On the sleeper train to Goa

We had a brief stop along the way in lovely Ahmedabad, basically that meant a wait of about 7 hours. Not wanting to spend 7 hours at the station we booked into a seedy hotel downtown. To say it was grim would be an understatement but it meant we could crash for a few hours.
Back on the train, then arrival in a wet, humid and overcast Tivim at 8ish the following morning - will this monsoon ever end ? We took an autorickshaw to gorgeous, sleepy Chapora where we met up with Ros, Simon and the lad Alex. It was great to see some familiar faces, especially as they had brought some goodies from the UK. Ros's mum, Joy, was also there visiting them for a 2 week break.

Chilling on the balcony, Chapora

We spent a lot of time relaxing down the beach in Goa, swimming in the very warm sea. The beaches around Chapora are nice but nothing in comparison to the beach at Polalem where we spent a couple of nights - a kind of mini break from the holiday from the trip.

Sunbathing cows, Palolem beach

At Palolem we stayed in a hut literally right on the beach, but amazingly it was a beach hut with en suite bathroom - how things are changing....

Beach hut, Palolem

Another gorgeous beach we visited was across the Chapora River at Morjim which we went to on the little scooter we hired for the 2 weeks. We didn't stay too long there though as there was no shade and it was an incredibly hot and sunny day.

Cyclist, Morjim beach

We had lots of little day trips out, either on the scooter, or more often courtesy of Balchang and his wonderful taxi service. We visited the market at Mapsa, a typical Indian affair, and at Anjuna which is cool but definately geared up for the tourist rupee. On a day out to Arambol we took Alex to see the enormous banyan tree and bumped into our friend Depo who ran the laundry in Manali (in the summer) and was washing clothes down in Goa for the winter months.
The nights were usually spent down at Santos's bar (he's Balchang's brother) where many a cold, cheap Budveiser would be consumed. It was a pretty funny place to hang out, full of regulars, a bit like a soap opera !!

Usual Suspects, Santos' Bar

It was nice to spend the last 2 weeks of the Asian leg in Goa as the food there is fantastic and generally a lot healthier to eat than most other places in India. We had some gorgeous meals at the Tibetan Kitchen in Calangute and many nights we dined like kings on barbequed food we did ourselves in the back garden at Olga's. It was extremely hot and humid in Goa, even at night, and cooking round 'the flaming pit from hell' was hard work but the end result always made it worthwhile. A few afternoons were spent chilling down at the Boom Shanka restaurant down on Little Vagator beach. This was a nice little spot to enjoy a cold sunset beer.
Chapora was pretty quiet when we were there, it was early season so the madness of the Goa Trance scene hadn't kicked in yet. We did go to the Primrose a couple of nights and get a taste of what was soon to be....those nutters and that music, oh dear....
Alex was a star and kept us entertained for the 2 weeks. Each morning he would wake us by shouting across the balcony from his apartment to ours and by the end he had was quite keen on a good scrap with Nik. Ros looked after us while we were there - it was nice to have a mug of tea brought to the room each morning, and Simon also kept us very entertained with his constant chatter, crazy man....
The day we left was Alex's 2nd birthday and, after a great couple of weeks, we were very sad to be going. We knew that after 5 months the Asian leg of our journey was nearly over. Goa is a cool place to chill out and we'd met some nice people duirng our time there. The next stop, after yet another long train journey, would be Mumbai and we both knew there'd be no chilling out there.....

written by  jonnik on January 7, 2008 from Goa, India
from the travel blog: Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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The view from our hotel window, Mumbai

We only had a couple of nights in Mumbai and that was plenty. We've been there before so spent our time visiting the cafes and bars we knew were ok. Leopold's is a nice place for a cold beer but after the much cheapness of Goa we were horrified at the prices. Mumbai is definately a lot more civilised than Delhi, it's the kind of place you wander round and not get hassled too much.

