Croatia

Only getting around to writing this down now after the holiday at the end of August and the memories are a bit hazy but hopefully as i write things will come back to me.

We spent 10 days in Croatia and we flew into Zadar with Ryanair. I found Zadar really nice and I'd have it as one of the highlights of the places that we went. As with any of the cities we were in it is a walled City. We stayed in the Old Town in an apartment. The old town or Stari Grad in Croatian is full of little streets and it's just nice to take a wander around. The sea Organ here was impressive where the pressure of the waves coming in pushes up air for the organ. Very simple idea and very relaxing just to sit at the water listening to this. The Ice Cream here is exceptional as are the Pizzas. I'd think there's a very strong influence from Italy maybe from the Venetian invasions. For booking accomodation the tourist office here was exceptional and they were very friendly.

We travelled to Zadar National Park for one of the days. The waterfalls and turquoise lakes here are amazing. I have no shortage of photos from here and maybe the number of photos from here says enough about the place but this is well worth a visit.

I think it was an 8 hour bus journey from Zadar down to Split and from here we got a ferry out to Hvar island with Jadrolinja. We booked our accomodation here with the tourist office but a safer bet would probably be to go with booking.com before you go. Hvar seems to be the playground for the rich and famous. The first day we were there we were amazed at the size of the boats and the following day there were new ships that dwarfed the previous days boats. It's a crime to have hunger in a world where you have 3 storey ships going around. Hvar is a great spot for the young and not so young. One one side of it you have all the bars/nightclubs while on the other all the restaurants are. St Stephens Square here is gorgeous and there is a walk to the castle above the square which is lovely to do at night.

We were able to get a ferry from here down to Dubrovnik which was lovely and relaxing. You'd almost think going on a cruise ship would be a good idea but being in Dubvovnik would soon change your mind. Dubrovnik was lovely once the crowd from the cruise ships left as the place was choc a bloc. The cruise ship crowd walk down the street 10 abreast and take up the whole street and the prices here are very inflated I suppose because of this. Having said that Dubrovnik is lovely and the walk of the walls is particularly good. War Photo Limited is very good here and is well worth a visit.

We drove from Dubrovnik back to Zadar and the drive back to Split looked to be very scenic from what we saw in between clouds as there was awful rain the day we drove back.

I'm surprised this came to be this long at all.

Here are the photos:

Croatia 2014

Don't cry for me Argentina

Here's a map of the spots we hit:
View Larger Map

Just back since Tuesday night from Argentina via Santiago and before I go near describing any of the fantastic scenery the highlight of the trip was the Bife de Chorizo or Sirloin Steak which was absulutely beautiful and tender. Other beef is like cardboard after being here.

Not far behind this are the fantastic people of Buenos Aires and Patagonia. For instance in Buenos Aires we got in the wrong side of a subway or Subte so we would have to pay twice to go over the other side due to our minimal I'll call it Pigeon Espanol but a random stranger gave us his ticket and his only request was to mention this when we got home. These random acts of kindness were replicated in Patagonia and the people were superb.

We left Ireland on the 27th of October heading Cork - Amsterdam - Sao Paulo - Buenos Aires but I think you can skip the Sao Paulo flight depending on the day you fly. It was24 hoursdoor to door by the time we landed so straight to bed when we arrived in SanDanzas hostel.

Cornflakes, coffee, croissant (or medialuna in Argentina meaning half moon) is the norm for breakfast in Argentina and while light you're generally not looking for much more as the previous nights Bife de Chorizo is busy digesting. The first day I was lucky enough to get tickets for the Superclasicó between Boca Juniors v River Plate. The football is really a sideshow here as the atmosphere here is more like Football meets the CrystalMaze, starts at 1:43 if this means nothing to you.

Highlights of Buenos Aires would be Cemetario de Recoleta where Evita’s remains are buried with the Duarte Familia. Also of interest with regard to Evita are Casa Rosada and there is a Museo de Evita also. The markets in San Telmo are well worth a look also. A stroll through la Caminito in Boca and a tour of Boca Juniors stadium, La Bombonera is a must also.

After here we headed for El Calafate in Patagonia down the very south of the country where Perito Moreno glacier is close to. Lovely town for rambling about here. We stayed in America del Sur hostel  while we were here and also made a trip to El Chaltán which is beautiful spot in the mountains where you can hike to some of the Glaciers. We made the trek to Lago Torre and Glaciar Grande which was 6 hours but it was well worth the trip. I found it tough enough but I had rented boots for going to Perito Moreno so part of it could be put down to that. Fitzroy didn’t fully clear while we were here but really enjoyed the 2 days here. Hostel Condor de los Andes  was one of the best hostels that we stayed in on our trip. Perito Moreno was amazing here. The blue of the ice was incredible and seeing waterfalls to the bottom of the glacier, crevices and underground taverns was a great sight.

We headed for Bariloche next which was a big lake district and while when you arrive the town doesn’t look like much but I think the real sights are really around the town. A recommended restaurant here is “El Boliche de Alberto”  which has amazing steaks. A trip well worth doing here is to San Martin de Los Andes where we spent a night in El Oso Andeluz Hostel . Town is alot more laid back than Bariloche and less developed even allowing for the fact that it has 2 Irish pubs and looks nearly more like a Swiss village with all the wooded cabins. There’s a great walk outside town that leads up to a lookout over Lago Lácar and the Che Guevara museum here is well worth a look. The cars here always stop if they even think there’s a chance that a pedestrian may be crossing the road so much so that you’ll almost get knocked down when go back to Bariloche. One other thing I forgot to mention is that Milongas or Tango dances aren’t to be missed while in Argentina. One we went to in Buenos Aires was top class and there was also one in the Irish pub in San Martin while we were here. It was back to Bariloche after here and the highlights here were a cable car ride on the way out to a walk Circuito Chica and the actual walk here. We stayed in the hostel 41 below while we were here that wasn’t great but also stayed in Hosteria Nogare  which we found great. Bars around 41 below were very good. Los Vikingos and also there are 2 places across the road from 41 below with your back to the hostel across the road. Send to the right is the spot. If anyone can tell me the name I can update it accordingly.

On to our final location in Argentina, Mendoza now. There was a big change in the friendliness of people here compared to both Patagonia and Buenos Aires. This couldn’t be said of the people in Hostel Alamo  who couldn’t do enough as regards advice about Tours. Lovely city to have a ramble about and didn’t do an awful lot of note bar going on the wine tour to Maipu here. We did the cycling around vineyards here and Familia de Tommasa and La Rural were very good to visit. You are cycling on busy roads with buses and trucks so I’d look at doing a tour in Lujan de Cuyo if I was to do it again but I’d have to research it. The local police keep a close eye on you here bar turning a blind eye to cycling with drink on you so bar the traffic you’re safe as a house.

