New Zealand (part 1)

True to the style of what has inadvertently become a bit of a retro-blog, now that we’ve left NZ, its time for a few words about the Land of the Long White Cloud.

The first, and probably most important thing to know about NZ is that the Kiwis are legendary for their friendliness and hospitality. Never was this more apparent than when we arrived, like most travelers, weary, and a little jet-lagged at Auckland Airport. NZ is well known for is its no-tolerance approach to the importing (deliberate or otherwise) of animal or vegetable products, which would further mess up their already delicately-balanced ecology. As such, anyone who has come from a weird or exotic country (check), has recently worn their boots in rural/farming areas in said country (check), is carrying a tent (check) – you get the picture – is subject to detailed scrutiny on arrival. So we had steeled ourselves for a long drawn-out and frustrating process.

In fact, we were greeted by a team of professional, efficient, and above all friendly Customs and Immigration officers (I swear even the sniffer dog was smiling!) who checked our stuff thoroughly but quickly, and seemed to take personal pride in being the first to welcome us to their country. We were even offered free tea and coffee as we waited. The whole process (including taking our tent away to be checked in ‘quarantine’) seemed to take less time than passport control at Heathrow. We were impressed!

Things went from good to better when we were picked up at the airport by Anna, managing to fit 3 people plus all our worldly belongings in her mini for the ride across town. On arrival at Sam and Anna’s flat, James and I then got stupidly excited about the prospect of a good shower with real, fluffy towels, a nice bed, good food, free washing machine use and other luxuries like being able to throw our toilet paper down the loo for the first time in 9 months!

We spent a great few days in Auckland, (despite having apparently brought a tropical monsoon with us) in the capable hands of Sam and Anna, who guided us to all the local points of interest including, most importantly the watering holes and eateries.

Great hospitality chez Anna and Sam!

But all too soon it was time to ship out of the big city, so after picking up our trusty hire car (a Nissan Sunny with 200,000km on the clock) we headed north to Russell in the Bay of Islands where another warm kiwi welcome awaited us.

Easter Island

Finally after nearly 9 months, we bid a fond farewell to the South American mainland and boarded a LAN Chile plane to the mystical Easter Island (or 'Isla de Pascua'). We really had no idea what to expect - all we knew was that the statues looked cool in photos we'd seen and since we were flying over the top of it anyway, it seemed rude not to stop!

The flight took 5 hrs and as we circled for landing, we got great aerial views of the island, which is only around 30km long by 15km wide. For those of you who are none-the-wiser about Easter Island, it is the island the most remote from a mainland land mass in the world, about 3500km W of Chile in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is governed by Chile, but as we were to find out, feels much more like a Polynesian island than part of South America.
The first indication that we had effectively left South America behind came as we were greeted at the airport by a representative from the campsite we'd booked, and presented with floral garlands.

We jumped in the truck and were duly transported to our accomodation which turned out to have one of the best views of any on the island - even if it was only a field! Along with us were several other backpakers, including a dutch couple, Timme and Mariette, who turned out to be great companions for our time on the island (guys, I hope you're reading this - yes, we finally managed to post this, only 2 months after leaving!)


We were immediately made to feel at home by the campsite owners, and soon settled into chilled island life. The main event of the day at the campsite was watching 737s take off and land at the airstrip, less than a km down the coast, leaving plenty of time for marvelling at the superb coastal views, having a yarn with the other campers over a beer, or taking up ring-side seats for the most beautiful sunsets over the Pacific.


On our first afternoon, we wandered into Hanga Roa, in search of our first statue, and to check out the local amenities. There was only one town on the island, with one main street, so it didn't take long. Provisions were pretty expensive to buy, not surprisingly as nearly everything is flown in, so we were glad we'd brought some stuff with us.

On our second day we hired a car, and the 4 of us set off to get a closer look at the giant statues or 'Moai'. They were even more impressive in real life than in the pictures we had seen, and we were staggered by just how many of them there were - over 900 in total, scattered about the island. Although they look quite similar to each other few are identical, each having its own expression which gives it a unique personality and they range from 2m to a massive 21m high.

Many are positioned in rows of between 5-15 statues atop a ceremonial stone platform or 'Ahu' usually on the coast but facing away from the sea, and we visited several of these sites on our way around the island.

Many more of the statues were never finished, or never made it to their final resting place, and it is possible to visit the quarry from which they were carved, where you can see literally 100's of these mystical figures emerging from the rock, and dotted around the surrounding hillside awaiting removal to their intended location. It was a truly incredible sight!



The Moai were carved by tribespeople who inhabited the island from 800AD onwards and were supposedly a sign of the status or social standing of the clan. The biggest mystery of the Moai is how they were moved from the quarry where they were carved, to their platforms around the island sometimes miles away, and stood upright, when some of them weighed over 100 tonnes. Many theories abound, but due to the lack of written evidence, we may never know how!

Despite its obvious attractions as the home of such fascinating cultural heritage, and its beautiful coastline and beaches, Easter Island (probably due to its exceptional remoteness, and therefore cost of flights) has remained blissfully unspoilt by mass-market tourism. No high-rise appartment blocks or hideous Hilton hotels! Just friendly locals and a relaxed way of life - long may it remain that way.

After spending a fascinating day visiting as many statues as we could take in, we decided that in order to take full advantage of the hire car we could even make it out of our tents for a Moai sunrise the next day, followed by a dawn dip at one of the islands most beautiful beaches, and still be back before 9am. What a punishing schedule!


All in all, Easter Island well exceeded our expectations, both in terms of the company and what the island had to offer, and will stick in our memories as a highlight of the trip.

South America - the conclusion

Whilst we enjoyed our time on Easter Island we thought back on the 8 1/2 months we had spent in South America. Here are a few facts of our trip:

-266 days

-6 Countries (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile for those not paying attention!)

-58 hostels - recommendations given on request!

-33 nights in our tent - mostly on very cold and high mountainsides!

-24 passport stamps each

-From the Equator to 53 deg south and another 20 back north

-Highest point somewhere around 5,000m

-14 forms of transport (plane, bus, train, car, minibus, cable car, canoe, ferry, foot, motorbike, bike, tuk-tuk, motorboat, rowing boat)

-A dissapointing 5 G&Ts each (can't remember the last time we went so long with so few!)

-Miles covered - lots and lots (it's a very big continent!)

-Most encountered nationality - Dutch ("ik kan een betje Nederlands spreken" - most used phrase!)

-John Deere Competition won by James with Bolivia and Chile as draws (0-0 and 6-6 respectively)

-Photos taken - not sure but somewhere around 4,000

-Books read: James - 39, Petra - 31 (might have forgotten a few though!)

-Most craved food: curry!

-Things we will miss: genuine hospitality and friendliness of the people, opportunity to practice our Spanish, the beautiful mountains, uncomplicated way of life, being wowed by something new everyday, fresh orange juice for 6p a glass, lovely wine and delicious steaks, dulce de leche

-Things we won't miss: interminable bus journeys (the ones in Bolivia especially), packing, unpacking and repacking on a daily basis, noise and pollution in the cities, chicken and rice, stale bread and jam for breakfast, crap coffee, having to continually wear the same clothes,

In summary we have really enjoyed our time - from the charming chaos of the Central Andes to the endearingly hospitable and Europeanesque Argentina to beautiful Chile with stunning coastline, mountains and volcanoes.

We hope you have enjoyed reading about it as much as we have enjoyed experiencing it.