Ramblings from the Road...

Hollywood comes to London!

2007-10-28T15:01:00.000Z

Seeing as this post is LONG overdue (apologies for that), I thought the above touch of Hollywood might make the wait seem a little more worthwhile. To be perfectly honest, there hasn't been much of note in the past month to report back on but let me try and think of a few exciting points.

Last night, I met up with Pip for what was to be a dinner and movie night. Would you believe though, when we turned up to check movie times, we happened to stumble upon a movie premiere? Yes, you believe it. Because you see the photos above. Anyway, we decided that we would return to the red carpet for some celebrity spotting just as soon as we had fed ourselves at Burger King. So, we did that just that (fed ourselves at burger king) and returned. Where we happened to standing amongst the biggest bunch of freaks known to mankind. This included an 80s punk with fluffy hair and a stud in his left ear which flashed between red and green. Ask me for the video footage I secretly recorded if you're interested in seeing this chap. And directly in front of us was the squealer of the century. We learnt fairly quickly that some of these people (tragically) spend their days celebity chasing (as evidenced by the fact that they had turned up with all sorts of paraphenalia to be signed). How uncool.

Anyway, soon enough the red carpet was walked by two stars of the film (the name of which escapes me but is about the life of Bob Dylan). One of the actors being Christian Bale aka Batman. See photos above. He seemed nice enough.

After our celeb spotting moment, we went and lined up for what I now know is heaven. The Haagen Daas restaurant. Oh my. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing this place is. I have never felt such love for food as I did for my chocolate Brownie with cookies and cream icecream. Ahhh. The joy.

Hmm, in other news from the recent weeks... a few trips have been booked. Including Iceland in a fortnight and Ireland a couple of weeks after that. More photos will come soon (as well as stories). I promise to update more often!

Busy with.... routine. Noooo!

2007-09-02T20:29:00.000+01:00

Well... news is in short supply this week. Life's been moving along, occupied with the usual excitement provided by work and bad english weather. Fortunately, it was balanced out with some good night's out, catching up with some friends, good shopping and SLEEP!

I'm sorry but I'm going to be scraping the barrel this week due to a lack of celebrity encounters, international sporting events and assaults on local Londoners. I'm in the grips of weekend work until the end of September which is keeping my weekends quiet'ish, and Monday to Friday are tied up with the usual 9-5 fun and games. Last Sunday, I witnessed a crime (and was perhaps an accomplice) at the local pub in a major theft. Two priceless, antique, goblets (actually, pint glasses) were stolen due to our kleptomaniac'ish tendencies. And just to make it really exciting, we walked past the police station with our newly acquired goods. See, I told you I was scraping the barrel.

I've attached some photos from my local park - it's absolutely gorgeous. Ten times better than the Brisbane Botanical Gardens (although, there's not much competition there). I had a nasty encounter with a killer squirrel down there a couple of weeks ago. He looked at me, I looked him... he waddled forward, looked at me some more... and then HE CHARGED! Straight at me, with teeth showing. It was terrifying. I ran for my little life.

Unfortunately, there's not really much more to report from my world. I'm currently pondering my travel options - NYC in November is still the plan, but am looking into Africa. Will have to wait and see how things transpire on that front. I'll be sure to let people know before I become a Massaai (sp?) warrior, or safari leader etc.

Good times in Greenwich (nb: pun intended)

2007-08-20T17:55:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, myself and the always-up-for-something-touristy Luke decided to head out. After considering our choices, we went with a boat trip up to Greenwich. London had put on another spectacularly mediocre day which had us both periodically reaching for our umbrellas (but not actually needing them). After hopping off the boat, we headed up to the Royal Observatory which is where good old, GMT is based. After doing a couple of the tacky shots standing on the line (see above for mine... nb: the over the top coat for a summer's day).

After leaving the observatory, we stalked a squirrel around the park before going for a wander through Greenwich village. We somehow stumbled in a really cute little antiques market where I managed to find (well, Luke found).... U2's Joshua Tree album on vinyl! I immediately snapped it up for the bargain price of 5 pound. Not long afterwards, I spotted a gorgeous fur coat - a steal at 40 pounds. I resisted out of fear for my life should the animal lovers of london society spot me.

