Cusco - First impressions...

We had tons planned in Cusco, but our first order of business was acclimatization. Cusco was the capital of the Inca empire and the Incans just loved a bit of altitude. In this case around 3400m above sea level.

Aside from a few other bits of basic info we didn't know much about Cusco before we landed. What we learnt was that the landing itself involves a rather "interesting" horseshoe valley descent into the centre of the the city. A tad hair raising if I'm honest (the mountains and valley walls seemed a touch closer than I'm sure they were).

Once on the ground it turns out the city is pretty darn nice! Colonial architecture on top of (literally) the old Inca city, plazas, shops, cafes, restaurants, bar and fountains - and all with 360° mountain views. Awesome.




Aside from a few headaches and breathlessness from the most minor exertion, acclimatization wouldn't be too much hassle; sitting around in plazas drinking coffee or finding reasonable places to eat and drink worked out pretty well for both of us.

On our 4th day in the city we met up with Bex's brother, George. We showed him round the city and introduced him to the token Irish pub before also meeting up with 7 other travellers and a guide; they'd all be joining us a for a far more interesting (and demanding) version of the Inca trail...

In deepest darkest Peru

Well... Not really, but we are in Peru and we did find Paddington Bear within the first couple of hours on the ground in Lima.



First things first though; we flew in via Madrid and lost a couple of hours due to delays - this was quite welcome however, as it meant we arrived (20 hours later) at a slightly more manageable 7am. We threw our bags down in our rather simple (but nice!) B&B and strolled out to investigate our surroundings.

Our surroundings were the district of Miraflores; the police and security guard laden tourist epicentre of Lima. Safe and easy certainly, but friends and guide books had scared us (me) away from almost anywhere else, and anyway, a simple start to ease us back into our travels seemed quite reasonable and sensible.

Kennedy Park is the hub of Miraflores, so we headed that way first. En route we landed straight in Central park instead, and within that we noticed cats... lots and lots of cats.






I've neglected to find out why they are all here but, although all seem stray, they are generally a healthy and very friendly bunch. We sat around petting the little fellas till our need for coffee grew, then headed off to explore more [we would, of course, head back to see the cats frequently everyday].

What did we find? Well, not a great deal to be honest - Lima was always just an essential stop off on the way to Cusco three days later. We found Paddington (obvs), a few small parks, some pre-Inca Ruins, a shopping centre and some nice restaurants. We ventured into the city centre proper, checked out the main square (Plaza de Armas) and fumbled around with some poor attempts at the Spanish language.

Most of all we simply found our travelling heads and legs again. On our fouth morning we bid farewell to our helpful and friendly host at the B&B, locked ourselves securely in our awaiting taxi and headed off to collect our flight. More adventurous times are planned in Cusco...

"There's a voice, keeps on call'in me..."

https://youtu.be/banXT6azA-4

That's right kids, I'm on the road again!  If you've been following the blog then you may have thought something terrible happened between Fiji and New Zealand at the very start of the year... Truth is, we got REALLY busy with our adventures in NZ and I rather lost my way with the blog, sorry!!!

I've promised myself (and you are all witness to this now in writing!) that I will back fill and complete the missing journals; for now though let us return to the present.

We had always intended to continue our travels following on from a wedding heavy summer in the UK.  Of course, it was certainly great to be back home and catch up with y'all but, with the next leg already pre-booked way back in January, we are already off away again, this time to South America and a first stop in Peru!

Fiji fun

We landed in Fiji with a jolt.  Literally.  Lord knows what the Fiji Air's pilot was doing, it felt like the plane dropped the last few meters.  Each and every passenger and steward shat their pants (not literally...).

Our woes actually started before we left Australia but I'll omit the details here; suffice to say our accommodation plans had changed, and would continue to remain in a state of flux for the first week.  Just pretend all you read here was as planned... "problems" experienced whilst spending Christmas and New Year in Fiji would, understandably, hardly illicit any sympathy anyway (and nor should they!!).

For the first few nights, we crashed in a backpackers hostel on the beach in Nadi, with the idea of picking up Christmas supplies in town (just a few festive snacks, decorations and such like).  It turns out, however, that although the Fijians do very much celebrate Christmas, its very different to back home.

Spend time with loved ones, enjoy a meal together and have a bit of a party.  That's it.  It puts things into perspective when you realise that even gift giving or special foods appear to be constructed traditions.

I stalwartly decided to embrace this minimalist approach; Bex, however, would take a little more convincing... she had her heart set on mince pies.

We distracted ourselves by way of a boozy desert island visit; we ate and drank too much with a load of Fijians just returned for the holidays, then it was straight on to our main stopover.

This was located in a remote region to the south of the main island, just a small main restaurant/kitchen/staff house and a series of bungalows on a verge above the sea.  This was the real Fiji we were looking for and we'd be here till after boxing day.

It was basic but brilliant.  The local staff involved us in everything and they were more like friends from the off. Aside from relaxing, eating and drinking, we also tried our luck at hand line fishing and went for a fair few walks with the resident dog, Ranger.

