Didn't try the SkyCouch in the end...

...as I was shown Business Premier instead!

I'm writing this in transit at LAX (more to follow) and have to report a fantastic experience with Air New Zealand on the new 777-300. Great crew providing typically friendly and familiar Kiwi service with real style, superb food with lots of choice, beautiful wines (with a couple of fabulous dessert wines) and very comfy lie-flat beds. I even got my head down for a couple of hours.

When things quietened down after the meal service, I had a good chat with various members of the crew and then spent a couple of hours sitting in Premium Economy which is also very impressive. They have the same wine selection but a more limited food choice that is tray served rather than the plated silver service in Business Premier but the quality is still very good.

The seating is very comfortable and the offset seat positions in the 2-2-2 configuration allow for either privacy at the sides of the cabin or an ideal layout for couples in the centre if needed. The only issue is the legroom which is a little less generous than I'd expected but I hear a rumour that Air NZ plan to remove a row of seats later this year and spread everything out.

All this said though, the best part of the 777-300 has to be the business class toilet - first time I’ve ever seen a window in an aeroplane lavatory, a proper room with a view:

Dunedin bound

At LHR and about to climb aboard NZ1 for LAX and AKL. Apparently I'm going to get the chance to try the new Air New Zealand economy class SkyCouch which does look pretty cool. More to come...

This time last year Guyana was the place to be..and it still is

So is seems that this year's Wilderness Explorers fam trip to Guyana is underway (thanks Kat for posting photos and to Claire for an email whilst on the 'plane heading off) - if green is the colour of envy then it's quite fitting when thinking and talking about Guyana, what with it's immense swathes of uninhabited jungle greenery.

It's difficult to pick out a favourite moment from last year's trip as the whole 10 days were full of highlights so I'm going not going to, rather here're three of the more indelible memories for starters:

- meeting the people of Surama and seeing how they run and manage their successful, sustainable, comfortable and extremely enjoyable community tourism experience. One of the issues that particularly thrilled me was their approach to and respect for the natural resources of the incredibly biodiverse forest around them and how are able to maintain their traditional way of life but mixed with more modern aspects, whilst also ensuring that the biodiversity all around thrives and survives and how they genuinely and generously want it to be enjoyed by visitors such as ourselves; not-to-be-topped: catching a glimpse of a real, live Harpy eagle and it's nest

Not a harpy eagle but a grey hawk with an impressive haul for lunch beside the Burro Burro river, Surama

- the 2 day walk to and from Jordan Falls from Maipaima Ecolodge, with overnight spent in a surprisingly comfortable hammock. Bellbirds calling all around, howler monkeys howling, spider monkeys spidering and hollering too, and endless smiling support from the very able and amiable guides from Nappi community; not-to-be-topped: cooling down in the falls on reaching our goal

Maipaima Ecolodge, set in amongst the forest at the foothills of the Kanuku Mountains  

- upstream from Rewa's ecolodge along the river of the same name ("Rewa", not "ecolodge" for the pedants out there, you know who you are), sitting in a dugout canoe on Grass Pond as dusk falls, with a rum punch in hand and nothing to listen to but the surround sound of birds and others creatures either settling in or waking up for the night; not-to-be-topped: watching the slow motion opening of a giant water lily flower in real time (seriously, it's exciting stuff)

A tranquil Grass Pond, Rewa

- and that's without even mentioning lying flat-out looking over the precipice next to the thunderous cascades at Kaieteur Falls, being run rings around by baby giant otters under the watchful eyes of Diane McTurk at the infamous Karanambu ranch or experiencing first hand the astounding density and diverstiy of Iwokrama forest thanks to the folks at Iwokrama and Atta lodges.

The mighty Kaieteur Falls (Potaro River)

Short but sweet......sweet as....

A short, and photoless, post thanks to a confidentiality and privacy agreement signed beforehand forbidding the sharing of any info divulged or photos taken during the tour and visit. But I'm pretty sure it didn't forbid me from saying where I'd been and walked around - Hobbiton!! If you're a Lord of the Rings fan, anywhere near Matamata on New Zealand's North Island and have a couple of hours to spare, treat yourself to a visit to the set, it's brilliant.

Tours are running 'until further notice' at the moment, i.e. until filming starts, the date of which they've not said yet.  Call in at the i-SITE in Matamata (45 Broadway, Matamata), or phone (+ 64 7 888 7260), or go to www.hobbitontours.com for details. You can be taken to/from Hobbiton from just outside the i-SITE in Matamata or, or from further afield, or you can drive yourself to the location. Imagine, driving to Hobbiton!

