So after the delights of chocolate and horse riding in Bariloche we headed back over the border to Chile - think we have now done the crossing between Argentina & Chile 5 times in the last three weeks - our passports are practically full with stamps and they must think we are up to something dodgy!

Yet another week in the Lake District.....sounds so bad to say it but by now we were well and truly over beautiful mountains and volcano's.....however I guess it could have been worse (i.e. work!) so we filled the days with a couple of lake trips.



A highly amusing incident on one of these trips - whilst having coffee, Bec realised that a wasp had flown up one of the legs of her linen trousers, as she struggled it flew higher and so the only way to remove it was to drop her trousers in the corner of the thankfully deserted restaurant. However......

...in walks the waiter at the very moment she had her trousers round her ankles....he was so embarrassed and god only knows what he thought we were up to! Fair play he recovered his composure to get some vinegar for the sting...but we soon high tailed it out of there as he was recalling the story to his colleagues on the reception desk!!!

Giving that embarrassment the only thing to do was to head away from Puerto Varas before the story was printed in the local paper and go to the island of Chiloe just half an hour by boat from mainland Chile. Such a contrast to the mainland...with beautiful old wooden churches and seafood by the bucket load.



Literally three days spent gorging ourselves on the biggest mussels you have ever seen, salmon, hake, clams etc....and Bec was not ill - what a miracle! Managed to take a trip to one of the penguin colonies on the island and unfortunately also watch Man Utd get dumped out of the FA Cup by Portsmouth - not a good day.



Before long it was time for our long awaited boat trip. Basically 1,000km cruising through the fjords of Chile, south almost to the Cape Horn at the very bottom of the continent. The Lonely Planet had made a lot of how bad the trip can be at times...with often rough seas etc.....and to quote "It`s not a cruise" hence we were a little apprehensive as we went to check in on Monday.

However, in true Bec and Iain style there was no need to worry...we had of course booked ourselves into the AAA cabins so at least Bec had a private bathroom to go to if she was seasick. We were slightly embarrassed as the handful of people in the AAA cabins were called to board first in the crowded waiting area....during our private tour of the boat before other people boarded we found out that we didn`t have to queue up with our trays to eat in the canteen but instead dined in the Captains private dining room with free flowing wine and waiter service...and as it turned out actually got a different menu!!!! Hilarious and meant we had to sneak back to our rooms and lie when we chatted to the other backpackers.





Also we were really lucky with calm seas so the trip turned out to be absolutely fantastic....four days of amazing scenery, dolphins, seals and a side trip to the largest glacier in South America at sunset which was truely stunning.





Well that was other from the 12 hours one night on the open Pacific ocean where Bec was able to chalk up vomit numbers 7 & 8! Thank god for the private bathroom!!!!! Shame that night was also her favourite dinner of Spaghetti Bolognaise.......



And so we arrived into Puerto Natalas on Thur afternoon...dry land and some welcome and fantastic pizza that night.



This afternoon we have arranged a tour of the nearby penguin colony before starting a 7 day organised tour on Sunday....walking and camping in the National Park, more glaciers and another border crossing to Argentina.....

Hope you are all well. Back home in just over two weeks...scary!

Love Bec and Iain.

Well we promised that it would not be ages before we put another story on here. Another two weeks down and we are now into March - scary how time is flying by and only 4 weeks left before we fly home.....flat broke!

After leaving Santiago for the final time on the 20th we headed South through Chile to the town of Pucon. Apparently the place where well to do Chileans head for their summer vacation...and also the site of an active volcano.



It was absolutely heaving with South American holiday makers...though thankfully the weather continued to be kind to us and with temps into the 30`s we managed to grab some time on the beach.

Iain couldn`t take the beach for too long (try 5 mins!) and decided to go off for the day to climb the Volcano, leaving me behind for some peace and quiet on the beach.

(Iain) And so armed with an attractive hard hat, crampons and ice axe I headed off on Sunday morning at 6am for the 5 hour climb to the sumitt with a group of 8 other foreigners and 3 guides.



There was some pretty stunning views as we picked our way slowly over the glacier to the top - where to be fair I had expected some amazing lava spurting sight but had to be content with a massive crater which was smoking continuously.



