New Zealand - North and South Island

After our amazing trip in Atlanta, we were exhausted for the flight to New Zealand but excited for the rest our trip! Luckily, we got to hang in the airport lounge for some snacks and drinks prior to our trip because as soon as we boarded, both of us were asleep! The 12 hour flight flew by and before we knew it we were landing in Auckland (North Island) but we lost all of Monday as we crossed the International Date Line. We departed Sunday night from LA and arrived at 6:30am on Tuesday morning, June 24th. Jacques' brother and family were all there to greet us at the airport - Craig, Jackie, Matthew and Maxine! It was so fun for both of us to see them all and catch up! We departed for their home in Howick, a suburb outside of Auckland and spent the morning chatting and resting up. In the afternoon, Craig and Jax took us on a driving tour around Auckland beaches and we stopped for a lunch of fish and chips with local beer, Jacques' favorite. The weather was pretty bad with COLD temperatures and rain (even a bit of hail) so we headed in for the night for dinner and more catching up. It was a great first day and rest up!

On Wednesday, we woke for breakfast and the entire family took us into the city center of Auckland. We started with the sky tower tour for a bird's eye view of city. Luckily, the weather was nicer and we could see the harbor and surrounding city. We walked the streets and down to the water on our tour and really took in the beautiful city of Auckland. So clean and the people are very friendly. There are only 4 million people in all of New Zealand and about 1.5 million in Auckland alone. It is a great little big city! After our touristy activities, we headed back to their house for another scrumptious meal and packing for our early flight the next morning. The men played "quarters" (but really played with a dime) and polished off 36 beers in no time but had a blast doing so!









Our flight to Christchurch (South Island) departed early on Thursday morning. Craig and Jax dropped us and we were able to enjoy the airline lounge before the short flight down. Upon landing in Christchurch, the weather cleared and we were picked up for our camper van rental. After loads of paperwork and a brief operations lesson, we were off! It was quite an initial adventure and challenge as Kiwis drive on the left hand side of the road. We set out for the drive to Queenstown, further South and West, which took us about 7 1/2 hours. The drive was gorgeous once we started our trek west through the rolling green hills and farm lands. On a couple of occasions we found ourselves at a cattle crossing and assisting the farmers to corral the cattle by using our RV. It was quite an experience! The deeper we made our way into the beautiful country side, the more the rolling hills became snowcapped towering mountain peaks. We rolled into the bustling center of Queenstown at dark and found a parking spot to walk to the grocery store for dinner. We then made our way out of the center and up a hilly pass to locate our camping spot for the night, but doing so in the dark was no easy task. About 10km outside of town, we finally found a spot and parked for the night. We were so tired and could barely prep our dinner before transforming our bench into our bed. We could hear the rain fall during the night and were praying in our sleep that we didn't awake to snowed in or icey conditions in the morning.





When we woke it was still dark but the sky was just beginning to light up. Since it was dark when we arrived, we had no idea what to expect for our morning views but they were stunning - overlooking the lake with the mountains towering above. We drove closer into town and parked by the lake for gorgeous morning views of the crystal clear and aqua water for our coffee and breakfast. What a way to start the day! Since we started our morning late and had some business to tend to in town, we decided to only do a half day of skiing/snowboarding which worked out perfectly. We rented our gear in town and headed up the mountain in the RV to Coronet Peak. It was still early season, so some of the runs were still closed and were patchy in places but it was such a beautiful mountain and the snow they did have made for great conditions. For the next 3 1/2 hours we were non-stop - up and down the lifts without a break and skied/boarded hard. It was our best day on the mountain yet! We were exhausted by the end of the day, but it was time to hit the road again in our trusty RV which we nicknamed, Millie Van Shnoozens.