Afterwards, we stumbled upon a curiously named restaurant called 'Spread Eagle'. Enough said. We then wandered through some more markets and marvelled at the gorgeous breads, cakes and fruit and vegies on sale at the market. Having had enough shopping, we hit the pub for some fish n chips and a beer before heading home.

A very cool time (PUN AGAIN!) was had by all (errr both). More to come soon.

Poor Peru

2007-08-17T22:05:00.000+01:00

The main square and the church where a man was pulled from the rubble 24 hours post earthquake.

Gorgeous family playing some gorgeous tunes for us in Pisco.

The view from our hotel room. It looked a little Beiruit like then, I can't imagine it now.

-----------------

I'm sure it's made the headlines (albeit very briefly) at home but Peru has been hit by a devastating earthquake. For some reason, this particular freakish act of nature has hit home. Having only been in Lima and Pisco (one of the worst affected cities) six months ago, you realise how unjust life can be sometimes. While Lima is a capital city (although, a third world one), Pisco is a poor town which was already struggling. Why is it that the poor just seem to be dealt one blow after another? Pisco had some beautiful people... including our very generous waitress at the karaoke bar who kept the Mango Pisco Sours coming while we soaked up the George Michael on the karaoke, as well as a sweet father and his two sons who dropped by in traditional costume (over the top of their soccer jerseys!) to play some of the local Peruvian tunes on the pan pipes...(for a small fee of course) and the dog who managed to find his way onto a roof with no immediate signs of making it back inside.

Anyway, keep these guys in mind.

Tacky touristy days...

2007-08-12T17:35:00.000+01:00

Well, it was decided that some tacky tourist shots were well overdue for young Pip (actually, she's a month older than me) and I. So, we hit the tourist capital of this great city: Buckingham Palace. I thought I was going to get the greatest laugh of my life, when Pip announced that she thought she could be sick at any point. Bringing up your dinner (and drinks) from the night before on Lizzy's doorstep could have been amusing. Fortunately for her, this wasn't to be the case.

Anyway, as we approached the front of the palace, we noticed a sign saying "There will be no changing of the guard ceremony today". This didn't particularly bother Pip and I as weren't planning on hanging around until lunchtime to see it, but it did leave us feeling VERY sorry for the poor guard on duty who would have another 24 hours ahead of him in his little black box. He's going to be one very tired (and dare I say, grumpy) little guard by the time he gets off work tomorrow.

So, after snapping away at Buckingham Palace, we continued on and managed to snap a few more in silly places. Enjoy.

London - the loves and the hates...

2007-08-07T17:06:00.000+01:00

In a couple of weeks, I'll hit the three month mark in England. So, here are my top three loves and hates of life in London.

LOVES

Parks
There's hundreds, they are green and it's the perfect place to take yourself to chill out. And everyone does it. There's nothing better. I'm also now a picnic convert.

Pubs
If you don't feel like hitting the park to relax, hit the pub. They have good music, aren't full of drunks (depending on the time of day)... and are smoke free. I am starting to now understand why it seems that 1 in every 2 patients at work are alcoholics (unofficial statistic and probably grossly inaccurate).

Public transport
The London'ers might not think it's all that crash hot... but public transport here is fantastic. Trains come through every two minutes (well, every five minutes maybe) and you can get EVERYWHERE on the tube. I love it. And even when you're waiting for the occasional late train... you can just sit and stare at the underground sign and ponder the fact you're in London. I'm not as big a fan of the buses (too easy to get lost with my sense of direction).

DISLIKES

Packing your own groceries
Yes, I'm lazy and being forced into grocery speed packing every time I drop by Sainsbury's stresses me out! As they scan your groceries... they throw it straight down a conveyer belt and you're forced to pack them at a rate of 30 items per 10 seconds if you don't want them to back up and overflow. It's nuts.

English beer
It's not great. In fact, the best I have found is... wait for it... Fosters. And given that Bundaberg rum isn't available... I have had to move onto vino. My liver isn't appreciating it.

Having to pay for bathrooms
It's just not cool. End of (that's one of my recent English phrase pick up's).

The day Flip encountered Karma

2007-07-31T20:43:00.000+01:00

Oh boy. What a day. Consider yourself warned: the below is an account of my stressful day and if you have a sympathetic bone in your body, you'll be quite distressed for me by the end of it. I decided to put a photo of a gorilla from the zoo up to brighten the post (it holds zero relevance to my day). Now, let me set the scene for you.

