WholeFoods.

I Heart NY

Well, I have nearly mentioned everything I wanted to now on this fabulous city. I’m not sure how many times I called it fabulous so far but that is exactly what it is… I loved every minute of it. I didn’t really have many expectations, people either love the Big Apple or they hate it. Since I loved London and Paris, loving NYC comes as no surprise. It is not just a big bustling city to me, it has character, excitement, and it’s magical. I know much of it is over the top and tacky and just screams “I have too much money”… like the Upper East Side. And some of it is just plain ridiculous, like the m&m store. But it still remains one of my favourite cities so far. I loved strolling through the busy streets, finding a small little deli to eat lunch in. I loved the stunning cathedrals which I didn’t expect to find in a city outside of Europe… I loved the excitement of Times Square and Broadway, and the style on 5th Avenue. I loved the food. I loved the great big classic art deco skyscrapers that tower over the city. Most of all I loved strolling through central park and seeing something different each time. I heart NY!!

After a few days I met some girls staying in my room, Charlene was a student from the UK and Sarah a German volunteer worker who was going to be in town for 5 weeks. Sarah and I became good mates over the 10 days I was in town. So armed with some new friends we set out for Times Square one night, had a wander around town and stumbled upon the m&m store. Honestly, only in America could this store exist. 3 floors of m&m paraphernalia… you would not believe this place. Soft toys, Stationary, backpacks and handbags, t-shirts, sunglasses, baby jumpsuits, beach towels, dog collars, dog leads, dog water bottles, hair clips, necklaces, limited edition collectors items, a $3000 diamante encrusted leather jacket… and then all the m&m’s…. in ever colour of the rainbow. Bright colours, pale colours, speckled colours, limited edition m&m’s, peanut m&m’s… just meters and meters of massive round m&m canisters lined up against the walls. And what’s more insane, there were actually people getting crazily excited over this stuff… like they couldn’t decide which shade of pale pink m&m’s to get. And which colour would best match with them. The thing I don’t get is that though they might be all pretty colours, there is nothing remotely different about these chocolates, they are all the same!!!!! They taste the same, they are the same size… there is nothing spectacular about m&m’s. If they were Belgian truffles I could understand… but m&m’s?? After travelling through some of the poorest places in the world who don’t even have basic foods, to see this, consumerism at its most indulgent and ridiculous, was quite sickening. We had a good giggle over it about it and took some stupid photos, but none of us could really believe something like this has been allowed to exist. And of course after we exited the building, what were we met with? The Hersheys store. I rest my case.

So after this we set off down Restaurant Row to find a place to eat, and settled in to an Irish pub, where I promptly ordered and devoured a delicious shepherd’s pie which hit the spot for my craving for comfort food. It was quite a fun night in all, Time Square really is an awesome awesome place… so alive and magical. You could say it is tacky and over the top, but there is certainly something about the place. Now Times Square is always busy and bustling but this particular night there were a lot more people, and we were wondering why they were all crowded around the massive television screen… and then we realised it happened to be Fashion Week in NYC… the host of the show was a very gay male who thought everything was Fabulous Darling and told us so about 10 times in the space of 5 minutes. We really did get the American experience this night!

And what a better way to celebrate Fashion Week than to go shopping?? Sarah and I headed out to Jersey Gardens one day to spend our money. I trashed much of my clothing in South America so set about replacing it here. We arrived out there at about 10.30am, and left at 9.30pm. It took us 5 hours to scour the ground level of the place, and another 4 hours to raid the second level. We traipsed through Saks 5th Avenue, H&M, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch, Banana Republic, Benetton, GAP, Guess, Levis, and multiple shoes stores that nearly made me cry that I couldn’t fit them all in my bag. I spent $AU300 and got a sweater dress, a black dress, two pairs of trousers from CK, a pair of boots, a GAP sweater, and Tommy knit, and 3 scarves from American Eagle. We were totally exhausted after it all and then I was left with the dilemma of where to fit it all. And so began the process of sorting through my belongings and deciding what I could throw out/donate to charity… but i still ended up with a ‘heavy’ tag attached to my bag when leaving JFK so perhaps i didn’t get rid of enough…

And a bit of culture….

Since our hostel wasn’t too far from central park I took a walk across through it one day early on, and unknowingly ended up outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This humongous gallery houses some wonderful collections of artwork and does so in a magnificent building. The grand entrance hall is huge, and massive fresh bouquets of flowers decorate it from end to end. Unfortunately the place is not free, which after being used to a plethora of free museums to choose from on a rainy day in London, was a bit of rude shock, but being the avid art enthusiast that I am I paid and went about going to see the large collection of Monet, Renoir, Rembrandt, Vermeer and other artists I have admired since I was old enough to appreciate them. A special treat for me was a Vermeer exhibition on display to celebrate the temporary loan of The Milkmaid painting which is a particular favourite of mine. The museum’s modern art displays were a treat also with Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol and some other works that I studied in school that were great to see in person. And perhaps in some cases a bit odd, like the full sized shark suspended in a tank of formaldehyde…

Unfortunately this museum’s collection is so vast that it is impossible to see it all in a day so there was much I missed out on but what I did see was fantastic. I was hoping to make it to MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art, but unfortunately I would run out of time. I did however make it to the Guggenheim which was also fantastic. The building itself is an architectural work of art; the white spiral shaped building makes for a great exhibition hall and a great photographic subject in itself. It is quite mesmerising staring up from the ground floor to the top of the building with the spiral ramp encircling you… it just turns into this flat geometric pattern in front of you. My Turkish architect friend Ugur admitted that when he went to the museum he actually didn’t see the Kandinsky exhibition but instead just admired the building the whole time. I however, unlike Ugur, did see the Kandinsky show, and it was well worth the entrance fee. I hadn’t studied Kandinsky in school and knew little about him but came out from this exhibition with a new addition to my favourite artists.

Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to visit the many other museums I had hoped to, but the Met and the Guggenheim were good places to start. I did however make it to the New York City Public Library and Grand Central Station, two magnificent buildings on 42nd street, which I am glad to have visited. The New York Library really is impressive… I now know why Carrie got married there!! The building was covered in scaffolding on the outside but it is the inside that is the magical part. The entrance hall is huge and grand… and I had to take a photo of myself on the main staircase featured in the Sex and City Movie, when Carrie walks up to get married and realised she had been abandoned by Mr Big. Unfortunately my outfit didn’t quite match up to Vera Wang, and Mr Big was certainly nowhere to be seen… but then he wasn’t for Carrie either so we have that much in common at least, haha. Anyway… so a wander through the building showed me several large reading rooms complete with rows of long wooden tables with green lamps atop them, and walls and walls of books surrounding you. It was a beautiful place that I could just spend hours in reading. And similar in greatness was the station… Grand Central Station. What a beautiful building this one is. And such a hub of activity! I could have spent ages standing there on the steps inside watching the people go by (and I was, busily taking photos, until I got told off by the wait staff at the bar at the top of the stairs, apparently they were ‘their’ stairs and we weren’t allowed to take photos from them. Whatever.). Everything in NYC is so big and magnificent, and this place is no exception. The ceiling is beautiful, a huge expanse of vibrant aqua with a gold starry motif, and massive American flags hanging on either side of the great hall. A round ticket booth stands alone in the centre of the main hall around which people rush about their business, making for some quite cool photos. The basement floor houses a busy food court with delicious looking foods which I wish I had eaten from but instead settled for a sandwich up the road.

Among some of the other great buildings I visited in NYC are the ones we all know… The Empire State, the Rockefeller, the Chrysler (my favourite)… all in that impressive and romantic art deco style that I love in architecture, and the Flatiron building, the extraordinary triangular shaped building that is so New York yet so different to the other skyscrapers that tower above you in this great skyscraper city. The first building I visited was the Rockefeller. Inspired by my grandmother, I had to venture to the Top of the Rock at her suggestion, so Sarah and I went up one evening while it was still light so we could see the sunset. At the top they had a string quartet playing and a bar was open for drinks, so it was quite a cool evening. The Rockefeller is not the tallest building in the city, that title belongs to the Empire State of course, however this was certainly the more impressive view out of the two (I visited the empire state observation deck later in the week). We were treated to a stunning 360degree view of the Manhattan skyline, with spectacular scenes of Central Park and downtown, and an impressive close-up view of the lit up Empire State Building once night had fallen. It was far better to see the Empire State in its bright colourful lights at night from the Rockefeller than to go up the Empire State itself. The Rockefeller has quite a significant history behind it which was really interesting to learn about since I know the famous name of the building and that famous photo of the workers on that beam in the sky, but to learn the history behind it gives it much more meaning. So thanks Gran, because this was a great way to see the city from the top! I only went up the Empire to see the Chrysler, as this was the only thing I couldn’t see well from the Rockefeller. Honestly I would say to anyone contemplating which building to go up- go to the Rockefeller. Far, far better in my opinion.

A night on Broadway!!

As a musical and theatre lover from way back, I could not visit the Big Apple and not see a show; in fact I nearly saw several. Since I was in year 9 and we put on West Side Story at school I have always wanted to see this production, and it has never come to Melbourne since Marina Prior starred in it long ago, to my disappointment. So to my delight I saw it performing on Broadway. But there are so many awesome shows on! There was Chicago also which I haven’t seen either and other shows which I would love to see also… but I stuck with WSS to save regret… and it was fantastic! I got the ticket for $56US and got a great seat. I was so excited to be there I was sitting on the edge of my seat for the first half with this stupid grin on my face I’m sure I looked like a right idiot. The story itself is only Romeo and Juliet re-invented, and nothing original by far, but the choreography is what makes this production… it was absolutely brilliant. I have never seen movement so in sync and graceful, especially the male cast members. It was a great production and now I can say not only that I’ve seen it but that I’ve seen it on Broadway. Very cool!

