Hikes & beers in Bariloche

From misty mountains to clear blue skies, it seems like the weather here is as unpredictable as it was in London. Still, we were not complaining when we woke up to sunny skies and t-shirt weather :)

So we donned our hiking boots and hopped on the local bus to the nearby Nahuel Huapi National Park and headed to one of their publicised walks by the lake. The scenary around here is very beautiful, with clear blue lakes, snow capped mountains and forests full of clean fresh air.

We finished the 3k hike quickly and found the tourist information centre at the end. Unfortunately, as will many things Argentinian, it was siesta time so the centre was closed however we bumped into an older British couple who told us about another walk which started not too far from the start of the walk we had just completed, which gave stunning views of the lakes in the park. Feeling energised from the sandwiches we had brought for lunch, we headed back to find this eutopia. 6.5k later we climed on to the big rock at the top of the mountain (hill... who's counting) and looked out at a most magnificent view (see left).

This is why we came to the "Lake District".

We headed back to our log cabin hostel to meet up with the lovely (Canadian/American) couple who were also staying there. We had planned to check out one of the local Cerveceras (beer breweries) with them for our final night in Bariloche. After dinner of home-made pizza, we headed out. The brewery was called Blest and the guys went for the taster and the girls each ordered one of their yummy deserts. We can heartily recommend both.

Tomorrow holds a bus ride to San Martin de los Andes for us and Buenos Aires for our new friends. We were sad to leave, but looking forward to the smaller, less touristy paradise by the lake.

Bariloche

Next stop - Bariloche, which has gotten raving reviews for its scenery and chocolate. It seems a place that can not be missed.

We got off our 16 hour 2 bus trip from Mendoza a bit tired, a long trip during which we were treated to two (thats right not one but two!) games of bingo where we managed to win absolutely none of the bottles of wine offered as prizes. We did make a decent dent in the wine offered with dinner though, and the champagne. Did we mention that we like the Argentinian buses despite their poor selection of movies??

The first day we spent finding our hostel, getting settled, doing the shopping and trying to get a few glimpses of the Olympics. After a long bus ride we figured we needed to charge the batteries in order to get ready for some hiking among the many lakes and peaks around here. The hostel we're staying at is about 15 km outside of the town, which means we have a lot of the trails just around the corner.

For our first hiking day, we decided to tackle the little knoll of Cerra Campanario. There is a skilift that could have taken us to the top but we decided to hike up. And the view at the top was spectacular, even though it was raining and there were loads of low clouds around. At the top there was also a coffee shop with massively overpriced coffee, but in the cold rain it was very welcome and appreciated.




After an extended break at the peak, we ventured down and hopped on a bus that would take us to a paleontological museum, well, we waited for 40 minutes for it to show up first. Thats arguably Bariloches 3rd claim to fame, there are a lot of well preserved dinosaur bones found in the region and some of them are huge. I'm sure paleontologists will claim its bariloches first claim to fame, but after visiting the site, we were not so sure. We got to what we were told was a museum but it turns out it was a theme park - but not just any themepark. This was "the most important themepark in South America". It consisted of a 250-300 meter long trail with scale models of dinosaurs and dinosaur eggs. And when they ran out of dinoraurs they filled the rest with gnomes and witches on broomsticks. No matter if you call it a museum or "The most important themepark in South America", the verdict is still disappointing. So on the 3rd claim to fame, this jury is still out.

Our second day in Bariloche we decided to not challange the rain and went into town instead, where we visited some of the many chocolate stores. And there are many. There are all kinds of varieties, combinations and constructions available. A lot of these shops also double in selling local fruit and beer from micto breweries. At the end of the day when we got back we had gotten some dark chocolate (really good) a lot of pralines (excellent ) and two bottles of beer. The chili beer will have to wait a little while but the chocolate beer has been consumed (a little on the sweet side bit that was kind of expected).