I arrived at my local tube station early this morning as per usual to head off to work. Anyway, we notice a visually impaired lady on the platform, so we allow her onto the carriage before us (to make sure she got a seat). Anyway, as we approached our destination, we got up and moved towards the door. As we were pulling in, I was fixing my coat up... and did an apparent flick of the head while doing so. As I momentarily flung my head back, I've clean headbutted her straight in the face. It was a forceful connection between the lower part of my skull and her entire face. I got such a fright I just jumped off the train without apologising. Apparently she didn't collapse, and Fran assures me that she did manage to recover quickly enough to disembark. The guilt was awful.... I want to see her to apologise now.

Karma came back to get me about 2 hours later when I was hitting the wards. I rode the service elevator up to the ninth floor and as the doors opened, I went to launch myself out only to find myself wedged to the door by a trolley and two nice men in blue uniforms. Yes, I had encountered another deceased person on the long elevator journey to heaven. I blocked my nose and held my breath while I quickly scooted past the trolley and the person lying under the big blue tarp of death.

I must say, by 12pm... I was feeling a little shaky. Hopefully, better days await. I'm got a good few days planned and will be heading up to Birmingham this weekend to see a friend and head out.

More (hopefully, less distressing) stories to come soon.

Give me a Rarrrrr!

2007-07-29T11:08:00.001+01:00

Well, it's been a big weekend for this little muppet. Yesterday, I hit the zoo (London Zoo, that is...). Wow, they have some interesting animals. None moreso than some of the visitors. Aside from the crazy visitors, there were some very cool animals too. The highlights would be the meerkats (and Lauren, that REALLY hurts to say that), the tigers and the gorillas. The gorilla enclosure is fantastic. They just have a big clear glass wall between you and the gorillas. They are HUGE. I wanted one but logistics got in the way - ie. we have light coloured carpet, and the black fur would show up far too easily etc. I did consider thieving a meerkat, but they have sharp little teeth and could do real damage if we got into an argument over the last banana.

More news to come soon...

Prepare yourselves...

2007-07-25T21:29:00.001+01:00

Flip is but 24 hours from seeing Orlando va va voom Bloom in the flesh! The trio of Fliss, Flip and Pip are going to see Orlando in 'In Celebration', on West End. Should be good... review to come (but will probably only consist of 'Oh, he was amazing...')

In other exciting news direct out of Flip's world: I have had holidays approved and I'm going to be hitting the big apple in November. I can't wait! It seems crazy to go all the way to the US when Europe is so close, but New York has been on my 'to go' list for quite some time, and it's so much cheaper to do it from London, than Brissie. So Europe can wait a bit longer.

Not much else happening over here except crap weather. This is the WORST Summer on record according to the locals. To be honest, my first week here was amazing... but it's pretty much been downhill since then (weather wise only). I thought Armageddon was on it's way when I looked outside on Friday. A couple of hours later, the skies opened up with the hardest rain I've ever seen (I suspect it would have caused bruising). After finishing work, I arrived at the tube station to find out that Chiswick Park had been closed due to flooding. Not a big problem ... we just hopped off early and walked, but in a country that sees as much rain as England, it's hard to believe the chaos some rain causes. Since then, the rain has just continued and the Thames has breached its banks in a number of places. Having a beer down by the river on Sunday, you certainly didn't need to be a... err, river expert, to know it was full.

We're not in Chiswick anymore Toto...

2007-07-23T17:11:00.000+01:00

So, I'm starting to find my favourite little corners of London town. And yesterday, I found another. Camden Town. I think I'm a punk trapped in a non-punk body. This is one very cool place. I can't really do it justice but I'll grab more photos next time and add them. One small problem with Camden though is the threat of a painful death from the freaky punk you're trying to take a photo of. They don't like you taking photos of them. I'll see if I can talk one of the friendly death metal loving folk into it next time. If you never hear from me again, it's probably safe to assume they threw me into the Camden Lock never to be seen again.

In other exciting news, we were coming home late last night from the pub when one of the guys we were out with announces that I live just near Hugh Grant's parents! Now, how close you ask? Try about ten houses. Hugh parks in my street. I am an excited little puppy. One of these days... I am going to have my random celebrity encounter and I'll pass out with excitement and miss the whole damn thing.