We were headed for the Milford Sound, a good 5 hours away from Queenstown and out of the way (only one road in and out). We drove for a few hours and into the night again before finding a spot to rest Millie and ourselves for the night, on Lake Te Anau. Our goal was to sleep by water every night without paying for a campground. This night, we found a spot off the road next to the lake with mountains towering out of the water. Once again, we had no idea of the beauty of our surroundings until we woke the following morning. We had a quick and easy meal in our small kitchen and attempted to shower. This didn't go so well as the hot water heater wasn't turned on properly and the water was ice cold. Finally when we figured out the proper way, we still had to settle for a less than warm shower (and very brief)!

We woke in the morning to the stunning views and made our morning walk down to the water with coffee in hand. Soon we were back on the road for the breathtaking drive to the Milford Sound. It took another 2 hours through mountain passes and snow covered valleys, as well as lush tree covered rain forests to finally reach our destination. We arrived just before 11am and barely missed a boat tour (after running nearly a kilometer to try and catch it). Luckily, there was another tour 30 minutes later on a smaller boat and less guests (we were 2 of 6 passengers). We set sail for our hour and half tour of the beautiful fjord. The water was aqua blue and the snow-capped mountains were covered in lush green plants with cascading waterfalls everywhere we turned. This day was a clear day (which we were thankful for the driving conditions), but on a rainy day the mountains become even more alive with cascading waterfalls. We took in the sites from the outside upperdeck until a school of dolphins escorted our boat in so we ran downstairs to get an upclose view. Such a rare treat!











Back at the docks, nothing left to do but hit the road again for the 5 hour journey back to Queenstown and then on up to the West Coast. It was a long driving day but the ever changing landscape and curvy roads kept the ride very interesting! Jacques drove the campervan like a sports car along the winding roads! Since our Ipods died and radio stations were few and far between, we entertained ourselves with games. Our favorite was to blow the horn as we drove by the farm animals (the sheep and deer especially) to send them scurrying into the fields OR to try to get as many other RV drivers to wave at us as we passed them (if they didn't wave, Jacques gave them another gesture instead). We also searched the thousands of white sheep for the black sheep of the bunch. Other times, we just gaped at the amazing scenery passing us by.

Seven hours after departing Milford Sound, we finally found our spot for the night (in the dark of course) off of the main road along another hidden lake spot, Lake Hawea. Jacques hid the van in the bushes and we settled in for another chilly night in Millie. To save gas, we turned the heat off when we went to bed but we had our sleeping bags to keep us warm. When we woke early the next morning, we found a spot that would have been better positioned right next to the lake so we moved the van down for a stunning breakfast view. As every morning, Jacques went down to the waterside for his freshwater facewash. I even decided to join him in the refreshing splash this morning.







On the road again, this time headed up the west coast of the South Island and along the ocean. Stunning views, yet again! We drove to glacier country and stopped at Fox Glacier for a 30 minute hike to the ice mass. As usual, Jacques overlooked posted boundries to get closer to the glacier in person. He looked like a speck in the distance set against the massive ice structure. We quickly hiked back to the RV as we still had a lot of ground to cover and wanted to make it to our camping spot for the night before dark (for once).













We drove for another few hours before finding a nice spot to park Millie directly next to a rushing river just outside of Spring Junction at sunset. We enjoyed our final night in the van with another easy cooked meal and the sound of rushing water as our music for the evening. We woke again for sunrise and our last day in the South Island. We headed back to Christchurch via the Lewis Pass, the longer route because we wanted to stop by the thermal pools for a nice relaxing dip after freezing overnight temperatures. The first springs we stopped at were closed due to heavy snow, but further down the road the Hanmer Springs were open. They had 9 different thermal pools of varying temperatures, but of course we wanted the hottest at 41 degrees Celcius. This was a sulpher pool and we felt the mineral smoothing our skin as soon as we stepped in. It was so strong that any piece of silver jewelry we were wearing turned to a copper color (luckily this was fixed later with a jewelry cleaner). We soaked in the different pools ranging from temperatures of 36 degrees to 41 degrees for over an hour before getting back into the van for our final stretch to Christchurch and our flight back to Auckland. By the time we turned in Millie, we had driven 2021km in a little more than 4 days! What a whirlwind but beautiful tour of the South Island of New Zealand. The only way to see this land in all it's beauty is by car (and an RV made it that much more fun)!







