I got there and found the airport confusing but managed to wangle my way through, change money and order a cab which took me to los nogales the hotel I am staying at which is passed downtown santiago. The same nervous person scared to get in the cab at bangkok has definately gone it has been bring it on!

The hotel is great, very basic and it does not look posh at all but i have a shower and bath, kitchen, lounge, bed and sofa in my room plus a balcony and a complimetary drink. I took myself off for a walk near the restaurants and managed to negotiate a capacciono (not one of those by my definations more like and expresso with whipped cream) ask where a cash point machine is and get some money out.

On the way I did fall for the I am an art student and as I have stopped you and we have to pay for our education you should by a powem from me. Lets just add I do`not speak spanish and hardly anyone here speaks english...cool its been even more of an adventure but I really dived in with the spanish I know. If that hasnt worked I have tried what I know in french and just changed the endings to dos or os or something spanish sounding.

This is great santigao so far is beautifuņl its 19 degrees and a beautiful day and the houses and people are wonderful so far. Within an hr I have sussed out where the restuarants are near the hotel, the irish bar called branigans and the kiwi/aussie bar called roos. Great!

Let the adventure begin again! Going off to collapse now as beer, no sleep and jet lag has just set in.

Back on wed the 8th in Aukland so if your free anytime from the 9th - 16th kirrily give us a shout or I will call you.

Speak to
you in a week guys!

Only problem is I get to the centre of town to check up on the boat about an hour early. The woman in the campsite had already warned nme boats were getting turned back because of south westerlies.

Of course I get there whale watching is cancelled so I phone a company up that goes out on choppers. They will go if I can get 2 more people so ring back at 12.30.

There's not much to do there other than whale watch so off i go for some breakfast. 12.30 arrives and I call, no joy so off i head to picton.

I get to picton early so do a ship wreck and teh aquarium. The aquarium isn't much to look at but they do have some fantastic sea horses. The ship wreck wasn't bad either and they have done a good job on restoration.

I tried to kill time until the ferry.

At 6 I headed off, half an hour early for teh interislander ferry. Good job too as my 7.30 boat had been cancelled and I was put on with their competitors. It was leaving half an hour earlier than i planned.

Great trip the boat was up and down. They had already cancelled one that morning. The journey was gouign to be longer. We finally reach the harbour at 10.45. We had been travelling since 7pm and i had been in a ferry que since 6pm.

After getting off the ferry i went the wrong way and nearly ended driving north. Eventually i turned around and headed back. Parking near a restaurant near the youth hostel (YHA) i was booked into. I will have to get up early to move the car int the morning. Dam! I am asbolutely shattered from the driving and the late night! Of course I wake the girls up sharing the room with me. Tough! Plus the YHA is going under re-development! Nice place though best yha yet!

He also tells me about the social aspects of his life and how he and his wife do these bus tours while in their 70's. It also explained why he hits everything that moves, or for that matter doesn't, in his car. I am teh pissed one, he's suppossed to be sober. He really is a lovely guy and looks after me all day making sure I am able to send the bottles of wine i have bought.

Cludy bay all out of stock of their famous one as limited supply. I did get to meet however the Kiwi wine conosour version of jamie oliver and not a "pukka" in sight. Was a very charmign young guy who takes you through the wines. He has a few catch phrases himself but is called james and classed as jamie oliver as he doesn't give you and pretentious bullshit. No but I bet he can chat the panties off of any woman.

After that I get dropped back at the camp site and go for a big burger and vhips to try and sober myslef up. That works so I do teh 3 hr drive to kaikoura to watch the wales.

I find the holiday camp eventually and bed down for the night!

It was again very beautiful and a 3 hr freezing cold trip, although we saw lots of shags (they are birds), more seals (i am sealed out now) and some dolphins. I did get a bit wet. There were two guys who were wotrking on the islands. One was teh kiaking master who teased me about getting a kiwi husband if I want to stay and the opther, well I am not sur ewhat he does except be sarcastic.

After that I got back and headed off for nelson stopping at a glass blwoing factory on the way. It was very beautifull but expensive and we saw teh glass being shaped and formed. An expensive tour considering they make these anyway. I bought a small piece as a souvenire and then went off again.

Thsi time to see the WOWA museum. Meuseum of wearable art. Well it was inetersting. Loved the bra with the magnifying glass and coveered with newpaper cuttings of men who lear at breasts. Wil get me one of those i think. That should emabarrass a few guys and make me feel vinictified in the process.

Next door was a classic car show room. Now that was WOW. I would noe like an austin heally plese. They also made it a bit like the settings and earas the cars were from eg. 50's chevy with a 50's styled waitress, gangster cars with bullets etc. Oh and tehy had a couple of old ducatiis.

After that I finally reach blenhim which looks like a ghost town and book myself up for a wine tour teh next day as cludy bay (favourite wine is in the region.

I stopped at the pankacke rocks at Punakiki to look at the blow holes. These were fantastic and really prietty. Just after seeing the blow holes the californian guy shows up so I say hello and then its off again.

After that I tookmyself to cape foulkwind (love the name) to see a seal colony and the lighthouse. The light house wasn't much to look at but the seals were great. It started raining again to I headed off to westport around that quickly and off to motueka via murchison. I get to moutika quiet late. The campsites great but expensive so I book myself on a boat trip round the tasman abel region for the next day.

On second inspection it wasn't although they had a kiwi house which was shut so we went for a coffee and then headed to greymouth. On the way I caught sight of his car spurting mud everywhere. He wasn't used to driving on the other side of teh road and without teh hard shoulder lains. So he had underestimated the curve and sprayed mud every where. You want to see the white car, the front now brown.

Anyhow we got to greymouth and stayed at the YHA. We shared a room with four bunk beds. We then decided to go out for dinner and found a seafood restaurant where we had a great meal and a bottle of wine. After asking a kiwi couple where we could go we were told don't go there.

Although all the fish were fried it was a good meal and we shared whitebait fritters for startes and I had one of the local fish for mains which was nice. White bait are a big thing for the area and not like the ones at home. They are tiny and look more like white tadpoles. Tasted good though.

After dinner it was back to teh youth hostel and a very dsiturbed sleep. That's in private journal.

the cold had got worse at this point but i was pleased for a night stay in the warmth. The scenic flight and landing on the glacier was cancelled because of the rain. When I say rain I mean rain there were sheets of it.

So I decided to head for franz joseph to see if I would be in luck with the weather there.

It was a quick drive so by the time I got there the visitor centre was shut for lunch. Stopped in this cafe for some lunch a kiwi breakfast in fact as due to the weather a fry up sounded good.

A californian guy started talking to me and it turns out was heading in the same direction. We walked to the visitor centre to ask about the weather but I had already asked about it at the flight centre and it looked like it would be like that for a few days although the pilot was hoping it would clear for tomorrow morning but wasn't convinced. So the californian gentleman and myself did teh visitor centre and the exhibion there. Next thing the heavens opened and I did my first hitchike. I asked an english couple if they could give us a lift to the carpark as it was really raining hard and we had walked from there. They were nice enough and dropped us off.