Strangely, one of the highlights of last night was being in a car! I haven't been in a car in two months. Taxis are super expensive (a one way tube ticket sharing the carriage with 1000 of your closest smelly friends costs $10 Australian, so hazard a guess at the cost of a privately hired, spacious taxi), and to be honest... you just go everywhere on public transport over here. So, I lapped up the car experience and sat in the back like royalty (when in Rome...)

More stories to come my little amigos...

Old Friends in Old London town...

2007-07-17T16:58:00.000+01:00

Woah, soppy title... but we can't all be creative word geniuses (geniui?).

Last night was a very cool night. I got to see my beautiful best friend Lauren for the first time in about 12 months and then after hitting the local chocolate shop, we headed out for some chinese with our super duper pals Luke and Jill before grabbing some drinks. All on a school night. Lauren (long dark dark hair) and I first met at school and went on to share a number of adventures including the Welsh Rugby World Cup team gym encounter. Luke (the boy) is the son of my Mum's best friend and old school pal and is also known as the 'Leader astrayer' of Flip in London and Jill (the blonde one) is another St John Fisher girl who is an all round champion living over here with her soon to be hubby. It was so very 1999 high school formal days.

Unfortunately, that night did come to an end, and today work started again. Blah. I'm heading out tonight to watch a game of football (that's wussy english speak for soccer). I don't know the slightest thing about football but I'm learning quite quickly (he's called a 'referee' not an 'umpire', just so you know).

Anyway, that's it for the public domain. More updates to come.

Puzzle Victory!

2007-07-12T21:05:00.000+01:00

The past week has been a busy one at our little home. The cause of our business - a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Rana's been the team leader, Dean the persistant puzzle piece finder and me, well, I was more the vocal supporter. I'd say Rana covered 600 of the pieces, dean 380 and me, a solid 20. We've also had a number of helpers including Rana's girlfriend, one of Dean's friends and strangers we dragged in off the street.

Tonight was the night that all our efforts came together and the puzzle was formed. It was a big night. Rana and I were incredibly excited (see our happy, excited faces) while Dean was Mr Cool refusing to smile for our celebratory photos.

It is now 1 hour post completion and we're celebrating with a movie, popcorn and wine. Life in London is exciting.

Livin' like a local

2007-07-12T17:03:00.000+01:00

So, after giving you an update on local outings, I thought it was time to tell you about Chiswick... my beautiful little English 'burb. Postcode: W4 (that's important to know over here). Chiswick is famous for a few things: 1) Being the home of a number of celebrities including Kate Beckinsale (for the boys) and Colin Firth (for the old fashioned girls), 2) being bombed in one of the wars 3) Chiswick House (a GORGEOUS estate, almost like a botanical garden, photos to come soon) and 4) one of the best chocolate shops in London.

Fortunately, I am within a 4 minute walk to both the chocolate shop and Chiswick Park to work off the chocolate I consumed on the way.

Chiswick is based around (get ready for a surprise) Chiswick High Street. Along Chiswick High Street is Turnham Green (a green = a common = a park). I live two minutes from the High Street, off the Green. Luckily for me and my Sunday morning pastimes, there is a church in the Green (see photos). Well, I think it's a church. All I know is that there are always people kicking soccer balls against the wall for practice and they classify football as a religion over here, so I guess it works out.

Flatmates include: an Aussie economist, a Russian lawyer and a Kiwi Physicist. It's a good mix and a happy house.

The beautiful river Thames (or not so beautiful depending on the pollution levels) is only a short walk... and a pretty spot (I'm quite the real estate seller here).

And on that note... I think I've sold Chiswick well. Adios until next time.

Ta Da! From South America to London!

2007-07-08T14:33:00.000+01:00

Low and behold, the South American adventure continued and then ended. Unfortunately, you've missed those stories but there'll be plenty of UK based tales to keep you amused.

Wimbledon: Phwoar... there's some talent out at W19! I went in the first week with the delightful Luke and we ran around like excited little puppies watching Aussie Sam Stosur in the doubles, and then David Nalbandean (who dripped sweat all over me...OR, happened to walk straight past me at the point a rogue drop of rain fell on my arm...) before finishing with the highlight of my time in the UK thus far - watching Marcus Baghdatis in action. I then headed out again and this time, stumbled into the 'invite only' veterans day of the championships. I watched the Woodies in action on Court one before heading over and watching Pat Cash take on Goran Ivenisivich (sp?)

