The Final Chapter: Chile and Argentina

Hola chicos! We have spent the last six and half weeks zigzagging between Chile and Argentina. During our travels we have visited Santiago, Valparaiso, Bariloche and surrounding lakes, Route 40, El Chalten, El Calafate, Puerto Natales, Torres del Paine, Tieera de Fuego, Ushusia, Buenos Aires and the Futaleufu Valley and River.



BIKING BARILOCHE: While Bariloche is a beautiful town surrounded by lakes and snow capped mountains, it will forever be remembered by us as the place where we nearly got famous. We had spent the previous day cycling around and exploring Lago (Lake) Nahuel Huapi and some of treks which lead up to the amazing breathtaking views of the area and ended up the following day in nearby Isla del Mar with mountain bikes. As we were admiring the lake side view prior to our entry into the national park, we chatted to a friendly local / TV presenter using our best Spanglish. Our friendly local seemed to be frustrated at not being able to convey a request to us properly. Following the assistance of another friendly local turned interpreter, we understood that we were originally being asked to appear on an Argentinean sports TV programme. Clearly we must have looked impressive with our mountain bikes but unfortunately our TV presenter friend informed us that the interview wouldn’t really work with an interpreter and we were therefore gently let down. Oh well, nearly famous! We still had a good day on our mountain bikes in what may well have been Kirsty’s last mountain bike ride. It turns out that Kirsty now considers that cycling around and over tree roots and rocks isn’t really that easy after all and future such activities will be left to Rodney.



RED MEAT AND VINO: Argentina and Chile are the homes of good, cheap and delicious red wine and steak. Picture this: Dinner with a cheap bottle of red wine of the Malbec variety (our new favourite), which feels like it should have cost a lot more and certainly would have had it been on sale in New Zealand. A massive portion of juicy, tender steak – often up to 700 grams in size. And no, 700 grams is not too much meat to eat in one sitting. We did learn the hard way to be careful exactly how a rare steak is asked for – on one occasion something was definitely lost in translation and we were served with steak so rare that it was potentially still mooing. The Argentineans and Chileans are on to a good thing and this is potentially a concept to bring home; after all, who would refuse a dinner of nice steak and red wine?



BIG ICE: Following a fantastic 5 days trekking in the beautifully mountainous and extremely windy El Chalten, we spent a day just out of El Calafate at the Puerto Morino Glacier pretending to be ice explorers. This glacier is massive and utterly impressive to look at; its 60 metre jagged iced peaks break off and land continuously in a thunderous roar that makes everyone pause to spot the action. On top of this, the glacier is 30kms long and 5 kms wide and is actually growing. While the weather on the day was decidedly Patagonian – windy, cold, with icy rain and sleet – we still had a great time strapping crampons to our boots, enjoying the feeling of not slipping on an icy surface and admired what we saw. Our guide was one of the many passionate Argentinean rugby fans who we have met and was very excited about the possibility of staying with us during the rugby world cup and watching the All Blacks play the Pumas in the finals. Our very wet day ended nicely after our departure from the ice – we were rewarded with a nice fire and a glass of scotch to warm us up. Nice.



TREKKING TORRES DEL PAINE: After deciding that we couldn’t afford / nor wanted to spend the dollars to go on a guided expedition of Torres del Paine, we decided to go it alone and along with a couple of American friends we met in Bariloche, hired the necessary tents and loaded up our backpacks to complete the circuit and W loop of the national park. The scenery would definitely rival that of our Nepal trekking – we spent 6 days walking in forests, alongside granite towers, lakes, glaciers and surrounded by snow capped mountains. We were treated to a complete variety of weather as well – during our trek we saw everything from snow, sleet, sun, wind to rain. While nothing that could hamper our spirits too much, the 25km a day average walking contributing to a total of over 150kms, was definitely hard work.



BUSY BUENOS AIRES: This is a city that never sleeps. Even when we were simply wandering around, there would be all sorts of things to look at – people , markets, amazing graffiti art and musicians and tango dancers busking on the street. The locals in Buenos Aires have a real love of music and we saw a lot of live music including a big drum show called Time Bomb. To get a real feel of local culture we went along to a Boca Juniors v Quimes football game. The atmosphere was absolutely electric with drumming, singing and chanting. It became reasonably obvious fairly quickly that the opposing fans did not like each other. While it may be a good idea to separate the fans, it wasn’t such a great idea to have the opposition Quimes fans seated directly above all the Boca fans; in no time at all we had all sorts of arsenal aimed at us (fortunately we were under cover), ranging from plastic bottles to balloons full of urine. We were also locked in the stadium for a full 45 minutes after the game finished, allowing the Quimes fans to leave peacefully.

We personally sampled the Argentinean love of tango with a tango lesson. While we are both agreed that we had lots of fun but were pretty dismal as tango dancers, the cause of our dancing difficulty is currently a matter for dispute. According to Kirsty, the main problem was that Rodney kept on standing on her feet and she was forced to make quite an effort to avoid his feet. According to Rodney and possibly the tango teacher, the fact that Kirsty was not really allowing Rodney to lead was causing quite a few problems. After our lesson we decided that we should watch a show to see how the professionals dance. Something may have been lost in translation because the show we went to had no dancers but was in fact a tango music show. While initially confused, we were soon really pleased to be there as the music was top quality and the singer was apparently a top Argentinean actress.