Ranger.  Best holiday dog ever?  Could be.

Christmas day was a great big social event between the guests and staff.  Bex and I brought along a tiny bit of home festivities (we'd managed to find a Santa hat, Rudolf ears, crackers and a ton of fizz) other than that it was all Fijian; lovo (traditional earth cooked meal) for lunch, dancing, drinking and then a bonfire and BBQ on the beach in the evening.  It was certainly different, but also definitely pretty awesome!!

Top crew.

Days later, we moved onward to a smaller island where we explored, relaxed and spent a low key new year, a couple more days after that our holiday within a holiday had come to an end.  We'd had a fantastic break and meet some great people, locals and tourists alike.  We were, however, now both eager for the next big leg of our adventure, an entire 3 months in New Zealand...

Sunset on Mana Island... It was alright I suppose

[More photos when I get home, I trashed my tablet halfway through the trip!]

Whirlwind through OZ

Our schedule for the remainder of our stay in Australia was a little mental; 11 more nights to squeeze in Alice Springs and a decent stab at the northeast coast before flying out to Fiji for Christmas.

Don't get me wrong, we would love to have hung around longer, but the cost for backpackers has skyrocketed in the last few years (east coast especially, $50+ for a dorm bed anyone?).  Cost of living is comparable to the UK and exchange rates are currently unfavourable; if you are not staying with friends and/or working then you are not staying in Australia long.

First up was a single full day and night back in Melbourne.  Bex's foot was nearly healed, but Melbourne's near British climate meant that the chance to see and enjoy the city would elude us yet again.

Back to the airport (no Monday morning craziness this time) and in short order we were in Alice Springs in somewhat warmer and drier weather; clear skies and temperatures in the mid forties.  Toasty.

We spent three nights watching old VHS through a 50" plasma, in between times visiting some really big famous rocks.  It wasn't even a tenth as busy as you might expect and was totally worth the flight to the red centre, absolutely ace.

 Barely adequate aircon and "effective" kangaroo bars...

 First bunch of big rocks

 Hidden delights at Uluru

Uluru by sunset... With booze and BBQ!

Job done, we flew northwest to crack out another big tourist attraction; the Great Barrier Reef via Cairns.

Cairns turned out to be awesome; maybe we just picked a great time to visit, but it was quiet, yet lively, welcoming and neither too touristy nor 'gap yeary'.

We crashed at a really chilled hostel which had loads of communal room and even a pool, then we headed out and about.  We did a day trip round the tablelands hitting all the compulsory waterfalls and swimming spots, not only that but we saw musky rat kangaroos and platypus in the wild!!!  Not bad for 40 bucks!!!

 Pelicans at Cairns quay

 Larking about in the tablelands

The next two days topped that, not only in experience but cost too...oops.  Bring on the reefs.

The reefs will only continue to deteriorate as time passes and I suspect I'll not return any time soon, so we weren't afraid to splash the cash a little.

First up, a 45min flight in a tiny 6 seater Cessna C206, I rode shotgun and it was utterly epic.  We did a classic boat trip out on the reefs the following day (snorkeling etc, even swimming with a couple of turtles), that was incredible too, but for me, seeing the vast expanses on the reef from the air was the stuff of dreams.

 I've got this...

 Reef by air... Unreal.

And below, not bad either!

We spent a final evening watching spectacled flying foxes filling the city's skies (Batman-esque and enthralling) and then it was time to move inexplicitly onwards to...

Brisbane.  A comedian we'd met in Borneo was showing in town; we grabbed a hire car, "settled" into the most shoddy hostel thus far and trotted off to grab our guest passes and then pre-gig beers with the man himself.

 Spectacled Flying foxes

Freebies.

Post gig beers resulted in a two day road trip down to Byron Bay and back again via every beach along the way.  Bar bills across the eventual 3 nights (final night just outside Brisbane) were budget shattering, but we all had a cracking time!!

All that was left was to wake early and head back to the airport; our short (in the scheme of things) visit to Australia was at and end.  Tasmania was the stand out highlight (and thankfully so, seeing as we spent half our time there!), but overall we'd had a really great time in Australia AND somehow kept to budget.  If I can find a way to fund it, then I'll surely return to see the rest and revisit parts we hadn't fully experienced.


Check out the genius of Jon Bennett here:

http://www.jonbennettcomedy.com/

https://www.facebook.com/jonbennettCOMEDY

Tasmania - quite simply two of the best weeks of my life.

[December 2014]

Cycle touring is out of the window, so here's the new plan.  Instead of heading round and down the east coast to Hobart by bicycle, we hire a car and follow the same route in a week or less. We then keep on cruising around and then up through the centre/west; all the while praying for Bex's foot to heal in time to do some trekking and/or summits in the second week.

All the preparations worked a dream!  We picked up a brand new (2000km on the clock!) Hyundai i20 for less than £15 a day, tent for £10, sleeping bags for £6.50... The list goes on and on,equally cheaply for all we needed, even managing to grab loads of the cooking/eating paraphernalia for about £1 (total!) In the local charity shop.  Result.

