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After nine months in Melbourne, I’m on the move again. Apollo Bay (about 3 hours down Great Ocean Road) is my new home. It’s a pretty little town, with a gorgeous bay beside it. It will get alot busier once summer kicks in, but at the moment life is pretty quiet. On a sunny day, the colours in the water are incredible and well worth a visit.

Sunset before the action begins in Pattaya!

From Wellington we all drove back to Auckland. After two nights there, the others left for Melbourne and Carmel and I set off for Ruawai to visit the farm. Here we had a great couple of days staying with Denise and Gwynn. The first evening we climbed up Toka Toka hill to view the surrounding area before a drink in the local bar. A delicious BBQ steak followed before a great night’s sleep in our non-hostel beds!

The next morning, we were up early to milk the cows (and help with taking milk samples!) before a great breakfast. We then set off on our day trip, with Gwynn and Denise showing us all the sites – Kai Iwi Lakes, The Big Tree, Opunoni beach for lunch, Ohawie, Maurua, Whangerei for Hamish’s (their grandson’s) birthday dinner and then home for another good night’s sleep!

Another great breakfast followed the next morning before we went off for a drive around the farm with Gwynn. The 1983 truck below was an adventure to drive! All too quickly we had to head back to Auckland and prepare for our flight to Oz the next day!

We rented a car and drove up to Paihia, a small town in the Bay of Islands, north of the North Island where we checked into Base hostel, which had nice rooms, a large kitchen and a good bar.

Christmas Eve we did a big shop and stocked up on all the essentials – a fry for the morning, loads of chocolate, sweets, crisps and dips. That evening we went to a carol service on the local green and then for a few drinks in the hostel bar.

Christmas was a bit strange being away from home but it was so different it didn’t really feel like Christmas anyway. In the morning we went down for a swim at the beach and to swap our Secret Santa presents. A group of Philipinos were there too and insisted on taking loads of photos with us – are we really still that white??? Home for the fry and afterwards we watched “In Bruges” and dug into the chocolate supplies. Mass was on that evening so we all went to that before coming back for the hostel dinner – mussels, ham, chicken, veg, salad followed by ice-cream. A few more drinks rounded up the day, finishing with the hostel owner and some locals doing the Haka!

I had arranged to meet a friend of mine from college, Siobhan on Stephen’s day. She was up in Tauranga Bay (further north) camping with her boyfriend, Lance and his family. They collected me that morning and I headed off to spend a few days with them at the beach. Lance’s dad has a small motor boat so we went out fishing alot, along with lots of swimming and walking. I caught my first snapper fish! During the week I got to try cray fish, paua, snapper, mussels, oysters and delicious cookies and cakes made by Lance’s mom. The weather was a bit mixed but camping right on the beach was great and I really enjoyed the few days.

We flew down from Lima to Santiago ( a wise move as it would be 2 and a half more days by bus). Arriving at the airport around 5am, we killed some time before getting a bus to Valparaiso (1.5hours north). Having heard mixed reviews about it, I was surprised how much I liked it. It has a real arty feel about it with lots of talented graffitti artists and very pretty architecture.

I ended up staying 4 days here – checking out the nightlife on Saturday night, then a walk by the port on Sunday and going to nearby Vina del Mar for some beach time and a bit of shopping. Our hostel Casa Kreyenberg was nice, more like a guest house though and the lady who owned it was a bit overly obsessed with cats but they did have a great breakfast!

I really liked our first stop in Chile. It has a very European feel, like going back to normality. The prices reflect this aswell but I´m enjoying it all so far. It is a bit cooler here than up north but I still managed to get burnt at the beach!