While cyclists commuting around New Zealand may have their fair show of difficulties with motor vehicle drivers, Buenos Aires cyclists probably have it worse. In short, the drivers here are crazy!!! We were told about a Crictal Mass bike protest aimed at improving safety for cyclists and decided we had to be a part of it. We rented bright orange retro styled bikes and met with 800 plus other cyclists and literally blocked a whole major road and motor way as the mass cycled down it. We received lots of support along the way and all in all, it was a neat thing to be part of and certainly a cause which we support.



THE MIGHTY FU: We spent an action packed week camping on the Futaleufu River (Chile) as part of a trip with a company called Bio Bio. The camp itself is in isolated agricultural surroundings right on the river and nestled between snow capped mountains. We didn’t have too much spare time as we rafted, kayacked, duckied (inflatable kayak), fished, biked, ran and went horse riding during our stay. The big water grade 4 and 5 rapids are some of the most highly regarded in the world and definitely kept the adrenalin going at all times! While the days may have been busy, the evenings were a great wind down with a sauna, outdoor hot tub, good wine and even better food. Definitely a great way to finish off the year!



We are now in Santiago, Chile doing some last minute missions as we prepare for our return to New Zealand. We’d like to thank everyone for their support over the last year and to everyone we met on our way around the world thank you for helping make it an AWESOME adventure. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and to everyone in NZ, see you all soon!!!!

FYI all photos from Chile and Argentina are now on flickr. If you want to check them out go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/rodneykirsty/sets/

Chao,
Love Rodney and Kirsty.

Brasil: Togs, Togs, Undies, Undies

Written on 09 November 2010 and posted to the blog on 20 November 2010.

Bom dia amigos! We spent two and a half weeks skimming the surface of what Brasil has to offer. Our brief taste was enough to leave us wanting more – with the football world cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, why not? Our destinations included Corumba, the Pantanal, Campo Grande, Bonito, Foz de Iguasu, Rio de Janeiro and Isla Grande.



RIVER SNORKELLING IN BONITO: After a less than smooth border crossing into Brasil, we eventually made it through the vast Pantanal and down into Bonito. Bonito’s snorkelling was first class – floating down clear water rivers with massive fish unafraid of swimming up very close.



SHOWERING AT FOZ DE IGUASU: With 275 waterfalls crashing down 80 metres into the Rio Iguasu, we figured that we may get wet at some stage so we wore our togs (with other clothes of course). We visited both the Brasilian and Argentinean sides of the falls over two days and took more than our fair share of waterfall photos while managing to avoid the hordes of elderly ladies on bus tours. We couldn’t really complain about the regular dousing of water we received given the high temperatures we were encountering.



PEOPLE WATCHING RIO STYLES: We spent just over a week in the Rio de Janeiro region and would like to specially thank Dale ‘Smit Dog’ Smith and Raphael ‘Rafa’ Bonventi for hosting us for the majority of that time. The boys’ house proved to be a very social hangout in Ipanema and we really enjoyed the company of many of their Brasilian and ex pat friends while ‘funky dancing’ (aka booty dancing), drinking beer and sitting on the beach. We also put our best dancing skills to use while wearing headphones at a silent disco. This concept may initially seem a little antisocial but the absence of loud music actually makes conversation easier once the headphones are removed. The hang gliding scene is also a great social point of Rio and while we didn’t hang glide ourselves, we enjoyed watching Dale and Rafa from the take off point (with amazing views), as well as the landing beach.



The best place to people watch in Rio would have to be Ipanema Beach. Divided into three sections: gay, family and ‘good looking people’ we of course hung out in the latter section. We more than likely stood out as gringos from a mile away: fair hair and blue eyes, Rodney’s board shorts as opposed to little Speedos and a bikini that covered most of Kirsty’s bottom rather than a skimpy g-string. We also enjoyed more of the beaches by catching a three hour bus and one and a half hour boat ride to beautiful island of Isla Grande. Trekking through jungle in hot temperatures was hard work but the serene beach and cooling swim was well worth it.



More sobering was our tour of two of the city’s favellas, or slums. While the level of poverty is immediately noticeable, what is also apparent is the strong community feeling. Built on what was formerly public land, the favellas have million dollar views; rather than expanding outwards each dwelling is simply added to by attaching another level to the roof with each new generation.

A visit to Rio is not complete without visiting two of the most famous icons in the city: Cristo Rendentor (Christ the Redeemer) and Sugar Loaf Mountain. We were fortunate to have a really stunning Rio day to visit these viewpoints which provide a spectacular take of the city.

We are now in Valpraiso, Chile and will spend the next six weeks zipping between Argentina and Chile and into Patagonia.

Adeus!!!!!
Amor Rodney and Kirsty.

High up in Bolivia

Written on 24 October 2010 and due to having too much fun in Brazil, only posted to the blog on 6 November 2010.

Buenos Dias! We have just spent three weeks in Bolivia and most of that time was spent between three and five thousand metres above sea level. Favourite spots included Copacabana and the Isla de Sol on Lake Titicaca, La Paz, Rurrenbaque , Chalalan Lodge deep in the Amazon Jungle, Tupiza, In and around Salar de Uyuni, Potosi, Sucre and Santa Cruz.



ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT: Why to things the easy way? A common theme to our travels this year has been taking the more physical and less travelled ways of doing things. Visiting Isla la Sol on Lake Titicaca from Copacabana was no exception. As other backpackers were climbing abroad motorboats for a quick ride, we were starting what ended up being a day long mission to get to the same location. We started with a scenic walk to the channel between the mainland and the island which ended up being 22kms, although we were told 15kms. We then entered into negotiations with the local elderly boat men to cross the channel. This concluded with us jumping in a dubious looking rowboat for a journey which was promised to be 40 minutes. An hour and a half later we arrived at Isla de Sol cold, wet, cold, surprised that our oarsman had not had a heart attack and that we hadn’t been required to swim. Despite our woes, it was all worth it; the beautiful views of the Cordillera Real mountain ranges and the scenic island walk making it a very picturesque area of the world.





THE WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS: Many of you will be aware that our anticipated highlight in La Paz, the world’s highest capital, was to have been riding a mountain bike down the world’s most dangerous road. Unfortunately, our visit coincided with a government crackdown on dodgy coca leaf farmers (think cocaine), who responded by blockading the road and consequently making it impossible to pass. Rodney responded by hunting out another world’s most dangerous activity, this time at a famous La Paz curry house. The challenge? To eat the world’s most dangerous curry, containing over 40 chillies. While Rodney loves hot food, this Vindaloo was a true test of his capabilities. With the assistance of a lassi (yoghurt drink) Rodney happily completed the challenge and was awarded a t-shirt for his efforts. Happy would probably not be a word that either of us would use to describe some of the hours which followed.



THE MIGHTY AMAZON: We journeyed 5 hours upriver by boat from Rurrenbaque deep into the Amazon Jungle. Staying at the community run Chalalan Lodge for 4 nights, we ventured out into the jungle during both day and night time and we were accompanied by a host of weird and wonderful creatures including tarantulas, caymans, macaws, a huge variety of monkeys, insects and snakes. Importantly, Rodney finally catching his first ever fish – and by hand reel! This was no ordinary fish either but a sharp toothed paranha! Not to be outdone, half an hour later Kirsty caught a massive piranha at least four times the size of Rodney’s.



WHAM BAM THANK YOU MA’AM: On returning to La Paz, we were unable to get in to our previous hostel. As it was already dark we needed to find a room promptly and were told about a hotel which would definitely have space. On arrival we noticed an hourly room rate charge and interestingly positioned mirrors in the rooms (i.e. on the ceiling). However, given that the room was clean and secure and the hour was late, we checked in. Our initial suspicions were confirmed an hour or so later when sounds of pleasure were heard coming from the room next door, which was then quickly vacated. Clearly their hour was up.



GEOLOGICAL WONDERLAND: Tupiza is the location where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid met their death. It was therefore appropriate that we combined seeing the huge, worn away rock cliffs with donning cowboy / girl hats and jumping on a horse. Our horse handling skills could probably do with a bit of improvement, although the slow speed and disobedience of our horses is surely more to do with the age of Rodney’s horse and the weight of Kirsty’s. Deciding to switch transport, we jumped in a jeep and travelled over 1000kms during a 4 day period in and around Salar de Uyuni (Salt Flats), where we were consistently at altitudes of between three and five thousand metres. While seeing some amazing wildlife which included multitudes of llamas and flamingos, the geology of the region was most impressive, whether it be the strangely coloured lagoons, hot springs, active / non active volcanoes, the cacti island and of course the massive salt lakes.



THE JOB FROM HELL: Potosi is the world’s highest city; its mines originally funding
the Spanish colonial empire as silver flowed out its gates. Given this year’s mining story in Chile and upon hearing of the potential health risks, we decided not to go and see the miners while they were working away at their ‘job from hell’. Instead, we checked out other aspects of the miners’ lives which included having opportunities to buy coca leaves, the miners’ drink of choice – a 97% alcoholic drink, as well as purchase 4 sticks of dynamite with a fuse thrown in for less than NZ$10. We did ask whether there are many incidental cases of dynamite explosions in the city given the ease with which the explosive is available and were told that people are ‘mostly’ sensible.



WANTED - FULTON HOGAN: We were warned about Bolivia’s roads and buses before we arrived and unfortunately we were not warned without reason. The roads themselves are seldom tar sealed and usually have enough hair pin corners to make even the most experienced rally car driver nervous. The buses themselves are unlikely to pass a WOF back home and are more often than not extremely full, as aisle ‘spots’ are sold once the seats have gone. All part of the travel experience, although we could have done without the loud chair shaking locals at first light towards the end of a 17 hour journey.

After a long overnight train, we have just crossed the infamous Bolivia / Brazil border renowned for cocaine smuggling. We keep our heads down, tried not to look at the copious number of dodgy activities occurring and will now safely start our Brazilian adventure. All of our Peru and Bolivia photos are now on flickr if you want to check them out http://www.flickr.com/photos/rodneykirsty/sets/

Ciao Ciao!
Love Rodney and Kirsty.

Trekking Around Peru

Written on 3 October 2010 and due to time restraints and poor internet connections posted to the blog on 13 October 2010.

