Today we had our tour of Lima Peru.  It was a very historical day including tours to a monastery, cathedrals, museums and town squares.  The day was divided into the Spanish and the Inca history

Lima as a city is very surprising.  We were expecting a city with a developing country feel but it is very modern.  There are approx 9 million people in Lima alone.

We visited the cathedral that has the remains of Don Francesco Pizarro – the founder and Spanish appointed Governor of Peru and the founder of the capital Lima, previously called The City of the Kings.  This cathedral was very beautiful and next to the main city square and parliament buildings.

The monastery we toured was the first to have an underground cemetery – there were literally 10s of 1000s of bodies buried there and they were exhumed in the 1970s by the monks and this section of the monastery has been converted into a tourist attraction.  As the bodies had been there for 100s of years only the larger, high density bones remained (femurs, skulls).  No full skeleton was found.  The monks had categorised them into bone type laid out in the original graves.  It was a little spooky.

The museum was the South American Indian history starting back 2000 BC with examples of pottery through out the ages. 

Some history …. Back to 2000 BC is quite amazing as the Inca Empire was from AD 1438 to AD 1533. The Inca empire proved short-lived: by AD 1533, Atahualpa, the last Inca emperor, called a Sapa Inca, was killed on the orders of the conquistador Francisco Pizarro, marking the beginning of Spanish rule.

The pottery had common themes throughout the ages depicting man with sceptres, claws for fingers representing the sky/birds, fangs for teeth representing the land/puma and snakes for hair/decoration representing the after life.  Also there was a lot of fertility themed pottery.  These were made in all kinds of phallic forms and carnal images and used as drinking vessels to empower the drinker with fertility urges.  You can use you imagination concerning where the spout for drinking was from!

But as the title suggests after 2 hours of pottery we were ready to go a little crazy.  Although all this history is making it very real as to where we are and what we are about to experience.  Getting very excited.

We managed to fit a little shopping in this afternoon after a scrumptious lunch by the sea with the others who are on the same tour. 

Tomorrow we are off to Cuzco where we will be starting the trek of the Inca Trail.  We feel ready for the altitude after our training/acclimatisation in Quito.

On a weather note – it´s been very chilly here.  Maximum around 15 degrees Celsius so we are glad to have the thermals packed ready for the high altitudes of Cuzco.  Lima is on the coast so no altitude here.

Team Kealey out …. Inca Trail here we come!

To keep with our altitude holiday traditions, on our last day in Quito Ecuador we decided to take a mountain biking tour (we did the same in Kathmandu which was great fun). Before you read any further, just a quick assurance we made it through the experience unscathed and injury free (unlike some of our mountain biking outings in Australia).

The tour took us by van to 4600 m altitude on the side of one of Quito´s active volcanoes – Cotopaxi. From there we were kitted out with helmets, gloves and optional elbow & knee pads (our mountain biking experience at home tells us that knee and elbow pads really won´t do much) and then it was on the “well loved” mountain bikes for the 95% downhill decent to 3500 m altitude. All the bikes were hard tail with front shocks that really didn´t alleviate the teeth chatter of the rocky terrain. Lots of soft sand at the edges of the road that as Peta discovered (on the 3rd corner) when you go into an inside sandy corner a little too fast the back end digs in and slides out and you very quickly come off the bike ready for some dirt consumption resulting in teeth polishing. Luckily “a little too fast” was still quite slow so after a few spits, rinses, more spits and a dust off it was back on the bike to complete one of the highest rated adrenalin experiences in South America by the Loney Planet.

Cotopaxi is 5897 m high being Ecuador´s highest active volcano. The last major eruption was in 1906, with minor eruptions in 1944 and 1975. (Click here for some information on Cotopaxi).