Tour de France: Phwoar... there's some talent out on the London streets! Unfortunately, you don't have a great deal of time to appreciate the athleticism of the riders because they go past so darn fast you're lucky if you see the blur of colour fly through. So, to state the obvious: these guys ride FAST. Fortunately, I was given a further glimpse into the world of cycling when I hopped onto the tube yesterday and found the guy sitting beside me holding on to his bike. Which, happened to be...wait for it...a PENNY FARTHING (sp?)! He, very sweetly, gave me the history of the bicycle and told me about the personalities of each of his EIGHT 'pennies' at home.

Other bits and pieces to bring you up to speed with London life to date:

A trip to Oxford: Beautiful little city. One day I might pop back and teach their students a thing or two.
A trip to a West End musical. Can't recall it's name... but it features music.
A number of random encounters with people from home who I never realised were in London. Small world.
Bombs: all over the place. Fortunately, the police are on top of things and life in London goes on as normal.

More news and photos to come as my memory catches up with the blog. Stay tuned!

Priscilla - Queen of the Peruvian Desert

2006-11-29T11:12:00.000Z

Checking in once more (must embrace the internet when one encounters a computer where it works!!). What a day. Today, started early with some more sensational tunes on the bus. The top three for today: 1. Abba - Dancing Queen (as we drove through the Peruvian desert... all we needed was a drag queen on top of the bus and we´d have had our very own Priscilla moment.) 2. Celine Dion - My heart will go on (again, so fitting to play this as we cruise through the desert... with not a drop of rain in sight, let alone an iceberg.) 3. Chariots of Fire theme. Need I say more? I´m so impressed with the variety of music, I might make this a regular feature. Last night we hit the local bar and had a few drinks. Our driver ´Bananaman´is a serious Pisco drinker. He doesn´t drive the bus, he flies it. This morning we headed out to Huachina (spelling?) oasis. We gave Bananaman and Frítz´s girlfriends a lift there too. At the desert, we went dune buggying. Holy schmokes! Over dunes with an almost vertical drop for 70m. Was fantastic fun though. Once at the top of the dunes, we sandboarded down. Covered in sand but also a good laugh. After the dune buggying, we hung around the oasis... very pleasant. Went for a paddle boat ride. After noticing my lack of hat, the paddle boat boss came running over with a parasol. It had 8 holes in it... but the gesture was there, and appreciated. Went from there onto Nasca. Got back about an hour ago from a flight over the Nazca lines. Lucky me, it was a VERY windy day. My somewhat anxious state of mind wasn´t eased when our pilot had to jump out of the plane to go back and grab a map before blast off. He was very passionate about his lines in the ground, and whenever we got close to one, he would take BOTH OF HIS HANDS off the steering wheel to point etc. THEN, after briefly reconnecting with the steering wheel, he´d turn around to ask me if I was enjoying it, all the while the plane heading ever closer to one of the numerous mountains. Quite the experience. Fortunately, we landed in one piece. The same can´t be said for our friends in the next plane whose lunch came up in 50 pieces during the flight. Anyway, best be off... Thanks again for the emails. Loving it. PS: Just so you appreciate the efforts I´m going to to email... I´m currently sitting in a wheelchair at this internet place because it´s the only seat they have. Having a blast... awesome country! Looking forward to heading away from the desert tomorrow towards some green stuff though. Take it easy...

On the road again...

2006-11-27T11:07:00.000Z

Buenos Tardes my little guinea pigs, I´m writing to you from (what I suspect to be) one of Peru´s least impressive towns - Pisco. It is the home of the Pisco Sour (what they think is a world famous drink, but in reality is only famous in this great country). Anyway, to fill you all in on the latest.

Well, Thursday I went for a tour of the Lima Catacombes. Much like all the other catacombes I´ve been to (yes, I´m a morbid chick)... ie. lots of bones. Thinking I might write this one off as a tax deduction given my current line of work. Also hit a few local restaurants and then headed out of Lima to the beachside town of Miraflores. This is like the Venice Beach of Peru. It seems that the pure bred cousins of all the mongrel dogs with fleas from downtown Lima live out in Miraflores. Went to a fancy restaurant out on a pier, where the waiters decided to try and rob us of 8 sol. But we would not be beaten! We stood our ground and got our 8 sol ($3.50) back - cheap tourists.