There will be a few days more of hiking to come, and the weather is supposed to take a turn for the better. We're looking forward to getting some nice photos to share...

The jungle - day dos

After retiring at around 9pm, we woke up bright and early in the morning for our pre-breakfast excursion. This turned out to be a canoe ride for just Johan and myself and our guide, Moises and we had to help with the paddling! The morning is comfortably cool and it was clear that the birds also agreed because they were out in full glory. I wish I could remember the names of all the birds that we saw, I hear that there is a checklist that we can use to record what we've seen so I will try to source one of them. The best part of the trip was seeing the calmness of the river and the refection of the jungle in it.

Breakfast was the usual delicious food and soon afterwards was time for our walk. We took a boat to the place were some of the others were meant to go camping the night before but their guide got ill so they couldn't go so we proceeded to take the walk around the lake. It was a long and hot walk, too hot for many of the animals though we did manage to see some tiny night monkeys up a tree and lots of birds including a tucan - though I didn't see that one...

Pirana fishing
After lunch, several others arrived from Iquitos and another traveller, a nice medical student from California, joined our group. The afternoon excursion was a trip to go fishing for piranas on the river. Very exciting! We travelled for a bit by boat to where the piranas were and Moises showed us how to bait the hook, make a circle in water lilies and drop our hook deep into the water. Within seconds I got the first bite, a tiny little thing that had to be thrown back. We fished in a couple of spots, finally finishing with about 8 acceptable fish including one that Johan caught! They have promised that we will be able to eat them tonight... I hope so :)

After dinner (yes we ate piranas and yes they were delicious) we went out again on to the river by night with the new group that arrived at lunch time today. Again I was amaized by the number and beauty of the stars. With no artificial lights to compete with, we really had the chance to see the stars the way our ancient forefathers would have seen them. The sky was clear and the moon was yet to rise so they were displayed in all their splendor. Wonderful. And then the moon rose - full and low and a yellowish-orange colour... A sight I will remember always.

The next few days were just as amazing as the first two however they were so visual that it's hard to just describe them so we've created a photo album for you to see.

Peru

Hello Jungle

Much of the next few posts were written out in the jungle where we had no electricity or internet access to upload them

So much can happen in just 24 hours that we find ourselves needing to record this as we are already beginning to forget some of the amaizing things that we have already seen.

To Muyuna
As expected in the morning we headed down towards the river (not the Amazon we discovered but one of its tributaries), and boarded our boat which would take us the 3 hours to our lodge deep in the middle of the Amazon jungle. After about 15 minutes the water changed colour from the dark brown to the light brown of the Amazon. Wow. We kept saying to each other "I can't believe that we're on the Amazon!". Pretty cool. Pretty soon however, the noise of the boat engine and the unrelenting jungle on both sides lulled us both into sleep, broken for a few minutes by a stop at the last big village (7000 people) before we reached to our Lodge.

Muyuna lodge was more than we expected though I have to admit that I'm not sure exactly what I expected. We met our guide, Moises, and after a delicious lunch where we met some of the others staying here, we went to our private bungalow. We expected not to have any electricity or hot water, but we didn't expect a beautiful thatched covered room set high on stilts overlooking the river with a generous balcony complete with a relaxing hammock. The entire room was surrounded with mosquito netting and our ensuite bathroom with separate shower was more than we imagined. We will definately enjoy our time here.

The first activity of the day was a walk through the jungle starting at 3pm in the afternoon. We donned our longed sleaved shirts, long trousers and the wellington boots that we hired in town and headed off into the jungle following our trusty guide, Moises. It wasn't long before we were attacked by mossies and for the second time on this trip I was thankful for the fly net that I bought back in the Outback of Australia. Seems that it works just as well on mossies as on flies. Moises was soon pointing out different plants and birds to us. THere was a plant whose leaf juice is good for burns, another mushroom that needs to be dried for several days before it is good to eat. We saw some parrots, hawks and a toad which was undistinguishible from a leaf, until it jumped. We saw a group of tiny marmaset monkeys playing in the bush, beautiful kingfisher and loads of termite and ants nests. Plus we had a great walk through the jungle. A great start.