After this adrenalin pumping day we returned to the hotel in Quito for one hour to collect our luggage (but no time for showers) to then catch a taxi to the airport to depart for Lima Peru. We arrived in Lima 11.30 pm local time to only find the hotel (Monte Real) had no hot water ! They were experiencing a plumbing problem !!! There was some very tired cursing and howler monkey noises to only having to revert to a “baby wipe” shower before falling into bed exhausted. A very, very long day … but we are now very excited to be in Peru with a free day tomorrow, a tour of Lima on Tuesday and then back on a plane to Cusco on Wednesday where we will start our trek on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Hasta luego from Team Kealey.

That´s right boobies … but we mean the world famous “Blue Footed Booby” of course.  True to everything you hear about the Galapagos Islands, the beautiful Blue Footed Boobies are everywhere.  They are a stunning bird to watch – seagul with bright blue feet – either standing on a rocky outlook posing for a picture or torpedo bombing into the water to catch their dinner. 

We visited the following islands on our cruise:

• Baltra
• Santa Cruz
• Rabida
• Santiago
• Bartolome

The trip was very peaceful and had an “at one with nature” element to it that coming back to civilization has been quite a shock.  Following is a day-by-day account of the cruise for those who are interested.  Again so much happened in such a short time so alas, another lengthy read. 

Day 1 of Cruise 

On arrival at the Baltra airport we board a bus to the small dock to board our cruise ship for the next 3 nights.  To our surprise this dock was covered in more than 10 sea lions as well as many famous Galapagos birds flying around to welcome us to this amazing national park.

The cruise ship (called the San Jose) had 8 guest cabins (twin share), was 34 metres long with a sun deck complete with bar, top deck for bird watching (and drying your washing) and a lounge and dining area on the sea level.  Below aft was kitchen, crew quarters, engine, etc.  So quite a nice size ship for 14 people on the tour plus 9 crew.

After the introductions (we had quite a mixed bunch on the tour – Aussies, UK, German, Brazilian and of course Ecuadorian crew), a little time to settle into our cabin and lunch on the San Jose we were off in the tender (zodiac RIB) for our first excursion to a northern inlet on Santa Cruz.  We stayed in the tender for this one and went into an area called “Green Turtle Bay” where we saw Blue Footed Boobies, Turtles in the water (even some mating!), White Tip Reef Shark and Galapagos Pelicans (which are brown and not like the pelicans at home at all).

On return back to the boat we were able to jump off the back into the ocean for a swim – the water was around 15 degrees Celcius so nice and fresh to get the blood pumping and prepared for the swimming to come.

That night on the boat we had the welcome cocktail and an opportunity to meet the entire crew, all fitted out in their whites for the special occasion. Thus began the tradition of the Pina Colada. 

Also this night we had a surprise visitor on board the back of the ship where you board the tenders (on the stern) – as I left the dining room a seal (or sea lion more accurately) gave me a “hello” from the back deck of our ship, fully on board out of the water before jumping back into the ocean. 

Day 2 of Cruise

Today we visted both Rabida and Santiago Islands.  Our day started after 7 am breakfast when it was back on the tender at 8 am off for a wet landing (meaning you have to wade out of the boat at the shore) on the Red Sand beach of Rabida Island.  The sand is red due to the volcanic soil here comprising of red scoria.  The beach was covered in Sea Lions and was our first opportunity to go snorkelling.  The visibility was okay and we saw plenty of tropical fish but no turtles or seals joined us for a swim yet.  We also saw a Sea Iguanas this morning.

By 10.30 am we were back on board the ship to leave for Santiago Island. After lunch we were back on the tender (I´m sure you see a pattern forming here) for a wet landing onto a Black Sand beach  – black due to the lava formations – and this beach was covered in Sea Lions too!  At this landing you also find the remains of the Salt Factory (1960) ruins.  We went for a walk along the coast to discover 100´s of Sea Iguanas (they are very lazy while sunning themselves and there were so many you had to be careful where you walked), shore birds and a Fur Seal grotto. 

We had another opportunity to go snorkelling off the Black Sand beach and we got to experience something amazing.  Swimming with a green sea turtle.  What an experience!  We just followed it along as it was gracefully swimming about – it was not concerned by our presence at all.  Truly a moment we will never forget.