One final word on Mendoza while people in restaurants weren't that friendly on the last night we went to a concert in Plaza de Independencia and had a Parrilla or selection of meats and we found people there very sound so perhaps we just needed to scratch a little below the surface

We were flying out of Santiago de Chile on the way home and we did the crossing over the Andes. Waiting stationary at the border and taking 4 and a half hours to clear border controls took a bit of a gloss off it. Also if people are planning this it might be worth trying to change to another bus in the same bus company if this happens as another person did that came onto our bus. In general our bus driver said 2 hours is the norm whereas it’s 3 in the other direction. After the border the road goes in chicanes and constantly bends over on itself and us in the front 2 seats were almost certain we were going over the edge at many stages. With the passing of almost a week and being back to the monotony of life even with the delay I’m glad we did this. I’d say we were only out in Chile for about 6 hours but Chilean people seemed very friendly and I wouldn’t mind having a better look but I think it may be an exercise in patience. Hostel here was Happy House hostel .

Last stop home was in Amsterdam where we had a 8 hour layover and the Heineken Brewery is well worth a look here.

Well that’s me finished. Roll on the next holidays.

Here are the snaps:

Argentina November 2012

Greek Islands

Just back Monday from the Greek Islands and I have to say it was fantastic. Contrary to the media spin we had no trouble at all either due to strikes or feeling at all threatened. I couldn't recommend it enough as a destination.

I was previously in Santorini 8 years ago before the Olympics and I'm almost certain it was Ios I went to on this occasion also. Just had a very relaxing time in Santorini and did alot of sleeping, reading, eating, drinking and back to eating. We stayed in the Volcano View and it had a great view of the island and it was very enjoyable just watching the sunsets and having a beer watching the sun go down. It got cold enough when the Sun went down and had to put on a hoodie and light pants but wasn't that cold that you'd have to take off the sandals. booking.com was also excellent for doing any bookings. The one activity we did here was walk to Oia from Fira which is about 15 km and it takes about two and a half hours. Hard walk but well worth it for the views. Santorini is beautiful but it gets overloaded with the cruise ships and maybe I'm getting old but a good few of the pubs have what I could only call jungle music. All the same great spot to see but if not too expensive Oia would be worth staying in.

After 3 days in Santorini we headed for the island of Folegandros which we spent a night here in Vrahos Boutique hotel which is 400m from the port which was very nice and staff were very friendly. The town of Hora was lovely with little winding streets and it was quiet enough also. Hora seems to mean town in Greek as every island has one.

Our final island to visit was Naxos which was the best of the whole lot. Fine lively town with lots of restaurants and plenty of culture. The main sites we saw were Temple of Apollo right by the port, Dionysus Sanctuary in Iria (3 km away, we got here by bicycle) and also Demeter's sanctuary which you can get to by local bus. Hotel we stayed in, Saint Vlassis was amazing and guy running it couldn't do enough for you. It's 10 minutes walk from town and 5 from the beach. On our last day we cycled to Plaka beach which was amazing. We almost had the beach to ourselves.

We arrived back in Piraeus port at night and it's not half as threatening as it looks. The Triton Hotel here is basic but it's very near the port and we stopped here on the way out and the way back and found it good.

In Athens we had no problems and just did a quick trip to Acropolis and saw the changing of the guards on Syntagma square which is done on the hour.

I couldn't recommend Greece enough to anyone who is dubious.

Photos are here

Freedom again in Belize/Guatemala

Absolutely great time was had in Guatemala/Belize and felling of absolute freedom was amazing. It felt like being back backpacking again.

We were away from the 15th of October and arrived back on the 1st of November. We flew from Dublin via Newark and Houston with Continental to Guatemala City and the way back we flew from Belize City via Houston and London.

We started off on the holiday thinking we were a small bit mad going to Guatemala seeing as almost everyone we told reacted to us as if we going into a warzone. US Immigration in Dublin didn't help by saying I was going into a drug war when I didn't have a day by day timeline of where I was going and doing at all hours.

We arrived into Guatemala City and we headed straight to Antigua as we had heard bad reports of Guatemala City and generally there's generally not huge differences between Cities. We stayed in Villa Esthel in Antigua booked via Hostelworld. It was a small bit outside town but I found the hostel very good. We stayed here for 3 nights and it was a great base for exploring Antigua. We generally just rambled around Antigua. Cerro de la Cruz had great views of the city. Antigua has alot of old Cathedrals that are well worth looking around. We did a tour to Volcan de Pacaya from here. There wasn't a huge amount of Lava here as there had recently been an eruption but it was still well worth seeing. The natural heat from the Lava is unbelievable and the landscape is like what I'd imagine the moon would be like. We met a great crowd on this and headed for the square outside La Merced off Plaza Mayor for Pupusa which is cheese cooked inside a Tortilla. Chile Relleno were absolutely fantastic here. I'd certainly recommend eating from the street vendors as much as possible while you're here. There were a huge amount of Israelis both here and in Guatemala in general.

We headed for Lago de Atitlan from here which was 3 hours away. You could see alot of the roads had been washed away on this trip. We headed for Panjachel on the banks of the lake but we (Caroline might say I) thought here looked very touristy so we instead headed for San Pedro. We stayed in Casa Maria Elena which had hammocks out the front and was very good. We paid 100 Quetzales here and it was well worth it. The town here is very laid back and it is very Western/tourist focussed but I loved the place. From all reports San Marcus seemed to be set up similarly although some people reckoned it might be unsafe but only one person said that. We climbed Indians Nose from here to watch the sunrise and although the Sunrise wasn't great it was still well worth it. The guide we used Johan has his office across from Casa Maria Elena and I would certainly recommend him. The View from the hospital up the hill in San Pablo is well worth it also.

After here we headed for Lanquin and Semuc Champey. Unfortunately we had to head back to Antigua which was 3 hours away where we had to wait for almost 2 hours before heading on to Lanquin which was another 7 hours away. We stayed in El Retiro which was good and I met some great people through here but I'll sound like an auld wan saying the music was very loud. As the Guatemalen guy on the tour said the Scenery was the music. El Portal might be another option worth looking at. From here we did tubing down the river which was brilliant followed by swimming through a cave with only candles to light the way. There was a swing over the river also which I made a mess of myself on. There's a photo of my belly from after this but I'm not sure they do justice. I think it was the first time to get a tan from a belly flop. There were a few bats in the cave and it was great. Part 2 of this was a climb up to see the lookout over the Limestone Pools of Semuc Champey and then we headed down to swim in the pools. The photos don't do any justice to the views but it'll go alot further than my words. We stayed 2 nights here.

