End of NZ and onto South America

14th Oct Slow day today, bought a lonely planet guidebook for Chile and Argentina and did my blog.

15th Oct Up and out early and got the bus to the airport. I flew to Auckland to catch up with my old travelling buddy (when I was in OZ 12 years ago) Johnnie Charlton. He met me at the airport and he hadnt changed a bit. From our last correspondence he was living in Auckland but had since moved 200km away. It was good though as our 2 hr journey was great to catch up. I met his parents again (same too) and manged to get a bottle of home brew wine from his dad, which was strong but good. I also met Maria, Johnnies wife who was lovely. She suited him down to the ground. She also made a great dinner too, a rarity when one is backpacking.

16th Oct After a glorius sleep in a double bed (rare these days) me and Johnnie went to a rainy Rotorua. Its a hot springs town with a rich Maori history. Thankfully we visited the place 12 years ago so we didnt do any of the activities this time round. had a mighty feed of fish and chips last night, a massive favorite in NZ & wrapped up in newspaper.

17th Oct Had a relaxed day today with a visit to town and a nice coffee shop for cappucino and chocolate cake. fab. Had a bit of lunch later and went back to johnnie house for a few DVDs.

18th Oct Left Johnnies place today and he kindly dropped me to the airport. On the way we went for a great chinese and up to see the views of the Auckland skyline from the extinct volcano crater. I flew to Santiago, Chile but after a few great days catching up with a freind I hadnt seen in the longest time away from a freind. Its funny to observe how our lives have changed so much in that time but as individuals we havent changed much, evolved maybe.
After a 90 minute delay, LA800 departed for Santiago.

18th Oct Its the same date as before but I crossed the International date line which adds a day when one flys east-west. Its such a change arriving into a world of Spanish having come from English speaking countries. I was practising my Spanish on the air hostesses, people in ticket sales etc thanks to my phrasebook. Its slow going though. Had a walk around the neighbourhood (2km from city centre) and went out for a steak with a lad I met in the hostel.

19th Oct Did a self guided walking tour of Santiago with another lad from the hostel. It was a nice enough city but nothing special. I didnt help that everything closes on a Sunday. I went out for dinner on my own tonight and had to do all the ordering myself. I was about a half an hour looking through the phrasebook trying to work out the ingredients in the various pizzas on offer.

20th Oct Left Santiago today and flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina to meet my brother Fiachra. The flight was amazing flying over the Andes and the Sierra de Cordoba which was very scenic. Fiachra met me off the airport bus and we went to the hostel. It was great to see him after 8 months. Had a look around Palermo (the neighbourhood were in) and relaxed for the evening getting to know the other residents.