The best bit of the day had to be the descent, as we sat on the plastic rescue spades and tobogganed down the glacier using the ice axes as brakes (or not in my case!) - really great fun and meant we got down the mountain in about 2 hours!



Bec meanwhile had managed to survive the day......speaking Spanish twice in the internet cafe and buying lunch in the supermarket....but had managed to get lost on the way to the beach! Had also been given a minor scare during the day as the town`s volcano eruption warning siren had gone off without any explanation (given it was Sunday we think it must have been a test).

Then it was back into Argentina - to the lake resort of San Martin de Los Andes, which was advertised as a mini Switzerland...sorry Austria (Uli). Spent one day relaxing on the lake....



before we moved onto Bariloche - where we are writing this from.



Yesterday we headed off horseriding and I (Bec) managed to get my own back on Iain for last few months (years!). After Iain`s pep talk about "not being scared first time on a horse...and all you have to do is be confident", I sailed off like I had riden all my life into the National Park with Iain being shouted at by the instructor and the people behind him for going so slowly.



All you guys can imagine the look on his face...and the look on mine (and laughter) as I kept turning round to see him kicking the horse to move but not actually going anywhere. He is now blaming the horse! However I think this is just a case of a bad workman blaming his tools.



We actually had a great time....an amazing ride through the mountains followed by a typical Argentinian BBQ with enough meat to feed a small army.

Hope everyone is doing well back home. We are off back across the mountains to Chile tomorrow before our boat cruise in a weeks time. Love Bec and Iain.

We can´t quite believe its the 21st of Feb already and we have not posted a single thing on this site for about three weeks. Excuses - well really only that we have been having lots of fun, Bolivia was impossible to do anything and actually writing one of these stories and uploading the photos we have now realised takes ages! Anyway - apologies and hopefully the next installment will not be three weeks away.

Departing Peru and Bolivia

Having well and truely done Inca Ruins to death in Cusco we headed off to the town of Puno on the shore of Lake Titicaca - the highest navigable lake in the world according to the Lonely Planet and our base for a couple of days before heading into Bolivia.

The thing to do here is to visit the Uros floating islands - basically a community living on floating reed islands. Really quaint, including a trip on a straw boat, but it`s only when you realise that whilst their house might be made out of reeds, the satelite dish and TV tucked round the side gives away how touristy it has become.



From there we headed further into the lake to Taquille Island, for some lunch, to see another communities way of life and another Bec moment.

We have been having a competition through South America. The vomit count. As we write this I won´t tell you what we are up to, but lets just say that Bec had number three on the island, as we walked, sneakily by the side of the path, which some of the local animals decided would be great lunch!!! Some kids took a liking to Bec as we walked back to the boat - really they just wanted to be in the photo to get paid......



That night we witnessed a South American festival - quite tame really....lots of dancing and singing in the streets, and people letting off fireworks, using a cigarette and launching them from their bare hands.....crazy......we headed to the hotel for cover (it wouldn´t be the last time!).

And so onwards the next day to La Paz - another nightmare bus journey in true Peru style. A 7am bus left at 12pm and broke down within 5 minutes! Arriving into La Paz at 9pm we headed straight to the flat we had booked only to find the street in total darkness, the place shut up and not a sole around.....and it started to rain!!!! First stop - a 5 star hotel (these were Bolivian stars mind you).

Would love to say beautiful things about our first three days in La Paz - but to be truthful we spent them pretty much locked up inside the hotel. Yes it was festival time again - this time a three day festival - which basically involved locals parading the streets with water bombs, water guns, spay foam etc etc. It was literally a war zone and with every tourist at the top of the hit list it was not somewhere to spend lazily wandering the streets. On a venture out on day three I lost it when two five year olds, egged on by vicious parents, persuaded their evil children to cross the busy road and spray me with everything they had - I retaliated but definitely came off worse.



Thank god for the free internet at the hotel - so three days spent surfing and starting the wedding preparations. Not sure what was worse.......colour schemes, invitation styles, cakes or what would have happened had we braved the outdoors.

Overall Bolivia is a tough place to negotiate, trying to book a salt lake tour was a nightmare....with prices ranging from US$100 to US$800 for what appeared the same trip.....not even the tried and tested solution of throwing money at the situation would work. Take waiting for train tickets....went in, took a number, sat there for half an hour with 30 other people....nothing. When a fellow traveller finally got someone to come to the counter it transpired you couldn´t book tickets for the Friday train until Thursday....."what is everyone else buying?" she asked (given that the only train was Friday!) - god knows......

