a whole new world

It's been nearly a month since i told you what i've been up to, and it has seriously flown by.
After a rather long and sickly flight across the world's biggest ocean i arrived fresh and ready in New Zealand; only to find that immigration didn't want me and biosecurity were scared i was carrying diseases, that aside all went well and by 8am on the 7th April i was in Christchurch.
I would love to go into detail of all the people i caught lifts with but time constrains me so i'll be brief. There was a Maori bloke, who was convinced his girlfriend was cheating, a windmill engineer, a French Canadian with a mini-van and the campest and funniest bus driver i've ever seen; and i arrived in Queenstown.
It was Easter weekend and the only space i could find was in a massive holiday park which had superb views over the deep blue sparkling lake and the pretty down beside it. Queenstown is one of the most beautiful places i've seen and the beauty was only increased when, on the morning of the 8th, i met up with Mark and Juan (and their 2 newly aquired Swedish mates) from back home. It was good to see some familiar faces and we spent the day chilling by the lake and in a bar and went to see '300' in the evening which was pretty good.
Me and Mark rose nice and early the next day and made our way up a mountain called Ben Lochmond. It wasn't easy but it was so worth it. From the top you can see for miles and miles and we had a lovely lunch together (very romantic). At 1700m, of which we climbed 1400, it was probably the highest i've climbed in a day and i felt rather proud indeed.
And then, after a night watching legally blonde (don't tell anyone), Queenstown was over! I got about 6 lifts until i arrived at Fox Glacier with a French bloke and another Hitchhiker; a swiss one. Fox was superb. We climbed up a nearby hill in near darkness and had a look at the massive moving block of ice from up high. Dinner, prepared by the French guy was, as would be expected, rather tasty. The next day, after sleeping at a hostel where the owner explained he didn't really want us to stay, i went with a group on Fox Glacier itself. The weather was extreme. Gale force winds and extremely heavy rain made it cold and wet but in no way miserable. Walking on the ice was great- the crevasses and ridges and everything felt surreal but made for an amazing days walking. On the ice with me was a lovely group of Americans (among others) and quite possibly the most annoying man i've ever met, an Israeli fresh out the army who i quite nearly pushed into a swallow hole!
After fox and a night in a room all by myself watching trashy TV i got myself on a bus to make the mammoth trek up North to Nelson. The ride was great; vast ocean to the left and huge snowy peaks to the right. I met a nice guy from Edgware who was on a 6 month booze cruise round-the-world. I arrived in Nelson (after 10 hours) and got the YHA. Highlight of the evening? A girl gave me a massive bowl of salad. Yes i was bored.
Next day trekked up a nearby hill (Pic left) and looked over the world in front of me. After running, sliding and falling down again i arrived at a replication of an old village. I sneaked in for free and saw a strange assortment of object, a huge plane and a fake village bakery. I spent a large amount of the day reading and finishing a feminist book.
By nightfall i was in Picton being verbally assaulted for 4 hours by an amazing 67 year old with a whole life story to tell, as i had nothing else to do i listened. At times i laughed and at times i wanted to cry as the guy told me how he, wifeless and pretty friendless had very little to live for and traveling was a way to escape his depression.
Next day and i woke up early in preparation for my Sail to the north. I would be lying if i was to say i was looking forward to the voluntary project, I had loved being by myself so much, but i was so wrong to be pessimistic.
After a calm boat rive accross the Picton Straight (and a heated discussion about God with 2 randomers) i was greeted at the Ferry Terminal by three of the lovely ladies who were to be my housemates for the next fortnight. After my usual initial dislike of new things and people I settled in pretty quickly (withing about 10 minutes). I could right quite easily for a few days about the great people who i was dumped upon for those two weeks, but instead maybe a few words for Each.
Lauren (House Advisor): Australian, very forgetful and incredibly funny (and my cigarette partner)
Sarah (Volunteer): Washington State, mother of the house, knows all the things that need to be known, also makes a mean corn bread.
Anna (Volunteer): Devon, mental gardening type, bit of a country girl at heart, knew to appreciate a good cuppa. Milk NO Sugar.
Claire (Volunteer): Leyland (right?), 'The Northern Lass', refreshingly brash i think, especially after vodka, liked diggin' and shovellin'- and why not?
Mairead (Volunter): Irish, Crazier by the day, best moments? 1) 'Matthew, you talk more than anyone i've ever met' and 2) Looks at a BIRD 'That's a fat little fuck isn't it'.
Melene (Volunteer): Danish, Seemed to have the amazing ability to get drunk of air and dance like someone on acid. Introduced us to a sadistic Danish cartoon...(NO NOT THAT ONE)
Ryan (Volunteer): Not only the only other bloke, but also 100X more man than me. Despite his outside appearance he was a big bear really and often his use of sarcasm impressed even me.
Katie (Volunteer) : Texan, Loves 'the office' (and you though they were all backwards over there). Spent much time falling over and eating peanut butter, cottage cheese and drinking tea. Tended to lose standing ability when drunk. :-)
Oh and then there was Toby, our team leader, what a man, that's all i'm saying.
So what did we do?
Weeding
Beach Clearing (Pic above)
Walking (Pic Above)
Digging
Shovelling
Driving a tractor
Couting Seals
Sailing (above right)
Made Paths
Drank Tea
Got Drunk (Obvious picture)
Made Cakes
Watched the Office
Ate (as on beach)
Painted a dinner set (up)

Argued about politics

It was a great two weeks, too many good things to fit into this blog (look at the pics). I seriously couldn't have wished for better people.
Two days have passed since i left Wellington. After chilling with some Anarchists on Mayday i bussed it to Rotorua and arrived at 3.00 am and slept on bench. Yesterday, i went mountain biking and fell over many many times, once head over heels with the bike landing on my head. It was great fun.
More on Rotorua and elsewhere to follow...
Love to all.