A night to remember in Wellington, NZ

I'd planned to go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight (didn't happen) seeing as though I had an unexpectedly late night last night. No it wasn't down to a few too many beers or a late night soiree in a dimly lit cocktail bar (I'm thinking of the Hawthorn Lounge in Wellington there, somewhere I could easily imagine finding myself in the early hours of any morning given half the chance). No, I finally got to bed around 3am last night after an unexpectedly extended google-chat with Lynndypops, unexpectedly long thanks to my first NZ 'quake experience! The effects were not major, thankfully for everyone, and it was quite a few hundred km offshore NE from the north island, 6.6 in magnitude according to USGS, but to have felt the effects here in this building in Wellington was really quite incredible, for a 'quake newbie like myself at least.  

I have felt earthquake effects before, back in 2002 I think it was, at home in the UK in Chapel-en-le-Frith, epicentre in the Midlands somewhere, 4.5 I seem to remember or something like. The house quivering woke me up that time but this time this building properly shook and swayed pretty obviously for a good number of seconds, maybe not quite 10 seconds but it was close. Being on the 6th floor of an apartment block probably helped enhance the swaying and shaking (nothing fell off shelves though to give it some perspective), it wasn't that severe. 

So Lynndypops was privvy to my 'oh my god, this building just shook' exclamation (of course I used those words) and my 'surely that wasn't just the wind' questioning, after which we spent a while looking on Twitter, USGS, geonet, etc. for confirmation that it was indeed a tremor, how big it was, where it originated, etc. and yes, the wonder of the internet confirmed everything in just a matter of seconds. The checking and g-chatting then went on for a while until I finally managed to drag myself away to bed, next to which I now keep my bag with credit card and passport safely enclosed.  I know it's something you get used to if you live here, or somewhere with a similar frequency of tremors (I don't need to mention Japan and Chile, they're already in peoples' conciousness), but for me it was the kind of excitement I could do without just before bed time.

If I was amazed by the effects of the tremor, I was also amazed by the speed and amount of internet comment on it.

A stable Wellington at sundown from the current blog epicentre

¡Nos vemos, hasta luego, chao a espectacular Sur America!

Thirty four days ago I set off from a frosty UK for 5 weeks of getting to know more of Argentina and Chile's diversity and landscapes, and they haven't disappointed (as the previously posted photos show... and there are many more to come).  What is now disappointing is that those 5 weeks are nearly up and I can't believe how quickly they've gone gone, and how little chance I've had to write about them. But then, as always, at the same time, it seems as if I've been away for months. When you pack 2, 3, 4 or more things into one day for 34 days, the length of time you're away actually seems to be more like the number of days you're away multiplied by the number of things you've done. So say I've done on average 3 things each day, that's...a much bigger number of days than 34 that I've been away (yes, I know, 102).

So I arrived to a balmy Buenos Aires at the beginning of March, the city just coming out of summer and moving into autumn. Balmy soon turned into scorchio so it wasn't just the change in culture I had to contend with. But it was pretty easy to adjust to both the weather and my surroundings, especially since Georgie, Barbara, Matias and all the folks at ATP DMC welcomed me so nicely and they've looked after me very well here in Argentina ever since. Big thanks to you all and everyone else involved.

And so the expedition began.

My first impressions of Buenos Aires were really pretty good. I've heard in recent times that many people prefer Santiago to Buenos Aires now, that it's smaller, less noisy, cleaner, a more comfortable city to be in and I suppose I can see that to some extent, but as far as big cities go, and Buenos Aires is BIG, I actually liked the momentum and movement of the bustle on the streets here, which noise goes with unavoidably, and I liked the space of Buenos Aires (which isn't to say I don't like Santiago too). Streets are wide, there are many parks, green spaces and plazas, and although most buildings are tall, as is usual for a city where floor space is at a premium, I didn't feel enclosed or in any way claustrophobic, which I sometimes do in a city.  There's an interesting mix of old and new architecture which sit side by side in some districts whilst other districts have a very definite style and character that quite quickly tells you how long it's been part of Buenos Aires. The many different districts or boroughs of the city spread out over a huge area but each is quite distinct in their zone, within their own individual community. I imagine it's a great city to live and work in (as far as cities go) and it reminds me of London in that sense. I didn't spend enough time in Santiago on this trip to explore it much in the same way but from what I did get to see and from time I've spent there previously, I can also imagine it's a great city to live in but it may be that its more compact centre and central districts and its Andes backdrop (which some days you CAN see), make it an easier city to enjoy on a visit for a few days.