Stay tuned, again, for 5th Ave, Central Park and some other favourites

New York, New York! What a fabulous city! I may have to split this entry into two, we’ll see how I go. I am only now in hindsight realizing the value of writing short notes on your activities day-by-day when you are travelling in order to jog your memory when writing your journal or blog. I packed so much into my time in the Big Apple that I’m again having trouble remembering everything. I arrived in New York late on a Sunday night after a fairly horrible and cramped flight from Rio. Trying to save a little cash I opted to take a shuttle bus to my hostel which took in all about 4 hours by the time I got picked up and the bus journeyed to the other 7 terminals at JFK and dropped us all off at our various locations. I arrived at a hostel to a line of about 8 people checking in… and my first lesson in to how slow-moving many New Yorkers are, at least those in the service/retail industry. Understaffed anyway, these guys at the best are certainly in no hurry. Eventually I got checked in by about 10.30pm and my first priority was to find some food… cheap Chinese noodles for $5 sufficed and I went promptly to bed for some rest after that. The room was comfortable enough with secure lockers, and I was lucky to have well behaved roommates mostly. I was relieved to know I wouldn’t have to repack my bags for another week so could make myself at home… i.e my belongings strewn all over the place in no particular order whatsoever… much like my bedroom at home. The next day I set out with my guidebook in hand to do some shopping and sightseeing. Not before getting an understanding of the city… I’ll be honest, for the amount of NYC based tv shows and movies i watch, i was poorly informed of the geography of this place. I had no idea what Manhattan actually was or where Brooklyn was etc… i did have a vague idea about an island but never really put it all together until i got a decent map. So in a short few minutes i learnt that Manhattan is an island that is home to all the famous stuff. Brooklyn and the Bronx are boroughs not on the island, and I’m still unsure as to where my Sex and the City characters all live. But it was all cleared up for me very quickly. So my hostel was on the upper west side, a short walk from the northern end of Central Park… and a long way from downtown.

First few days…

First stop, downtown, the location of a massive cheap electronic store in which to buy my laptop, which was exciting as I’d never owned one of my own before, and Century 21, the designer discount store to make you go crazy. I spent way too long in this shop, absolutely amazed at the amount of reduced priced designer clothing. While I was as at this end of town I visited the World Trade Centre site. There is something quite eerie about the place… despite the fact that there is not much to see but a bunch of construction works… there are tourists standing about the place taking photos but there is a sombre atmosphere present, despite the continuing hustle and bustle of the downtown daily life. A little later I wandered up to St Paul’s chapel after visiting the beautiful Trinity Church, the chapel’s sister church. I didn’t really have any expectations for the chapel, I had no idea what it was about, but as it turns out, this cute little chapel has been turned into a memorial for 9/11. For having no expectations, I was completely moved. The first thing I saw was this small alter with hundreds of small photos of those lost, surrounded by candles. There was a large offering of colourful paper cranes form survivors of Hiroshima and many other small individual memorials and gifts from various states, organizations and schools. Now can I just note here, that it’s hard for me to put into words how I feel about 9/11 and America- I feel I’ll always end up offending someone as it’s such a touchy topic. But this is a blog and thus a place for my thoughts. I have found great benefit in writing how things have appeared to me in my travels because as we who travel know, not everyone likes to listen to your stories. So a blog is a good place to say what you think. I mean no disrespect at all and hope no-one takes offense. So back to the chapel….The whole place was devoted to the memory of 9/11 and the people lost. In the past I have always felt that even though the attacks caused a great loss of life and the whole thing was a devastating attack on our western way of life, our freedom and our values… that the loss of life is actually quite small compared to that we lose each year to poverty and disease. Knowing how much we indulge in unnecessarily in our comfortable western nations, it is appalling to know how much death and destruction there is in the developing world. I feel we think of ourselves in the West more worthy of mourning than those thousands lost each year in poverty stricken and war-torn nations. This has made it hard for me to fully appreciate the losses from 9/11 and has seen me often annoyed at the ‘God-Save –America’ patriotic attitude that has developed since then. But, here, this chapel gave me a new understanding how this event effected the people of NYC and furthermore an understanding of this new patriotism, and it was a sombre moment that I’m thankful to have experienced. My opinions haven’t changed on the topic so much, i have just gained a new understanding which sees me less impatient toward the attitude once found irritating.
And so, on from the chapel I went to Wall Street, the centre of the western economic universe. It’s quite a bit smaller in size than I was expecting, I think I was thinking something the size of 5thAve or similar, but it wasn’t quite so big. But the New York Stock Exchange is a different story… now that was one huge building! Not just big… but vast, and powerful. The front façade of the building is such a great expanse of beige brick… covered almost entirely in one massive American flag, and the words New York Stock Exchange engraved on the top in big bold letters . The security preventing the public from going inside leaves an empty space in from of the place which just adds to its feel of importance. The black suits out the front are intimidating and important looking, and it’s quite a weird feeling standing outside knowing that the fate of the western world’s economy really rests in this one place of business.
As all these days are blurring into one I can’t remember my exact activities each day but I have better memories when I think of the regions of Manhattan that I visited… and The statue of Liberty was in the same area, Downtown, and I saw this in my first few days. I was wandering around downtown deciding what to do for the afternoon and saw the free ferry to Staten Island. I debated it whilst watching the some street performers down at Battery Park (who I am sure were very good and attracted a very large crowd, but took so long to get to their point that I got frustrated and left the performance), and eventually decided to get on board. The ferry took us across to Staten Island and past the Statue of Liberty along the way. It was quite an overcast day so the view was a little misty, but the Manhattan skyline was still as fabulous as they say. The Statue itself was a little far away to appreciate fully, and I had hoped to perhaps make it over there to the monument itself to take some close up photos and visit Ellis Island, but in the end I would run out of time. The ferry I was on was free so that was better than not seeing it at all, and even from a distance it was still quite cool to see. Perhaps another time though!