Hola Gringos!

We have spent the last three weeks catching buses and trekking our way through Peru’s top spots including Lima, Huaraz, Cordillera Blanca, Arequipa, Colca Canyon, Cusco and Machu Picchu.



NO ENTIENDO: Our arrival in Peru also coincided with yet another language, Latin American Spanish, which we had to muster. While sign language will help if all else fails, we have had a few faux pas. Particularly in the early days, ordering food from a menu would take an extremely long time, as we would have to look up each word in the dictionary before ordering with confidence. We did try to shortcut this process by ordering a tortilla, only to find out that ‘tortilla’ in Spanish means omelette and ‘tortillas’ is what we were used to from back home. Similarly, we did end up with a ridiculously fizzy sparkling water when we were trying to order the still variety. The most delicate situation we have found ourselves in was when we were at the Colca Canyon where our slightly out of date Lonely Planet had advised not to buy the ridiculous tourist permit that we were regularly hassled for. Beyond “no, I will not pay” we were a bit lost for words, which became a bit of an issue when one of the officials got two police officers involved. To cut a long story short, we were assisted by a friendly English speaking local who advised us that the law had changed but mere months ago and we were now require to purchase the permit. Woops...



CORDILLERA BLANCA: Waking up to ice all over your tent sound appealing? We spent three days trekking around the Santa Cruz trek, in the Cordillera Blaanca mountain ranges near Huaraz. Despite some cold nights and the odd headache from the altitude, the sights were probably second only to what we saw in Nepal in terms of being picturesque.

COCA TEA: The locals drink copious amounts of coca tea to assist with the altitude, amongst other things. We have both taken a strong liking to the tea which is similar to green tea in taste and were disappointed to discover NZ customs prohibits its import into New Zealand. Apparently it is illegal; something to do with the Class A drug cocaine. So it looks like we will just have to stick to drinking coca tea in South America.



FLIGHT OF THE CONDORS: Colca Canyon is over 1000 metres deep and the world’s second deepest canyon. So, of course we had to see what the bottom looked like ourselves at close range by trekking right down into the oasis and then up to the isolated village of Tapay on the other side. We stayed the night with a lovely local family, who understood after a few language issues that we didn’t have a tent and wanted a bed, that we would like dinner but not breakfast. We had an extremely rewarding swim in the oasis the next day, although could have done with another one on reaching the top again! We are not normally bird watchers but watching the condors flying overhead at the top of the canyon the next morning was definitely not to be missed. For reasons totally unknown, the bus between Cabanaconde and the condor viewing spot was not operating. Rather than giving up, we managed to hitch a ride on the back of a vegetable truck with local women selling their crafts. The ride was well worth it; the condors flew right over our heads and were able to glide and manoeuvre by making simple adjustments with their tails. Very cool.

VIP BUS TRAVELLERS: Peru has got its bus system totally sorted and we think that Asia (and even New Zealand) has a lot to learn. Many of the stations themselves feel like airports (yes, we did manage to sneak into a VIP lounge) and the buses themselves are really comfortable. Having two toilets on a bus is particularly useful after drinking too much water...



INCA JUNGLE TRAIL TO MACHU PICCHU: We passed up the train to Machu Picchu and instead spent a day mountain biking downhill and two days trekking a marathon distance through the jungle to get there. Our day at Machu Picchu itself was no less intense, as we spent 12 hours exploring the place. This started with what ended up being an unofficial race up over 2000 ancient steps for a limited spot to climb Huana Picchu Mountain, overlooking the ruins. Not being the slightest bit competitive, Rodney placed second overall and Kirsty was the first female in and placed within the top ten overall. We really enjoyed exploring the ruins themselves but decided we needed more exercise for the day. In addition to climbing Huana Picchu, we also climbed the taller Machu Picchu Mountain. On returning down we thought that it would be cool to go and see the famous Inca Bridge and in our tired state were a little disappointed to discover that it was essentially a plank of wood. So much for those Inca marketers.

We are now currently just across the border from Peru chilling around Lake Titicaca in Copacabana, Bolivia.

Ciao Amigos!
Love Rodney and Kirsty.

Catching up in London

Oh Hello. Our 6 day stopover in London was predominately about catching up with our contingent of friends living there. We also managed to catch the tube to some of London's more traditional tourist landmarks, including stopping traffic at Abbey Road and browsing at Harrods.



We particularly enjoyed celebrating our engagement with friends in person. Special thanks to Anna and Brett, who lent us their lounge, the use of their luxury air bed and cooked us a special celebratory dinner - champagne included of course. Thanks also to all those who appreciated the weakness of the New Zealand dollar vs the British Pound and shouted us a drink or two.





Our stay in London went relatively smoothly, with the exception of a certain incident on the tube. After watching the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace we were running late for our prearranged lunch with Anna. As we approached the tube platform, we started running as the tube was preparing to depart. Unfortunately, one of us made it on to the tube before the doors shut fully, not realising that the other hadn't and was waiting on the platform. A couple of people on the departing tube found our situation interesting, remarking that the exchange between us that followed our separation wasn't tense at all and sounded a lot like 'have a good weekend'. To add to our woes, we had jumped on to the tube going in the wrong direction. We heartily apologise to Anna for wasting half her lunchtime, although we suspect that the smile on her face as we arrived separately was testament to the fact that she found the whole situation just a tiny bit amusing.