From Buenos Aires I headed south to Argentina's far south Patagonia, then across to Chile's far south Patagonia, then down to Chile's even further south Tierra del Fuego, then to Argentina's Tierra del Fuego, then back up to Chile's northern Patagonia, all the way by car up to Santiago from Puerto Varas then by air from there to the Atacama Desert in Chile's northern 2nd Region, across the border by road back into Argentina through some stunning altiplanic landscapes en route to Salta, and now I'm back in Buenos Aires for nearly the last time on this trip (I have another day here en route back to the UK from New Zealand).  All places have been fantastic to experience and beautiful to see, and some of the landscapes have just blown my socks off, especially the geology and geography of the desert and altiplano in and around the Atacama.  I couldn't wait to visit the area again having been to San Pedro de Atacama and the Uyuni salt flats and southern highlands of Bolivia before, and if I'm ever pushed to say a favourite place around the world out of all the places I've visited, it still tops the bill as the place I find most beautiful and the place that has the biggest effect on me. Still.

The colours in these photos are a little bleached by the intense sunlight but they're here as much for me as they are for everyone else (ok, maybe more so for me..) .....

 Andean flamingos at Chaxa Laguna in the Salar de Atacama

Andean avocets(!), again at Chaxa lake in the Salar de Atacama

The Atacama equivalent of the dead sea but here it's fresh water (i.e. not sea or marine water) so high in salt content you can't help but float

And yes, I'm sorry more volcanos, but what do you expect when in Chile; 

Licancabur, in the middle, sits on the border between Chile and Bolivia

A little volcano humour....

Volcano-tastic!

I do feel it's bit a cop-out posting again with mostly images, rather than writing a bit more about my travels and things I've been up to here in South America - like driving down a one-way street the wrong way by mistake in Panguipulli in Chile's northern Patagonia (great name, pronounced Pangwipooyi), only until I realised though that a taxi driver heading towards me in his cab wasn't actually flashing his lights at his friends, he was kindly flashing them at me and wagging his finger too to try to bring my attention to my error. It worked a treat.

But whilst time to write and a working internet connection once again prove mostly to be mutually exclusive, images will have to do again for now.  So with a feeling that most of the text-map-route-writings will probably appear on my return to the UK (or before then in NZ maybe), Osorno volcano is the star of this show (with a couple of other guest appearances)....

On arrival to Casa Molino, just outside of Puerto Varas; it's hard to imagine a better view of Osorno volcano than from Casa Molino

...and just before dusk turned to dark night....with moonlit Lake Llanquihue in the foreground...

The next day; from clear blue skies first thing to threatening grey in a short few hours.....still an amazing scene...just evokes a slightly different mood...

OK, so Osorno has to share the volcano limelight with many others in Chile - this is one of Chile's most active, Villarica, near the town (city?) of the same name but nearer to Pucon; it's arguably Pucon's biggest attraction (yes, ha, ha, literally too); this was Villarica volcano on the day I arrived in Pucon....

...and this was it on the day I left...

And this is obviously not a volcano but a honking black-faced ibis (as in the noise, not as in smelly, and "honking" is not part of it's official name), sat preening in the branches of a tree in the gorgeous gardens of Antumalal Hotel

End of transmission

Enough about me......

......time for Patagonia, Argentinean and Chilean, to speak for itself, a little bit at least.......

El Calafate steppe and Lago Argentina arm to the west

Indulge me with just one iceberg image, believe me, there are a lot more

Guanacos creep up on you (not literally, they're very skittish, hence the rear angle) but are everywhere, as are rabbits

Part way through a Magellan penguin moult, Tucker's islets, en route to Ushuaia from Punta Arenas on the Stella Australis

 Part way through a blended malt, Ainsworth Bay, en route to Ushuaia from Punta Arenas on the Stella Australis

Moody skies at the end of the day on board the Stella

Cautious icefield navigation at the Pia Glacier

And finally enough of not me - Cape Horn as day breaks, the very south of South America; 

have I got my eyes closed, I can't tell on this screen?