Railway Station, Mumbai

That said, we did get asked repeatedly if we would like to star in a Bollywood movie...no thanks. Nik was in the blockbuster 'Pinjar' and anything else just woudln't compare. We spent a bit of time shopping, stocking up on some bargains before we left (incensce, etc) and managed to find a fantastic record shop to purchase some Indian music. Before we knew it though, we were packing our bags and in the taxi bound for the airport with a bit of a tear in our eyes. Next stop would be Sydney and all the cultureshock that a western metropolis would bring. Before we got on the plane though we visited the bar for a final beer in India, we were in an airport after all. This was not Santos's bar though and we were horrified to be charged 500 Rupees for a small glass - at just over a fiver it seemed expensive even for an airport.....

written by  jonnik on January 8, 2008 from Mumbai, India
from the travel blog: Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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Us at Coogee Beach

An exhibition, Sculpture by the Sea, was on and along the whole route we passed various amazing works of art.

Sculture by the Sea

Sculpture by the Sea

We had a swim on Bronte Beach and could not believe just how cold the springtime sea was in Oz compared to the bath-like temperatures in Goa. We also had to dodge the swarms of blue bottles (no, not flies...there'll be more about them later) the small jellyfish that were ever present along the beach. At Bondi we went to the local market then had a nice picnic on the beach.

Jon at Bondi Beach

After food that night it was out for a couple of scooners at the backpackers institution, the Coogee Beach Hotel.
The next day was our final full day in the city so we got a bus downtown to do a tour of the Sydney sights. We had a couple of hours in the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Sydney Harbour from the Botanic Gardens

The place is full of the most amazing trees all full of huge fruit bats hanging upside down. We visited the Opera House, but being poor backpackers resisted the urge to attend a show or do the Harbour Bridge Walk.

Opera House & Harbour Bridge

After the sights it was a wander round the rest of downtown taking in a few shops. We also spent a bit of time trying to confirm whether or not we had a campervan booked for tomorrow (gotta get more organised Jon and Nik !!), but by the end of the day we were still none the wiser... That night we wandered down to the beach in Coogee for one of life's little pleasures, chips on the front !!

written by  jonnik on January 9, 2008 from Sydney, Australia
from the travel blog: Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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We left the hostel at 10am but still didn't have confirmation that we had a campervan booked !! After many calls and some wasted time we spoke directly with Wicked Campervans who told us they had a booking for us and we arranged to pick the van up at noon. We then went online to print off a route for the week long drive from Sydney down to Melbourne...Who needs a map anyway ? So the van was collected, a kind of transit van thing but of the Toyata persuasion and decorated in fantastic X-Men grafitti.

The X-Men Van

We then filled up with petrol, had a brief glimpse at a map in the service station and set about getting out of Sydney. Surprise, surprise we were soon a tad lost and at that point decided maybe a map would probably be of use to us. Said map was soon purchased and we headed out of the city, west towards the Blue Mountains. We picked up some details of campsites at Glendale and the very helpful lady suggested we did a bit of bush-camping (i.e. free) at 'Old Ford Reserve'. We stocked up on some provisions (food and beer) at Katoomba and eventually rocked up in the Blue Mountains late afternoon. The campsite was in a stunning little spot with all the facilities you could ever need - a pit toilet and a creek. We'd planned a nice veggie breakfast for tea but soon found out that the stove in the van didn't work !! Being in the middle of nowhere there was little we could do but build a fire and cook on that - good job the fire ban was not yet in place.

Cooking with fire

The food, washed down by a botlle of sparkling wine, turned out pretty good and we spent the rest of the evening chilling and taking in the amazing night sky which, given no light pollution at all, was a sight to behold.

Day 2 - The Blue Mountains to Bulli

Yeah, the first night in the van went pretty well. We made another fire in the morning so we could get the brews on and soon set off the take in some of the sights in the Blue Mountains National Park and to get away from the flies !!! Up until this point we had never really understood the Australian corked hat thing but now it was all beginning to make sense. The flies in Australia are very annoying and there are millions and millions and millions of them !! The first point of call that day was 'Evans Lookout', which gave us this amazing view over part of the park.

Evans Lookout, Blue Mountains

After that we were back on the road and heading to perhaps the most famous part of the park, the view of 'The Three Sisters' from 'Echo Point'. It was pretty impressive and the didgeridoo playing Aboriginee added to the flavour, well that was until the 200 Chinese school kids turned up !!