We flew back to Auckland for a short overnight visit with the family again. Our time with them was so short but so special. We stayed up late catching up over a few beers, not wanting to go to bed nor say good bye. Finally at 1am with eyes closing, we went to a warm bed for a good but short night's sleep. We woke at 5am to go back to the airport and fly to Sydney, Australia. As sad as we are to leave New Zealand, we are ready for some warmer weather and beach time. No more cold weather (at least for now)!

US Summertime Visit - Coast to Coast

We spent one final day in Santiago eagerly anticipating our upcoming trip to the States, catching up with friends and enjoying a bit of sunshine and warmth. We slept in on Thursday and packed our bag in no hurry to check out. We set out on foot on the streets of rainy Santiago in search of a Chilean flag badge for Jacques' collection. We were staying in the Provedencia area this time instead of the Bellavista area; and liked it much better but it was slightly less touristy. We ended up walking quite a way back to the Bellavista area where we finally found the badge and also got our excercise and worked up an appetite for the final meal of empanadas. Back at the hostel, we enjoyed the home-baked empanadas with a bottle of white wine before heading to the airport on the Metro.

We were giddy with excitement on the Metro and definitely looked like tourists with Jacques' multiple pony tails and my blonde hair. Somewhere along the way, someone must have noticed this and somehow my wallet walked away with them because when we got to the bus station, it was GONE! We aren't completely sure what or where went wrong, but regardless it was history. Luckily, they only got a few pesos (but what we needed for the bus to the airport, my driver's license and one credit card. We remained calm and found an ATM for more cash to get to the airport. Once at the airport, we checked in and made a call to cancel the credit card. All we could do at that point was wait for the flight and enjoy our last beer and sandwich in South America, sitting outside on the sidewalk with tiny plastic cups. Time to leave South America.... It was a great trip, but we were ready for the States.

The flight was quick and we landed in HOTLANTA at 6:30am. After clearing customs (Jacques' first time in 6 years) and picking up our bags, we took MARTA (the subway) to Midtown where our good friend, Jenn, picked us up. It was wonderful to see her and she was in the same shape we were - tired and a bit hungover. She won an amazing award the night before for best event and we were still consoling our lost wallet situation with our own bottle of pisco sour on the flight to Atlanta. No better place to head than Waffle House to feel better and catch up! The southern food, coffee and English were such a refreshing change and a perfect way to start our day. After filling our bellies, we headed back to her house and quickly made our way to the pool for a little sunshine. Our friend, Scott (the reason we got to South America with his kindness of buddy pass tickets), came and met us at the pool. So great to see everyone!

A short while later, we were showered and ready for another Atlanta "must do" - the Sweetwater Brewery. We were one of the first in line as the brewery opens at 5:30pm for 2 hours and nearly 6 pints (tastings) of Sweetwater. Jenn met us there with a friend, as well as an old co-worker and friend of Jacques', Mark. We had an amzing summertime Friday evening sampling various Sweetwater beers with a band and good friends to mix. After leaving the brewery, we headed back to Jenn's apartment for a braai of steak and salad. What a perfect Atlanta summer night!



On Saturday morning, we woke up to cloudy skies but it made way for a sunny day at the pool. Katrina, Andrew and Carson met us for swimming and catching up at the pool before we had another braai of hotdogs and chips. After a long day of soaking up the sun, we set out on the longest day of the year (June 21st) for a night in the Highlands. First, we met up with friends at El Azteca and then continued the fun at Neighbors. So many friends and so much fun - thank you to all for coming out! We had an amazing time and kept it going till about 3am when we finally caught a taxi back to Jenn's place to get ready for our early morning flight to LA. The early morning ended with the fear that we had lost our camera and all our pictures (AGAIN)! After much panic and searching around, we found it hidden safely away in a backpack. One too many Sweetwater's for J!













