A brace of Fez

Well, this one final entry and that'll be it!
After a wild and windy walk in the Scottish hills and a daring coastal traverse on chains above a wild sea we bade farewell to Sarahs bro and his young family. Then, following a smelly train ride from Edinburgh to Manchester, we found ourselves hooked into the huge British package holiday industry, where the masses franticly clamour to get away to some warm sea and sunshine. It was quite a smooth cattle herding experience that was actually very efficient.
SW Turkey was good and we enjoyed the scenery and local people but especially a trip to Ephasus with its remains of a huge Roman city. The local area was also the site of 2 of the original 7 Wonders of the World which have sadly been reduced to ruble. Oddly there seemed to be a lack of kebab and falafel shops (and Cranberry sauce for the Turkey!) but I was thrilled to finally purchase a fez each for my brother and I ....which we proudly wore while supermarket shopping back in his home town in the UK.So, so funny!
Some very good quality time was spent back in the UK working our way south staying with relatives and friends. We even got to pick some of the apples from the tree in our old garden. Very nice.
A final goodbye to my brother and family, and to my step mother, saw us spend the last few days with Katie & Shay at their new flat in London, where they are well established with good jobs and living in a pleasant location. Sarah and Simon had organised the placing of their parents' headstone, and so we all made a visit to the old home in Exmouth which helped give some closure to that chapter of life.
After spending so much time with them it seemed particularly sad to leave all our folk back in the UK, but we now know what they're up to and can imagine what they might be doing on a daily basis which provides some comfort.
The final flights went quickly and it felt great to get home - the house had been left in imaculate condition after our French tenants had moved out and it seemed much nicer than we remembered, and, oh my goodness, Nelson is such a wonderful place to live! It was just excellent to see our great bunch of friends - 18 of whom turned out at our place the next night to eat takeaways and watch the fireworks over the harbour that was put on for our return, (Actually it was the fishing fleet having a celebration, but very timely!)
So what have we made of it all?
Gains:
3 or 4 extra kilos of flab - per person!
An improved appreciation of the important things in life
2800 photos
More knowledge and understanding of a variey of cultures
A basic grasp of Spanish
A strikingly improved confidence to give things a go - esp. Sarah who is starting all sorts of new challenges
Verification that material assets dont matter that much
Basic mule handling skills (Sarah)
The awesome experience of sleeping in 70 different beds

Losses:
One cellphone, a sock, a T-shirt and some undies (not bad for 6 months)
A large amount of physical fitness
2 pieces of tooth (Mark)
2 X 6 months wages - ie the money for a new car or kitchen?
Missing the best snow and skiing conditions around Nelson for years
A toenail (Sarah)

And what next? - well, settle in here, get fit and enjoy life while other adventure travel ideas hatch slowly. Perhaps we'll even look at moving house locally...and yes, we still have plenty of unfinished business in South America and would love to go back again.
Fabulous!

A wander through the Motherland

Pretty villages, busy roads, strong accents, occasional rain, green countryside, warm beer & wasps - yes, we're in England!
After a few days in the south of England spending some good quality time with my brother's family we worked our way through the midlands visting old friends and relatives and based ourselves in the Yorkshire Dales to stay with my cousin's family near Kirby Lonsdale.
Sunday was a big day which I had been nervously anticipating for quite some time - the Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross Race, reputed to be the worlds toughest! 61km with over 1500m of ascent over rugged hills that definitely do not lend themselves to cycling. I feel hugely indebted to my 2 cousins who set me up with all the required gear (even the bike!), so together with my brother riding, it was a real family affair. Was it tough? ...you bet ya! No suspension and drop handlebars shakes the body almost to submission but I was delighted to come out unscathed and with no brake-downs. Sarah joined other friends and relies to man the check points in order to provide vital support of water and food in the morning rain which soon turned into delicate sunshine which illuminated the lovely dales into the afternoon.
Following a visit to my home village of Silverdale and my old Aunt we moved north up into Scotland and to Cupar north of Edinburgh to stay with Sarahs brother and his young family. We enjoyed a late heatwave intitially which was nice, and a cheeky surprise visit from Katie for the weekend was great (she just happened to organise some work nearby in Edinbugh).
On Wednesday we have a change of plan....rather than visiting some of the cities in Eastern Europe we have decided to wind down our independent travel and have booked a cheap package holiday to Turkey!
Months of independant travel does take it out of you (greying hair, wrinkled skin and broken teeth) and we certainly feel like it is time to get home to wonderful Nelson and to once more try to engage our spongy brains while there is still a little of something there to spark into life!
We have moved forward our return date a couple of weeks to the end of October and look forward to catching up with you all sometime soon afterwards.
So Turkey, friends in the midlands and Katie and Shay in London and thats about it
Yippee!