The 3 Sisters

We had lunch in the van and then decided to head down to Bulli (everyone likes a bit of Bulli), stopping in Penrith along the way to buy a replacement part for the gas stove. Here we encountered a crazy thunderstorm and got a proper soaking but at least we'll be able to cook on the stove tonight. After driving most of the afternoon, as recommended by Wicked we drove at 80kph so it took a while to get to places, we stopped at the information centre in Cambletown who pointed us in the direction of a campsite at Bulli, where we arrived at about 5pm and managed to claim the last pitch on the site !! We then went for a quick walk into town for some wine, an hour later we were back at the campsite, walking along the beach and cursing the everpresnt flies !! That night we met Ozzie lady who had already clocked up 15,000kms on her road trip and uttered what was soon to become our favourite phrase 'I'm a birdo' (Oz for birdwatcher). We had another bottle of lovely local sparkling wine and crashed.

Day 3 - Bulli to Jervis Bay

It was down to the beach first thing to swim in the outdoor pool there - one of those pools that is filled by the high tide. It was bloody freezing, and we shared the water with some sea slugs, but it was very invigorating and certainly woke us up !!

Nik in very cold pool, Bulli, New South Wales

After brekkie we were back on the road, doing 80kph, and heading down the coast towards Jervis Bay. In our hurry we managed to forget the battery charger and plug adaptor, DOH !! After stopping for info at Shell Harbour we then managed to drive the van over Jon's water bottle, oh dear....(Rich, thanks for the bottle mate but they ain't indestructable !!!). We found out at the info centre in Nowra that there was no bush-camping at Jevis Bay but that there was very nice site in Boderee National Park. We arrived Green Patch Campsite in the afternoon, had lunch and then headed down to the beautiful white sandy beach for a swim (more cold water !!) and a couple of hours chilling.

Relaxing on the beach, Jervis Bay

On the way back to the van we saw a wallaby and a kookaburra, but the best was yet to come...We had a nice pasta dish for tea and were sitting around relaxing afterwards when we noticed a very cheeky possum finshing off the remains of the tomato sauce for us !!

Kookaburra

Sharing dinner with cheeky possum

Day 4 - Jervis Bay to Mystery Bay

We stopped at the Boderee National Park Botanical Gardens on the way out and caught our first site of a kangeroo and the ranger there showed us a Long-necked Turtle, very funny ! It was then south down the coast to Bateman's Bay, where we had lunch and saw some very large and amusing pelicans.

Lunch at Batemans Bay

On the way to Mystery Bay

We stocked up on more groceries and then carried on the crawl to Narooma where we learnt of a place just down the road called Mystery Bay, where we could camp in the bush. It lived up to the recommendation, another beautiful place right on the beach. After a stroll along the beach we collected a load of firewood, got the fire going and cooked some spuds in it, lovely !! We spent the rest of the night sitting round the fire talking about what a fantastic place Oz was...and Nik didn't shut up about her favourite meal in a long time, baked potatoes (in the fire) with cheee and beans.

Day 5 - Mystery Bay to Mallacoota

After being woken by Craig, the friendly ranger, we headed down to the beach for another early morning swim (no showers at Mystery Bay), then it was on the road to the beautiful old village of Central Tilba. After a walk round the village and it's many galleries we were back on the Princes Highway heading towards Eden. The rain came down when we arrived and the info centre told us that there had been 3 whales in the bay up the road yesterday. We quickly headed up there for lunch hoping they would still be around. They weren't and we left disappointed (next time...). It was a long drive to Mallacoota where we stayed on the waterfront with a fabulous view of the lagoon and the many pelicans and our own jetty (no boat).

Pelican

On the waterfront

We sat out for a bit a night but the flies (and mosquitoes) really were on form here so in wasn't a late one...