A few blogs ago we included a paragraph detailing the different ways that we had found to save money as we backpacked around the world. We can now add the old favourite money saver of sleeping at the airport to this list: Despite the fact that we were not checking in for our flight until 5.00am, we caught the last tube out to Heathrow the night before, in order to avoid the expensive taxi ride there. While we cannot say that we had a sound sleep, the floor of the terminal wasn't too bad, particularly as we snuck through the barrier to where first class passengers checked in and used their couches and carpet.



We are now in Lima, Peru starting the South American leg of our world tour. Where has time gone? Got to go, desperately need to learn the basics of Latin American Spanish.

Cheerio
Love Kirsty and Rodney

Giving Back to Africa

Jambo! Well, after nearly 3 months of enjoying Africa we decided to give a little something back before leaving. After evaluating many worthwhile options, we decided to become Ambassadors of the Amani Children’s Home in Moshi, Tanzania and volunteer for 10 days.



The Amani Children’s Home was established on 20 August 2001 to meet the needs of the rapidly growing population of street children in Moshi and Arusha in Tanzania. The root cause of these children fleeing to the streets is complex and multi faceted but most are seeking to escape hunger, abuse and neglect. Other causes included HIV/AIDS, rising divorce rates, the lack of rights for women and children, the cost of primary education and the lack of a functioning government run social welfare system.



Amani means “peace” in Swahili and the Amani Children’s Home has brought just that to hundreds of children since its conception. Amani focuses on holistic care, education and family reunification. Amani kids have everything they need to grow; nutritious food, good medical care, counselling, plenty of play time and a happy place to call home. All Amani kids go to school until they are self supporting young adults. Education opens doors for them in a country where only half of the children make it through primary school. Amani believes that the best environment for a child is in a family. Amani social workers therefore trace each child’s relatives and if reunification is possible, equip the family with the resources they need to provide a healthy home for the child. This may include counselling, medicine and paying school expenses. If reunification is not possible Amani provides the children with loving long term care as part of the Amani family.



So what were our 10 days like? After our 6km walk to Amani from central Moshi each day, we were greeted with a smile by Pedro the security guard and grounds man of Amani. This was always closely followed by several kids with a football or skipping rope in hand, as well as members of the Amani staff who were happy to see us arrive and appreciative of our help. Unsurprisingly, with so many kids in one place our days were rather busy. Some of our activities included getting stuck in harvesting the maize on harvest day, rolling up our sleeves on spring cleaning day, assisting the cooks with food preparation, tutoring, playing lots of sport (particularly any kind of game to do with a football), art, goofing around with the kids,showing interest in what the kids were doing, organising fundraising t-shirts and supporting special education teaching staff. Although we struggled a little bit with our limited Swahili, many of the kids have a basic grasp of English; besides, you don't need to speak the same language to play football with a kid or give them a hug. As Ambassadors, we formed quite strong bonds with some of the kids and it was very hard saying good bye, particularly as they have been abandoned by other adults they have bonded with in the past. We both found it particularly heartbreaking when some of the kids ran away from us looking like they were about to cry when we went to say goodbye to them.



Amani receives no government funding and therefore is fully reliant on support from foundations, businesses and individuals, with the majority coming from individuals. Amani is dedicated to sound management of funds and is externally audited every year. Amani is also governed by an active external Board of Trustees all of whom live in Moshi, none of whom receive any financial compensation for their role in Amani’s supervision.

Tanzania has definitely delivered in terms of well exceeding our expectations of it. Why not come to Tanzania and climb Mt Kilimanjaro, safari in the Serengeti and volunteer at Amani? If thats not you but you’ve always wanted to lend a helping hand in Africa but were unsure of the authenticity of the various organisations, how about donating to the Amani Children’s Home? We can definitely vouch for it.

www.amanikids.org/donate



We are back in Nairobi, Kenya and in a couple of days will fly out to London to catch up with everyone there before starting the South American leg of our world tour in Lima, Peru. FYI we have now finally been able to download all our Africa photos to Flickr if you are keen check them out http://www.flickr.com/photos/rodneykirsty/sets/

Bidai (Later in Swahili)

Love Rodney and Kirsty.

Engaged on the Roof of Africa

Written on 25 August 2010 and due to a lack of internet connection posted to the blog on 2 September 2010

Jambo. As mentioned in our last blog we have spent the last week endeavouring to conquer Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, which sits at a massive 5895 metres above sea level. This makes it the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free standing mountain in the world. So how did we get on?



We ascended via the Umbwe Route, also known as the Whiskey Route, due to its steep but beautiful terrain. During the 5 day trip to our base camp our guides reduced potential altitude difficulties by enforced a “pole pole” (slowly) regime opposed to the “haraka haraka” (quickly) that we normally like to walk at. Asides from helping us to acclimatise, this allowed us to enjoy the views of the Barranco Valley, Mt Meru, Lava Tower, Shera Plateau, Barranco Wall, Western Breach, Karanga Valley and Mt Mawenzi during our assent. There are no huts or facilities on the Umbwe Route so as well as our head and assistant guides we had 12 porters to carrying tents, food, water, a gas cooker, a toilet, tables and chairs etc. The reason for so many porters is because the Kilimanjaro National Park rules allow porters to only carry a maximum of 15 kilograms at one time.