Now a word about the mosquitos
We could dedicate an entire post to the unique Amazonian mozzies or wax lyrical in several posts about them until you are board stiff however we will try not to. Suffice to say, they are hugh, plentiful and have more persistance than your average mozzie. I will be hard pressed to find their equal anywhere in the world. They are the one thing that we could definately do without on this trip however I suppose that if we didn't have them to constantly consider, we would find time to worry about some of the many other nasties that live in this jungle.

After another scrummy dinner, we headed out onto the river on a little motorised boat in the darkness with Moises at the helm with a spotlight darting through the trees and bush. Not spotting any animals in the bush, we came to a little lake covered with water lily plants and came to a stop. Moises bent over the side of the boat and seconds later came up with a baby Caiman! He started to talk about its size and weight but none of us were listening to what he was saying, we were fully focused on the creature in front of us that he was holding. What a sight! Perfectly formed with strong hind legs and smaller front legs I touched his tail which was scaly and covered with some kind of moss that grows there. Wow! Moises put it back into the water and we were on our way back to the lodge.

What an incredible day, and we have 4 and a half days left. Each day can't be this good...

Goodbye South Island

We're falling behind with our post writing and once you start, it's hard to catch up so I'll summarise what we've been up to in the week since you last heard from us at Lake Matheson, just along from the Fox Glacier.

Franz Joseph glacier
The next day, Saturday, we woke up to bright sunny skies and anticipation of the day that we had planned ahead of us. We were going to spend the day trekking on the Franz Joseph glacier!Apparently named after the beard of an Austrian emperor some time ago, this is one of only three glaciers in the world which end in a rain forest (one of the others is Fox which we saw yesterday). Our day started at 09:15 when we received our various vouchers for our shoes, jacket, hats and gloves for the day. After getting kitted out we jumped into an old Chinese manufactured bus and headed to the start of our walk to the glacier.

Franz Joseph is a bit more of a distance away to walk than Fox but we trudged on through the rainforest and then through the river bed until we reached the familiar yellow rope fence covered with warnings of a dire fate should we decide to cross. After a little chat, our guide helped us to climb over the fence and rounding a corner we stopped again to put on our crampons. Now crampons are neat spikes which are attached to your boots which make it very difficult to walk on normal terrain but are fantastic when walking on ice. Which was good, because for the next 5-6 hours, the ice became our best friend.

The climb up the many steps cut out of the side of the glacier ("steps are my friend") were sometimes steep, sometimes slippery and sometime treacherous but in the end the sense of achievement when we reached our turning point and the beauty of the age old ice was worth every minute. Our encounters with the local Kea's were just the icing on the cake. Not even the slight rain after our picnic lunch, which was served on the nice cold ice, could dampen our moods.

Pancake rocks
Sunday, after failing to find a church open (the local Anglican services operate bi-weekly, ie. next week) we noted the rubbish weather and decided to press straight on to our next stop in Nelson. The only major stop was made at the notable pancake rocks, an unexplained but beautiful geological phenomenal.

Abel Tasman
Admittedly we could have done our homework a bit better as we discovered once we'd reached that Nelson was still some way from Abel Tasman national park which was the next place that we wanted to spend some time. Still, we had booked a room in a local hostel complete with swimming pool and hot tub which we decided wasn't so bad and exhausted from the full day's driving we collapsed into bed.

The next morning we woke up and slowly made our way to Abel Tasman, stopping to pick up some delicious, locally grown cherries from a stall by the side of the road. We got to Motueka, the entrance to the park, just before noon which was a little late to catch the water taxi to do the half day walk that we'd planned. No problem, we weren't too late to rent a double sea kayak and paddle our way to the famous New Zealand icon, split apple rock.