To be continued, this one is a long one…

And so it all comes to an end. 44 days of travelling through South America with our tour group and what a great place to end the trip. The only complaint that I have about this city is that I didn’t stay longer. I have to say that 44days of travelling with a tour group is quite exhausting, 2-3 days in each place then packing up again and on we go. Knowing what I do now, if I made an effort to learn some basic travel Spanish to a reasonable level, I would be comfortable enough backpacking with a friend through this wonderful continent. There is simply too much to see to limit yourself to an organized tour. And travelling with a large group becomes frustrating at times also, for a good many different reasons. There were many places I would have loved to have stayed longer at. Rio time was short due to no fault but my own as I didn’t know how many days I would need there. 3 was not enough! I could have spent a week in Paraty and Sao Paulo I will never go back to. But you live and learn, and this was the only option for me at the time as a fairly inexperienced traveler with no Spanish language skills, unsure of safety in this part of the world also. I think this continent gets an undeserved bad wrap from people…usually people who haven’t been there and form their opinions from the unreliable media and urban myths from travelers they haven’t actually spoken to in person. As long as you are street wise and pay attention to advice given to you, and stay out of well-know dangerous regions, you would have to be extremely unlucky for anything to happen to you. I certainly wouldn’t want to travel alone as a single female, but with one other person for company would be fine by me.
So, Rio. We stayed on our last night in an area I can’t remember the name of, but it wasn’t anywhere close to Copacabana. It was in a very nice hotel… but I will certainly be asking Tucan in my evaluation letter why this location was chosen… surely most travelers to the city want to be near the famous beaches? Since the hotel we stayed at was very expensive, most of chose to move to various hostels down near the Copacabana/Ipanema region for the rest of our stay after the tour ended. Ky and I headed to Ipanema after being advised it was a little safer than Copacabana. But, on arrival to the city, we all decided to head to Sugarloaf mountain, to take in the spectacular views of the city. Unfortunately however, the top of the mountain was covered in a cloud that had settled on comfortable and didn’t want to move the whole time we were in the city. Despite this, we took the cable car up to the top, and disappeared into a misty void. We had visibility of about 20m once at the top, we literally could not see a thing. Extremely disappointed, we headed back down to the lower level where I managed to take a few decent night panoramas of the city before descending to the bottom. The disadvantage of visiting Rio in any other time but summer is the high possibility of overcast days, cloud and rain. Of course this has only inspired me to venture back to the city another time 
So for our last night, since we had our last group meal the night before in Paraty, Ky and Claire decided to fulfill their fondue craving as they discovered a fondue restaurant in the Lonely Planet. I tagged along for fondue fun. Ky wanted to walk to the restaurant but Claire and I insisted on catching a taxi. And that was a good thing too… we drove through what seemed to be the red-light district… although perhaps just an area for badly dressed prostitutes to hang out. And by badly dressed I mean to say, in underwear and that is all… So the taxi driver dropped us off and we found this fondue place to be in fact a very fancy restaurant in the Swiss embassy. It was rather expensive so I opted to not have the fondue and went the cheap option of a sausage and sauerkraut… and a delicious sausage it was! They others ended up with a severe case of cheese belly before they managed to finish it though, so I was treated to some fondue in the end, and though I’m not a huge fondue fan…too much cheese in one go… it was quite yummy  Unable to either afford no fit in any dessert we were treated to a few complimentary Swiss chocolates by the owner, and promptly left feeling rather sick (but satisfied).
The next day we took a tour through a favela (shanty-town). We visited the largest one in the city, with a tour company who are well respected in the favela community. We took a bus to the bottom of the town which is situated on the side of a large hill. In the favela, we were informed, there are no police, as if the police venture inside, they will be shot by the drug dealers… so, anyway, they thoroughly check all cars and people exiting at the gates at the bottom for drugs, even mum’s with kids in prams. Everyone. And then we were warned to only get our cameras out when told it was okay cos the drug dealers get very angry if we take photos and they are around. So suitably a little nervous, we then hopped on motorbikes with the local (male) drivers who were keen to carry the girls but not the boys, and who insisted on us holding on VERY tight for our safety of course. .. but told the boys to hold on to the sides of the bike only. No helmets of course, we darted in and out of traffic up the hill side to the top. Here we got some more history of the place and what it’s like to live there, and then we spent a good few hours walking down through the filthy and littered but so very eye-opening narrow alleys of the favela to the bottom. We stopped at a bakery on the way to eat some delicious cakes, at a local art studio for local kids who produce some fantastic street style artwork. The favela alley walls are covered in vibrant and visually fantastic graffiti/street art. Some of these graffiti artists are very talented and workout of this art studio which sells their work to tourists, which provides them with not only a distraction from the violence and drugs on the streets but also with an income. I had to buy something here as I was quite inspired by it all, and the works were fantastic. 50reales didn’t seem like a lot to pay for this great cause. So we walked on further down and stopped by the day-care centre that the same tour company run. We met some of the gorgeous wide-eyed kids who were just about to take their afternoon nap. This centre was an initiative by Be-a-Local in order to ensure that infants and children weren’t being left at home with their 12-year old siblings while parents go to earn some income, by whatever means that is. This way the older kids can also go to school… it all works to help the favela community, and be-a-local are well respected for it. They are well know by the drug-dealers who have such a powerful presence in the place, but receive no trouble from them due to their good doings. By the time we finished our walk down the favela I had been exposed to a level of poverty that I have not witnessed in my life. As far as shanty-towns go, this one is clearly quite luxurious compared to those in countries such as India for example… they have solid walls around them and running water and electricity. But regardless, this is still a severe level of poverty, and a stark contrast to the lives of us western tourists. Coming from the privileged middle class background that I do, this was certainly a heart rendering experience that I am extremely thankful for, and that has certainly added to my desire to one day do some volunteer nursing in a less fortunate community such as this.
After this tour we then ventured across town to our new quarters in Ipanema… and thus began my hostel living life. We did attempt to visit Christ the Redeemer in the afternoon, but on arriving at the ticket office we were met with a video screen showing the view from the top… again another sight covered in cloud. So we decided to leave it for the next day and hope for clearer weather. The rest of the day we spent doing some serious shopping.. including the swimsuit stores from which I left feeling like my arse was enormous, no thanks to the very revealing ,not quite g-string but near enough, bikini bottoms. We found a havaiana store that rivaled any we had seen so far, and I spent about 40 mins in there fighting with the crowds and searching for the right sizes and colours (well, Ky did while I perched my bottom on a seat for a nice rest). That night was went to the local Irish pub where it turned out to be 2-4-1 for the first 45 mins we were there. Big mistake… 4 very strong cocktails later I was smashed and while some of the others went off samba dancing in Lapa with the locals (and had a fantastic night I hear, until Suzie’s camera and wallet got stolen, along with all her un-backed-up photos), all I could do was venture to the hostel to bed. I was shattered I missed out on the rest of that night, but again, it just gives me a reason to return! And I shall endeavor to improve my dance moves first!
The next day we returned to visit Christ the Redeemer… This magnificent statue stands atop a mountain in the city of Rio with his arms spread wide and open… it’s quite a sight to see in person. My first sight of this great monument was in the ’97 movie Romeo and Juliet in the opening scene… although I thought it looked cool, I had no idea where it was or of its significance, as a 13-year old Leo-loving teen I didn’t really care so much for the scenery in this movie as much as I did for the main character. But now I have had the opportunity to see it myself, it really takes your breath away. With his arms open he watches over the city and it is like he is blessing all its people and visitors at once. I am not a religious person let alone a catholic, but I challenge anyone to not find this Statue of Christ totally breathtaking. The weather on our visit was not great… when we arrived at the top it was still covered in cloud, and our view of the city was poor, though we could see the statue fine. After half an hour or so though, the cloud parted a little and the city could be seen through a slight haze. Again, another reason to return in the good weather!
For the few remaining hours in the day, for headed to Ipanema beach (didn’t have time to make it to Copacabana…next time!!) and what a short but great hour it was! Enjoying the juice of a coconut, from a coconut, I lay there and watched the tanned and beautiful bodies of Rio bask in the sun… volleyball played like soccer was a game enjoyed by many men, all in tight black speedo shorts… a sight rarely witnessed in Australia! And the women, bless them, embrace their curvy figures and wear the skimpiest bikinis I have ever bared witness to! It is quite liberating being surrounded by a nation of people who appreciate all shapes and sizes and flaunt whatever they have, big or small, with pride. It helps that they all have a lovely natural tan however.. we mightn’t have felt fat but we certainly felt pale!!
Unfortunately we had only an hour to spare at the beach as that night we were all heading off to see a football game Brazilian style! Now this was a wicked experience! Flamengo were playing, whose thousands of followers are a rough and tough but passionate crowd. Their drumming and chanting and singing and dancing provided all the entertainment as the game was not so exciting, and the few goals the team kicked made for an exciting few moments of crowd enthusiasm, and the drums banged louder and the dancing grew more vigorous. The red and black team colours surrounded us in the stadium, and we had a great night immersed in Brazilian football culture. This was our last night in Rio and I was leaving the city at 3am for a 6am flight. I was going to attempt to stay up, but the group was in less of a party mood than the previous night, so we settles for a lovely Japanese meal, and said some sad farewells to some new great friends.
I have to say this trip was so so fabulous… the great South American continent with its vastly different cultures cannot be explored in only 6 weeks and I have every intention of returning to visit. To see Argentina and Chile in the south is my greatest desire, and the Spanish language is a beautiful tongue that I hope to grasp the basics of before my next trip. Rio de Janeiro now holds a special place in my heart, and I intend to return to see Carnival next time, and hope that I have some single girlfriends to accompany me when the time comes, for some serious samba fun. I very nearly cried that I had to leave so soon! I was only comforted by my excitement to arrive in New York, one more of the world’s great city to explore, this time with a whole week to enjoy the sights and shopping.
So, adios to South America and until my return … much love xoxo