Hurricane Dodgers!

Well, it's been very frustrating trying to access a pc while in the USA....even wifi is rather hard to come by and often has a dollar cost. So here I am in the Mac store in New York sneakily updating this!
All in all we've had a great and varied 3 weeks in the NE. New York city is simply fabulous - so vibrant and livable. We stayed a few nights in the 'worst' hotel in NY (just fine after some S America!) just a hop away from Times Square which was a great location.
The first thing we did was to hire a bike each for the day in Central Park...we had a gentle cruise around this truly huge and natural feeling space before hitting the coast of ManhattenIsland and opening up on the wonderful cycle tracks which run almost all around the spectacular island...we even cycled over the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. One highlight was a spectacular crash while we were stationary...we ended up in a heap on a traffic island (much to onlookers delight) with me entwined in 2 bikes with sarah ontop. My fault entirely and the flesh wounds are healing nicely now!
Sticking to the plan, we hired a small car and set off for a tour around New England which was most enlightening...vast and very rural with thick tree cover. We headed to Cape Cod along the coast where picture perfect bays and inlets went on and on with idyllic manicured houses with their boats tied up alongside. Cape Cod was fun - especially when we hired a tandem to tour the beaches.....poor Sarah was squealing with fear as she was totally unable to see past me on the front.
A quick dash around Boston was good - very historic and chilled out. We even popped in to see Harvard Uni when it was Freshers day...and got lost on the 4 lane underground motorway system when Gloria (out GPS navigation device) lost her signal and spat a dummy!
Trundling north we drove (sorry) to the summit of Mt Washington in New Hampshire which plays host to the wildest weather on earth...hurricane force winds on 100 days a year!
Speaking of hurricanes, Irene was all the news and heading straight for us so we headed west for 4 hours into Vermont, only for Irene to follow us and hit us head on. Luckily we had grabbed a hotel with a gym and pool so felt little of the happenings outside, even though all roads to the west east and south of us were now blocked!
Luckily the plan was to head north to Montreal in Canada which again was a really nice city and soooo French!.Having to switch from struggling Spanish to school French was a cobblers with many a 'gracias' and 'por favor' slipping out.
(Just a quick glance around to see if the staff in this shop haven't twigged me here...all good)
Onwards down the St Lawrence Seaway past huge locks and to the 1000 Islands which lie near to Lake Ontario. Now this really is a gorgeous area with castles, mansions and boats of all types around the place....somewhat like NZs Marlboruogh Sounds without the hills. It's also where 1000 Island dressing was invented.
We really enjoyed our brief look into Canada and felt more at one with the people there than the Americans...and we finally learned the difference between a buffalo and a bison!
Onward back to New Jersey and into New York where we went on the Staten island ferry yesterday and are digging deep to put in a final effort to see as many of the sights as we can. Quite a task!...and have just bought a flash new camera for work as prices are so low her for that sort of thing.
I would like to dedicate this entry to the wonderful staff and management at Mac Stores, West 14th Street, Manhatten.
Off to see all the folks in the UK on Wednesday - can't wait!
...oh, and the difference between a buffalo and a bison - you can't wash you hands in a buffalo, but you can in a bison!
Ho ho

