New Zealand

Coronet Peak,

We arrived at our last winter destination a little bit later than planned because the plane was diverted due to snow, but seeing as we planned to mainly ski and snowboard in NZ this could only be a good thing! Queenstown is stunning with breathtaking views and is where some of the Lord of the Rings movie was filmed. Our hostel Southern Laughter Lodge was great, cosy rooms, huge TV with free videos, a 24 hour spa (great for all those aches from falling on the slopes) and best of all, English speaking. We wasted no time hiring a car and snowboard gear and heading up to the mountain. Our lift pass gave us access to three ski resorts; The Remarkables, Coronet Peak and Mt Hutt but of these only the first two are in easy driving distance of Queenstown and only Coronet Peak was really exciting for imtermediate skiers over several days. After a few slow days and a few nasty falls Holland bought some padded pants and we were soon flying down the slopes. By the time the two weeks was over we had both gone off piste and done some pretty steep black runs (Holland slid down one of these on his bottom but the padding meant this didn't matter!).

We also enjoyed Queenstowns night life and tryed out their ice bar (a bit like drinking in a giant freezer but fun nontheless). The ice bar is kept at between minus 5 and minus 10 degrees and everything from the seats to the glasses are made of ice. We were only allowed to stay in there about 20 minutes as it is so cold your body temperature starts to drop if you remain in there too long. As well as the night life we also had fun jetboat canyoning, riding on the luge and gondola (cable car), crazy golf, taking road trips, walking in the stunning scenery, watching ice skating championships and even bungy jumping...

At 43m the worlds first bungy jump Kawara bridge might not sound that high but when you are stood at the top with only a piece of elastic tied around your legs it sure as hell feels it! This was the bungy Becky did 3 years ago and Holland was poised to do it now. With barely a pause Holland bravely leapt head first off the bridge, only realising half way through the fall what he was doing and letting out a cry of terror whilst trying to turn his arms into helicopter propellers. It was to little effect as soon he was bouncing on the bungy and his cry turned into a yelp of joy woo hooooooo. Terrifying but fun. And all this was about half an hour before we were due to catch a plane finishing NZ in style.

Hol and Bex xxx

Buenos Aires

We spend our last 3 days in Argentina in the beautiful and cultured capital city of Buenos Aires. We dined every night on magnificent steak and red wine (even Becky was converted from the usual blanco) and took in many of the cities pulsating bars. One highlight was an evening of Tango where we saw one of the best shows in town and we were both awed by the passion and energy of the performance. The things these dancers could do and the way they move has to be seen to be believed. We also were given a free head massage which included electronic and vaccum massage? This felt more like a new form of torture than relaxation, and we could not help but laugh and wonder if we were taking part in some reality TV set up as more and more scary devices were wheeled into the massage room and strapped to our heads.

We also took a wander around the cemetery and saw the grave of Evita amongst many other famous Argentinians. The cemetery was like a small city of family crypts. Some new and shiny and others crumbling with coffins visible stacked in the cellars below. Very creepy but a big tourist attraction. Becky also managed to drag Holland around town for a day to experience Buenos Aries world renowned shopping. All in all Buenos Aires is a beautiful City and we wish we had had more time to see it properly.

lots of love Holland and Becky x

Iguazu falls dried up

Iguazu falls dried up,
originally uploaded by Hol Riz.

We are in Iguazu falls at the moment, we splurged out and paid to fly up here because we heard it was amazing, the widest waterfall in the world. Unfortunately for the first time in 20 years the waterfall has all but dried up!! humph! We are already planning our return trip, during wet season next time! Onwards to Buenos Aries!

Skiing and boarding in Las Leñas

Holland and Becky Las Leñas,
originally uploaded by Hol Riz.

The last few days have been spent skiing (Becky) and snowboarding (Holland) in Argentina. We stayed in the town of Malargue about an hour away from the ski resort of Las leñas. Although the town itself didn´t have much going on, staying here saved us a bit of money on accomodation and 50% on our lift passes.

On the first day a huge mound of snow dislodged from a roof and nearly turned Holland into a human snow man, he was fine, though we wish we had had our camera to hand! Not a good start but things got better. We both decided to learn to snowboard and booked in a two hour lesson. By the end of which we were both linking our turns down a small blue run. However for Becky this sucess was not to last, on the second day after falling over more times than she cares to mention and a nasty bump to the head, she decided to go back to skiing. However Holland was a natural boarder and whizzed down the slopes faster than he probably should. After 3 days on the slopes we are both aching but happy. Becky now has a lovely tanned face and perfect white marks around her eyes in the shape of sunglasses. Roll on New Zealand for more snow fun.

North Argentina road trip

North Argentina road trip,
originally uploaded by Hol Riz.

We finally arrived in to Argentina, our last country in South America. Although we were sad to say goodbye to beautiful Bolivia, and wished we could have spent more time there, Argentina is modern and cheap! The hotels, roads, restaurants, shopping and everything else here is first class (The buses far exceed anything we have ever seen in Europe!)

After spending one night at the border we chilled for a few days in Salta, a sunny cosmopolitian city in the north west of the country. It was there that Becky started to feel Corsa sick, missing her little car from home. Not a problem for long though, we rented a car and set out for a two day road trip through the crumpled hills surrounding Salta and yes, it was a Corsa!

Getting on the open road and being behind the wheel again was fantastic as was the scenery. Beautiful hills, amazing rock formations and hot hot weather! We spent one night in a cute little town where we lazed by a hotel pool and took in the scenery and the next day headed back to Salta skidding along dirt tracks and zooming through canyons that wouldn´t have looked out of place in Arizona!

Holland and Becky