The next day we ventured out to the Brazilian side of Iguaçu falls. Iguaçu falls are 275 on the border of Brazil and Argentina. We spent a day on the Brazilian side and a day on the Argentinean side. The first day we went to a bird park on the way and had some more encounters with some crazy birds with big beaks… macaws and some rather feisty toucans who started pecking at ankles, though not mine this time. Poor Suzie’s scream were heard from the other side of the park. Yet somehow it was us that got the nasty looks from the bird-zoo-keeper. We had been waiting to see some Toucans up close on this trip, and even though it was in the end in a park, it was still pretty cool! They really do have massive beaks. Saw some other exotic birds like vultures, condors, eagles and cassowaries. Finished up with a python around my neck which lasted about 2 minutes until I’d decided I didn’t quite like the idea of having a 2 meter long reptile with fangs so close to my airway, and I promptly handed it back to the keeper. From here me and a few others went and did some high-school/girl guide style high ropes course for a bit of fun, but fun as it was, not worth much mention in this blog. So from here we walked down through a park to see the falls. The closer we got the more spectacular they were, but even from the beginning they were pretty mind-blowing. Thanks to the miserable weather we had had the previous 2 days (which was cursed at the time), the falls were full to the brim with water, making for some incredible volume falling over the edge. At this point it was hard to imagine what the next day would be like, as the Argentinean side has the reputation for being far better than the Brazilian side. So we took a few happy snaps and finished up at the top of the falls and then drove to take a helicopter flight over the top. I had not planned on doing this- it was quite expensive. But a spur of the moment decision and I was on board. Having never been on a helicopter flight before, this was a novelty in itself. While it was only 15mins, the view of the falls from the air is something I will never forget, and as with the whole of the Falls experience, something that is quite difficult to put into words.
That night the heavens opened and poured down on us rain that I have not seen anything like in a very long time. I was willing it to travel to Melbourne as I’m sure it would have filled the dams to 99% overnight. We attempted to find a close and nice restaurant this night as a small group of us has grown very sick of the buffet style meals in the atmosphere empty and halogen lit dinner hall style restaurants we had been so used to. This style of dining just seas our meals take on somewhat of a functional role- it had been a long time since any of us had actually enjoyed our meals and appreciated them for what they are. So we braved the pouring rain to find a more intimate eatery with an a la carte menu to peruse. We did find a place- right next to our hotel, and this was the nicest meal I had on this trip, a delicious (still huge- still yet to get a small portion in this country) piece of chorizo beef steak cooked to perfection, and enjoyed great conversation and several glasses of very nice Chilean Carmenere. Must say a big thank-you to the singletons Fi, Suz, Ky and Philla, for a great night.
The next day was a trip to the Argentinean side of the falls, which rather than viewing them from the other side, you are right up close and on top of them. We started the day with a rather pointless and over-priced truck ride through the jungle and speedboat trip up the river toward the falls. While this part I could have lived without (a lesson learned in not necessarily doing what your tour-leader suggests), the next installment of water activity was awesome! The speedboat then took us underneath the falls. Now as I have already mentioned, it is difficult to put into words the sheer magnitude of these falls and the volume of water flowing over the top. But riding down that river and seeing them come up in the distance was quite nerve racking, and then taking off straight into them after pausing for a while was scary… but exhilarating at the same time! Needless to say we got drenched from head to toe and right to our undies. I attempted to look up into the water but it goes straight in your eyes and it’s kinda hard to keep them open! I tell you, you would not want to fall out of one those speedboats…
So suitable drenched we offloaded onto the shore and took a walk up to the top of the falls. We were met by a family of some sort of animal which I forget the name of, something like a raccoon or an ant-eater, who were intent on stealing everyone’s food. Scrunch your plastic bag and they come running. One poor woman had her bag attacked by them in one almighty assault and was left with only a few crumbs and a wrecked bag. Stupid tourist that feed them don’t help this issue any more either.
Moving on, we then walked across the top of the falls and ended up at the Devils Throat which is where the calm river spills into this mighty great hole. It’s a u-shaped fall about 82m high, 150 wide and about 700m long. It is here that the volume of water is truly the most amazing. I believe the normal flow of water in these falls is about 350 to 400 000 gallons/sec, although this varies according to drought etc. I could have stood here at this point watching this water spill over for hours and hours and not tired of it. But eventually we left the park and I have to say that this was one of my top moments on this trip. I wish you could all imagine what I saw because it is so hard to describe. I hope that you get the chance to see this magnificent wonder one day for yourselves. We were in fact very lucky to have seen it when we did as the previous days rain made it much more spectacular than it might have otherwise been.
That night after returning we caught an overnight bus to Curitiba, one of the nicer big cities we visited on the trip. The bus trip was another mostly sleepless night although much more comfortable than the train in Bolivia, and thankfully a much warmer climate. Did a bit if shopping in Curitiba and felt like a queen in some new shorts and t-shirts! But this was a short stop and we didn’t do much else, and so it’s not worthy of any more blog space. Actually I’m not even sure I even have any photos of this city, which is quite strange for me. So next we travelled again on a long bus trip to Sao Paulo, which is where I sign off for a new post. Ciao!!