All set, the adventure began in earnest! - just over two weeks was spent living solely out of car and tent, it rained a little and was oft times cold, but for the most part we had the very best weather Tasmania had on offer.

To say Tasmanians are humble, kind and welcoming would be an understatement; describing the mountains, coasts and all the wilderness is equally difficult to do justice.  Its a staggering and immensely varied land, the coastal east and mountainous north west (in my opinion) the most beautiful.

We drove the most spectacular mountain and coastal roads, visited incredible beaches, coves, bays and high coastal walkways.  Wildlife of both land and sea were regularly encountered, often in our campsites in the case of wallabies and pademelons!!

The foot did (finally) heal sufficiently to allow us to get hiking in the wilds and, quite frankly, all this more than made up for missing out on the cycling.  Encountering touring cyclists on the roads and hills made us quite thankful to be traveling by car, it looked torturous!  We'll save that adventure for another day/country, maybe somewhere flatter...

Our most epic adventures can be found (soon!!!!) as the first published entries on my (slightly more informative) trekking and summit blog, 'summityoulike.blogspot.com':

Aside from these tales, I'll let these photos attempt to paint a picture of our time in Tasmania.  Suffice to say those two weeks were two of the very finest on our travels, the besting of which will take some doing... It was heart achingly painful to return the car and step on the plane back to Melbourne.

East coast beaches

 Friendly Beach

 The Hazards, Freycinet

 Wineglass Bay, Freycinet

 Unfriendly skies at Friendly Beach

East coast

 Wineglass bay

 Mt. Field national park

 The Neck, Bruny Island

Tarn Shelf, Mt. Field np

Foraging echidna, Mt. Field

 Cradle Mountain ascent (mental!)

Only driven on capped roads, honest gov!

NEWSFLASH - "Snakes in a drain"

Bach Ma mountain, Vietnam 09/05/2015

Backpackers unwittingly risked their lives to rescue two rare snakes in Bach Ma national park last Sunday.

The snakes were first spotted trapped within an open sewerage tank by New Zealander Andrew "roll the dice" Hutchinson; he quickly alerted fellow travellers with cries of "Holy shit! Holy shit! Guys, check this out!!"

Others were slow to respond due to Hutchinson's similar outbursts involving odd insects or merely "interesting" plantlife.

Upon inspection, however, the three other travelers were genuinely surprised with the find.

Alongside the bloated and rotting corpses of toads and frogs, two bright green, very much living, snakes could be observed.

With no thought of self-preservation it was decided that the stranded creatures must be rescued.

A man of the NZ bush, Hutchinson immediately took it upon himself to acquire a "good stick" and prepare himself for the main rescue task.

Realising the to need to document proceedings, Stuart "steadicam" Torrie, climbed some rather dodgy looking war era ruins, readied his camera and called for hush.

Skinny Essex boy climbs tower

Upon inital attempt, Hutchinson's random jabbing with the chosen stick did little other than, seemingly, annoy the first snake.

The second attempt was far more effective, the snake coiling on to the offered branch and lifted free of its concrete prison.

Hutchinson was ecstatic and deemed a pause in proceedings for photos as totally viable [with hindsight he may well have reconsidered this action]

Snake selfie - eat your heart out Steve Irwin

In short order the first snake was deposited safely in the overhanging trees, Hutchinson and team immediately set about the rescue of the second reptile.

It was at this point Hutchinson became less sure of his actions. Were these snakes dangerous? Was he, in fact, putting himself and his team in jeopardy?  There was no time for snake selfies this attempt, Hutchinson exclaiming "I dunno, I don't like this guy, his attitude's different..."

Whatever the snakes intentions, it too, took to the tree without incident.

Hutchinson initiated an immediate evacuation of the area, the two female travellers (Rebecca Thomas and Emma Sixsmith) close on his tail, Torrie was ignored completely and left to descend the tower via a rusted 40 year old "ladder" by himself.

Back on safe ground, and with adrenaline levels quickly plummeting, Hutchinson continued to deliberate the previously unconsidered risk.  "Holy shit" was to be heard by the team a fair number of times on the descent from the mountain peak.

Back at home base (Fours Seasons, Hue #fakevietnam #fakehotelsrock) the band of eco heroes went about identifying the survivors.  Hutchinson struck first.

"Holy shit!"

We all verified the find as Cryptelytrops rubeus, commonly known as the Ruby-eyed Green Pitviper, and nicknamed by locals as the "100 pace snake"... in reference to the legend that, once bitten a person can walk only 100 more steps before dropping dead.

A lucky escape not only for the snakes, but also the intrepid explorers, the quartet continue their travels across Asia with scant more regard for danger than before.

Update 13/05/2015 - the Anglo/NZ troop have yet to report their findings (Cryptelytrops rubeus found 1000m higher than reported habitats) to appropriate wildlife authorities and were last seen optimistically crossing the Hoi Van pass on automatic scooters...

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/194065/0

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/pictures/110328-new-ruby-eyed-pit-viper-species-found/