Jenn dropped us at the airport early morning and we dragged our way through check in and security to board our flight to San Francisco after our all nighter. We slept a bit to SFO and then caught a flight to LA where Adam and Cara picked us up for a Sunday braai at Nic and Brian's in LA. LA was experiencing a warm front, so more warm and humid weather for us. Catching up with our LA family was so quick but so much fun! We can't believe a month flew by already. It was great to see the cuzis and hamsters and also take care of some of our US business. Before we realized, it was time to head back to the airport and off to New Zealand for more adventures!

Skiing the Andes Mountains

The past few days have been spent skiing 2 countries and 2 mountains. We set out from Mendoza early morning on the 17th for Los Penitentes, Argentina (on the international road to Chile). We left on a local bus which made too many stops before arriving at 10:30am. We were traveling with a British couple that we met in Mendoza and we all made our way to the ski-in hostel before hitting the slopes that day. The hostel was interesting as we had to lift our bags up a ladder to make our way to the dorm for the night. After getting settled, we quickly set out to rent our equipment and start exploring the steep mountain. The local mountain was small but extremely rough and somewhat icey terrain so we both decided to ski. Finally up on the lift, we found our ski legs again and off we were to ski the blue and red (new color for us) pistes. At the top of the mountain there are safety fences to guard the steep drop off points (do not enter) and Jacques accidently made his way down one. As he was crossing a side pass, his pole caught in the netting and swung him down the slope and his ski in another direction. The only way down was to slide and hike out, which took about 30 minutes. He was exhausted after this and we made a couple more runs before heading back for our daily cervaza at the hostel. The hostel was quite different than we had experienced, as it included a full dinner and breakfast. While we waited for our meal that evening, we caught up on the day with our friends from Mendoza, Sara and Simon before watching a movie with the rest of the crew prior to bed.











We hit the slopes early the next morning. Tuesday was a quieter day as Monday was a local public holiday and a lot of Argentineans were out. We felt like we had the mountain to ourselves and knew (or met) most people out there for the day. We ran the same runs a number of times, but they were fun and intense. The terrain is so different from what we are used to as there are no trees, poorly groomed, steep and icey but the surroundings were so natural and local to Argentina. This day was harder for me as I took a fall down a steep red and lost the confidence I had built. From that point, I had a challenging afternoon but Jacques continued to overcome his fall from the day before and dominated the mountain, as always! We had to get off the mountain early to catch a bus on the side of the road to Santiago.

In true South American style, our bus that was supposed to arrive at 5pm finally arrived at 5:30pm to pick us up on the side of the highway (which is the base of the ski resort). We greeted our bus with joy and headed off on the international highway to Santiago. About 50 km after we were picked up we hit the Chile border which was quite a long experience. First, we had to exit Argentina and then enter a seperate line to enter Chile. After clearing immigrations, all luggage and personal items were removed from the bus before a dog sniffing then x-raying. After a little over an hour of border entry (and one passenger being thoroughly interogated), we were on our way to Santiago. To our surprise, the border crossing was at the highest point between Argentina and Chile and even though it was dark for our passing, the INCREDIBLE mountain views were lit by full moon light and we could take in the ¨legendary¨ views we had heard of. The sharpness, steepness and endless ungaurded hairpin corners were breathtaking and frightening at the same time. The beer and crackers we had in our backpack were like popcorn and coke in a movie for the drive down. Finally, we reached the Santiago bus terminal and made our way via Metro to our next hostel in the Provedencia district for our next 2 nights and made our arrangements for skiing Chile the following day.