Day 6 (well actually 11pm on day 5) had us dazed and wandering around base camp (4600m), preparing for our midnight assault on Uhuru Peak, the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro. Due to gale force winds pummelling our tent all evening, we started our mission without a wink of sleep but forged ahead full of adrenaline. Oddly enough, the wind actually died down as we started walking and for the first 3 hours we felt significantly overdressed. The wind returned around 3am however, which meant that as we got higher up the mountain, breathing became more difficult while we simultaneously got colder. We are sure that any of you that know us in the slightest will not be at all surprised to learn that our competitive natures shone through and we actually got within distance of the summit far too early. This meant that we were forced to shelter against rocks to try and get reprieve from the bitter cold. We started walking again to time our arrival at the summit with sunrise and to ensure that we were first to the top. While the sun was more than welcome it didn’t make a difference to the -23 degrees which berated us as we tried to take in the views from the top and have the customary photos with the sign announcing how high we had climbed. We both felt an amazing sense of achievement on reaching Uhuru Peak.



Many of you will also realise that Rodney enjoys being organised and had given our head guide the “inside word” that he may get affected by the altitude at the summit and propose to Kirsty. While Kirsty was standing by the sign admiring the views and contemplating her cold feet, Rodney got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. Kirsty may have been affected by the altitude as well, as her first reaction was to utter “seriously?” However she eventually said yes. Woohoo!!!!!!!!!! Our head guide was on hand with the camera, so we are very lucky to have photos of our very special moment. Rodney has officially decided that his proposal is proof that you don’t need flowers to be romantic. Kirsty will let you know how that goes, but in the meantime we are both feeling on top of the world. Our guide and porters were also stoked for us, so much so they organised a congratulatory cake for us at the bottom.



We are now in Moshi, Tanzania about to commence 10 days volunteer work at the Amani Children’s Home we visited earlier in our trip. We will let you know how we got on once we get to London in early September.

Kwaheri (Goodbye in Swahili)
Love Rodney and Kirsty.

Gorillas in the Mist: Rwanda and Uganda

Written on 16 August 2010 and due to a lack of internet connection posted to the blog on 25 August 2010

Bonjour! We have had an action packed 2 weeks overlanding through Uganda and Rwanda, before concluding our Dragoman trip in Nairobi. Our favourite activities and places have been tracking chimpanzees in the Kibale National Park (Uganda), mingling with Gorillas in Parc National Des Volcans (Rwanda), chilling at Lake Bunyonyi (Uganda) and taming the Nile in Jinja (Uganda).



CHARMING CHIMPS: We all know a person who has that extra bit of charisma, charm and vanity (no names mentioned of course). After tracking chimpanzees through the Kibale National Park, we have decided that the group of chimps which we saw on the ground and high up in the trees would take the cake. We were fortunate to find chimps within about 30 minutes of walking into the jungle area and what a sight we saw. You would definitely think that they are all practising for auditions on Next Top Model, Miss New Zealand or similar. The similarities to humans are immediately evident, with the chimps striking poses which would make Rachel Hunter proud, having conversations with each other and grooming those tiresome ticks out of each other’s fur. The male chimps unfortunately have not been blessed with “big machines” (as our guide nicely pointed out to us), so it was not a surprise when we were all the sudden surrounded by a group of male chimps who had been sent down from the trees by the female chimps, who simply had had enough of the boys for the time being. Believe it or not, chimpanzees were not the sole focus of our stay at Kibale, our campsite situated in the middle of a large tea plantation with a fantastic view providing an ideal background for Rodney to run through the forest and Kirsty to engage in yoga, courtesy of a fellow New Zealander needing to stretch out those tight muscles incurred when sleeping on a thin mat each night.


TOUCHED BY A GORILLA: “Jiggi jiggi, the Gorillas love jiggi jiggi” and “there is a big one coming, get back get back get back” were amongst a handful of the colourful language and phrases used by our guide Mr D while mingling with the Amahoro group of gorillas (20 in total) in Parc National Des Volcans in Rwanda. We trekked up to 3000 metres above sea level, before nearly running into our first lot of gorillas who were descending into the crater for their daily pre-lunch nap. The rule to maintain a distance of 7 metres between ourselves and the gorillas soon became a bit of a joke, with the gorillas themselves actually breaching that distance in order to have a closer look at the group of humans who had come to visit. The Amahoro group consisted of 1 silverback (the “elderly” alpha male of the group), a handful of blackbacks (fully grown younger males), females, adolescents and baby gorillas. We spent a very memorable hour with the gorillas, some of our favourite moments including: Posing for a photo with gorillas in the background, not realising until it was too late that they were very interested in Rodney (can’t imagine why), with one of them coming up and stroking his back (Rodney thought that it was Kirsty until he realised that her arm was on the other side of him); Watching the interaction between our guides and the gorillas themselves and in particular the throat clearing noises which we all make regularly in our lives, which in the gorilla world mean something along the lines of ‘it’s ok, you can come closer’; Hoping that our guides would know what to do when different gorillas at various times charged at us while beating their chests (yes, it does look exactly like it does on the gorilla thriller movies); Watching a one year old gorilla play a game of roley poley down the hill and then get told off by the silverback for doing so; Trying to leave the crater up a narrow path and then been forced back into the crater as a blackback was coming towards us and not looking to happy about the fact. Absolutely impossible to stay calm when your trained professional guide is screaming “get back get back” in a very panicky sounding voice; and Being a fair way out of the crater on another narrow path and thinking that we had seen the last of the gorillas, when all of the sudden a large blackback appeared out of nowhere. We were literally frozen still as the blackback brushed against us in order to get to the bamboo he was trying to eat. On a more serious note, Rwanda is a country trying to recover from the devastating effects of the 1994 genocide, among other things. Despite this fact, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay there. The people are extremely friendly and eager to impress a good image of their country on foreigners, while the landscape of green pastures and mountainous terrain is truly beautiful.



