Travel In Depth photos from around the world: the Falkland Islands, Part I

If you've got a spare few minutes when you next have a cuppa....

Falkland Islands 2010

Travel In Depth photos from around the world: Nicaragua

If you've got a spare few minutes when you next have a cuppa....

Nicaragua 2010

Travel In Depth photos from around the world: Guyana

If you've got a spare few minutes when you next have a cuppa....

Guyana 2010

Travel In Depth photos from around the world: Tanzania

If you've got a spare few minutes when you next have a cuppa....

Tanzania 2010

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....