Pelican watching on Mallacoota

Day 6 - Mallacoota to The Blue Pools (via Hollands Landing)

That morning, after a walk on the beach and loads more annoying flies, we saw some very comical gallahs ('Ya flamin' gallah !!) and then headed down the highway to Orbust, and then for lunch at Metung. We had originally intended to stay the night in Metung but it was a bit flash for us and the X-Men van, one of those places with very big, expensive houses where everyone has there own yacht. So we headed further along the coast to Lakes Entrance but decided against staying at one of the many busy campsites there. So, after consulting the map, we decided to stay at a place called Hollands Landing. It was long drive from Lakes Entrance and on arrival we wished we hadn't bothered. The place was proper red-neck country and the only ugly spot we had seen so far on the trip. The road into the village came to an abrupt end at a dark canal and it gave the place a kind of 'end of the road' feeling, not very nice at all. It was then about-turn and after consulting the map we eventually ended up in a very pretty place called Blue Pools, and it was free to camp there. We collected a load of firewood and got a nice fire burning. At that point a fellow camper (the only other people there) came over and warned us of a severe weather warning they had just heard on the radio. Right on cue it started to lash down and the fire was soon out....the storm was pretty violent with thunder and lightening that lasted through the night.

Day 7 - The Blue Pools to Wilson's Promontory

It was another early start and the rain had stopped, it was a beautiful morning. We checked out the pools up the creek but decided against a swim and were on the road by about 9am.

The Blue Pools (as seen in B&W)

It was a long, hot drive and we finally rocked up in stunning Wilson's Prom early afternoon.

Ozzie road sign

We went into the very expensive grocery store and were gutted to find out that there was no grog for sale at all !!! Wilson's Prom is all National Park and the road in wasn't the greatest - it would be a 2 hr round trip to go out to the nearest shop to get some beer. So we headed onto the campsite, a really nice place, and parked up next to a couple of guys. They were soon over warning us that they had about another 30 mates due to arrive and had a big party planned for the evening. We told them we weren't bothered, they could make as much noise as they liked. We then realised that if they had loads of people still to arrive then all might not be lost, and duely asked them if they would mind ringing some of there friends to ask if they could pick us some beers up. A quick phone call later and it was all sorted, in fact the guy they rang was actually in the liquor store when they called, so no problem....That afternoon, after reversing the van into a tree (luckily no damage) we headed down to the stunning beach for a swim in the freezing cold water. We were going to stay on the sand all afternoon but the flies on the beach were the worst we had encountered, they were in our eyes, mouths and ears, so it was quickly back to the van to escape.

Those pesky flies/ Jon Merrick

Day 8 - Wilson's Promontory to Phillip Island

We were up very early today due to the heat, it must have been well over 20 degrees C at 6am. It was down to the beach to cool down in the sea but we didn't hang around for too long after as the flies were too much again. We soon headed off and the weather forecast on the radio said that it would be up to 37 degrees C here today !! It was already cooking with a really strong wind and we could see how easy it must be for the bush fires to get going in Oz. Before leaving this beautiful place we went up to Mount Oberon, the highest point on the penninsula, but it was far too hot to hang around for long. Next stop on the way out was stunning Squeaky Beach (so named for the noise our feet made on the white sand as we walked) but again it was a flying visit as we knew we would be frazzled in an instant if we stayed any longer.

Nik at Squeaky Beach

After a couple of hours of driving we got to Philip Island and our first port of call was the chocolate factory on the way in. As we arrived a woman was buying all the chilli chocolates so we resisted any others and instead bought tickets for the world famous Penguin Parade that evening. It was then onto the Koala Santuary where many cute koalas were seen.

Sleepy Koala

The Knobbies, mainland Australia's most southerly point

We then booked into the campsite and headed down to the most southerly point of mainland Australia, The Nobbies. By this time the weather head taken a turn for the worst, and it was pretty cold and windy in this remote spot. Seagulls nest here and we were surrounded my hundreds of noisy gulls and fledglings.
After tracking down some chippies we went to the Penguin Parade - every evening about 600 Fairy Penguins come out of the ocean to nest up in the sand dunes. This is witnessed every night by hundreds of visitors, mostly Chinese tour bus types. It was a very funny spectacle and fantastic to watch the penguins nervously waddle up the beach, avoiding the onlooking seagulls. They are the smallest type of penguin in the world, with an average height of only 30cm, and very entertaining indeed !!!

Little Penguins, Phillip Island

By the end of the show we were prety wet as the rain had started to come down - a bit of a change from Wilson's Prom this morning. We headed backto the campsite for some food and an early night ready for tomorrow's BIG adventure !!!