We were back on board the ship by 5.30 pm and we made away across to Bartolome Island ready for the next day´s adventure.  Evening ended with more Pina Coladas!

Day 3 of Cruise

An early start today – 6.30 am dry landing (meaing no wading in the water, straight up to rocks/small dock) to summitt a peak on Bartolome Island (114m) where you can view the lunar landscape (lava landscape), spatter cone formations (where the lava gas breaks through the lava after is cools and then forms a crater/cone) and a great view of Pinicale Rock and surrounding islands.  After this we were back on board for breakfast then off to a wet landing on the Golden Sand Beach on Bartolome Island.  This sand was much finer (more like home) but truly butter yellow in colour.  Again this beach had its resident sea lions.  Lucky for us these seals decided it was swimming time when we were snorkelling as when we were on our way back in from exploring the rocky outcrops and reefs along the shore a young seal decided to have a swim with us!  At first it was a bit of fright as we had seen plenty of them “play” together and they tend to get a little rough, similiar to 10 year old boys might.  But this seal swam right up to us and looped around us before it swam away (we had the underwater camera this day so fingers crossed we got a good picture).  This was an exhilerating experience, not quite as peaceful as the turtle.

After this adrenalin rush it was back on board for a quick shower and off at 11 am for a dry landing and shore ride to Sullivan Bay on Bartolome Island to see and walk on the lava flow formations (the last eruption was in 1874).  This was truly spectacular and in places the lava still looks wet.  Here we also saw lava crystals which can only be described as onyx looking.  We were hoping for Galapagos Penguins on this landing but, alas, it was not meant to be.

It was back on board the ship for a 12.30 pm lunch and the worst sea weather of the trip.  We were heading to the southern end of Santa Cruz to the port of Puerto Ayora for our last day.  It was originally meant to take 5 hours – due to the conditions (swells, head winds, etc) it took 8 hours.  As per the previous post, some of us were not very well (and there was plenty of Travelcalm Ginger being taken as a preventor) we were seriously considering calling a taxi boat to spend the night on Santa Cruz.  But after we made port and dropped anchor all was well – gastrolite and nausea medication before bed made for a big appetite the next day.

Day 4 of Cruise

We´re sure knowing we were departing the boat today helped immensely with sea sickness symptoms.  Again today was up early with an 8 am dry landing at Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz to go to the Charles Darwin Research Centre.  Here we got to see the giant Galapagos Tortises that are used for the breeding program.  They keep them until they are 3-4 years old then have a tag and release system.  We also saw Land Iguanas here which are quite different to the Sea Iguanas.

We went back on board the ship for lunch and to pack and say our final goodbyes to the crew.  After lunch it was straight back to Puerto Ayora to get on a bus ride up to the highlands of Santa Cruz Island where we got to see Galapagos Tortises in the wild and walk through (sometime crawling) a lava tube formation.  So we even got to experience some caving on this trip.  The lava tube was approximately 300m long.

It was back to Puerto Ayora around 5.30 pm to head off to our hotel for the night (called the Red Booby) and to bid farwell to 6 of our tour mates who were staying on the ship for an extended tour.  We were off at 9 am the next day back to the Baltra Airport to come back to Quito before heading off to Peru.

During the trip one thing remained constant - no one ever got tired of the Sea Lions.  Right to the end when we were on the ferry coming across from Santa Cruz to Baltra to the airport when we saw our last seal on a marker bouy.

Hasta luego Galapagos Islands.

Hola!  Just a quick blog to all our avid readers to let you know we made it through our 4 day boat cruise around the Galapagos Islands relatively unscathed (there was a little sea sickness last night with 8 out of 14 in the group suffering from degrees of “a little off” to severe – unfortunately Peta was the severe case but all was well once we were off the high seas and into port).  The trip was amazing – in the main the islands are very untouched by humans and as a result the animal wildlife is abundant, nor are the animals scared of humans and are very happy to come within arms reach (although no touching!). 

Tonight we spend the night on the Galapagos Island Santa Cruz in the very active port of Puerto Ayora – we are amazed at the hive of activity here after being one with nature for the past 4 days. 