Today, our ride to Valle Nevado (highest resort in Chile) picked us up first thing in the morning to head out for our third and final day of skiing the Andes. The skies were cloudy and we heard snow was in the forecast. We made our way up the 3,000 meter climb in less than two hours to Valle Nevado (pit stop to pick up our ski/board gear). As soon as we hit the slopes, the heavens unleashed the snow flakes and we were surrounded in white out conditions. The pow-pow was perfect for Jacques and his snow board, but I had to overcome the conditions of deep, fresh and dry powder. The morning was rough for visibility but the afternoon was pristine conditions (minus the blue sky). We carved the mountain until the last chair sent us packing back to our van for the hairy ride down. The van was equipped with much needed snow chains, which played a major part in the windy and snow covered roads back to Santiago. Due to an oncoming van driving too fast, we ended up plowing into the snowy edge of the cliff but the seasoned driver and chains saved us and we were back on the road in no time.







After dropping our equipment in at the ski shop in Santiago and picking up a cerveza for the ride we headed back in heavy traffic to the hostel with our new passenger, Willie. He spoke about as much Spanish as we did English, but we ended up having a ¨Spanglish¨ conversation for the majority of the ride back. Willie was a hoot with his whisky toasting our cerveza constantly and wishing 10 children upon us. We had many laughs and finally hugs with Willie before departing for the night. Back at the hostel, we enjoyed our last night with home baked empanadas and a local wine for dinner. What a perfect way to end our last night in South America before heading back to the States and on with the rest of our trip!



**Just a side note - one of our major concerns for the last part of this trip was making the trip from Mendoza to Santiago as the road can close for a number of days due to snow storms. As our GOOD luck would have it (and changing our orginal plans while in Mendoza), we missed a major storm by a day and caught one of the last buses across the border before the road closed for 3 days. If this had happened, we would have not only missed the great fun day skiing Chile, but also would have not made it for our flight back to the States from Santiago, resulting in missing our New Zealand flight. Thank you guardian angels!!!

Mendoza, Argentina

Mendoza is located at the base of the Andes mountains and is the home to wine country and outdoor adventure. It took us 18 hours via bus to get from Buenos Aires. We left Buenos Aires at 2:40pm and arrived Mendoza at 8:30am the following day (June 10th). The ride was very comfortable, with big seats that reclined with a foot rest. The bus was fairly empty and we enjoyed our upper decker seats in the back of the bus without people around. They played older Disney movies, but they were dubbed in Spanish so no luck for us. The journey was only supposed to take 17 hours, but the truck drivers in Argentina are striking. They are parked along the freeways and burning fires on the side of the road to keep them warm and we had to take detours.

Upon arrival in Mendoza, we were greeted with a name sign and walked to our hostel very close to the bus station. We got a great rate on a private double room with a bathroom ensuite which is perfect to settle down in for the next 6 nights. We showered and set off to explore the new city. We walked to the main square for a lunch and beer in an outside cafe and made our plans for the coming days.

After a good night´s rest, we woke early the next day for our first activity in Mendoza, the bicycle wine tour. We were picked up and driven outside of town to wine country. Here we collected our bikes and set out for an all day ride through multiple bodegas for sampling of Argentina´s finest wines. The day was beautiful and the ride was lovely, set against the vineyards and snow capped Andes range in the distance. We made our way to the furthest bodega first (about 5 miles away), knowing after the day´s tastings we would want the easiest return route. We met a lovely couple from San Francisco, Judith and Brian, and enjoyed some of the tastings and tours with them. After our third bodega, we decided to purchase a bottle of Torrantes white wine to enjoy with our lunch. We took our chilled bottle deep into a vineyard and settled in the grass for a picnic of sandwiches, fruit and wine. We laid down and enjoyed our surroundings before getting back on the bikes and further down the road. We made a pit stop at a mini-market for a cerveza between bodegas to quench our thirst (and keep our buzz going). We made it to the last bodega and wine museum for a quick tour while enjoying a nice Cabernet. The wines best known in this region are the red Malbec and the white Torrentes and we were sure to sample many of these two wines. We carried on with our wine tasting back at the hostel as we enjoyed a bottle of Malbec from our tour with a pasta dinner. We set out on foot after dinner to meet our new-found friends from the day, but missed them at the bar they were at for the night. Oh well, at least we got to walk off our dinner!