Some good things about Bolivia........

The festival ended! So we went on a walking tour with La Paz on foot, a truely informative walk from the slums of El Alto to the heart of the city where we learned a huge amount about Bolivian culture, politics and food....



That night, our last before heading to the salt lakes, we went to the minatures market - basically a tradition once a year in Bolivia is to buy in minature what you wish to buy / get in the coming year - and we mean everything from minature houses, buses, degrees, plane tickets, shops etc. You could even stop and get married.....after all the wedding planning this was seriously considered as a cheaper option!



Chris you´ll be pleased to know we opted for the minature wad of Euro notes (a Million) so hopefully the tab will stop growing! And so a bus and train journey later we headed to the South of Bolivia to Uyuni to visit the salt lakes.

We had opted (as usual) for the private tour, and it was with relief when we were met off the train at 10pm by our guide, 4x4 vehicle and driver for the 200m transfer (yes that´s metres!) to our hotel. Oh well - you get what you pay for!

You have to realise that our options here were limited. Squash with 6 other travellers into an old 4x4 for three days, with a Spanish speaking guide (we can now order beer, buy bus tickets and ask where the toilet is but not much else) staying in basic (and this puts this meaning to a whole new level) accomodation where sleeping bags were a necessity, otherwise you freeze to death and eat food which will more than likely make you sick. With the vomit count at Bec 4 - Iain 0, Bec persuaded me we had only one option (nor did we have a sleeping bag!!!).

And so the next morning we set off for our three day salt lake tour, in the comfort of our modern 4x4, with ample supplies of water, coke etc.....This being wet season, limited the distance we could drive across the flats but I don`t think the photos do it justice....truely amazing.







The trip was spent, visiting salt hotels (made entirely out of salt) where I brushed up on my pool skills, geysers and volcanic areas (that in New Zealand we were fenced off from....but not in Bolivia!)....



...and staying in pretty good accomodations considering these were remote communities.



On our final day, literally a days drive from anywhere, we picked up a flat tyre.....



....which thankfully was changed pretty quickly, and we stopped on route to the Bolivia / Chile border to relax in some hot springs and to admire the pink flamingos.





Not sure this border control would have stopped anything.....



...however they had just enough ink for half an exit stamp, our Chilian transfer somehow turned up on time, and before long we were travelling on tarmac roads to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile (seriously after three bumpy days off-road it was amazing to experience the sensation of tarmac under wheels again as we crossed into Chile - and a good example of this differences between these two countries....given the tarmac stops a short distance from the border....probably so the Bolivians don`t steal it!).

I know....I know this is turning into a bit of an epic....sorry for those of you that started reading this when you got into work this morning and its already lunchtime!

Northern Chile

We spent a couple of really enjoyable days in San Pedro de Atacama in Northern Chile. After the first panic of arriving and having nowhere to stay...and realising that this was peak season in Chile (Peru and Bolivia had been low season.....in fact its always low season in Bolivia!) and most places were full, we promised ourselves that from now on we would be more organised and pre-book some of our Chile accomodation to avoid the stress...and having to stay in a hostel!

San Pedro didn`t have a cash machine, or in fact it did but they were broken and you had to wade through a small mountain of white receipt slips to even work that out, so we headed to nearby Calama to stock up on cash, a book a plane ticket to Santiago. Here again we had two options - a three hour flight or 24 hour bus journey....this was not a difficult decision to make!

Rushing back to San Pedro (with Bec moaning that I was trying to fit too much in) we just made the evening tour of the Moon Valley for sunset - another spectacular landscape and sunset was stunning.





And so about a week ago we flew to Santiago, with a slight hic-up when our transfer didn`t materialise at the airport, but it was good to be back into familar surroundings. Even better was being able to catch Man Utd thrash Arsenal in the FA Cup - after three years in Australia have been missing my football and the opportunity to rub Carter`s nose in it in the flesh - telephone and e-mail will have to do for now mate....