The internet connection here is very slow so it´s Team Kealey out for now – we hope to supply a more detailed blog about our Galapagos adventure tomorrow from our hotel in Quito and possibly upload some pictures.  Adios!

We´re back in our hotel in Quito from our wonderful 4 day Amazon experience. It will be hard to put into words the feeling and experience of knowing you are in the Amazon but we will try.   Quick warning … this will be a long read as the tour crammed in what they normally do on the 7 day tour so if you haven´t already you may want to grab a cuppa, maybe a snack and ensure you are comfortable.

As the title suggests we saw monkeys a plenty (5 different types). Even in the wild they were more than happy to come down to eye/ground level to entertain the humans. Very comical to watch and in the surroundings it´s not hard to see how the story of Tarzan was first imagined. Of course a big highlight was seeing the Howler monkeys. In total we saw 2 different family groups on 2 different occaisions. Some of you may know the Howler Monkey story (in short this is the name in our house for “female behaviour”) so Brian was in his element telling everyone in our group the Howler Monkey story and funnily enough the men thought this was hilarious and there was a lot of head nodding. The call of the Howler Monkey (a gutteral growl that can travel up to 5 kms and can also be mistaken for the sound of wind from a distant storm) became our groups call sign.

We had 5 people in our tour group (Vincent & Cazoline from St Barths and Alex from Quito) plus our Naturalist Guide Oscar and our Native Guide Ernesto. We had a wonderful time and very quickly became the noisy, laughing, young people group – except of course we were quiet in the rainforest to ensure we saw as many birds and animals as possible. The group was a great mix with first languages being Spanish, French & English – all spoke a little English so with accents flying we all managed to communicate and share the culture of our home countries.

Our lodge was called Sacha Lodge – it is a 5000 acre (2000 hectare) private property down the Napo River. The Napo River is a direct tributary of the Amazon River located about 400 miles (640 kms) downstream from the lodge. So to get to Sacha we had to ride in a motorised canoe (that could hold about 20 people) for 2 hours from the town of Coca. Along the river we saw some military posts, oil company camps and Quichua Indian communities/homes. The Napo River is wider than the Amazon River being up to 1km to 3kms wide at some points. It was an amazing journey to introduce us the the Amazon jungle with enormous trees and dense forest lining the river bank.  In fact, before we went to bed on the first night we had seen squirrel monkeys, a smokey jungle frog, a black agouti, a tarantula, sleeping butterflies (they have a butterfly breeding house at the lodge) and quite a few insects and smaller spiders.

The lodge is actually located a little inland from the Napo River on a swamp.  You might be thinking swamp plus Amazon equals mozzies and bugs galore but no, we saw one mozzie and a few bugs would buzz around our head from time to time.  It was similar to the rainforests of home in this regard, including an ant bite each just to make sure you were awake.  You could hear the bugs (especially cicadas) but due to the enormous number of birds (just at the Sacha lodge they have sighted over 600 bird species) the bugs are really kept under control.  All the cabins and buildings are raised and joined by raised walkways.  The cabins were very nice – twin beds, fly screens, ceiling fan, electricity, own bathroom with gas hot water and deck complete with hammock. After getting off the motorised canoe at the Napo we walked for approx 15 minutes and then boarded paddle canoes for the ride across a lake to the Sacha lodge.  The lake is natural and the lodge has made many canals (or widened existing ones) for transit purposes or to be used for exploring the forest.  In some parts the canals were only a little wider than the canoe so as we were right next to the land edge, and travelling almost silently at these times you were ready to spot birds, animals and while we didn´t see one, possibly an anaconda!  Let me tell you that this thought kept you well and truly alert.