We headed onto Flores after this which was a further 7 hours away. This town is on an island in a lake and although it is small it was a lovely spot to walk around. Villa de Chef was a great spot for a feed and a couple of Botella de Dorada Ice. It was very touristy here and the businesses here are definitely more money conscious while it seemed better off than other places we'd been. We stayed in Los Amigos here but found it very hot and wouldn't recommend it although the crowd running it were very nice.

We headed to Tikal from here. The one thing to say is to book the bus out to Tikal in plenty of time as San Juan pull the busesif they can't be filled. I had been in Palenque and Chichen Itza but I still found Tikal very impressive. We stayed in the Tikal Inn out beside Tikal to take advantage of the sunrise and sunset. This cost $55. If you get your ticket after 3.30 you can get your ticket for 2 days. It was worth it for the sake of seeing the sunset but if you look into this you might be able to do this from Flores depending on the time of sunset and time of last bus. There was a storm the morning we were meant to get up for the sunset so we left it as it would be cloudy anyway.

After here onwards to Belize City which took 4 hours after the border in Guatemala took 20 Q from us to put directly in their pockets. If you're asked for this you shouldn't pay it but it depends on how far you can push it with them. The crowd in San Pedro Water Taxis are very good and we got the boat with them out to Caye Caulker. Caye Caulker was very laid back and we stayed with Chilas Cabin which was a lovely spot but the air conditioning wasn't any good. There was a good breeze which looked after us most of the time and also ac doesn't seem to be very common. The snorkel trip from here was amazing and we saw Nurse Sharks, Turtles and Sting Rays. They filled us full of Rum on the way back in also which was a plus. If you do a bit of looking here for food you can get decent value for money but it can be quite expensive if you go to the wrong places. There's a FAT guy on the strip that does amazing sea food. Caye Caulker was amazing and very relaxing and would certainly recommend it to anyone.

Last day in work for the week tomorrow. It's amazing how quickly a holiday becomes a dream.

Photos are here:

Guatemala,Belize 2010

Home again

Last couple of photos from Rio are from here on:
http://picasaweb.google.com/thesupersaints3/RioDeJaneiro/photo#5215250157879685698


The trip to the favela was very worthwhile and also Cristo Redentor (Christ the redeemer). All that remains is the depressing task of finding work.

Iguazu and Rio

Well anyway we arrived into Sao Paulo from Caracas and thingsinstantly became all the easier. People were friendly. Colombia would be my favourite place in South America but I'd love to have more time to see Brasil. From our limited time here it has been amazing and so easy to get around in with the helpfullness of the people.

Anyway we did an overnight bus to Foz de Iguacu which was meant to be 16 hours (I think) but we did it in 15. This is more or less on the Brasil-Argentina border. From here we headed to Puerto Iguazu in Argentina via both border checks. If anyone is lanning on doing this I'd recommend a taxi as the bus doesn't stop at the border checkpoints. We relaxed the first day and headed for the falls the following day. We did the boat ride under the falls which is a bit of a ripoff and not worth doing at all but on the other side the park is very good value. On the Argentinian side you really get close to the falls and the views are amazing. We headed for Catarata on the Brazilian side the following day which amazingly was even better than the Argentinian side. The pictures do more justice than any description I can give you. We headed to Parque de Aves after the falls after this which was really good as well.

Well onto Rio that night on another night bus of 24 hours. After all the travel the first couple of days were fairly uneventful. Caroline came to the Macarana to watch Fluminese draw 1-1 against Santos (Pele's old club). It was great atmosphere even with the limited crowd. Fluminese were poor considering they're in the Copa Libertadores final against LDU Quito. It's also strange that they're currently bottom of the league. Last Saturday we headed for Flamengo against Sao Paulo which was absolutely amazing atmosphere with it being like a nightclub inside a football stadium. Flamengo lost 4-2 though although they still top the league. Caroline had alot of beach time here while I don't know what I did. Pao de Asucar was the only thing I went off on my own doing. The views from this were amazing. Today we did a favela tour in the morning and just rambled around the Centro in the evening. The favel atour was very good with some of the proceedsgoing to different projects here such as a nursery. The gap between rich and poor here is astounding.

Well 25 hours to go to my departure now. See you all soon. The weather better be good.

Slan,
David

Salto Angel, Iguazu Falls, Rio De Janeiro

Latest photos from Rio are here:

Rio de Janeiro

Also finished adding the remaining photos from Ciudad Perdida along with Salto Angel and Iguazu Falls:

Cartagena, Taganga, Ciudad Perdida, Salto Angel, Catarata Iguacu, Rio De Janeiro

Anyway as I said at the end of the last post we headed for Venezuela. We had been warned that Venezuela was a dump and more trouble than it was worth by almost every traveller we met bar maybe 1 or 2 but with Chavez's high profile and it being a socialist state I wanted to see it for myself. From the moment we got into the country it was nothing but trouble with our bags being x-rayed twice, being asked for our passport 3 times and Carolines bag being searched before we got to our chosen destination which was Ciudad Bolivar via Caracas. They also have a double economy going on here with a black market operating at a rate of 3000 Bolivars to the US Dollar whereas the cash machines give you about 2100. This is designed to keep inflation down for the poorer population but in my opinion what happens is that anyone reasonably well off has access to the american dollars so it's only the poorer people that lose out. One thing Chavez had done was giving a handout to the Indigenistas of $150 a week we were told but on the downside they aren't growing crops or farming animals due to having this free money. For those that don't know it the country is the third highest producer of oil worldwide. I'd be very worried what happens here when the oil runs out as the people here have forgotten how to work and are extremely unfriendly for the most part.

Oh and while I think of it those that say FARC are all bad must have a look at this link on Alvaro Uribe, the leader of Colombia whose father was heavily involved in the drug business:
Alvaro Uribe's links to drugs

Having said that Colombia was absolutely amazing and would definitely recommend it.