Day 9 - Phillip Island to The Great Ocean Road

We had originally planned that today would be a relatively easy drive. The van is due back in Melbourne tommorrow, so the idea was to drive towards the city and camp somewhere on the outskirts for the final night so we could get the van back at 10am as previously arranged. However, our plans changed somewhat (somewhere) and we decided that we might like to take a look at the Great Ocean Road. We set off early this morning in the rain, but as we later realised not really early enough. After about 2 hours we reached Melbourne and spent the next couple of hours crawling through the city in a traffic jam. We eventually arrived in Geelong (pretty much the start of the Great Ocean Road) at 1pm and the very helpful guy at the information centre told us that it would take about 6 hours minimum to drive the famous route (we have since read a newspaper article that said that you shouldn't try and cram the Great Ocean Road into 2 days, it deserves at least 3 - how about an afternoon ?!?!). We hadn't banked on this as the van was due back at 10 tomorrow morning, but we checked the small print of the contract which stated we would be charged A$10 for each hour it was late....looks like its gonna be late then. So we set off immediately, stopping for lunch at Bell's Beach, the first recommended stop on the route. Afer lunch we headed to the beautiful Erskine Falls, very pretty even in the torrential rain. After carrying in along the twisty turny coastal road with it's amazing views we stopped in Apollo Bay for a well earned bag of chippies. We then had a walk through a beautiful rain forest home to some pretty big trees....

Nik in rain forest

By now the time was ticking on and we stiil had a good way to go to get to The Twelve Apostles, the most famous part of the journey. After driving inland for a while the road eventually joined the coast again and we were finally there. It was now starting to get dark and we were pretty knackered after driving all day. It was all worth it though as the scenery lived up to the hype and the wild weather added to the whole experience.

The 12 Apostles

Loch Ard Gorge

Us at the Twelve Apostles

After seeing this stunning coastline we decided we'd better find a campsite for the night. There was still quite a bit of the Great Ocean Road ahead of us (and we'd missed a lot of it out) but the further we drove the further away from Melbourne we would be in the morning. We found a nice spot in a little town called Port Campbell, got some food on and then crashed. It had been a long, crazy day but we were both glad we had decided to do it.

Day 10 - Port Campbell back to Melbourne.

Typically we weren't up as early as we should have been and it was about 10am before we were eventually ready to leave Port Campbell. Bearing in mind the van was due back at 10am we thought it might be wise to ring Wicked and explain the thing would be late. The girl who answered asked how late it would be and she didn't seem too impressed when we said about 3 hours, telling us that we would be charged an extra day's rental fee. There was no way we were accepting this especially considering that there was no mention of it in the small print, only that we would have to pay $10 for each hour it was late. After some discussion (us with her and her with her manager) it was agreed that as long as we got the van back into Melbourne by 1pm we would only have to pay an extra $30. We set off straight away, knowing that it would be touch and go whether or not we would make it. We went inland rather than back along the Great Ocean Road and the roads on the inital part of the journey weren't great. That didn't matter too much and the 80kph that we had until now pretty much stuck to was out of the window. However this meant a vast increase in fuel consumption and it was long before the fuel warning light was on !!! By now we were properly in the middle of nowhere, with no gas station for miles. The initial speed had done us no favours and we spent the next half hour of so limping along at about 60kph convinced we would soon grind to a halt...we didn't . We eventually crawled into a garage, filled the beast up and were soon onto better roads where the van was given a good thrashing !!! Driving into downtown Melbourne was great fun, that is one BIG city !!! But by now Kenty was something of a ninja-navigator and she got us through the crazy one-way system. We pulled up outside the Wicked depot at 12.59 - we had made it !!! We emptied the van of all our stuff and handed over the keys and, after all the rush, we weren't even charged the $30 for bringing it back late !! We were sad to say goodbye to the van but were both agreed that it had been a great way to get round and see things in your own time, and decied that we would have to get a van booked for the time we would soon be spending in New Zealand...

written by  jonnik on January 10, 2008 from Sydney, Australia
from the travel blog: Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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Sunset, Melbourne Harbour

It was then into town where we drooled over the famous cakes in the cake shop windows - sweet tooth heaven !