Chao America del Sur

Well that was it - South America on a Shoestring! Totally magnificent with the richest mix of memories and surprises.
Here's a few intersting observations from the 7 countries we borrowed time from:
- A full spectrum of cultures from the very wealthy through to the impoverished...with no clear impression of who is happiest!
- Highs and Lows both in our own progress...and in height above sea level
- Coping with sudden switches from hot to cold weather extremes
- Only 4 days with any rain over the 3 months
- language difficulties certainly curtailed some of the enjoyment - we went for a spell of 14 days without speaking to anyone else in English
- on the whole trip we met only 18 kiwis
- one pair of good shoes (Keens) worn out
Yes - we would love to return to explore more - particularly more of Brazil and to visit Patagonia in southern Argentina and Chile. We also hear that Equador and Colombia are wonderful. Maybe we'll make it and maybe we won't.
For now we are coping with exploring the NE USA...more to come soon...

Chile

Being physically crammed onto the early morning rush hour tube train for half an hour is not how you might imagine the start to a glorious days skiing, but in Santiago, Chile, that seems to be quite normal. Once at the edge of the city it was a quick bus ride up to the 3000m high base village of Valle Nevado, the largest ski area in the southern hemisphere. Spectacular vistas of the high Andes and long, well groomed runs made the skiing experience super pleaseant - and even the black runs felt easy, which is not like me at all! Sarah whiled away the day enjoying the sun terraces and cafes as not feeling able to justify the rather spectacular lift and ski hire costs!
Santiago altogether exceeded our expectations. It is very well organised and livable with several rugged mini mountains sticking out amongst the tower blocks with the snow capped Andes formimg a splendid backdrop, and some very lovley old buildings, monuments and squares.....and the most wonderful shopping mall ever!
Prior to Santiago we had worked north from Valparaiso up the cloudy and foggy coast, until we learnt that sunny skies lay inland. For the first time we hired a car and sure enough, some 15 minutes inland sparkling blue skies and dry mountain ranges appeared from nowhere. We explored fantastic valleys enclosing wonderful cactai and harsh dry vineyards, visited a Pisco distillery and had a meal cooked on solar cookers. Here are some of the clearest skies on earth and it is a favoured spot for astronomical observatories. We visted an older one, but huge projets are underway with the European funded VLT (Very Large Telescope) nearing completion. The ELT (Extremely Large Telescope) will be starting construction soon!
From what we have seen Chile has a modern and sophisticated society that seems to be going places, but laterly learned of Chile's dark political and social problems which it makes a good job of hiding from visitors and investors! However they certainly have a huge variety of stunning and beautiful landscapes that have amazed us...rather like New Zealand on steroids!
Certainly not an anti climax to the end of our South Ameican experience.