Anyway back to Salto Angel. We did the tour with green Iguana in Ciudad Bolivar. It cost 600 Bolivar Fuerte which equated to about $430 with the preferential exchange rate. The sites on the tour were absolutely amazing but the guide left alot to be desired. It doesn't really matter quality wise which group you book with as all the tour companies are lumped together when you arrive at Canaima. It's strange in Venezuela that nearly every tour is run by German ex-pats which even the Germans refer to as the German mafia due to their wheelings and dealings. We were really lucky as we saw Salto Angel without any mist which I think is fairly unusual not that you'd get any info out of the tour operators. Also on our first night we were only 5 minutes from the falls but our tour guide neglected to mention this simple fact. On the last day we saw Sapo falls and went right under them which was brilliant. We flew back to Ciudad Bolivar from Canaima in only a 5 seater Cessna plane which was very good. The trip here is very overpriced but it is absolutely amazing to do.

We headed back to Caracas on the overnight bus that night and stayed around the hotel for most of the day mostly because we were shattered and we had also been warned that it was unsafe. We went out for food that night which was as usual overpriced. Venezuela left a very bad taste in our mouth compared to the friendliness in Colombia. English music was very prevalent here but from our observations most of the time the people couldn't be bothered making the effort to try to understand you.

We flew to Sao Paulo the following morning and as per the norm in Venezuela only one of the cash machines in the international airport accepted international cards. Was a disaster but we'd come to expect this in Venezuela. I'll have to tell you about Iguazu and Rio later as I've run out of time but I promise it has a much happier ending.

Cartagena, Santa Marta, Ciudad Perdida

Hello all,

We flew up to Cartagena and we ended up spending much more time there than we intended. It was a lovely city and the real narrow streets and the generally laid back atmosphere reminded me of Cuba an awful lot. The first 2 days we didn't get up to a whole lot bar just strolling around the streets otherwise known as bumming around. I think we might have been a small bit shattered from all the bus trips before this. After 2 days of this we reckoned we should get our act together and the following day we headed for Isla de Rosario and Playa Blanca. I didn´t think much of the tour and we probably would have been as well just heading straight for Playa Blanca. The nhext day we headed for Volcan de Tolcan which is a volcano that is filled with mud from it bubbling. It was really good surprisingly. We met a crowd on this trip from Brasil, Germany, America and Switzerland and ended up going on a Chiva bus around the town that night with them to be dropped at a nightclub later. It was a ripoff though if any other travellers are reading this. It was 25 mil for just over an hour whereas it's advertised as being 4 hours and most of this time wasn't spent on the bus. Very good sport and got a fair bit of free rum into us.

The following day post champions league final we headed for Santa Marta via Taxi to bus station via Bucaramanga (Shakiras birthplace by the way but sadly didn't get the photo of her statue) via station in Santa Marta to Taganga. Taganga is a great little coastal town just outside Santa Marta but sadly infiltrated with scores of Israelis and every restaurant seems to cater for that. I wouldn't be surprised if half the town is Israeli owned but that's pure hearsay. We only nbummed around here for 2 nights and then we did penance on the Ciudad Perdida trek.

I´d recommend the trek but you would definitely want to be in some sort of condition. I´m in the prime of my life at 29. If there´s anyone reading this blog and you´re touch and go whether you´ll actually do the trek you can post comments here and I´ll get my girfriend Caroline to get back to you on how hard the trek was as her and my opinions would differ a good bit and she read alot of blogs before she did it as she was unsure of the difficulty. The first day had a hard first hour but the other 2 hours were ok. Day 2 I think was 5 hours walking but it was easyish. We got there when we thought we had at least 1 more hour of walking left. Day 3 I think was the hardest with 8 river crossings which I did in my bare feet but you´d probably be better off if you had flip flops or sandals. After this there were 1350 steps to the top to Ciudad Perdida. We only spent 1 day in Ciudad Perdida and to be honest this is enough. Day 4 was long enough but from here on in each day was a repeat of what we´d done before. 5 was fine but 6 was tough as there was heavy rain with about an hour to go. Was very testing but I thought the hike was very good. Our guides Gabrielle and Alberto were excellent. I think magitours in Taganga was the name of the tour company we did it with.

After tonight we´ll have spent 3 nights in Taganga post tour. Just relaxed for most of it as well as catching the Ireland V Colombia match here, Ireland jersey and all. Today we went to Parque Tayrona. This was well worth a visit. It´s about an hour from Santa Marta so if you´re going you should go early as there´s a bit of walking to get to the beaches even when you get the jeep from the front gate.

Early start in the morning to head into Venezuela. The only thing we´ll see will be Angel Falls here and after that we´ll be heading for Sao Paulo followed by Iguazu falls. Hope the sunshine is lasting at home. 16 days to go.

Here are the latest photos:

Cartagena, Taganga, Ciudad Perdida

More photos to follow as they´re not loading very fast for me tonight.

Medellin, Bogota

Medellin wasn´t great at all. The city has very little to offer but I´ve heard that maybe the highlights are to be seen in the countryside outside it. Zona Rosa is the main area with nightlife but it´s like going for a drink in Cafe en Seine or Ron Blacks with a similar pricing structure. It was 5000 for a beer here compared to 1800 everywhere else and the accommodation in Casa Kiwi was 60,000 compared to 40,000 here in Bogota which is the highest we have paid. The exchange rate here is 1800 Pesos to the dollar so we generally just half and take away the 000 to convert to dollar. The dollar is generally our benchmark here to decide whether we´re paying alot. Colombia has been the dearest country we´ve encountered so far. The lonely planet doesn´t give an honest reflection at all on prices and we´ve heard rumours that the lonely planet writers weren´t even in Colombia and judging by prices and the errors I wouldn´t find that hard to believe.

Anyway we headed for Bogota after here and naturally the 9 hour trip took 12 hours but that´s to be expected. We were very pleasantly surprised by Bogota. It´s the nicest capital city we´ve encountered so far. We arrived in late the first night so didn´t see much. we stayed in Hostel Sue which was really lovely near Platypus hostel. The first day was filled with museum visiting with us seeing the Museo del Oro (or Gold museum), Museo Nacional and also Cerro de Montserrate which gave a great view of the city. Plaza Bolivar was also very nice to see. Today we headed to Cathedral Sal in the morning which is a church-cathedral built into a hollowed out salt mountain and this afternoon we headed for the Museo de Policia which was very good. The sound guides here as much as the material made it. It was really interesting talking to the guides covering a broad range of topics such as FARC and cocaine production.