The end of South America

After Machu Pichu we spent a few more nights at the Point hostal in Cuzco. After staying up all night on our final night the time had finally come for us to move away from the land of the Incas. We hopped on a train South to Puno and Lake Titicaca and found ourselves a nice cheap hostel where we met a cool buddhist guy (about our age) and his 40 year old 'friend' who he had met on his travels. The youing guy was so chilled out he very nearly sent me to sleep while talking to me.
After a few days Lake watching and the like we packed up our various belongings and hopped on a bus for 20 hours to Huacachina via Ica. Huacachina is a beautiful little desert town surrounded by sand dunes big as mountains with a cool oasis in the middle of it. Our hostel, amazingly, had a swimming pool (with attached bar) which we dived into on arrival before we went sandboarding (the pool that is).
Sandboarding, for those who don´t know, is a sport where you either strap your feet to (if you're good) or lie on top of (if you're us) a board and then fly at about a hundred miles an hour, or so it feels, down huge sand dunes. (Max still has a sand burn now). It was amazing fun.
We stayed in Huacachina for a few days, chilled out, climbed some sand, ran down some sand and then left at five in the morning on the 3rd day to go to Paracas, or more accurately Islas Ballestas where we saw pelicans, penguins, sea lions and loads of other birds and whole heap of bird shit that was once Peru´s main export. It was a great morning, topped of nicely with 20p egg sarnies on the waterfront.
After the morning was done we hopped on a Perubus to Lima and found ourselves a nice Israeli run hostel (very friendly) to park ourselves for the last night. Our aim of seeing Lima in a day was slightly inhibited by the Hostel having Pro Evolution Soccer 6 on the playstation, but at least we got better at that.
The next morning we did actually manage to remove ourselves fromt the hostel and see Lima. It´s a really lovely place actually, especially the old colonial centre. We also had a lovely lunch (green rice for me) and some brown lemonade. After a coffee by the sea front and our usually daily debate, this one especially heated, we got ourselves a delicious chinese meal in Miraflores (the posh part of Lima we stayed in) and headed to the airport.
It was at the airport that we faced a dilemma: Leftover currency. So we spent it all on Donuts, i mean who wouldn´t and the problem was solved. The flight to Santiago was quite interesting, we met a lovely columbian woman who was flying to meet her new fiance in Santiago. Once in
Santiago airport at about 6 in the morning and with about one hours sleep, we all felt a bit rough, Benjie still managed another donut however.
About 6 hours later and we were right bang in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in Easter Island. It´s an amaizing place, huge grass covered esxinct volcanoes at each end, woods and desert in the middle, a magnificent coastline and 20ft rock heads all over the place.
We camped right on the sea shore in a campsite and we could hear the Pacific crashing against nearby rocks all night.
Day 1 in Easter Island consisted of:

-Renting bikes
-Cycling to the other side of the Island (20km)
-Max getting a puncture
-Me offering and starting to walk back (stupid me)
-A horrible realisation about 5 hours in that the way we were taking back was actually too long on foot.
-Hitching a lift with a grumpy family
-Arriving back safe and sound after seeing some graceful wild horses roaming the land and experiencing one of the quitest and most naturally beatuiful places i´ve seen combined with a weird and interesting history of creating huge rock faces facing into the Island. It was great.
On day two we climbed a volcanoe and looked into its old crater lake, it was well cool. Me and Benjie sneaked in a drink at a harbourside bar before dinner (same pasta 3 nights in a row on the bloody expenisve island) and a film at a local hotel. It was called Rapa Nui and was produced by Kevin Costner, it was great.
The next day we flew out of Easter Island all happy and content and arrived back in Santiago in the evening in time to find a nice cheap hostal with a slightly mad receptionist.

We woke up early enough for our free breakfast on the morning of the 4th and headed into town to see some sights. The centre of Santiago is beautiful, quite similar to Lima in its colonial architecture. We spent some time wondering around the city before we hopped on a funicular railway which stops off at the zoo which hugs one of Santiago's hillsides. The zoo was great, it had a jaguar, lions, tigers, polar bears and loads of other cool creatures. 2 quid well spent we all tought!
And now? I sit alone for the first time. Max, Daniel and Benjie have left for India and i go New Zealand tomorrow.
It´s been an amazing month- sorry the accounts haven´t been more detailed, there is so much to tell and so little time. (especially when an evil woman is sighing at how long you´ve been on the computer...hope she can´t read english...)