Argy-Bargy

The fast super ferry across the River Plate takes just over an hour to reach Buenos Aires from Uraguay and we entered a different world of some 13 million in a truely grand and spacious city. We stayed at a lovely old hostel amidst cobbled, tree lined streets with classic pavement cafes and occasional tango dancers. A couple of days were spent dashing around this Paris of the South, including visiting Evitas grave and the worlds widest street - we counted 22 lanes running through the middle of town. Our (mainly my!) tolerance for city life was wearing thin and, after dragging Sarah away from a sudden fight in the underground in which she caught a glancing blow to her wrist, it was a relief to escape the argy-bargy (sorry!) and board the night bus for Mendoza in the west.
15 hrs later, once again sporting a light beard (me, not Sarah) we arrived not in the picturesque alpine wine region we had in mind, but a sprawling drab city of a million people. Rats! The weather turned v cold with snow down to the city limits so it was time to hunker down for a couple of days. We did enjoy a very informative winery tour but it was rather like coals to Newcastle and the famous wines weren´t nearly as good as our locals ones at home. Maybe it was the bitter weather that didnt help the Malbec?
Again it was a relief to leave the big city and head west again into the Andes to stay in an isolated hostel near Uspallata just a couple of hours away. Immediately the scenery exploded into spectacular life - blue skies with white snowy mountains surrounding a monochrome bowl of golden hues...golden trees, leaves, grasses, rocks and soils. Even the hostals 3 labradores were golden! (This area was the setting for the film Seven Years in Tibet as it so resembles Central Asia.)
This was indeed food for the soul and we both recharged our batteries and breathed in fresh life again.
The next stage of our journey was to cross the pass over the Andes to reach Santiago in Chile, but as the winter weather can close the pass for weeks we had to move on to be ready for a likely chance to get through.
We opted to move further into the mountains to stay at a large ski resort and hopefully get a few turns in, but on hopping out of the bus we hopped straight back in again with the lean, icey slopes looking most uninviting.
The road to Chile was currently closed, but was rumoured to open next morning so the bus dropped us at icy cold Punte del Inca which is used as the start point to climb Aconcagua, which, at 6959m is the highest point outside the Himalaya. Exciting!
Next morning, standing by the snowy road watching the backlog of 100s of big trucks grind past, doubts grew about the arrival of our bus, so jumped at the chance of a lift with a Texan family in camper van who we had talked with the night before.
What an awesome ride! With an outstanding nerve Michael overtook some 10km or so of stationary trucks backed up at the border post....all over the double yellow line and at speed with me in the front acting as spotter on the blind corners. Oh my God ...epic stuff in epic scenery. (We would still be in that queue which must last for a couple of days if he hadn´t nailed it so decisevely!)
After the semi-chaotic queues at the crossing we stopped and all went snow tubing with the 3 kids.
They were not heading to our destination of Santiago but to the Pacific coast, so we stuck with them and greatly enjoyed their company for several hours until Vena del Mar. We hope they take up our invitation to visit us in Nelson sometime as we thoroughly enjoyed their company.
And as for Chile - it´s different again and so spectacular!....and with the magnolias just coming out it offers up memories of home.

The Giant´s Cupboard

Arriving in Montevideo, Uraguay, was something of a reverse culture shock with a feel of Europe about it, but not quite. In fact it was all a little odd really!
The country has just over 3 million people, and is somewhat smaller than New Zealand. It has a great soccer team who won the Copa America once again only yesterday. The population is predominantly white, they speak Spanish and have a layed back attitude amply demonstarted by the way they sip a ´mate´tea mash through a silver straw from a hollowed out gourd which young and old alike typically carry around the streets with them. They build roads like the Romans - dead straight.
Montevideo is a large cosmopolitan city with a great bus network, little traffic and amazing architecture - there are plenty of amazing eclectic and pre neo-classical monsters mixed up with aweful 1960s concrete and glass - a bit like Gotham City meets Croydon! Occaionally a horse and cart clip-clops down the main street.
While in a cafe having chicken curry (a hunk of roast chicken with 2 pots of spices on the side) Sarah learnt that there was a choir and concert in the amazing recently renovated Teatro Solis that night and the tickets were nearly sold out. Being starved of classical culture for so long, she dashed across to the box office and came back with 2 tickets for a private box! The theatre was grand with 5 high rows of boxes and plush red velvet everywhere. Our little box was simply amazing. We were treated to a great concert from the Montevideo Philharmionic and a 70 strong choir from the USA. Sarah then told me how much the tickets were - 7 dollars each!
We stayed in an ancient hotel with our tiny bedroom having an enormously tall doorway and incredibly high ceiling with a distant fan in the middle. It was just like sleeping in a giants cupoard, as Sarah put it, and felt most odd.
One afternoon, starving, we opted for the famed Parrilla (a super juicy BBQ cooking method) in a huge warehouse full of dozens of smoking grills near the port. We had The Works and slogged through endless meat, then through the black puddings but gave the ´guts´and ´artery´ a miss. They certainly like to use every bit of the beast. The hide is used for handbags, purses, footballs and shoes but is chiefly used to hold the cow together. (as they say!)
Feeling a little exhausted we bused west and rested up in Colonia for a few days - a lovely old Portuguse fortified settlement where we enjoyed the company of a fair share of nutters in the hostel. There was an American guy, Osiris, who was gathering seed and exploring the coast by kayak to find land to establish the New Jerusalem colony, and there was an older couple who´d quit good jobs for 6 months to travel the world. After a few days rest the older couple were ready to board the ferry to cross the River Plate and face big, brash Buenos Aires. Eeek!