All clear on the Magellan Strait

All areas of Chile have now had the tsunami alert lifted (3.30pm-ish, 12th March), it was lifted here in Punta Arenas around 9am. Many places just reported slightly higher than normal sea levels but no major waves, although in some places like Dichato there was some flooding close to the shore and some displacement and capsizing of boats. The extreme caution and large-scale evacuation of the shoreline areas of towns and cities up and down the Pacific coast really was the result of last year’s catastrophic response to ‘no’ tsunami following the Feb 27th earthquake here and an understandable want for nothing to go wrong this time. Lessons learnt. And they'll continue to be.

On a lighter note, the Stella Australis Cruise starts tonight, just waiting to board now, so I'm looking forward to exploring the fiords and islands in and around the Magellan Strait and the Beagle Channel over the next few days. The wind is most definitely fresh down here, and strong, although I think it's probably only been a mere breeze today. Good job I brought my thermals and my beloved Paramo Pajaro jacket. I'd sleep in it if it weren't for the zips and toggles being a bit princess-and-the-pea-like. Some may have seen this picture before, but Zorro was impressed by the Pajaro, I could tell, even though he looks a bit indifferent.........

....he was probably just looking for his beloved Don Luis, looking good in matching 'boina' (beret) and jumper...

Better late than never...for this maybe, but it's not always the case...

This first post of the 'Our Von travel tales' has changed in my mind many times during the last 11 days since I left dear old, cold Blighty.  I'm shocked it's been that long already and can only apologise for the delay in writing.  It's been due to either no internet or no time, or rather not having internet when I've had time or the other way round.

It was originally going to begin with a slightly tangential mention of Guyana, a country not on the agenda for this trip but one that was on the agenda almost a year ago (how time flies when you get older, I mean, when you're having fun).  I was reading John Gimlette's 'Wild Coast' on the 'plane to Buenos Aires you see, the early Guyana pages, mostly about the politics of the country and Georgetown.  Now I've hardly spent any time in Georgetown but my first, quick impressions of it weren't exactly endearing, I thought it run-down, uncared for with an air of self-importance no longer justified by it now being a disintegrating shadow if its former self.  It has traditionally been known as the 'Garden City of the Caribbean'; even our city guide told us it's now more like the 'Garbage City of the Caribbean' - nice use of the enforced English language there.  But after only a few pages of 'Wild Coast' I began to feel a little softer towards the city, having a better understanding of it's history and where it's pride comes from and what its inhabitants are about.  I've not had time to move much further on in the book (the lack of time thing again) but I'm looking forward to when I do and I'd recommend it for anyone interested in the Guianas or that part of the world.  Listen to him talking about it on Radio 4's "Excess Baggage" with John McCarthy, from Jan 2011.

Then, after I realised I'd maybe lost the moment for a Guyana digression (although it seems not), I thought I'd better get a move on and mention the must-do other-world experience of visiting Recoleta's cemetery in Buenos Aires before its impact was overtaken by the awesome, and I mean that in the truest sense of the word, Argentina's Los Glaciars National Park near El Calafate in Patagonia.  You simply can't stop looking at the glaciers and the various sized, shaped and coloured icebergs floating in the channels around them, you just can't help yourself, and in the age of digital, well, I'll need a week to go through all the photos I took there.  But it was standing in front of Perito Moreno glacier with all of its creaks and groans and splashes of falling, carving ice, when I realised that this was real, proper, 'living' natural history, going on right in front of my eyes.  I've seen and appreciated ancient things before but never felt the age or incredible passages of time involved quite like this before. Nature's an awesome thing.

And that brings us on to the reason I am now actually putting pen to paper at last; I couldn't not, given the devastating events in Japan, an altogether more punishing side of the planet's natural forces and something that is reverberating here in Chile, with the Pacific tsunami warning being taken very seriously. Whilst its potential impact here won't be anywhere near the devastation or disruption of that in Japan, Chile's tragically had it's fingers burnt by earthquakes and tsunami of its own all too recently and doesn't want a repeat to even the slightest degree. There is continuous coverage on the news of the evacuations of the populated areas right on the coast up and down the country and even here in Punta Arenas we're on alert for evacuation in the morning (Sat 12th). This port city isn't even on the Pacific coast but the possible wave effects are reportedly due here around 2pm tomorrow - what happens will probably depend on how the other, actual Pacific coast areas fare.  Anyway, my heart goes out to everyone affected by the events in Japan.  In this case, better never.

This first post wasn't supposed to be so long....see why I need time......'ta luego. Our Von

The entrance to the 'other world' of Recoleta

A huge chunk of ice carves off Perito Moreno glacier - if only there were sound with the image