Got sick on the weekend, so had to pass on my trip to the bullfighting. Having seen photos, I´m glad I didn´t go. Vicious stuff that bullfighting!

I am now on a tour (3 weeks...eeek!) for the rest of Peru and Bolivia before being let loose on my own in Argentina and Chile. We met our guide yesterday... a genuine, fair dinkum local peruvian... who's first name is... wait for it... it's a classic.... FRITZ! Our driver´s name is Bananaman. God knows why and they don´t speak great english to tell us. Now, Fritz likes music while we travel... and he likes it loud. Now, we all know that I´m a massive music fan... but I almost died when he struck up the CD player this morning (day 1 of the tour!) Wait for it... out came an entire album worth of Boney M!!!! You´d love it Mum. After we´d sat through every Boney M song known to man, out came a new CD. We waited with baited breath and then......... A Very Boney Christmas (I may or may not have made that title up) but essentially it was Boney M does Xmas carols. My little heart broke at about the same point my ears closed up. We then asked what else he had... AND out came Roxette!! The look on our faces must have said it all... so it came off... and on came Bryan Adams - The Best Of. I just can´t wait until tomorrows tunes.

Today we did a cruise of the Ballestas Islands (birds and sea lions and serious waves). Now, I´m fairly good with over the top swells in boats (dad will back me up here), but schmokes. These guys only new one speed - seriousy flippin fast. Unfortunately, with swell that big and no roof on the boat... we copped a hiding on the way out. Fortunately, our quick thinking peruvian friends had a plan. Out came a tarp. Everyone had to hold on to a corner of the tarp and alas, we had a roof! We also had some serious petrol fumes keeping us company under the tarp. They told us to look out the back of the boat for dolphins. I think they were just trying to divert our attention from the now almost capsized boat.

Tomorrow, I´m heading out Nazca Lines and Huachachina Oasis for some sandboarding and dune buggying. Should be fun. Not sure when I´ll be able to check in again.

The streets of Lima

2006-11-25T07:41:00.000Z

Had a good day today... went out and checked out Lima. Saw the Franciscan monastery and catacombes (my third catacombes visit! Paris, Rome and now Lima!) Strangely enough, a Peruvian femur looks pretty similar to a Parisian femur. Was really interesting to see the art in the monastery. They have a massive picture of the last supper Peruvian style. It´s gorgeous but incredibly funny at the same time. I particularly liked the main dish sitting in the middle of the table.... CUY on a plate. That´s right, Jesus and the twelve disciples were sharing a guinea pig for their last supper. Loved it!

After that, we went to see the changing of the guard at the government building in the main plaza (plaza de armas). Very colourful. The amusing part was that there was a half hour band playing, marching extravaganza... but we didn´t catch any guard changing going on. We figured we missed it in amongst all the marching but alas, once the crowd disbanded, these two soldiers casually wander out the front door and swap spots with the other guards. Go figure!

After that, we went for a long walk through Lima. It´s funny walking through the different districts, you can easily tell where you are. Eg. the shoe district, the printing district, the religious paraphenalia district, the biscuit district, the red light district etc. Mangey looking dogs take over ALL districts. They´re a little unpredictable and start chasing randoms (maybe bad karma coming back to visit local Limenos). Would be curious to figure out if any are rabid. Either they are, or they´ve been sucking on the cocoa leaves too.

Inca's and Thinkers...

2006-11-23T07:37:00.000Z

Check-in numero uno (that may or may not be spanish). Well, in breaking news... I have indeed survived the brain numbing 40 hour journey to Lima. According to a cute little Columbian boy on the flight, this is quite an achievement in itself. To quote the conversation:

Aussies: We´re going to Peru.

Kid: I hate Peru.

Aussies: Why?

Kid: There´s crazy people there.

Aussies: Because they rob you?

Kid: No, because they kill you.

So, conquered .... Bris-Syd-Auckland-Santiago-Lima. Bris to Auckland fairly uneventful. Auckland to Santiago a very painful journey. Inflight entertainment was a cracker. The éntertainment system for the lady beside me broke and got stuck on The Devil wears Prada for the entire flight. Needless to say, she went crazy and had to be locked in the toilets for the bulk of the trip. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the soothing sounds of Natacia Perez (I may or may not have made that name up) who sang all the greatest Beatle tunes Bossa Nova style. I´ve heard everything.