Our days generally consisted of the following agenda:

• 5 am wake up door knock (they just waited for you to acklowledge and took off – very similar to knick knocking.  We would get up to answer the door just in case they had something to tell us but they door knocker would be gone)
• breakfast at 5.30 am
• off by 6 am on morning adventure:
• walk through the jungle around the lodge, sometimes taken to the start of the walk via canoe.  On these walks was when we saw all the monkeys & birds and Enersto as the lodge “shaman” got to share his amazing knowledge of the plants and what they are used for by the natives, including many that have been adapted for western medicine such as the main ingredient for inducing labour from the bark of tree!
• On the way back from the morning walk you could stop in at the Butterfly House – an amazing and very romantic sight to see.  Hundreds of butterflies flying around you and landing on you to taste your skin.  Obviously no bug spray/aeroguard allowed in with the butterflies.
• Metal tower tree top walk - the towers were over 40 metres high and above the canopy.  The walk between the towers is 400 metres long.  This was great for the birders, binoculars and telescopes a plenty and we saw many toucans, parrots and other small birds.  This is also when we heard our first howler monkey but no sighting yet.
• Back to the lodge around 11 am for a siesta in the middle of the day – over 30 degrees celcius by this time and very humid 
• Lunch at 1 pm in the lodge
• Commence afternoon adventure at either 2 pm or 3.30 pm
• For 2 pm we could go fishing for piranhas on the lake in a canoe with Ernesto.  Our group opted for fishing on the first day – Ernesto, Alex and Cazoline all caught a white piranha each, Brian & I just managed to feed the fish and use up all our bait (raw steak).  The rods were bamboo polls with no reel – just fishing line, hook and sinker. 
• The other afternoon activities were more walks though the jungle or a vist to the Wooden tower.  This tower was amazing.  It too was 40 metres high and built around a tree that we are sure Tarzan once lived in.  The get to the tower we took a 30 minute canoe ride and then walked for about 100 metres to the bottom of the tower.  The tower is actually in the tops of the canopy rather than above it and as you are in a tree the birds actually land right next to you.  We saw a humming bird here as well as our second Howler Monkey sighting and the a Sloth (both via the telescope).  Enersto earned his cervasa (beer) that night for the Sloth. 
• Dinner was at 7 pm
• Night time adventure commenced at 8.00/8.30 pm. 
• Walking through the jungle at night via head torch as an amazing experience.  We spotted plenty of spiders, bugs and frogs but unfortunately no Night Monkey (incidently this was the only one of the 6 monkeys found a Sacha that we did not see).
• On night two we took a canoe ride at night with only Oscar having the spot light torch which was only turned on when there was the possibility of spotting something.  There is only one way to describe this excursion – hold your eyes open as wide as you can, don´t breathe and keep your arms away from the edge of the canoe.  We were anaconda and cayman hunting (caymans are the Amazon Freshwater Alligator).  We did not see either but we did see bats.  There was some very brave talk about “haven´t we seen a movie about this” as we started out for the trip and there were some sighs of relief when we were back at the lodge that night.

Of couse, no visit to the Amazon would be the same without rain.  On day 3 were were up at 4.30 am to get going by 5.30 am to go to the Parrot Clay Licks.  The clay licks are on the other bank of the Napo River from Sacha and you have to get there early as the parrots arrive early to eat the breakfast clay to aid digestion and remove the toxins from their system from the berries/nuts they eat.  Unfortunately, the parrots only like the clay when it is dry on top and it decided to rain that day (so the lodge supplied ponchoes got a work out).  We got to the Sacha River and it started to rain.  While were were waiting for it to stop raining we took the boat up the river a little to spot birds, etc.  This was when we saw our first Howler Monkeys from a boat on the Napo with the binoculars. We went back to the river bank where you start the 20 minute walk to the clay lick but Oscars shore connections informed him the parrots have not landed and now it was too late.  We could see the parrots flying over head so spent some more time going along the river watching them through the binoculars.  Still a very pretty sight.

The last night of our tour was BBQ night out on the deck over the lake.  This was the night we all had a few tasty drinks (Sacha Banana cocktail was a group favourite following the Moet Chandon) and stayed up past midnight – a big feat after such long days.  This night we also saw the resident caiman who apparently always shows up on BBQ night ready for the chef to toss the BBQ grit over the side of the deck.  Also we explained to Oscar what a “naturalist” is considered back home (ie someone who likes to live as nature intended) and he (and the others in our group) thought this was hilarious … there was some “off, off, off” chanting but it would appear he is not really a 100% naturalist after all.