The next day was spent sleeping in (recovering from our wine tour the day before) and wandering around the city of Mendoza. We explored different areas of the city and stopped to enjoy empanadas yet again (we still haven´t found any that compare to Buenos Aires though). We also spent some time figuring out our remaining days in Argentina. On Friday the 13th, we intended to hike in the Andes but in true ¨Freaky Friday¨ fashion we had to change all of our arrangements made the day before. Not only did we miss the bus for hiking, but we also realized our plans for skiing in Chile were not jiving with our flight time out of Santiago to the States. So, the day was spent changing our previously booked plans but we also found time to walk up to the local park. The park was about a 45 minute walk from our area of town but well worth the small trek. We walked to the park and then made our way around the small lake to watch the locals row, kayak and ride bikes while enjoying our sandwiches in the sun. We walked back to the hostel for a nice bangers and mash with another Malbec wine before getting a good night´s sleep for our trek the next day.

On the 14th, we headed out early in the morning for an all day hike in the Andes. We took an 8:25am local bus out of Mendoza to El Salto, an hour and a half bus ride to a small village nestled at the base of the Andes. The bus dropped us at the end of a dirt road and we had to crawl underneath a ¨DO NOT ENTER¨ fence that only the locals know of for a full day trek. We did our best to follow the unmarked path and got a little turned around with the trail crossing a small river. After the first hour, we finally figured the tricks of the hike. We had to switchback over several rocky river beds to stay on the trail. The plan was to hike 3 hours to a waterfall, have lunch and immediately turn around for the 3 hour return hike, but this had to be exactly on schedule in order to catch the last bus back to Mendoza at 5:00pm. With our confusion in the beginning of the trek, we decided to hike the beautiful 3 hours in and have lunch at whatever point we reached before turning back again. The hike was amazing as we trekked through a valley along the rushing water. We came across several wild horses, most in the distance on the hills, but some were grazing along our trekking path. They didn´t seem phased by us and let us approach them before they non-chalantly turned the other direction. After three hours on our up-mountain trek, we found a nice rock amongst the snow covered mountains to enjoy our picnic. We felt we were so close to our destination of the falls, but our fear of being stranded in the mountains overruled and we decided to turn back. The day was beautiful and even without reaching the waterfall the hike was well worth the journey. We caught the one and a half hour bus ride back to Mendoza and settled back into city life with another Malbec wine and another of Jacques´ tasty meals.









This morning we woke early again for our horseback riding trip in Mendoza. Our driver picked us up late and drove us to a stable just outside the city at the foothills of the Andes. We saddled up and set out on our 2 hour journey. It was a little chillier than it has been but the sun was shining and turned out to be yet another beautiful day. The experience was very different from the one we had a few weeks ago in Chile. The terrain was rockier and rougher and we could really only walk and sometimes trot with the horses. We had the bug to run from our last experience and took every small chance we could to try and get these horses up to a gallop. Finally at one point on the excursion, the road opened and flattened out and we kicked our horses into a full gallop for a few minutes. My white (almost albino looking) horse had been taking ¨snack¨ breaks along the way and the payout was great as she flew down the road leaving Jacques´ horse to bring up the rear. Such a great rush! At the end of the road we turned onto another rocky trail and slower pace. The white horse was such a piggy and constantly stopping to snack and Jacques´ horse decided to join in the feeding frenzy. So our trip was combined with walking, trotting, a little galloping and a lot grazing along the way. We feel our horse riding days have only just begun and even though we are leaving South America soon, we hope to ride again the countries to come! Tomorrow, we head out early on a bus to Los Penitentes, a ski resort in the Andes on the Argentina side for 2 days and a night then heading over the mountains back to Santiago for our last day skiing Valle Nevado on the Chile side. Many more fun and wintery days ahead...