Unfortunately the sea just wasn't playing ball that day and after half an hour of hard graft in the choppy seas, we managed to make it just a quarter of the way there. Disappointed and tired we pulled into a lovely little beach for a rest and to take stock of what we wanted to achieve. We agreed that though we were both quite tired from the last couple of days and wanted to get a bit of rest, we also wanted to see the NZ iconic rock. The guidebook provided and alternative, land-based, route to the rock so after braving the rough seas again to return the kayak we drove over the hills and took the short 15 min trek down to the bay to finally get a glimpse of the rock.

Nelson wasn't all wasted though, we did discover a lovely micro-brewery operating a few minutes walk from our hostel where you could buy some of their beer in unmarked two litre bottles which you can bring back for refills. Visions of bootlegging cross your mind when the bartender quietly hands you the bottle around the side of the bar so you quickly stuff it into your knapsack and walk off at a quick pace, hoping that no-one is following you...

Renwick
Pronounced Renwick by the locals, this lovely little village was only a couple of hours away from Nelson and our only destination the following day. We checked into the loveliest hostel so far where we decided to treat ourselves to an en suite double room and relaxed for the rest of the day in the twin hammock hanging up in the garden.

Renwick is also in the middle of the Marlborough wine country and so the next morning we procured a couple of bicycles, a map of the region and headed out to sample the regions wares. Now I've never been one for white wine but as that was the predominant offering I decided to try to figure out which white wines I actually liked.

My favourite cellar doors were:
Te Whare Ra - great blend called Toru
Villa Maria - best Sauvignon Blanc
River Falls (will need to check the name) - best Pinot Noir

and Johan discovered that he quite liked the wines with the German sounding grape - Gewurztraminer, and also the local micro brewery that tapped various interesting beer on actual glass bottles with a cap. Which means we will not have to explain to customs officials what kind of liquid are in the plastic 2-litre bottles. That is bound to make the entry into the U.S, much less eventful.

For dinner we stopped by a local butcher and picked up some lamb chops and some BBQ sauce and slapped them on the bar-b-que back at the hostel and chatted with the other travellers while drinking some micro brewery beer. A very lovely day.

Goodbye South Island
So now, Thursday, I'm writing this while swaying from side to side on the ferry carrying us and our car and a few hundred other passengers from the South Island at Picton to the warmer North Island at Wellington.

The South Island has been undescribably beautiful at times but to balance that the weather has been really rubbish on some days and the roads a little more windey than my stomach would like. Some of the experiences that we've had like the climb up Franz Joseph and the reflection of Mt Cook in a calm Lake Matheson will stand out for the rest of our lives while some, like the sandflies at Milford Sounds and bedbugs in Nelson, we will be happy to forget as soon as the itching stops.

As for me, I am now looking forward to taking a few days rest in Rotorua before we embark on our epic journey to Houston next week.

Big Rock

The day we had been waiting for finally arrived. After seeing it from afar and debating the best way to approach Uluru, we finally decided to start the day at 8am by going along on a free walk given by one of the rangers of the park then continue to walk around the base of the rock. This turned out to be both a good and a bad idea.


The Ranger walk was fascinating, he told us that along with Kata Tjuta, the rock had special significance to the indigenous people and that there were many teaching stories that were told at various points there and around the rock to the younger boys and girls of their peoples. Our guide himself had been working with the indigenous people for 3 years and had only just begun to hear some of the stories. Some he could share with us, which he did, and others he could not. He showed us an area of aboriginal art which had been used in the teaching and explained some of the history of the rock up until it's present day function. The walk finally ended, 2 hours later, at a surprise waterhole just by the rock. I found it very interesting to learn something of this place.

However, it did mean that we didn't get to start our hike around the rock until around 10:30 (of course I needed to go to the loo and there was only one there) which means that it was already starting to get a bit hot and would only getting hotter. Still we were determined so armed with our frozen 2 litre water bottle, some sandwiches and snacks, we started on the 12 km (ish) hike around Uluru.