Another amusing fact: the entire plane launched in to the worlds longest applause when we landed safely in Lima.

Must be an unusual occurence. THEN, after killing 7 hours in Santiago airport (with two other solo travelling Aussies - David and Lauren), we boarded our flight for Lima. After settling in comfortably amongst 300 of our closest Peruvian friends... we waited for 20 minutes. Then a spanish speaking announcement came over... then all of a sudden, everyone was up out of their seats and looked rather unhappy. An american guy spotted our three little confused faces and came over and explained that the plane was suffering with some éngine issues and we were going to sit on the plane for another half an hour while the local engineers attempted to fix it. NOW, if it were Qantas engineers fixing the problem, I´d have felt a little better. But the (presumably) cocoa leave sucking engineers of Santiago didn´t instill great confidence.

Fortunately, an hour later we were all sent packing off the plane. Our newly found American friend came over and had a chat with us. He proceeded to tell me ´Be incredibly careful in Lima. If held up at knifepoint, hand it over. Everything. Don´t get in a taxi unless it´s an official taxi. Make certain it´s an official taxi otherwise, you´ll be robbed at the very least. Don´t even consider carrying your pack unless on the front you, they´ll slash it. Be careful... strangle robberies are the robbing tactic of the month. You should survive it, but you´ll be left with nothing´ etc. Was very reassuring as we taxied out on our new (and functioning!) plane.

Arrived at Lima Airport at the grand old hour of 1am (such a delightful time of day in Lima). Cleared Immmigration without problems but then had my first encounter with the hit and miss tactics of South American customs. Over here, they don´t check everyone´s stuff... they just line you up and you walk past these little checkpoints and hit a button. If you hit the button and you get a green light, you´re good to keep moving (and they just assume that you told the truth on your customs card). If you get a red light, you have to go and have your bag searched to check that you were telling the truth on your card. So, we line up. Lauren goes through and bang, red light. David goes through, green light. Then I´m next in line... (oh, the suspense!)... and the guy says to me in broken engrish ´don´t hit the button, just go´... so in my wisdom, I decide I´ll hit the button anyway. As my little hand reaches for the button he grabs me and says ´Í told you NOT to hit the button. Just go straight through´So I did as the kind man said. No customs for me.

Arrive in this little room (clear glass) and search outside for a little card with my name on it. After perusing the other 250 signs and not seeing my name, I finally manage to spot it. I say a couple of quick goodbyes to my newly found friends and I´m out there. The guy looked as excited to see me as I was to see him. Struggled through the crowd... guarding my bags with my life. Fortunately, he was also picking up a couple of other aussies so off we all went. Getting in the car, he suggested that everything go in the boot (apparently it´s not uncommon for people to smash your windows and rob you as you´re driving (errr, stopped I guess?) and the less we had with us in the backseat the better. Anyway, we get in, he locks us in and off we go. My god, the number of people just hovering on the streets (and dogs) too, at 2am is astounding. Red lights are optional. I think it´s preferable not to stop the car in the bad parts of Lima (although, having driven through the city for 45 minutes, I have no idea how you would distinguish the good parts from the bad parts.) It all looks fairly similar to me.

Anyway, pulled up in a shoddy laneway and there it is... The Hotel. My room is nice... although the bathroom reminds me a lot of the Jail Cell I stayed in in Austria (ahh, Fliss... the memories!!) That is, there is no window in the bathroom. Actually, there is a window... but it´s actually just a hole that leads out onto some kind of alleyway (it´s OK mum, I´m on the fourth floor)... but I shut the bathroom door anyway in case any rats decided to come in and keep me company overnight. Safety here isn´t bad. There´s a big tough man who stands at the door all day death staring any would be thieves. Oddly enough, the hotel here which boasts hot water 24/7... has failed to deliver on the promise. I´ve had two showers, both cold. I´m feeling very South American after that experience. Anyway, enough of the detailed Jibberish. I´m exhausted after my 38 hour long experience of the 22nd November. Yes, everytime we thought we were leaving behind the 22nd, we moved on to a new timezone and suffered through more of the 22nd all over again. Take care guys, lots of love (from me and the 5000 friends honking the horns on their car/motorbike looking things outside!)