Some facts about the Amazon jungle:

• the basin covers approx 2.5 million square miles
• 2% of the basin is found in Ecuador
• the ground/soil is actually clay (this is why when the forest is cleared plants cannot in most cases grow back as the clay dries and hardens
• Based on clearing, mining, global warming they estimate the Amazon Jungle will be around for approx another 30 years so if you are planning to go, get going soon.

The animals were saw were:

• Monkeys (Pigmy Marmosets, Black Mantled Tamarins, Squirrel Monkeys, Capuchin Monkeys, Howler Monkeys)
• Black Agouti (kind of a cross between a rat and a rabbit)
• Brown Throated 3 toed Sloth
• Ruby poinson dard frog
• Tree Frogs
• Smokey Jungle Frog
• White Caiman
• White Piranhas
• Of the 600+ species of birds we saw approximately 40 different types – the highlights were the toucans, the kites (falcon family), the humming bird, vultures (black and yellow headed) and this bird called a Hoatzin (bush turkey looking phesant with a huge yellow mohawk).

So we were very lucky to see all this in a 4 day tour, but alas, no anacondas, snakes or jaguars!  We were both very sad to leave the jungle as it was very beautiful and while were were very busy on the tour it was somewhat peaceful at the same time. Thank you to Oscar and Enersto for the amazing journey and all they were able to find for us to see.  And thankyou to Vincent, Cazoline and Alex for their friendship, laughs and great times as we all experienced the Amazon together.

Tomorrow morning we are up early (7 am transfer to the airport) for our Galapagos Encounter tour.  By the time Team Kealey has completed their world tour of South America, the place will never be the same.

Yesterday we stood on the equator – the middle of the earth.  For all those scientist among us the gravatational pull and as the correalis effect is cancelled out at the equator you are at least 1kg lighter as soon as you step on the equator.

It was a heady experience and was hard to balance on the equator line, especially if you closed your eyes.

Quito has been quite an interesting city to explore.  95% of the population here at Roman Catholic so there are beautiful catherdrals everywhere.  We managed to visit a few yesterday including the one considered the most beautiful in all South America as inside is almost covered in gold leaf. 

Some interesting facts about Quito:

• altitude 2830 m / 9285 ft about sea level
• population 1.5 million (in one city!)

Part of our travels yesterday took us to just over 3000 m where we had a view of the city – buildings as far as the eye could see only stopping as they reached the foot hills of surrounding mountains.  There is also an active volcano in Quito that has been dormant for 110 years.  So the locals wonder quando, quando, quando (when, when, when) will it next go.

Today we are off to the Ecuadorian Amazon via Coca.  Our transfer is picking us up from the hotel at 10 am, so this is Team Kealey out until Amazon.

Well, we finally got to Quito after about 27 hours of airline food and airports. Amazingly, not one flight was delayed or cancelled. 

Our path was as follows:
Brisbane>Sydney, Sydney>Auckland>Santiago (Chile), Santiago>Guayaquil (Ecuador)>Quito (Ecuador) with at least an hour at each stopover.  Thats six flights and at least the inside of 4 different airports!

Suffice to say we are here and happy but definately glad to see the outside of an airplane.  Out hotel in Quito is pretty posh by our international experience (3 – 4 stars in aussie terms), then again everything is posh compared to the ¨tea houses¨of the Nepalise highlands!

We have a day and a bit here before we head to Coca and our Amazon adventure so we are going to take our spanish out for a test drive tomorrow by touring the city.  There is less english speaking hospitality staff here than we expected, although Peta successfully ordered us both dinner tonight in Pe-anish (Peta-Spanish) with particular emphasis (hands included) on the, ¨Soy alto intolerante al Trigo y al Gluten¨ (I am highly intolerant to wheat and gluten!!) with a ¨no pan!¨chaser (No bread).  I was giggling as she was speaking as there was sign language, facial expressions and uber concentration.