Sunday we went across into Argentina to Mendoza for a couple of days to do some wine tasting. Much more our style to spend the day quaffing wine, with gourmet food and atmosphere. A much better experience than Australia or New Zealand, where you get a thimble full of wine during tasting and pretty impersonal service. The Mendoza wineries, give you a private tour of the facility including the cellars, and then sit you down in front of about 8 full glasses of different wine, accompanied with cheese, olives etc for some proper tasting. Quality - although trying to cycle back after that made sticking to the right hand side of the road a tad difficult. Am already planning a delivery of crates of red wine back to the UK......for our first housewarming party.





Speaking of deliveries......news that our belongings have made it back to the UK filtered through today.....panic over....lets just hope its all in one piece and they don`t deliver it this weekend!

And that is about it for this edition. The vomit count is now at Bec 6 - Iain 0 (sounds like an Man Utd v Arsenal score), the Pizza count (10 I think), we have spent about 42 hours in total on buses (41 of which were due to them being late), 1 night in a hostel and about 4 days writing this story....over and out.

One final bit - congrats to Winky on the engagement....ABOUT TIME!!!! Lots of love - Iain and Bec.

Sorry this has taken such a long time to publish - it took a while to find a computer that would upload photos faster than one day at a time!!!!!

Buenos Dias. And so we hit South America........gone the luxury hotels, vineyard lunches, rental car and english speaking sanctuary.......

And so with 12 crash course hours of reading a Spanish phrase book on the plane between Auckland and Santiago we landed in Chile ready to handle anything that could be thrown at us.....or so we thought!

Our first three days were spent in Santiago, the capital of Chile, staying at a lovely hotel in the cobblestone streets of the Plaza Paris Londres. Bec struck gold with the find of the hotel which was so much cheaper than any of the others we had been looking at (and despite giving us a sleepless night on the plane - fearing we would be staying in some shack) but ended up being more than adequate. Our dinner on the second night was amusing - ordering from a Spanish menu I thought we had ordered chorizo and mashed potato and steak - indeed we got the steak but the Chorizo turned out to be a plate of breaded fish. Bec was highly amused that my Spanish had let us down (the phrase book was useless) until it transpired that her menu finger pointing had actually selected the dish above the one we actually wanted!! However the food was really good and 2 nights down no sickness encountered - surely this was too good to be true! In the hour and half we were at the restaurant, two couples sat down and then abruptly left when they realised the menu was in Spanish and we could have rented our Spanish phrasebook out to numerous couples...

Santiago overall was a bit of a let down - one day spent wandering, another on an open top tour bus going round the wider city and some brief stints in museums, churches and up a mightily steep furnicular railway with Bec´s eyes closed grimly hanging on for dear life.



Sunday was our first real day of travelling - a flight from Santiago to Arica in the North, followed by a taxi across the border into Peru and then a bus journey from Tacna to Arequipa where we were to stay for a couple of days. Everything actually went pretty well and with me boldly telling Bec that this would be the ¨worst day of travelling by far¨ we breathed a sigh of relief as we settled again into a nice hotel. The monastary in Arequipa was amasing and all up I think we managed to spend an entire afternoon there with a private guide (and me taking about 150 photos - Uli you´ll remember that!).



We had decided to not go white water rafting the day after (given it was winter and the rivers were running high - coupled with the warnings in the Lonely Planet and the conflicting stories from the tour agencies on the ground - one saying yes ¨we go rafting tomorrow¨, the one next door laughing at us and saying¨too dangerous¨). Instead we decided to head to Cusco a day earlier, avoiding an overnight bus (thus considerably reducing our chances of a robbery, rape, hijack etc.....) in order to acclimatise before the Inca Trail.

Given the bus was to take 10-12 hours Bec decided she wanted some local food that night that would carry her over through the long journey the next day. Marinated fish in lemon turned out to be exactly that - raw marinated fish in lemon and whilst it was actually really nice I couldn´t help wondering as we walked home and I felt that trade mark gurgle in the pit of my stomach that maybe Pizza would have been a safer option!

Lets just say the bus turned up 4 hours late, then took 12 hours and we ended up arriving into Cusco at 3am instead of the 6pm we had originally assumed. So much for avoiding overnight buses. South America lession number 1 - buses are about as reliable as estate agents...car dealers etc. I was also sick most of the journey with a fever and dodgy stomach - oh the fish marinated in lemon........Bec was happy.....she felt fine......I would be having the last laugh....