TAMING THE NILE: During the time leading up to our departure, many of you would have
heard Rodney talking about how he was looking forward to taming the Nile’s grade 5 rapids in a raft at Jinja and Kirsty’s absolute refusal “to do anything that stupid”. Peer pressure won the day (everyone on our truck decided to go rafting) and both Rodney and Kirsty ended up in a raft. While Rodney did offer very encouraging support to Kirsty before the rafting commenced, his support was only ever going to go so far. The only way that Kirsty was going to go rafting was if she was in a “mild” boat – essentially, the guide will not tip the boat deliberately. Rodney was not too keen for such a “tame” experience, instead electing to go in the “extreme” boat – a smaller raft which tips on a regular basis. Both Rodney and Kirsty thoroughly enjoyed the 35km ride with 10 grade 5 rapids in between, although Kirsty was not too happy during her raft’s practice tip over, when she was the only person to end up stuck under the raft. Fortunately, there was a kiwi guide on hand ready to save the day. The day ended on a positive note, with beer and kebabs overlooking the Nile, followed by a party back at the campsite where both Rodney and Kirsty somehow ended up upside down drinking their drinks from a kayak hanging in the ceiling.

CARD SHARKS: Many travelling days since Capetown have seen many card challenges with 500 and Hearts among the favourite games. Without doubt the highlight was a “card marathon” between Kibale, Uganda and Parc National Des Volcans in Rwanda where we played cards for 13 hours straight. This did nothing to obliterate Rodney’s belief that he is a card shark, as he may have been on a few of the winning teams. We were also fortunate enough to have a few Australians on board in the past month; each and every one of them convinced that the Bledisloe Cup and Tri Nations would be going across the Tasman. As history would tell, they didn’t and we scored a few rounds of free drinks as a result.



THE END OF AN ERA: We have been travelling with Dragoman on our truck Helena for 2 months since departing Capetown and it was therefore with some sadness that we said our goodbyes in Kenya. Kim, Will and Arthur (our crew) did an amazing job throughout and we will definitely miss Arthur’s pancakes in the morning (although potentially our waistlines will not). We have made many lifelong friends and would recommend Dragoman to anyone thinking about overlanding it through Africa.



We are now in Arusha, Tanzania about to attempt to conquer Mt Kilimanjaro. We will update you all in a week as to how we get on.

Till next time, take care,
Love Rodney and Kirsty.

Hakuna Matata: Tanzania and Kenya

Written on 4 August 2010 and due to a lack of internet connection posted to the blog on 24 August 2010

Jambo Habari! We have had another full on 3 weeks overlanding through Tanzania and Kenya with favourite destinations including Zanzibar, Usambara Mountains in Lushoto, camping at the base of Mt Kilimanjaro, safaris in Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater and Nakuru National Park.



AHHHHHHHHH..... ZANZIBAR: Ever thought that the Interislander Ferry in the middle of a southerly was bad? The ferry between Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar would definitely give it a run for its money. We both felt a little dodgy and only just got to the other side without feeding the fish. After exploring ancient Stonetown and its surrounding plantations, we headed north to Zanzibar’s famous beaches. Outside of lazing on the beach, the occasional cocktail and beach football with the locals, we dived for the first time since gaining our PADI dive certification in Thailand. The two dives off Maemea Island were not quite as tropical as Thailand but were a good test of our beginner dive skills. We returned to the beach at the end of the day to find that two Aussie lads from our truck had discovered that for a just a few Tanzanian Shillings, you could purchase a wheelbarrow full of beers (30) covered in ice. What a great way to transport your icy cool beverage up and down the beach.



AMANI CHILDRENS HOME: Our visit to the Amani Children’s Home in Arusha was very special. The home emphasises providing social and actual orphans with a safe place to stay and an education and we were both really impressed with its operation. Consequently at the end of our time in Africa, we have decided to volunteer at Amani for 10 days so that we can give something back to a continent that has given us so much. Watch this space.



