Around the world in 300 days

Rental ski gear in tow and wearing nearly all of our clothes we began the winding, twisting and turning up all the steep little roads. We were finally dropped off at our hostel and after a quick check in we were off to the slopes!

We started on green runs so Nic could warm up but eager as ever, we both quickly jumped on the ski lift and headed higher and higher and were eventually happily skiing on the reds!

On our way up

Nic preparing for the red run

Obviously she wasn´t prepared enough....

The views from the top (3350m high) were amazing. We were in the heart of huge Andes mountain range with Santiago now a distant "village" (!) in the background. We had beautiful sunshine, clear blue skies and crisp lovely snow. We were in heaven!

David after one of his falls!

We´d had a couple of spectacular falls and ended our first day tired but very happy. We returned to a cosy hostel thanks to the log fire and chilled out playing pool, chess and chatted to fellow skiiers!

The second day was more skiing, though as we were still getting over our jet lag it was a lot more relaxed. We basically had the slopes to ourselves, it was bliss.

Checking out the slopes

We made our way back down, down, down into Santiago and finished off our two days of skiing with a few Pisco Sours!!

The sunset over the Andes just as we were leaving

Trying out pisco sours for the first time...

We left New Zealand at 5.30pm and landed in Santiago, Chile at 1.30pm! We had officially time travelled and were feeling the effects! After a weird night´s sleep we walked into town and had a stroll around the main square and a peek inside the Cathedral.

Preparing to land

Inside the Cathedral

During our stay in the city we also caught a furnicular railway up to the tops of Parque Metropolitano where a huge statue stood. From high up we could clearly see the Andes and the thick layer of smog which seemed to constantly hang over Santiago. We took in a dose of culture at the Precolumbian musuem. This was really interesting as they had artefacts dating from 100 to 400BC and mummies which were created 2000 years before the Egyptian versions!

View of the Andes from Parque Metropolitano

We sampled some local street food including the renowed "hot dog" with gucamole, tomato, mayo and if you´re daring some mustard!

Santiago city is a modern place and allowed us a gentle introduction to South America. Tring hard to get our spanish right, we even managed to have conversations that involved football! Having said that, this wasn´t too hard as the Copa America is currently on and the whole place is crazy for it. A real treat to see the likes of Brasil and Argentina thrash it out! (That comment was obviously from David!)

Still, with the draws of a modern citry at our fingertips, the Andes mountain range was looming overhead and we needed to get out of the city.....

We had a lot to sort out and after doing all our jobs, checking passports and tickets etc we were about ready for a drink! We visited Auckland's Skytower which is 382m high. We were wisked up to the dizzying heights courtesy of an elevator that had a see through floor! The eventual view over the night-time skyline was fantastic and a great way to end our stay in New Zealand.

Wow! Did we hurt the next day or what! Still our adventure must go on! We jumped in the car and ended up in Raglan for lunch. This is world famous for its surfing. It did nothing but piss it down hard and was just incredibly windy as you can see....

There were no surfers to be spotted....

We then drove to the Coromandel Peninsula the following day and explored. We had fantastic weather for this - A lovely crisp sunny day and we made the most of it. Off to the beach we went.....OH...but this wasn't any old beach this was Hot Water Beach! You can dig a hole in the sand and enjoy an thermal treatment! Even though the tide was on its way in, we could still bury our feet in the sand and in doing so nearly burning our soles...

The beach has other powers toooo

We also took a stroll to Cathredral Cove a huge archway on a beach.

David with a little energy

David liked jumping that day...!?

After trying to do a skydive for the second time we realised it just wasn't meant to be and decided if we couldn't have fun thousands of feet above ground we go hundreds of metres underground.

Well 100m to be precise. We opted for a full days caving and it was awesome! The entrance to the cave was called "Lost World" which was a jaw dropping abseil down. We were greated by eels in the river and a hot brew - we were going to be underground scambling through the nooks and crannies for the next 5 hours..!

The view from the abseil platform

Nervous smiles!

We clambered over huge boulders and waded through ankle deep water. It gradually became knee deep and before we knew it our feet couldn't touch the floor. We were clinging onto the jagged rock edges to keep our heads above the water. The current was getting extremely strong and the water levels high, especially when the cave narrowed down to shoulder width (it was touch and go as to whether the trip would go ahead due to the amount of water). There were water ripping waterfalls to climb up and naturally, eventually jump off, but all the time trying not to get sucked under by the current.

Nic was mostly dragged though the river with her harness by one of our guides so she wouldn't get washed down stream!! In the meantime David stayed close behind just in case the guides let go!!!

The big finale was seeing glowworms. Just before daylight crept into the cave we took a breather on a huge boulder, switched our head lamps off and were gobsmacked. All above us, on the ceiling for as far as the eye could see were a galaxy of glowworms. It was just a magnificent site and the perfect way to finish our underground adventure.

That night, feeling battered and bruised we stayed in a plane. A Bristol Freighter to be exact! We stayed in the cockpit and it was really comfy if not a little odd....

Our room for the night!