At least we had a room booked in Cusco and thankfully they let us in at 3am in the morning. Again really nice which was just as well given Bec felt the need to projectile vomit the following morning. South American lession number 2 - avoid raw food of any kind! (To Bec´s credit she had not intended it to be raw!).

And onwards to the Inca Trail. After a couple of days of preparation in Cusco we were all ready to go for the Inca Trail. A four day three night camping expedition covering 32km of Inca Trail over the mountains to Machu Pichu. In true Bec and Iain fashion we opted for the private trip so there was just the two of us when our guide arrived at the hotel on Friday morning at 6am.



First day was a two hour private car ride to Km 82 (the starting point of the Inca Trail) followed by about 11km over flat ground as a gentle introduction. We were slightly alarmed when our guide said that his tour the week before had seen nothing as it had rained all four days (this being rainy season) so we walked the first few K´s with Bec asking me why we had chosen this time of year to do the tríp. Our guide suggested an offering of coco leaves placed under the ground might be the way to go. It would turn out to be the best thing we could have done as the weather apart from a couple of sections was incredible. In fact the first day was so hot and we made such good progress (Quote Bec: I told you I could walk quickly on the flat.....I am not unfit really) that we changed camps and decided to get 3 hours of the uphill climb under our belt which had been scheduled for day 2. I have to say that a 5 hour climb was the last thing we needed on day 2 so all round it was a winner and after much huffing and panting we made it up 1000m to our new day one camp at 3750m. (I can´t quote Bec here as I think the website would sensor it! - lets just say that by now our guide had started calling her PRINCESS!!!)

We should say a little here about the set-up. We had 5 porters, a chef and guide for just the two of us and because we had walked so well on day one we were well ahead of the main tour groups so had seen only a few porters the whole day instead of the masses of people we had imagined. Even the camp was nice with only one other small group - and to be fair we also had a portable toilet so we didn´t even need to use the camp facilities - sparten so they were!!!!!!



We had been really lucky with the weather as it literally started to rain as we arrived to camp at the end of day one....to a hot snack before dinner.

Day 2....It had rained all night which did not bode well and indeed when we woke at 6am it was lashing down. After breakfast and donning some seriously sexy ponchos - money well spent - who needs gortex rainjackets, we set off for the summit of the first peak - 4200m...another 2 hours uphill at this altitude and with the weather ......and with Bec....quite slow progress!!!



We made it and the weather started to ease as we again hurtled along only seeing a few animals along the way.....



again we made great progress day 2 so we changed camps again and decided to do the Inca Trail in 3 days not 4, thus enabling us to see Machu Pichu twice, avoid the crowds, hopefully get there whilst the weather was good and best of all to spend night 3 in a proper bed in a hostel in Aguas Calientes. Nothing like the promise of a bed, hot shower and pízza to make Bec walk like a demon. Fair play she had done bloody well so far as it was not an easy walk.

Our camp at the end of day 2 was stunning right on a mountain top and the views were amazing. We couldn´t wait for day 3 as there were lots of Inca Ruins to visit before arriving in Machu Pichu in the afternoon...and of course no more camping!



The weather on Day 3 was also great and we visited some spectacular ruins along the trail before arriving to Machu Pichu in sunshine to a round of applause from the day trippers who had walked to the sun gate (the entrance to the site for the trail).



Incredible - the pictures don´t quite do it justice. It was to be a good move as the day after was pretty wet and with thick fog most of the ruins were invisible - which would have been a great dissappointment after all that hard work.



Overall a spectacular 4 days - definitely worth every minute - probably the best thing we have both ever done......obviously we were lucky with the weather and having a kick ass tour...but still quite brilliant. However there was the alternative Inca Trail......

And so the Inca Trail. 5 porters, a chef and a guide. That was 4 porters to carry Bec´s clothes, creams, make up...oh and crisps so she didn´t get faint...



I meanwhile had to make do with carrying all my own clothes and belongings........



Bec even made the guide apply an hourly layer of cream so that the effects of the walking, lack of a shower and overall lack of an expensive hotel did not leave a lasting effect......



He also had an oxygen bottle in his bag just in case.....


Here she is berating the chef for luke warm water instead of hot and was none too pleased when this happened a second time.....



