Backpacking

Arrived in Peru after 10 hours on a bus from Copacabana. The border is only about 20 mins from Cpoacabana but I was headed for Cusco. Got to Cusco late so headed straight to a hostel. The next day got organised for the inca trail, when at the office to pay the balance of the trip I met Melissa who had gotten her luggage lost at the airport, the poor things. Met up for dinner that evening with Melissa and Peter (who had helped her haggle for underwear!!) in the fab Fallen Angel restaurant. Cusco is very much so geared for tourists, lots of decent places to eat but some are a bit pricey compared with what I'm used to.
Started the trail the following day and had to go to the campsite by the trail entrance the night before as there was a strike planned for the next day. Had only a few hours sleep before starting out on the trek, it was raining and was hard to get into it. Stopped for breakie so that was a nice rest and then more uphill towards lunch.

We were getting into it towards the afternoon and our muscles had broken in. Day 2 turned out to be the toughest with dead womans pass in the morning, climbing up those steps in the rain and not being able to breathe wasn't easy. Had a good bit of downhill walking after that so that was fine for the breathing. Had some rum flavoured tea after dinner and it went down very easy. They view for the campsite in the morning was fantastic

, got to see clearly the snow capped mountains. Day 3 was ore up and down and were pretty used to the altitude walking so it definetly wasn't the worst. The campsite that night had a bar and showers (almost warm!) so we were happy out.
Day 4 was a very early start to get to the sungate for sunrise over Machu Picchu, unfortunately the fog was pretty heavy so couldn't see much. Arrived ar Machu Picchu before 7am and the fog had pretty much cleared by then, was amazing to see it for the first time. Did a tour of the ruins and climbed to the top of Waynu Picchu which was fantastic.



After the inca trail had a night in Aguas Calientes and hung around the thermal baths and got a fe souvenirs and headed back to cusco the following morning. The train took abut 3 hours and then got a taxi bus the rest of the way, had a few close shaves so was on the edge of my seat without a seatbelt for 2 hours.
Met Melissa later that evening and decided to head out for dinner (a feast of guinea pig) and then go to Paddys the Irish pub for a few drinks with John. Dinner was interesting but we both wouldnt be eating again, headed off to Paddys and had a few drinks there. Then our tour guide Paulo arrived and we all headed to Mama Africa club and partied there until late.
Next morning was quite rough as we were up early to do white (or more brown) water rafting which is not the best idea after a late night. We survived it and embraced the hot sauna afterwards and chicken dinner. Had a massage that evening with hot incan stones, Melissa loved hers and I got the tickles majorly
Said goodbye to Melissa the following day and had dinner with Pablo and Daerek in a fancy rooftop bar. Got ready to go to school the next day in Tika Tika. Got a cab to school with the rest of the volunteer group, met some of the children and gave the kids that were moving to public school some supplies like stationary etc. They were totally chuffed and got their photos taken.

Got the new kids settled in, found out their names and ages, sang some songs and brought them outside for a game of soccer. The week flew by and the kids get to know you a little bit and all call you Professora, its pretty funny.

Picked up a bit of spanish fro them and taught some of them some sums and heads shoulders knees and toes!!! Took in some sweets into school on my last day so they were delighted. Helped out at a couple of fundraiser table quizzes during the week in cusco so learned lot of useless facts!!
Had a power cut in the hostel on the last night, luckily we still had gas so dinner was going to be ok, had to make banoffie pie with a torch though but it turned out ok.

Headed into town for cocktails and lots of dancing until the wee hours. Flew to Lima the following day and met Pablo for lunch and a tour of Larcomar (trendy mall just off the ocean).
Headed back to the airport by taxi and experience Limas crazy roads for a second time that day, then it was on the plane for the big journey home. The 11 months had come to an end, was gutted that the adventure was over but looking forward to seeing everyone in Ireland again

Arriving in Bolivia was a bit of a change of scenery to say the least and 20 times more stray dogs. Got the train to Uyuni and headed on a salt flats trip from here. Hostels here are a bit limited and the showers were locked as no hot water so had to do without. Salt flats were pretty cool, it looks like snow its so white.


Had some laugh trying to make funny pictures and trying to acclimatise to the altitude. Had food and drinks at a hostel in the salt flats and had late night guitar playing and singing which was good craic. Next mission was to get to Oruru for Saturday carnival. A storm on Friday gave us little hope of the bus making it so we opted for the train. Queued up to buy tickets for ages and the ticket office was being run by 2 drunks so this slowed down the process a good deal.

Got the tickets for the executive seats (15 euro) and slept through the night on the train. Landed in Oruru bleary eyed and had to take on the scramble to find accommodation for the busiest night of the year. Managed to get a room at mediocre hotel but were happy to have a roof over our heads. Had great fun watching the carnival, drinking beer and dodging water bombs.


Headed to La Paz the following day by bus which didn't take that long at all. The bus couldn't drive down the main street so we got dropped of by yet another festival. Our hostel was right on the street the carnival was going down so had to walk through the carnival with our bags and baggage dodging foam and water bombs. Gringos are the main target here so there is no avoiding it. Luckily we had our plastic ponchos from the day before. Got to the lovely Adventure brew hostel and had a free beer while watching the carnival from their roof bar. Chilled out in La Paz for a few days and took advantage of all the good restaurants and coffee shops. Headed to valley of the moon which was worth a trip. Headed for Cocacabama and got a pretty good hotel here overlooking lake Titicaca. Sampled their finest trout which went down a treat. Headed to Isla del Sol the following day and did the trek from the north to the south of the island, pretty hard going with the altitude here but we managed to get through it. Found a cute hostel looking over the lake again and had more trout in a random family run restaurant.