Anyway, moving on. So from Corumba we took a 2 night excusion to the Pantanal wetlands, the biggest wetlands in the world, half the size of France (everything big in size geographically on this trip seems to have been referred to as half the size of France), and home to thousands of different species of animals and birds. Unfortunately, being the dry season and in the middle of a bad drought, the wetlands were not so wet. Actually, we didn’t see any water at all except for a few puddles they called lakes, and the Rio de Paraguay river. It was a dissapointment for me as I was quite looking forward to it. Our one full day there consisted of a horse ride (i hate horses and mine was slllooooow and stubborn) and a long walk in the burning sun through a fairly uninteresting paddock. We saw a few caiman alligators, an otter attmempting to swim in the ‘lake’ and the world’s largest rodent, the Capybare, who looks something somewhere between a wombat and a giant hampster and weighs approx 50kg. Somehow, the caiman and these giant hampsters live harmoniously together in the jungle and wetlands. Unfortunately this was basically all the wildlife we saw, apart from thousands of pesky mozzies. On a boat trip down the rio de paraguay we did get quite close to the hundreds of caiman lying low in the banks of the river, and watching Kylie jump from one side of the boat to the other shrieking every time she spotted one was the most entertaining part of the 2 days haha! Actually Kylie’s shrieking reminds me, we also went fishing in the river on the first night, for piranahs. I caught one quite quickly, it wasn’t too difficult and I am no fisherwoman. Ky caught one after me and i think nearly frightened off most of the rest in the water with her squeals when she bought the line in! And man do those little fishies have some sharp teeth… but ours were sharper cos we ate them for dinner instead of the other way around hehe. Not too bad tasting but all in all, after even trying a termite, my jungle tucker experiences so far have me hoping i never get lost in the Amazon as Piranahs and termites aren’t quite the same as grans’s roast dinner or mum’s lamb racks (insert smily face here s my keyboard wont).