Nothing else to report today so its hasta luego from Team Kealey.  Adios!

P.S. Feel free to post us your comments, thoughts and donation pledges (to the Team Kealey continental challenge) via the “comments” link at the top of each post.  We get an email when you post so we definately wont miss them.  Gracias!

That’s right – only one sleep to go until we’re boarding the plane.  Leaving home at 5 am tomorrow and then we have over 24 hours of flight time to Quito, Equador where the adventure begins.

The packing is almost done (just carry on bags to sort) and we’re sitting back for a bit to be in the moment and realise how lucky we truly are.  A bottle of Verve champers is helping with packing pain … let’s just hope we don’t forget anything as a result.

Thank you to all our family and friends for all your well wishes for our trip.  We hope we can keep you entertained with our tales of our trip, including our attempt to chart the the South American economy by the cost of a Corona (and do they put lime in it too) and testing out our newly aquired and very beginner level Spanish. 

Stay healthy & happy …. Team Kealey out … next stop South America !

Yes, that’s right. We are counting the sleeps now. Still a lot to get done before then, so for all the Kealey blog reading fans out there (ha ha … me so funny) thought I better give you a quick update so you can start living again and stop wondering if we fell of the face of the Earth (more with the funny).

• Brian had his V8 Experience day last weekend – 8 laps of him driving a Holden V8 around Queensland Raceway, Willowbank.  A fun day had by drivers and spectators. (Brian assures me he will post a blog all about this soon).  In the meantime check out some pics in our Gallery (V8 pics)
• Unfortunately we will not be posting times for the Bridge to Brisbane this year as we did not attend due to injury – not to worry though, Brian’s back is now getting much better and he’s looking after himself and I don’t even have to glare at him anymore to do so. 
• On our exciting calendar of events we still have the Riverfire dinner, Peta’s Storey Bridge Climb and a 21st to celebrate.
• Down to 5 official training times left, unofficially as much as we can fit in.
• With all this lovely rain we’ve had in Brisbane this week (YAY to the precipitation gods) it’s giving us the opportunity to spend this weekend spring cleaning inside, so on that very exciting note (come on, those who know me know my mantra is everything in it’s place and a place for everything) I better get back to it – coffee break over.

Take care and get ready for our entries from South America – 11 sleeps !!

Tick tock …. only 4 weeks to go until we are boarding a plane for South America, and there is still plenty to be done. 

Lucky for us we have most of our required gear/clothing thanks to previous trekking adventures and we’re happy to say they all still fit. We just had to purchase some light weight shirts for the warmer climates we expect to experience in Ecuador. 

Major items can be checked off the list – house sitter booked, trip all booked …. that’s about it.  The rest is the “details” and being the “details couple” that we are, there are a lot of them.  From servicing the ride on mower to ensure it’s all ready for the mower man to use in our absence (a must when you have one acre) to informing the vet of our absence in case anything should happen to our four legged children to authorise an account.  Don’t worry – there is a written list. 

But as a whole our fitness training is progressing, with 4 weeks to go we still have some extra work to do (some of us have some injury recovery to do so long as we can stop ourselves from certain activities that only exacerbate the injury), we feel more prepared for this trip than Nepal (might have something to do with the lack of wedding preparations), we’re still practicing our Spanish via Podcasts to & from work a few days a week and we are starting to get excited !  Won’t be long and we’ll be counting the sleeps.   

Of course during the next 4 weeks our lives are as blessed with a fun-filled, action packed events calendar we’ve come to call “normal” with the EKKA, Brian’s V8 driving experience day (which was his birthday present this year), training, a 21st birthday, exercising, another birthday for a very special friend (we won’t mention ages Jules), Storey Bridge Climb for Peta, Riverfire dinner, Father’s Day, did I mention training & exercising and just generally catching up with family and friends.  Sure - we can make all this happen in the next 4 weeks.  

Here’s to having a full, healthy and happy life.  May your cup also runneth over …. Cheers !