From a distance, it is easy to dismiss Uluru as one big lump of rock in the desert. Of course, in some ways that is exactly what it is, but don't think that it is uniform and uninteresting all around because that would be far from the truth. There are lots of little nooks and crannies, big formations and small, ones that we could photograph and others that we were respectfully asked not to. The first part of the walk was the least interesting, the last bit, when the heat really hit was the most difficult but the whole thing was totally worth it.

Not a bad way to spend our last day in the red centre. Tomorrow, we give back our car and board a flight to the polar opposite of the desert, the tropics by the see. Tomorrow we go to Cairns, home of the great barrier reef and where we had heard, there was rain!

Outback Part 2

Just sitting outside and listening to an old Aussie bloke strumming his guitar on the little stage at the Pioneer bar in Ayers Rock resort. It's been a few days since we last wrote a post and it's not because nothing has happened, rather, it's more a reflection of the price and availability of Internet access in this country! [again we apologise for the lack of pictures for a different reason this time]

So a recap...

Coober Pedy was a bit of an odd place. Situated conveniently between Adelaide and Alice Springs, its claim to fame is that it is where a large number of opals have been found so now every man and his dog there has opal-fever. There are mounds of desert earth everywhere where miners have blown holes in the earth in their search. We stayed in the oddest possible backpacker hostel, it was located two stories underground, dug out of the limestone rock which means that it was also incredibly cool even with the 40 degree temperature outside. Beautiful, but strange... a bit like the hobbit-like owner...

We didn't stay there too long though, we were up early the next morning and set off for our first destination in the red centre - Kings Canyon. Why, I can hear you ask, didn't we go to the most famous big rock first? Well, we are flying out of Ayers Rock airport to Cairns on Sunday, so we thought we'd do the sights around first and then head to the main attraction.

The trek up there was uneventful, if beautiful. We've met several people before we set out who have described their journey to the red centre as indescribably dull but we didn't think so. The scenery, vegetation, the views of the straight roads going on for miles and miles where so different from anything that either of us had ever seen before that we were enthralled. There were funky rock formations, red sand dunes, weird looking trees, random road kill, a 130 km/h speed limit. We also met a lot of fellow backpackers and campers with fascination stories of where they had been and where they were going.

We got to Kings Canyon just after 7pm and booked ourselves into their self-catering lodge. Then discovered that no kitchen utensils were provided and that we would have to rent them from the petrol station that had just closed. So, sandwiches for us that night then :(

After three days driving we felt that we needed a rest day, so we decided to spend the next day at the pool just relaxing and chatting to the other travellers that had the same plan. Yes there was a pool in the middle of the desert, a real treat so this counts as a lovely day in our book :)

And this leads up up to today. After doing nothing yesterday, we decided that for balance we needed to do the most extensive (6k) walk around the rim of Kings Canyon and in order to avoid the blistering heat, we woke up early, packed our stuff into the car, checked out and headed to the Canyon. The walk did turn out to be blisteringly hot but only at the end and we were prepared with our hats, lots of water, our cameras and for me, my trusty fly shield. A masterpiece of engineering because those flies are something to be reckoned with! To put it mildly, Kings Canyon is stunning. Its at the end of the McDougall range which is a mountain range that stands out in a normally flat, featureless scene, like Uluru. So it is quite impressive in itself, but when you get up there and see the steep cliff faces of the huge canyon in the middle... takes your breath away. Then the flies get in which takes away some of the wonder which is why you need fly nets... but it is truly beautiful. The walk, with all its various stops took us just over three hours so just after midday we got back to our car and headed on.

No, even though they look just next to each other on the map, Kings Canyon and Ayers Rock are actually about 3 hours drive away from each other. So here we are, sitting down in the outside eating area at the Ayers Rock resort, listing to an old Aussie guy strumming away at his guitar.