So on from the Pantanal desert, we went to Beautiful Bonito, a small touristy town with some really tacky tourist shops, the best self service ice cream shop in the world, and some more havaianas. We were here for 3 nights which was a luxury. We spent the first full day down at the riverside park attempting to have a bbq which we were all excited for… but the bbq facilities left quite a lot to be desired for and the meat took 3 hours to cook. But in the mean time we were provided with some local entertainment by the resident Macaw parrots, who looked pretty and colourful and affectionate at first… but turned out to be aggressive territorial attackers. They for some reason the took a dislike to us and started chasing us around the park. Then they took up residence outside the loos. anyone that attempted to go in had the ankles bitten at, and anyone who managed to successfully sneak into the loos was met by the birds as they snuck under the cubicle doors and held them hostage. One poor woman was stuck in there for 20 mins until we finally heard her scream cos she was being bitten. I also got pecked at, whilst minding my own buisiness by the picnic table. all of a sudden PECK, on my big toe. Just a bit of afternoon entertainment hehe. Needless to say, we’ve all been a little wary of Macaws and other birds with large beaks since!

Second day in Bonito was spent at its main attraction, the Rio de Prata, a beautiful crystal clear river on a private property, which we spent 2 hours snokelling down. It was a magnificent place, the water was increadible, and the fish were plentiful. Although the brief mention of caiman in the area by the guide sent Kylie into shrieks again haha.We were dressed in 5mm thick wetcuits to keep us buoyant to avoid touching the floor and disturbing the bottom of the river. As a protected area they are very eco-friendly with the whole thing. The river was very shallow in parts and floating over rocks was quite nerve racking at first as the current is quite quick. We finished with another lovely lunch.. the buffets here are getting quite ridiculous, as divine as the food is, i can’t keep eating this much! buffets for breakfast, buffets for dinner.. it’s a recipe for bad indigestion and undone top buttons. It’s funny watching people sneakily undo the belts a notch after their 3rd helping.

We left Bonito the next day after a night out with a few too many capiroskas consumed and memories of being harassed by suspiciously young Brazilian boys with braces and pimples, whose only grasp of the english language was the well rehearsed “What’s your name’ ‘How old are you’ and ‘please I want to marriage you baby’. A few headaches felt by many the next day but at least our bus didn’t leave until 1pm.

So onto the border town of Pontapora on sunday which equals nothing exciting in this continent no matter where you are, as nothing is open. The next day we then crossed into Paraguay, into the capital Asuncion which is supposed to be great for cheap electronics as it’s a duty free country… but they just jack the prices up more and nothing is cheaper. They tried to sell us an 8gb usb for $US60. hmm. no thanks, amigo. so our hopes to go crazy shopping were dashed. And other than this, there’s not a lot to do in this city, and it was damn hot and muggy. We did meet a local out and had a few of us had a random adventured out to a local bar, which was dead cos it was a tuesday, but Midnight Oil and ACDC were playing on the video, so it was okay! Our new friend Carly(male) kept showing us his devotion to Aussie music by singing along and somehow we consumed about 12L of Heinekin between the 5 of us. Which made for a very uncomfortable bus trip the next day!

And so we left Asuncion and returned to Brazil… next stop Iguazu, home to the famous waterfalls, and this deserves an entry in itself and I’m running out of net time, again, so I will leave Brazil here for now. So far, so great… Brazil is awsome… the steak is super tasty, the capiroskas refreshing, and the men are good looking. What more can you want?!

Uyuni is a town on the edge of the massive Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt lake in the world. We had an overnight 4WD excursion onto the lake the next day whish was entertaining to say the leat. First stop of the day was at a train graveyard… can´t quite remember the history of the train but it was quite a massive wreckage in the midle of nowhere, kind of spoilt by graffiti but quite impressive none the less. I believe it´s the oldest train in Bolivia but that doesn´t mean a lot to me! Anyway… onto the salt flats in our “4WDs“. Stopped to see some salt production… not so extraordiary a thing when all you can see around you in all directions for miles is salt! their ´cultivation´of it is quite primitive, sells very cheaply and they don´t export it out of bolivia. We had a bit of fun taking photos on the flats as the complete non-existance of perspective makes for some funny pics. Touristy as all hell but still… fun times had by all and i have the token photo of me standing on a Sprite bottle to prove it. Further travel on and we were completely surrounded by this huge of expanse of snow white salt with hexagonal crusty formations on the surface. We travelled on to stay at a hotel made of salt. Quite basic, no heating, but again, they make very warm blankets at this altitude! The next morning the fun began, and hence started our lesson in Bolivian safety standards.