The following day we spent a lot of time researching a campervan for NZ, had a fantastic brunch in one of St Kilda's many amazing cafes, then caught a tram into downtown Melbourne. We had a wander round and went to a market that didn't live up to the hype (think Stoke market but on a much larger scale). Back in St Kilda we had a nice cold beer courtesy of the hostel then some gorgeous Asian food in a veggie restaurant. It was then down to cake shop street where you first have to choose which shop, from many, to treat yourself in and then which of the many stunning cakes to have - it's a hard life !! We had cake with coffee and watched the crazy St Kilda street entertainers doing their thing. The funniest being the guy who sat with his big belly hanging out singing 'Oh, the hokey hokey pokey' and asking people if that would like to poke his belly and make a donation to this wothwhile cause....we resisted. It was then back to the hostel to pack the bags again ready for the morning flight to Auckland.
The final night in Oz didn't grant us much sleep - there was a band on in the pub below and to say it was noisey would be an understatement. The people being sick in a bin in the corridor later on didn't help either...

written by  jonnik on January 11, 2008 from Melbourne, Australia
from the travel blog: Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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Santiago seen from Parque Metropolitano

Yes we did spend some time in NZ (eleven weeks to be precise) and details of out fantastic time will appear here shortly. Yeah, we decided that this blog needed to be more like a blog so are doing an entry for Santiago whilst here....as opposed to 2 months later !! The flight from Auckland was no fun, no fun at all, it was held up for 4 hours or so and we were in the air for 12 hours. But hey, that's all in the past now and we're here in sunny Santiago. We are staying in a pretty crazy hostel called La Casa Roja, a huge 18th Century mansion home to hundreds of other travelers. We have been here for a couple of nights and have spent both of them at the hostel bar. Last night we were gonna go out to a jazz bar with TJ, the crazy American guy we have met, and Nicky from Germany (who amazingly has never met another Nicky before) but we ended up staying at the hostel and drinking with other guests until about 3 in the morning....needless to say, we felt pretty good this morning. Tonight is our last night in Santiago, tomorrow we're heading to the coast to a place called Valparaiso with the aforementioned friends.....should be good...

written by  jonnik on February 10, 2008 from Santiago, Chile
from the travel blog: Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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Valparaiso

Lookin' good

The first night we stayed in a hostel dorm but we soon moved to a 13th storey apartment due to TJ's snoring - this was the man who told us he definately didn't snore (he definately does !)

The view from our apartment

Another quiet night

Our time in Valparaiso was basically spent drinking and frequenting the bars. One night TJ dragged us into this karaoke bar that he had been to the night before. We told him that there was no way we were singing but about half an hour later we were doing a fantastic rendition of UB40's Red Red Wine, very dodgy. The following evening we went to a cool Cuban bar where there was more drinking and we shook our booties on the dancefloor to the cool latin music. During the daylight hours (which were a bit more limited than we'd hoped) we pounded the pavements and saw the sights, including an afternoon trip to Vina del Mar which was ok but a bit like the Costa Brava.
So we've been back in Santiago for 2 nights and yesterday had our first Spanish lesson, it was pretty intense !!! We have four more next week and have been given loads of homework to do over the weekend - it's like being back at school but it is good and will be well worth the effort.
Last night we said farewell to Nicky our German friend, and after we met a couple from none other than Stoke-on-Trent, which was pretty funny....

written by  jonnik on February 16, 2008 from Valparaiso, Chile
from the travel blog: Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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Spanish lessons from Jesus

Each night we had lots of homework to do, but we were swots and made sure it was done. This meant that we could have at least a couple of drinks in the hostel bar each night, but we didn´t go to bed too late like most of the crazy people there. One night we enjoyed the sight of a full lunar eclipse which was pretty amazing and kept us captivated for hours.