And finally when we had arrived in Mach Pichu, the princess had to look her best before any photos were taken....or so she thought! THE END.



I should end this by saying Bec was amazing.........walked the Inca Trail a day quicker than normal and we both had a great time. Lets hope the rest of the trip is like this. And so we write this from Cusco....staying for a couple of days in a nice expensive hotel for some R&R before we continue on our travels.

Congrats to the Cossey family on the birth of baby Charlie....great news and we hope you are all doing well. Great Sarah on your engagement looking forward to a big celebration.

Until the next exciting episode.

Lots of love - Iain and Bec XXX.

PS As you can probably tell I had zero input on this blog after all your comments Iain has stopped me writing anything apart from a sentence at the end.... love you all Bec xxxx

Well we have been travelling on our own now for just over a week, after Uli returned to Sydney from Wellington - it's not been the same without you Uli -we can get ready in 20 mins.....peace and quiet.....no laptop......only joking!!!!!

North Island is certainly not as exciting as the South Island - so for any of you planning a trip in the near future do the North Island first. After a weekend in Wellington we headed to Martinborough for a couple of days of relaxation and wine tasting which was all really good...except for the fact that during one of our tastings Iain decided to tip half his wine into the water jug instead of into the spitoon barrell - thinks he's well educated speaking in a rahh voice during the tastings....I was so embarassed!



From there we headed to Lake Taupo where Iain got his own back saying we had to fit in some training for the Inca trail. He made me do the Tongariro Crossing which is voted one of the best one day walks in the world. I did start to wonder when we had to get up at 5.30am to do a 7 hours walk which was is rated as challenging.....what had he got me into.

The engagement was off after the first two hours as I struggled to stop me heart and lungs exploding after walking up a near vertical incline for about 2 hours...better not be like this on the Inca Trail however after that it was stunning and thankfully the weather was great for the whole day. Shame about the 300 other people walking it at the same time.



Rotorua was smelly and very touristy, especially when we visited a thermal park waiting for a gieser to erupt at 10.15am on the dot with 1,000 other tourist. Half of them had not worked out how it errupted at the same time every day....mirraculous....except for the handful of soap stuffed down the hole by the park ranger. We bolted round the rest of the park - pausing occassionally for photos. The Polynesian spa was great though and helped me ease my aches and pains from the walking the day before......



The final stop before Auckland was the glow worm caves in Waitomo. I was totally focussed on stopping Iain from getting us to Abseil into the caves that I had not really thought about what a 4 hour caving trip might entail. I should have realised when the guides made us smear mud on our faces at the entrance to the caves and this was followed by 2 hours underground....squeezing through the smallest of holes, swimming in freezing cold water, crawling through mud passageways on my stomach....all to see some bloody glow worms - I was not amused! It was quite good fun really - but never again.

We are writing this from Auckland with two days before we head off to South America. Hope everyone is well back home and not working too hard. Loads of love - Bec and Iain.

So here we go for the next installment of our blog. Queenstown did not quite go according to plan. After a great xmas day we had planned two action packed days of jet boating, skydiving etc but were hampered by some crap weather. Still we managed to go jet boating and had a huge amount of fun on the downhill luge track (Bec says she is not competitive but look at the concentration on that face!!!)







Unfortunately my sky dive was cancelled the day after - very dissappointing. At least it meant Uli could come out of the bathroom (where she had locked herself up to prevent her from having to go through with the jump) and so Bec and her watched DVD's in the afternoon (well actually they didn't - as it took them three hours to work the DVD machine!!!) whilst I escaped into town.

Then it was onto Mount Cook for some walking - with incredible weather and surprisingly not a lot of moaning from the girls on our 5 hour walk. Bec is now hassling me in the internet cafe to swap so she can write a more balanced story - sod that........



We manged to get a round of white water rafting in before new year (though Bec spent most of the trip sitting in the middle of the raft doing nothing and Uli with her head up....well take a look at the picture for yourself!).



New Year in Christchurch - lets just say the fireworks didn't quite compare to Sydney (think the council budget must be $5 not $5million) but we still managed to stuff our faces at a really nice restaurant and then go on drinking into the night. Having said that we did end up in the most expensive bar ever - bring on London prices again.