Told we had to rise at 6.30am to witness the MOST spectacular sunrise, we ventured out in our 4wds through the muddy section of these flats. 2 vehicles, the one i wasn´t in got bogged, but managed to get itself out quite quickly. Then we got bogged. Our driver then engaged us into 4wd mode… yes, after getting us bogged, not before. An hour passed in which we couldn´t have given a rats about the damned sunrise cos our feet were slowly freezing. The 3 drivers had all the men pushing the car, pulling it… it was quite a ridiculous spectacle, 3 drivers standing there bent over staring at the wheels clearly wondering WTF?? They had NO idea. The car was clearly no longer a 4wd, manufactured some time in the 80s. the wheels were getting deeper in the mud… and of course, no radios, tow ropes or any other equipment. Drivers didn´t speak any english either… Of course, we still have this perfectly drivable vehicle 100m away which we could have driven back to get help. but they wouldn´t have a bar of that. so a group of us made our way back to it for some warmth. But then no longer than 5 seconds after JP was in the car had he revved up the engine and said he was driving it back to the hotel to get assistance since the drivers had no intention of doing anything other than staring at the car dumbfounded. so in we piled and off we went in our stolen vehicle. Hats off to Jp for driving the car better than our drivers although we did skid off the path momentarily. On arriving back at the hotel we woke our tour leader Mirielle to break the news that we had stolen the car and the story behind it and all she could say was´guys i can´t believe you stole a car´ haha. Anyway, a whole lot of cuffuffle later and with our excursion cook yelling abuse at us in spanish (no hablo espagnol sorry amiga!) we sat and waited and watched about 5 different cars make their way out, including an old chevvy who actually seemed to do better than any of the other cars our there! i think another 2 got stuck along the way but evetually about an hour later all were back to our salty haven for breakfast after that truely SPECTACULAR sunrise

The day followed with a trip out to an island covered in some wacky cacti, one about 9m tall, and fossilised coral. Soem more 4wd excaped around the flats to see some flamingoes and and some bubbling water holes (stone cold freezing water though, when you could be excused for thinking they were hot springs at first sight). Being the dry season we didn´t see any of the lake covered in water at all, just hard compacted salt contrasted with a cloudless, deep blue sky. an amazing place which did not disappoint, one i had been really looking forward to after seeing spectacular photos from various friends who had been there before me.

From Uyuni we toured on to Potosi, an old town famous for its silver mine which now only mines tin since the silver is all gone. The group took a tour through the mine while there, but I at this point got struck down with a horrible case of Bolivia belly and didn´t get out of bed for 36 hours. Never have i ever experienced such hideous stomach pains in my life and i reckon i lost about 5 kg in that time. Luckily i came prepared with some industrial strength anitbiotics which fixed me up in a few days. But, Potosi was wiped off the itineray for me, don´t even have a single photo of th eplace. I was told the mine was an awful place, the conditions were horrific and they were warned not to touch the walls cos they were made of asbestos…hmm. Love those bolivian safety standards.

So, feeling a bit better and onto Sucre, the capital of Bolivia. a Lovely city of whitewashed buildings and not dirty and polluted like many of the Latin American cities seen so far. Had a few days to recuperate here, didn´t do a whole lot, but ate a whole lot after regaining my apetite in a big way after 2 days of no food. Took a trip out to see an archeological site, the 2nd biggest dinosaur site in the world, 68mill years old i think? What we saw there was a cross section of the mountain side that had been discovered during concrete excavation, to have a large number of perfectly preserved dinoasaur tracks, some going on for 300m. Quite impressive, although we couldn´t get close. Out trip up there was through the arse end of Sucre, past a whole lot of shops dealing car parts… bumpers, tail lights, tyres, steering wheels, dashboards. Our bus up there was a hilarious DIY job, a welders dream, made of sheets of steel welded together around probably a lawn mowers engine for all we knew, with secretary chairs for seats, welded to the floor, made to look glamorous with crushed velvet covers that kept falling off, and tarpaulin for a roof. They used stones behind the wheels for brakes when picking us up, and used a jack under the ´door´to keep the ´bus´ level when we stepped up onto it. What was that I was saying about safety standards?

So a few lasagnes and steaks and massive bowls of chips and huge bowls of muesli later i was 100% better and on track for Brazil. Sucre was lovely, a lot of beggars however, and the kids outside our hotel fast learnt to expect only high fives from us when they held their hands out. This was our last real stop in the lovely Bolivia, from here we flew to Santa Cruz, stayed a night and left early the next day for Brazil , first on a flight (more shoddy security… not a single bag scanner to be seen at Santa Cruz airport, and no manual checking of bags. No safety demonstration on the plane either…) then taxis over the border to Corumba. We had to bribe the border control to leave the country. Just for one last Bolivian fun time before finally leaving! We had an ágent´to make it easier apparently, who took our passports with 15bolvianos stashed in each of them, in a pile to the guard while we wandered across with no worries. No actually checking of the passport with the person. To this day none of us are sure why we needed an ágent´or needed to bribe them. but anyway. As I have learnt to say, It´s Bolivia, ask no questions… just do it!