Tomorrow we´re headed for Cartagena on a flight. Santa Marta is our only other planned destination in Colombia but I´m sure we might stop in between somewhere. After that we´ll head for Venezuela where Maracaiba, Caracas and Angel falls are our planned destinations. If time allows we might also head for the Orinoco delta. We´re planning on being down to Manaus in Brasil to catch a flight to Sao Paulo on the 5th of June from where we´ll head towards Iguazu falls. That´s the plan but it´s open to change.

The latest photos are here:

Salento, Medellin, Bogota

Buenas Noches from Medellin

We headed to Armenia the following day and it was another hour from here until Salento. Salento is only a snall town but it was great here. The Salsa music and dancing was really cool not that we partook much with our limited talents. We planned on spending one night here but ended up staying 3. We trekked in the Cocora valley the first day. You can catch a jeep to here from the main plaza for 3000 pesos. We headed up to the lookout at Montana here which was amazing. I'll add photos in due course. The second day we headed for 2 coffee plantations which were really different with one being a modern mechanized one with the other being very traditional with everything manually operated. These were really good. We had planned on heading back for Armenia in the evening but the weather and the atmosphere in the town we stayed on for the third night. Was great atmosphere on the plaza with it being mothers day here. They had all tents set up on the plaza for food and drink as they do every weekend but it was probably busier again due to Mothers day.

We headed to Medellin today which took the 6 hours plus the extra 2 that always seem to be added onto any transport in Colombia. Here is the home of Pablo Escobar, the drug lord but that's a long time ago now. Looks a fairly modern city. It's meant to have one of the best metros in the world. To be honest I'm looking forward to getting back out of cities again. Probably spend 2 nights here before heading for Bogota. Piping hot here. Hope the weather has remained good at home.

Update from Cali in Colombia

Puert Lopez in Ecuador was our next port of call after Montanita. Not much to there but is nice and relaxing and the scenery around it is impressive. We spent 2 days here and the first day we got a boat over to the island of Isla de la Plata. We did a 10 k walk here which was really good. The blue footed boobys are the main attraction here and we also saw 2 Albatrosses. We also snorkelled here for half an hour and I was really impressed with what we saw. We headed to Los Frailes and Laguna Blanco the following day and as the photos will show the place was really pretty. We met a Ecuadorian lad from Quito on the boat trip the previous day and I must say Mucho Gusto to him if he´s reading this for driving us to Laguna Blanco and home again.

Our next stop was Banos which was west of us but it weas really awkward getting here as due to the state of the roads we had to head back down south to Guayaquil to get here. We left at 9 in the morning and only arrived in Ambato which is an hour from Banos at 10 at night. We hit for Banos early the next morning in the Colectivo which is really just a mini bus of sorts. Banos was beautiful. It´s built in a valley with the mountains appearing to be at all sides and there´s a volcano just outside it. We did a 12 k cycle here to Aguas Verdes which was really nice with loads of waterfalls but on the down side we were covered in muck from head to toe. Bar this we took it fairly relaxed here. It´s a spot I´d definitely recommend to ther people though.

Quito was our next stop and our final stop in Ecuador. All the rest of Ecuador was amazing but Quito was very bad. We always felt that we had to watch our back here and in the evenings we really clocked up the man hours on the telly here. We stayed here 3 nights in total. The first day we went to the old town to see all the churches. It was a really nice place to walk around in. I must say that it´s the new town that has the reputation for being dangerous but maybe the old town could have been different. The second day we headed to Mitad Del Mundo or centre of the earth aka the Equator. Inti Nan Museo Solar was recommended to us here as opposed to the Mitad Del Mundo complex as it´s at the real equator whereas the other place is 300 metres off. This was really good and I enjoyed it alot better than expected. We headed back for a salsa lesson that night which again was really good once you got into it. It was run by a Cuban lad who was really good.

The following day we arrived into Popoyan in Colombia after a 16 hour bus journey from Quito. Still living the dream as you can imagine. We arrived to Tulcan at the border after 5 hours and the formalities at both sides were handy enough. Colombia was a cake walk. I was able to check Caroline through immigration without her even coming to the window. We arrived into Ipiales on the Colombian side and we then organised our bus to Cali which was meant to get in at 10. With all the delays we decided on staying in Popoyan that night as we only arrived into here at 10 with Cali being a further 3 hours away. Popoyan was lovely with all the walls very white looking. Churches are the main attraction here and after the old town in Quito I've seen enough of these but very nice to have a stroll around and very safe.

We headed for Cali the following day. Cali was meant to have super night life but it wasn´t evident last night. Maybe it´s the weekend that things get busy. We headed to the Zoo today which was absolutely amazing. There are lots of photos from here you can check out. We headed south of the Rio Cali after this to have a look around town but bar churches there wasn´t much on offer. The scenery in Colombia has been very impressive so far. Tomorrow we´ll head for Armenia and Salento and probably only spend one night here. At the moment our plan is to head for Bogota after this followed by Medellin, Santa Marta and Cartagena.

The latest photos are here:

Montanita, Puerto Lopez, Banos, Quito, Popoyan, Cali

I believe the weather is very good at home so here´s hoping it lasts till June. Hasta Luego.

Update from Montanita

I came back to Cuzco after 2 days seeing Macchu Piccu and the town of Aguas Calientes. Aguas Calientes is very over priced relatively speaking to the rest of Peru and there´s alot of price fixing going on. They have hot springs here where we went to the 2 days we were here. This was nice enough but there wasn´t a whole lot else in the town to do. The first day it was raining so we didn´t do a whole lot and we also missed out on the climb up Putucusi which is meant to have a great view over Macchu Picchu but with the rain all we would have seen is mist anyway. The second day we headed into Macchu Picchu which is really good but it´s got very expensive. According to the lonely planet it was meant to be $21.50 but now it´s gone up to 144 sole which is the guts of $48. Also for a place that has so much walking about they know how to charge for water it is 10 sole here for a small 300 ml bottle whereas the normal price is 3 sole everywhere else in Peru and 4 sole in Aguas Calientes for a 2.5 litre bottle of water. The site here is very impressive when you look past all the overcharging though. I climbed Huayna Picchu at the back of the site while I was here. The last time I did the Inca trail the other lads climbed this but I got a bit of the vertigo so chickened out. I was lucky to get to climb this at all as I was 399 of 400 allowed to climb it per day. It´s alright the first stretch of it where you´re not looking down at all but the bit at the top is scary as. I nearly chickened out but I said feck it seeing as I´ve climbed it this far. Whatever it was like going up it was terrifying coming down as the steps were small little steps with barely enough room for your feet and steep as. I managed it alright though in my hands and knees.