Our last few days have been spent in Kaikoura and Marlborough - probably the best couple of days of the trip so far. Went Dolphin swimming and seal swimming in Kaikoura. Quite amazing to swim for 30 mins with a pod of wild dolphins in the middle of the ocean - they seemed to be highly amused when Iain dived down under the water (though he tells me that that was only to be able to watch the rest of the girls on the trip snorkel above!) Not that we looked that attractive in full thickness wetsuits - and my goggles leaked which was meant a lot of time spent looking at the sky trying to clear them.......



Yesterday we got pissed in the Marlborough wine region - managed to avert disaster when arriving at the vineyard homestay at 6.30pm to find nobody home and the owner on holiday! Thankfully we managed to get the last two bedroom motel unit in town so at least we had a bed for the night. Think we managed to hit 10 vineyards, including my favourite Cloudy Bay and by the end of it all we were truely exhausted.

Sitting in an internet cafe in Wellington, after travelling to the North Island by ferry - Iain did his usual and read for the entire journey whilst Uli and I stuffed ginger biscuits down our throat trying not to vomit as the boat rolled up and down. Uli left us this morning so it's now just the two of us....

Hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve and looking fwd to seeing you in a few months.

Love - Bec and Iain.

P.S. To avoid all the hassle of planning a wedding we decided to get married in NZ - last Tuesday. The bride looked stunning.......


(only joking parents!)

Okay – here’s the first attempt at writing something for our blog. Firstly have to say a huge thanks to Uli for setting this up as there is no way on earth we would have done this otherwise!!!!

The last few weeks in Sydney went by in a bit of a blur, what with our trip to Perth so I could do Ironman WA, the PwC Christmas party, our leaving party, some great last dinners with our good friends – oh and then an engagement………



What better way to end our amazing time in Sydney than to get engaged? Sorry to all those people who thought we would get engaged in Fiji (how predictable) or half way up Machu Pichu (which granted would definitely have been something I might have done…) but you can’t quite top the harbour in Sydney. Obviously just to be different I proposed at 6am in the morning – I had hoped for sunrise but given the weather in Sydney over the last month we were just thankful it was not raining. Bec was suitably surprised and as expected it didn’t take long for her to state that “we couldn’t afford a wedding!” Oh well should make for an interesting few months when we get back to the UK – moving into our new house, back to PwC and planning a wedding…..



So our last day was pretty special and after a great celebratory breakfast at the Bathers Pavilion in Balmoral followed by degustation in the evening at Aria we made our way for a relaxing week to Likuliku Lagoon Resort in Fiji. Quite simply I don’t think either of us have had a better week – the resort was amazing – only 6 months old and the first with over water bungalows. So it was a week of eating some fantastic food, lounging on our day bed and cooling off in our plunge pool. Quite a time of extreme’s for me going from 20+ hours of training per week to making the three times a day strenuous walk 100m along the beach to get our food at the resort. All in all just what we needed – the first time Bec has managed to get me on a beach holiday – however will take some beating for our honeymoon.

After one last night stop over in Sydney (and dinner at Longrain….yes finally Uli) we have headed over to New Zealand – first stop the South Island. Given all our eating in the last fortnight we may have to be asking for double seats when we fly to South America in the New Year! Over the last few days we have travelled by train over the Arthurs Pass (apparently one of the top rail journeys in the world – probably would be without the fog and rain), taken a fantastic helicopter flight onto the Franz Joseph glacier, an overnight cruise and kayaking on doubtful sound and now we are holed up in Queenstown in a beautiful apartment overlooking the lake celebrating Christmas.



An Italian breakfast, followed by roast dinner and soon a typical Austrian dinner has left us truly fattened and now resting for the antics to follow in Queenstown – jet boating, skydiving, bungee jumping.

Wishing you all a Merry Xmas and a great New Year’s Eve celebration. We will be thinking of you all when you go back to work in the New Year and we continue with our travels – I know….make the most of it……we fully intend to!

Lots of love – Iain and Bec.

Enjoy some impressions of Iain and Bec's last party in Sydney in the gallery "Farewell Party".

Hi there,

Bec and Iain are currently in Fiji enjoying a week of beach, spa plunge pool, yummy food and sunsets. This blog will be a place where they can share their travel stories from NZ and South America with friends and family.

Enjoy!

Cheers

Uli