New Zealand
Spent my last few days in Australia in Melbourne, its was great as the weather was really good and I got to stay with Kienan and Dave in south Melbourne for a few nights. Had seafood for my last meal in Oz with Larissa at south bank. Took an evening flight to Auckland and didn't get to my hostel until after 2am as I had to get my hiking boots inspected. Had a day in Auckland so just had a look around the city and the following day few to Queenstown to do the routeburn trek. Had a pre trek briefing with the group and then set off on the bus the following day to begin the 3 day walk. Managed to buy some waterproofs which was lucky as it rained lot the first day. It did and to the effect of the waterfalls though and getting up close was an experience with the wind blowing water all over you Got as far as lake Mc Kenzie the first day and settled in for the night there. The weather improved for the next 2 days and got fantastic view, did the optional Conical hill climb and it was totally worth the the effort.


Played quiz games for the evening with the group which turned out to be great fun and quite competitive. Took a dip in a rock pool before lunch the last day and the current managed to wash away my poor flip flops, the water was absolutely freezing and my legs felt totally numb after 30 seconds!! Made to to the end of the trek and had a celebratory drink at the pub and dinner later that evening in Queenstown. Caught up with Rahmona later that night at Pog Mahones the irish bar. Made my way back to Auckland a few days later and took in some of the nearby attractions, Piha, Karekare, some day walks at Okura, swam at
Muiwei beach that had black sand (as its made from iron). Saw some volcanoes at
one tree hill and mount eden and managed to run down to the crater which apparently isn't allowed anymore but managed to get away with it. Also went to the Big day out music festival, the weather was great, lots of markets and food and saw Neil Young, The Prodigy, The Arctic Monkeys, The Living End and a good Kiwi band called the headless chickens.

Had a few beers at lake Takapuna and ate at burger fuel on my last night before setting off to Santiago.

Arrived in Sydney just in time for the Newtown festival which had a spanish band that i had already seen in Byron bay.
Did the usual sightseeing stuff in Sydney, the harbour bridge, opera house, botanical gardens, Darling Harbour and Bondi.


Got there just in time for Mr. Darren Smiths birthday which was a Hawaiian party on a roof top bar looking onto the opera house, very fancy eh?

Went to a few of the November rocks markets which had the Potbellez and lots of free Yellow tail wine tasting.
Got a couple of weeks temping at a company in St Leonards, got to cross over the harbour bridge every day to get to work which was pretty cool.

East Coast
Arrive in Cairns really early in the morning and got a shuttle straight to Port Douglas. Stayed in a nice YHA and did some sunbathing and swimming there.
Got bitten alive from the mossies though! From there I headed north to cape tribulation where is rained a lot. Did some fruit tasting though which was fun.
Came back to Cairns and met the Cork girls, Frank and Matt and hung around the lagoon, did some shopping and we out a couple of times.
Booked my trip down the coast to Sydney on the Greyhound and stopped at Mission beach first. Did white water rafting here which was pretty scary and everyone got into the water at one stage, free barbeque on the river was cool.
Next stop was magnetic island. Did some cycling up crazy hills, and sat on the beach for a couple of days.
Next onto the Anaconda III sailing trip of the Whitsundays.

Really good trip with great weather and lots of good food. Got to snorkel the great barrier reef and few times and saw lots of fish, coral and even a sea turtle. Stopped off and white haven beach and hook island also to do some sunbathing. Went for few drinks and pizza with the group in Arlie beach after we got off the boat.
Took the night bus the following day to Town of 1770 and got only a few hours of proper sleep. Met cork girls and a few from Sydney and drank some Barry's tea at the hostel. Did some surfing lessons the next day and had a laugh trying to learn.
Next stop was Fraser island where we ended up camping through in a major thunderstorm, also our 4wd broke down and we ended up in a lush hostel the second night!
Headed to Noosa for 5 days or beach time, weather was great so went body boarding and swimming in the sea most days.
Went to Australia zoo and got to see all sort of native and other animals, got to cuddle a koala and saw lots of shows going on there during the day. Onwards towards Brisbane and did some needed shopping and met up with Joannes brother Paul who gave me a tour of the city, first stop Hungry jacks and then the best drinking establishments.
Spent a few days in Surfers paradise at my aunts houses and took in a the movie world theme park with Margaret and Yvonne. Lots of adrenalin rush type rides, we were screaming more than the kids on the kiddie rollarcoaster!!
Headed for Byron bay and stayed at the lovely Belongil hostel. Did the trek to the lighthouse to he most easterly point of Australia.

Did a day trip to Nimbin and saw some weird and wonderful people there. A guy that worked in the hostel was friends with a butcher whose fridge broke down and he donated all the meat to the hostel so there was a free BBQ for 2 nights in a row! Nice one!
After Byron bay made a few quick stops to Coffs Harbour which was a bit of a let down, Port Macquarie and Newcastle.