In Lima before this we stayed in Miraflores, kind of the posh part of Lima. Very nice spot and the views from the Larcomar are very impressive. We headed into the center of Lima for a look around the Plazas which was good. We got a look at the changing of the guard at Palais Nacional. We got a tour guide here who brought us around the various churches.

I arrived into Tumbes late about 2 days ago after our flight from Cusco via Lima and Piura although here we didn´t even get off the plane. Tumbes hadn´t much in it and we didn´t get up to much here bar going for a bit of breakfast in Plaza De Armas.

We headed onto Guayaquil in Ecuador about lunchtime that day which was about 5 hours away. We did the border crossing ok and arrived into Guayaquil that night. We scored with the Sander hotel here which had our own tv for only $12 although almost every channel was in Spanish but a tv none the less. We got a lovely seafood platter kind of thing which was a nice break from the Peruvian cuisine in the Malecon 2000. The food in Peru wasn´t up to much and it hardly varied from place to place. It was like they delivered the same menu to every place in Peru but the Ecuadorian food is alot better. By the way Ecuador is so named because of it´s position on the Equator. The Malecon is a lovely shopping / financial / park area they´ve developed right on the waterfront. Bar the Malecon Guayaquil hadn´t a whole lot to offer but it more than served it´s purpose as a stopping off point. By the way Guayaquil while not being the capital is Ecuadors largest city.

We headed onto Montanita then where we are still which is a surfing spot as well as being a bit of a party town. It didn´t let us down on either front as my head can testify to today. We ended up meeting a guy Sean from Kerry who´s in Ros na Ruin and an Israeli that we ended drinking with last night. It´s a nice little town here with plenty happening and we´ll probably spend 2 more nights here before heading for Puerto Lopez which connects to Isla De Plata which is referred to as the poor mans Galapagos. However almost everything here with any bit of wildlife here is referred to as a poor mans Galapagos. In total we´ll probably spend about a week on the Pacific coast before heading for Banos and Quito.

Here are some photos since the last installment:

Cancun, Huanchaco, Lima, Cusco, Macchu Picchu, Guayaquil

Huanchaco adieu

Well Muchachos,

¿Esta Bien? Good 10 days of surfing was had in Huanchaco outside Trujillo. For any surfers there when the swell is good about the 2m it´s very good about the pier but if you go right from the pier down towards hostal naylamp it´s absoluely amazing. It´s like being on a rollercoaster except you´re not on any tracks. Absolutely brilliant and very safe in case there are worried relations out there. Hostal Naylamp is a great spot here but the nightlife is almost non-existent no it is non-existent. Sabe´s 4 or 5 doors up from Naylamp has the only small bit of activity but almost all days 2 people is the most you´ll see in here. I met a Carlow lad, a couple of New Zealanders, an Arbentinian Belgian and other odd stragglers which broke up the evenings. The Trujillo is the local beverage here which is tasty tack and only a dollar a 620 ml bottle.

I came back on the night bus from Trujillo last night and will head for Cusco on the 16th for probably 4 or 5 days for Macchu Picchu. After that we´ll be making tracks for Ecuador. Not sure of our route yet but I´ll let you know in time.

Any Bertie bashing be sure to give me a shout.

On a more sombre note Trevor Deely´s mother asked my mother to put this picture about of Trevor. If anyone has any news contact me or the number on the poster.
Trevor Deely

Cancun, Lima, Huanchaco

Cancun turned out to be alright. It's very developed with 24 km of concrete and there's also a bit of segregation in the resorts with alot of the gringos in the nice pools and the Mexicano on the beach. It's a bit sad for the Mexicans also as I'd say they have trouble accessing the beaches. The only way to get to the beach is via the hotels and I'm told the hotels generally stop Mexicans. I went to a fantastic nightclub here though called Coco Bongos. They have different acts on stage all night and they have trapeze artists swinging down onto the bar. It was $63 in but it's free drink once you get in which seems to bring on bouts of headaches the next morning. All in all I'd recommend anyone to go there.

I arrived into Lima about 1 in the morning and spent only the next day there. I took it fairly handy there and only hung around for the day and also had a look down at Miraflores. I took the overnight bus (10 hours) to Truquillo that night and got the colectivo to Huanchaco. This is basically just a big outdated minibus that drops people off and picks people up along the route. It's entertaining enough looking at the guys hanging out the door trying to pick up a fare. This spot I'm in is a small fishing village which doubles as a surfing village for the tourists. Good surf here. It's about 2m alot of the time although yesterday I must have picked the only calm part of the day. I'll head for a surf now after my Desayuno or breakfast. I'm getting by with my limited Spanish but I could do with alot of improvement.

Sydney Adieu, Mexico

After doing my last blog entry in one huge chunk I haven't learned my lesson at all. I stayed one more week in Sydney and apart from surfing, the Tea gardens and the Cock and Bull not much else happened. The Paddys day parade was good craic and especially post parade in Hyde Park. Having said that I'm not sure whether there were many Paddys in the organising committee as the bar was diabolical. Paddys day wasn't great I have to say. The surf that day was highly enjoyable though. I stayed in Caroline's friend's, Breda Murnanes place. She gets an honourable mention if she's reading this.

After a week in Sydney I was off to Mexico for it's culture but I was to be cultured out by all the information. It was a very good tour none the less. We started off in Mexico city. I arrived the night before my Mam and spent the first night in a hostel/ hotel. It was good value at $20 for a double room and your own shower. This was the roughing part of it as I would be staying in hotels for the rest of the trip. We stayed in the hilton for the 3 nights we were in Mexico city. We saw lots although at times my mother was climbing the himalayas going in and out of metro stations. Taxis and walking on level ground was soon decided to be the mode of transport. There´s loads to see in Mexico city including Palacio Bellas Des Artes (Museum of modern art), Catedral Metropolitana, Plaza de Republica and Plaza Major (Major Aztec Site). The people of the city were very friendly I thought although the major hotels, the Sheraton in particular do their best to rip you off.

The second day on the tour we headed to Teotihuacan outside Mexico city. This is a former Toltec site. This would be my highlight of the archaelogical sites but maybe this is partially because this was at the start of the tour before I got Archaelogicaled out. We did the tour with caravan tours and although the guide was very knowledgeable sometimes a break from talking for a kip would have done me the world of good. The tour was made up of 44 people with the bulk of these being Americans although some had Mexican and Columbian backgrounds. If I had been told this before the tour I probably would have had a hernia but they surprised me with how sound they were and knowledgeable. By the way I'm not licking arse here as it'll be a miracle if any of them find this blog but I'm just saying it broke the stereotype I had of them. Back to Teotihuacan I climbed the Pyramide de Sol and de Luna here. These were nice climbs and weren't too difficult.