Lunar eclipse

We met some really cool people at La Casa Roja, none more so than fellow Stokies Vicky and Jon. On the final night, after a couple of drinks (or so) at the friday bar-b-q about 20 of us headed out to rock the night away at a huge nightclub called Blondie. We dragged Jesus with us and a mighty fine night was had by all !!
As sad as we were to leave the place we knew we couldn´t spend the rest of our lives at the hostel so after negotiating Santiago´s metro system we put our Spanish skills to the test and booked some tickets for the overnight bus to Pucon on saturday. Pucon is about 10 hours or so south of Santiago in the Chilean Lakes District. We had a final farewell meal with the usual suspects and said a sad farewell to (apparently) the best hostel in South America - we guess it must be downhill from now on !

The infamous Casa Roja

Nik at La Casa Roja

Bar & pool

The last supper

written by  jonnik on February 23, 2008 from Santiago, Chile
from the travel blog: Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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Early morning hiking the volcano

The sunrise on the way up was stunning as were the views but it was very cold and pretty tough going. We were shown how to use our ice axes in case we slipped as it would have been a long slide down without it. The views from the top, when we eventually got there after about 6 hours of walking uphill, were truely amazing and more than justified the effort. We got to peer into the crater but unfortunately didn´t see any lava and couldn´t hang around for too long because of the poisonous sulphur gases the volcano was emitting.

From the top of Volcon Villarrica 2847m

The journey down was great fun as we got to slide down the ice field we had struggled up. We eventually made it back into Pucon at around 2pm and the expedition was celebrated with a cold bottle of volcano beer - why not ?!? It was then off for an afternoon nap as I was proper knackered.

Post volcano volcano cerveza

That night we both headed out to soak our muscles in some nearby hot springs, which were beautiful. The first pool we found was a bit cold but we soon tracked down the hot one and it was like soaking in a hot bath - a pleasure we haven´t experienced for far too long.

Hot springs, Pucon

Soaking those aching muscles

The following day, our last in Pucon, we bumped into the fellow Stokies Jon & Vicky again and headed out to a festival at night where there was a cueca competion (the traditional Chilean dance), which was pretty funny to watch. It was then back to the hostel to pack our bags and get ready for the early morning departure further south to Puerto Varras.

written by  jonnik on February 26, 2008 from Pucon, Chile
from the travel blog: Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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On the way up the mountain

The first part was for the most part pretty easy, if not a tad warm. But after a couple of hours it started to get quite a bit steeper and the temperature started to plummit. Another hour or so later we arrived at the campsite, a gorgeous spot in the forest by a river. By this point is was bloody freezing, so the tent was quickly pitched and we set about getting some food on - a culinary treat of packet soup and savoury rice....not the best to eat but nice and light to carry. We were soon in the tent, wearing most of the clothes we had brought with us !! It wasn´t the best night´s sleep, definately one of the coldest nights either of us had spent under canvas but we made it through to daybreak, which occurs rather late in Argentina around 8am.

First night camp in the forest

Whilst we were packing upo we spoke to 3 Argentinian hikers who had set off from the bottom that morning. They told us there had been frost on the ground earlier, we could well believe it !! We set off again toward Cerro Catedral, and the last bit was pretty steep indeed. The effort was worth it though as the views were fantastic when we arrived. The Slovenian lady had told us that it resembled The Dolomites and she wasn´t wrong. The mountains were stunning and perfect for climbing - Kev, Iain and Rich you would have loved it.

Climbers at Cerro Catedral, Bariloche

After pitching again and another rehydrated meal Nik spent the afternoon reading by the lake and Jon set off to explore the surrounding area. That night, given the extra altitude, we feared would be even colder than the previous but it was quite a bit warmer and we were able to get a bit more sleep.

Nik filtering water from the lake

Early morning at Cerro Catedral

The following day we packed up late morning and set off back down the mountain. We thought it would be easier on the way down but it was harder than we thought - must have been the lack of fod and the fact we did it all in one go. We rewarded ourselves with chips and George Bush juice (coca cola) at the bottom and, after catching the bus, were soon back in Bariloche. We headed back to see our Slovenian friend but decided against another night camping in her garden and checked into one of the rooms she had for rent. We were knackered and felt we´d definately earned it !! So we stayed in town for another couple of nights, feasted on more chocolate and ice-cream and booked our bus tickets to El Bolson, a couple of hours south.

written by  jonnik on March 4, 2008 from San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
from the travel blog: Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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