THE BIG FIVE: No visit to Africa is complete without spotting the big five (buffalos, elephants, lions, leopards and rhinos) as well as hippos, cheetahs, giraffes, zebras and many various antelopes and birds. Unsurprisingly, the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and Nakuru National Parks are perfect for this. Our best animal spotting moments included watching: A leopard 15 metres up a tree eating a antelope it had dragged up there (particularly as we had just spent 45 minutes staring at grass while trying to spot a cheetah) ; A female lion stalking zebras whilst 2 male lions slept and pruned themselves. After giving up on her prey, the female marched over to the males and slapped them; A cheetah walking along the side of the road as we were leaving Serengeti National Park. Not only were we not expecting to see anymore animals at that stage but we were able to watch the cheetah wander around and drink at a watering hole without anybody else around; An excited male elephant running around, making all the males on our trip feel inadequate as it dragged its “member” across the ground; and Engaging in staring matches with countless giraffes who were just as curious about us as we were about them.



SAFARI ETIQUETTE: Not all people seem to be able to follow the guidelines advised when watching wild animals (especially the one about making as little noise as possible). Various faux pas included a family chanting “lion lion lion” loudly to try and arouse a couple of lazy male lions from their sleep; A jeep driver honking his horn over and over because his clients didn’t want to watch a leopard, preferring instead to get to a nearby campsite for dinner; and A tour leader using a very loud megaphone to make sure that his clients could hear what he was saying about the animals we were trying to quietly watch.

FOODBANK ON WHEELS: While on the truck, our lunch stops are often unavoidably on the side of the road or other public areas. As you can imagine, this unfortunately draws attention from hungry locals curious as to what the Mzungu(Swahili for foreigner) are doing and whether there will be leftovers. This normally ends favourably for all, with us giving the locals food (particularly the children) and playing a game or two of football.

As we write this, we are starting the final leg of our overlanding trip, heading into Uganda and Rwanda to spot chimpanzees and gorillas plus tame the Nile River.

Till next time, take care,
Love Rodney and Kirsty.

Waving and Smiling in Zambia and Malawi

Written on 17 July 2010 and due to a lack of internet connection posted to the blog on 31 July 2010

Hello! We have had a busy 2 weeks since our last update, as we continue our overland trip through Zambia and Malawi, where we have loved receiving copious amounts of waves and smiles from the locals. Key destinations have included Victoria Falls, camping on the Zambezi River, the Luwawa National Park and Lake Malawi.



SUPER SOAKER: While we are used to cold showers in Africa by now, we weren’t quite prepared for what the Victoria Falls had in stall for us. As we approached the falls, we were in awe of the view and the noise; most surprisingly of all, when we got closer to the falls for a better look, we got soaked. This got worse when, as we walked across the bridge in front of the falls, a burst of water hit us and knocked us sideways. The Huka Falls will never be the same again.



ON THE ZAMBEZI: With the sounds of hippos grunting and the thunder of the Victoria Falls in the background, camping on the Zambezi River is definitely up there in terms of the amazing spots which we have camped at in Africa. While it made for a couple of nervous toilet stops during the night, the sunsets were amazing.



BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION: Africa is famous for officials abusing their power to make a little on the side. Asides from the obvious cash bribes, we have come across interesting demands including the creation of a charge for an unrequired truck permit, as well as for cigarettes, oranges and from a well read border control guard, a novel.



KENYA VS NEW ZEALAND: On the morning we were to cross from Zambia to Malawi, Rodney finally managed to tempt Chef Arthur to join him on an early morning run to the border to meet the rest of the group on the truck. Surprise surprise, Rodney and Arthur’s competitive personalities meant that it turned into a serious 18km race to the border. The Kenyan was early to show his class by easily building up an early 500 metre lead; however the New Zealander’s consistent pace and endurance won out on the day, with a minute margin on the Kenyan. Both runners were all smiles at the end, particularly when they were informed that they had run the 18km at a sub four minute km pace.




REAL AFRICA: One of the main reasons why we opted to travel with Dragoman was their support for local villages. During our stay at Kande Beach on Lake Malawi, we were lucky enough to spend a day hanging out at the local village. Our visit to the school was extra special, particularly as the library was set up and donated by a New Zealand teacher who had volunteered there. This particular New Zealand teacher was also responsible for teaching half the village the haka, which was performed instantaneously upon their discovery that we were Kiwis. We were particularly touched on learning that kids were charged $U50 per term, which means that many kids can’t afford to go to school at all, or alternatively they finish school in their mid twenties once they have saved up enough money. It was also eye opening to be shown around the clinic which helps locals with HIV and Malaria particularly as the HIV rate is 50% in the village. The day finished on a lighter note with a large number of the village coming to the Chief’s football pitch to watch the Dragoman Kiwi/Dutch/English combination beat the locals 3 – 2 in a hard fought game of football. Perhaps Kirsty had the harder job of the day juggling four cameras and a band full of curious kids and adolescent males, who were not quite at the required standard to play against the Dragoman team.



MYSTERY FANCY DRESS: To assist a couple of local boys with their school fees, we paid them to roast a pig on a spit for our evening’s mystery fancy dress party. Our costumes originated by pulling another person’s name out of a hat and entering into serious negotiations at the local second hand clothes market. Needless to say, neither of us would have selected our own outfits if given the choice but the homemade punch helped us wear them with pride.

After two long and hard 12 hour drive days on Helena (the truck), we have driven across the bottom of Tanzania and are now in Dar Es Salaam waiting to go to Zanzibar.

Till next time, take care,
Love Rodney and Kirsty.