The next day we had a long day of driving to Veracruz. Veracruz hadn't much of note but it was a real party town with lots going on down on the beach and there was plenty of activity on the main square. We only spent a night here but it would have been great to have spent longer here.

The following day we were off to Palenque. By the way I'm struggling with names here so I have the Lonely Planet out constantly trying to find the names of the different places I was. We stopped in a lovely town Pueblo on the way. This is a UNESCO site but it is getting rundown due to lack of funding. They don't charge to get here like other UNESCO sites which I think is a pity. The government of Mexico is totally corrupt and the wealth of the country is controlled by 13 families. Also Mexico has natural resources of oil but the wealth from this doesn't filter down to the lower classes. Mexico signed the NAFTA treat with the US and Canada but it gets no benefit from this as the American multinationals come in as well as the cheap agricultural produce which kills the Mexican farmer. The Mexican government doesn't seem to show any leadership at all. We also visited Olmec heads in Villahermosa en route.

Palenque was lovely but it was also very similar to Teotihuacan. These sites start to get tedious after seeing a couple of them but well worth a look all the same. We had that afternoon off to laze in the pool or whatever and this was heaven after all the early starts and all the driving.

Two nights in Palenque and it was onwards to Merida via the ruins in Uxmal. Maybe with the passing of time I'll appreciate all I saw but not after only finishing the tour today. Merida was another nice colonial town and we visited Chichen Itza from here. The tallest pyramid here was really impressive as the photos hopefully will testify.

Today we came to Cancun on the shores of the Caribbean. The colour of the sea here is amazing, a nice turquoise colour. There's 24 km of hotels to ruin that though. I worry about people from the US that come down here as it's just another version of America. I'm here for 2 days until Monday so hopefully I'll get some snorkelling in. Then I'm heading for Lima and I'll head north of here to Huanchaco for a week of surfing before Caroline arrives back on the 14th of April.

Pictures from Mexico as well as footage of the supersaint here:

Mostly Mexico

Alice Springs to Adelaide to Tasmania

The photos of Tasmania and Adelaide are here:

Adelaide, Tasmania

Now after ignoring the blog I have to do itall in one big chunk. I've done a heap since I last updated it. Anyway we had arrived into Alice Springs last time I updated this. Alice is smallish but as we were to find out before we left the place was very unsafe. There are were lots of Aboriginals roaming about the place much like you see some young lads roaming around O Connell street. They're doing nothing wrong but you're very wary of them as they just seem dodgy. I think people that have been trodden on for over 100 years with no education and no opportunities would be no different but at the same time they don't do themselves any favours. For instance you can't go out in Alice Springs on your own at night. You have to get a taxi home. Also that night we stayed in Alice 2 of the hostels were broken into and it was said that it was aboriginals and in one of the places one of the girls actually saw aboriginals taking her rucksack. They were only given the vote in 1967 and Uluru was only handed back to them in 1985 with one of the conditions being that they allow people to climb it. The Aborigines ask people not to climb it but hundreds still do. As a mark of respect I think they shouldn't allow people to climb it. Our guide likened climbing it, to skygliding off the vatican. I think it's closer to pissing on an altar. Also compared to New Zealand where they're educated on Maori customs, there's no education in Australia on Aboriginal customs. Rant finished.

We lefty Alice at 5 in the morning to do over 500 k to our first stop Kings Canyon. Here our walking was going to begin. It wasn't too bad but it was a good taster of what the following 6 days would hold. The photos will give you a better idea of what it was like than any description I can give you. It was good but it paled in comparison to Kata Tjuta which comes later. We saw the sunset over Uluru and Kata Tjuta that night from our campsite which was nice. On the way to the camp site we passed a mountain really similar in shape to Uluru called Mount Connor and it was gas seeing everyone taking photos of it in excitement only to be told later it wasn't the main man.

We saw Uluru for sunrise the next morning but I wasn't that impressed with it. There's a taller monolith than it in WA called Mount Augusta but I suppose it's not as pretty. I main thing I thought that would recommend Uluru to people is the Aboriginal stories/history here.Our guide Adam from adventure travel was really informative and it was good to see an Australian person actually cared about the plight of the Aboriginal people. The Aboriginals are starting to get into Aboriginal based tourism and I think this could be very useful for educating people about their customs. We saw Kata Tjuta that evening which I thought was the most impressive out of this 6 day trip. You'll see the pictures but it really reminded me of scenes from the Lion King.

Our next stop was Coobers Pedy in another 7 or 800 k. I was looking forward to coming here. This is an underground city but I didn't rate it in the end. I don't know I just thought of it as all being underground with tunnels between shops and houses but it wasn't like that at all. Most places just had a cellar in their house. The underground bar here was actually overground. I didn't rate it at all but I suppose fair play for making something of nothing here, something Australian tourism is brilliant at. Irish tourism could well take a leaf out of their book.

The next day we saw Lake Torrens and stayed close to Wilpena Pound which is part of the Flinders ranges. Lake Torrens is a big salt lake. I thought this was very impressive. We climbed Wilpena Pound the following day. This is a decent climb but it was well worth doing. We stayed in Parachilna that night for our bush/roadkill bbq. We had Kangaroo, Camel and Emu. I thought it was very tasty but the views of the girls on the trip differed wildly. It wasn't all bad, more for me. We had a couple in the pub here that night. It was a real bush pub with no bars for over 400 km.

The last day we headed for Adelaidevia a wine tasting in Clare valley. It was nice to be back in civilization but it was scary as well. It was really strange to see all these people after being in the wilderness for 6 days. Overall the tour was very good. Uluru and Coober Pedy were a bit of a dissappointment but the other parts more than made up for it. Adelaide was nice. We didn't get up to a whole lot here but it was grand just to stroll around the streets. The market and Glenelg beach were very nice.

We were only 2 nights in Adelaide and then we hit for Tasmania. To be honest I think we were shattered after all the 6 o clock starts on the 6 day tour and we did alot of sleeping the first couple of days. We arrived into Hobart airport and only spent a night here which was more than enough. We hit the harbour, Salamance place and north Hobart. North Hobart was the most happening of the whole lot. It was very quiet and we were happy enough to hit the road the following day.

