My stopover in Hong Kong happened to be over Chinese new year so I got the added excitement of a big parade on the Saturday and a firework display on the Sunday. Unfortunately the fireworks were a little disappointing as it was so misty and cloudy that day - mostly you could just see the clouds lit up in different colours.Otherwise I just relaxed and had a good look around. "The peak" is the big lookout point over Hong Kong and I was blessed with a clea...

More relaxing in the sunshine... I stayed mainly in Terrigal (90 mins from Sydney) with John, Dawn and Megan (thanks guys) and had a good couple of weeks "loafing". Managed to get enough energy for a trip to Sydney Aquarium with John and the Reptile Zoo with Dawn. Me and Dawn also went walking along a nice costal park whilst neglecting to take enough water - very thirsty at the end of it. I also caught up with Shabnah in Sydney and had a weekend in Ne...

I've spent 6 days in New Zealand and spent most of the time in Rotorua visiting a friend (Karena - I worked with her in Salisbury). The small bit of NZ I saw was excellent. Very green/attractive and friendly. I mainly relaxed but saw a few lakes, a geiyser and went to a Mouri cultural "show" (got to see the Hakka). I also went luging (down a hill on a sledge with brakes and stearing) - fast and fun ! In Auckland I managed to find a pub open at 8am...

My last day in South America today. Has been just over 3 months now and seems strange that I´ll be heading home soon. Got the little matter of New Zealand, Oz and Hong Kong before that though and looking forward to catching up with quite a few people. Am also glad to get out of my dorm. The hostel is excellent and I pre-booked it. However, my dorm happens to have not just the worst snorer I`ve encountered on the whole trip but also the 2nd worst! Was har...

I flew up to Bariloche with the military airline (who use serving military pilots). Had one of the scariest landings I´ve ever had - was quite a lot of turbulance and also the pilots went low early and continued fast until the last minute. I think they just know what the plane can do but certainly felt different to your normal comercial airliner landing. Bariloche is in the "Lake district" here and I did very little apart from chill out/read. Did...