Our next stop was Port Arthur, a former convict settlement. We did a ghost tour here that night which was brilliant. Caroline was holding my hand alot tighter in here for some reason. This was the highlight and was much better than the tour the following day in daylight. The brutality here was shocking and judging by our guide, he seemed to think it'd be a great idea if this system was re-introduced. Solitary confinement was a feature here and the opening of a lunatic asylum here didn't seem to alert the English authorities that something wasn't going quite to plan here. Good to see but there isn't a town nearby to here. Tasmania isn't setup very well for tourism at all here. Especially in the south you're very lucky to find backpacker or budget accomodation in the towns. You have to check this out before you go near a town.

We headed for Ross that night for the famous bridge. They have a crossroads here that goes in either of 4 directions temptation (pub), salvation(church), recreation (town hall) or damnation (old jail). A happening spot as you can believe.

We headed for Freycinet National Park the following day to see Wineglass bay. The photos of this are fairly impressive.

The Bay of Fires up the north is also worth a visit. This is a real beach area although you have to be careful with the rips here. We stayed in Longford that night above a pub and we headed down at 9.30 for a drink only to find the pub was actually closed.

Next stop was Cradle mountain. This is the start of the overland track. After 1 day of walking I was glad I wasn't doing 7 more days of it. I think all the walking between Alice and Adelaide had us all walked out.

Then back to Lanceston. Not much to report here either. Cataract gorge is the highlight here. Tasmania is very nice but you'd have to be fairly fond of the walking. Nightlife here was pretty non-existent. The entries you might have noticed are getting shorter and shorter now. It's not entirely due to Tasmania but more due to me getting bored writing.

Myself and Caroline arrived back in Sydney the day before yesterday and she went home yesterday. I'm in Sydney till the 19th after which I'm heading for Mexico for 10 days to meet my mam. Then I'll be meeting Caroline back in Lima in mid April to be home for late June. You can surely drop me a line after that big long essay. Slan.

Very brief update

So much to say and I mightn't get to say it all now as it's been over 2 weeks since I did any updates. I'm currently on the last day of the Tasmania phase and we did the 6 day Alice Springs to Adelaide trip. Here are the last set of photos:

Last night in Cairns, Alice Springs to Adelaide Trip

I didn't get far did I. I'll give more updates next week.

Cairns

The only update I give to you is that we arrived in Cairns and are due to leave it for Alice Springs in the morning. We're doing a 6 day tour down to Adelaide from here but the bad news is that we're being collected at 5.10. Ouch. Back to Cairns. It's a big enough place and the pubs are very good craic here. Maybe a little too much. We arrived in here late and the next morning we hit off for the Cape Tribulation tour which we were doing over 2 days and 1 night. The driver Troy with Jungle Tours was really good. We hit Port Douglas on the way up which is a yuppie tourist town. It has a local population of 9000 yet it doesn't have a hospital or a school while a smaller town of 4000 up the road has both. We also did a river cruise where we saw crocodiles and flying foxes. We stayed in the Beach House in Cape Tribulation which was fairly dull but on the plus side it did allow us to see the beach and the lookout the following day. The tour had 2 Mayo girls, Ann and Majella who we ended up going out with when we arrived back to Cairns. Nursing a hangover today we manged to do the Kuranda skyway and the train return. Lovely scenery and the Barron falls were amazing. It's the most spectacular waterfall I've seen on the trip yet. The photos will do more justice than my description. It's probably more amazing at the moment as there's a huge amount of rain.

I also added more photos into that same folder as below.

Tully, Mission Beach

It must have been all the rain in Aerlie Beach that had me in bad form. Queenslanders aren't a bad aul sort although the majority of hostel owners are thieving gypsies. The hostel banana barracks in Tully is a dive and they do have the fruitpickers there over a barrel as it's the only backpackers in the town. The backpackers who want to stay on do this as if you work for a 3 month stint on a farm you get another year on your visa. Having said that we were delighted to have it to go for a drink as the other bar in the town in the Hotel Tully was closing as 7.22 PM. The next day we were doing the white water rafting with Raging Thunder. This was excellent. Any of the lads reading this will be pleased to know that I managed to stay in the boat but just about. I half fell out but managed to hold onto the ropes. John Tobin has my other fallout on general release as I assume most of you have seen. They've stopped doing DVDs so you'll have to depend on my own version of events. We went back to Mission Beach after this and we're still there but are due to leave for Cairns this evening.

I couldn't see anything about the croc in Mission beach but I came across this. Gives a new meaning to Water hazards:
"A CROCODILE that has taken a preferred lie in a water hazard on The Willows Golf Club course at Townsville in north Queensland golf course is to be allowed to stay. The metre-long freshwater crocodile was found following recent floods in a lake on the 14th hole at the Willows Golf Club at Kirwan, near Townsville. As he poses no threat, Queensland Parks and Wildlife decided he could stay until he chooses to move."

Here's a story about the yacht that was wrecked on Aerlie beach:
Romance

We had trouble getting up from Aerlie to Tully and there were no buses operating due to the floods one of the days. When we did get up we couldn't see what the fuss was all about. An area Mackay further south was declared a natural disaster zone though. See:
Mackay

Here's some pictures anyway:

Whitsundays, Tully, Mission Beach

I'll have to get some cheerier news for next time. It's starting to sound liker naturaldisasters.com.

Koala's, Westpac

This is only of interest for anyone travelling Australia. I'd avoid the Koala's like the plague. The hostels in Noosa and Hervey Bay were terrible. The kitchens were tiny and it was like fight club trying to get yourself dinner. In Noosa the only knife was stuck in between a cooker and the microwave so to cut anything you were constantly on the move. In these places it's like they're trying to make conditions so bad that you have to buy dinner in the bar. Also their trip to Fraser Island is terrible with both the vehicles and the equipment substandard. They don't seem to service the vehicles at all. Our clutch was wrecked by the second day and when you pressed it down you had to have a piece of string to pull it back up. Also when we rang from the port to get their assistance with the car which was basically unroadworthy we were told they couldn't collect it. We also heard that another Koalas vehicle had the same problem while we were there. As part of the equipment we were given a rusty shovel that cracked the first time we used it. They also had the cheek to charge the group beside us for a knife that fell apart when they were cutting vegetables for dinner. The lads that run this are most arrogant group of people. They have a $60 bond from each person so that you can't complain about the abuse/insults you get or they keep part of your bond. They asked the girls in our group to demonstrate French kissing. I'm emailing this to lonely planet so that hopefully they can take out any reference to these in the next issue. I think the place in Aerlie Beach is already taken out of it.

While I'm at it avoid Westpac. They try to charge you for any international transactions and they tried to charge me twice for the same transaction.