Well guys sorry for the lack of posts recently, but life has seemed to slow down after south america. Doms recent tale has inspired me to at least update you thus far.

As far as I remember I left you in southern Argentina where I had hiked up to Torres del payne in Chile and was heading for Bolivia.

Well after some humorous border crossings including passing the Chilian border 3 times in one day, I finally arrived in Bolivia. It was very different from the european styling of Argentina and reminded me alot of Kazakhstan and after hearing so many stories of tourists being mugged there after seeing the place it was a little easier to understand why. I mean at least Brazilians have the beach these guys just have rocks. An interesting fact about Bolivia is that they actually have a navy despite being landlocked, it consists of a fenced off area of Lake Titicaca and there was sightings of uniformed men in a swan paddle boat.

Anyway I met up with some fellow british folk on the final bus journey to the border and continued on with them for a tour of the Solar de Uyuni. This included a 5 day jeep tour around Bolivia to finish at the salt flat itself. But let me tell you, 5 days in a cramped Land Crusier listening to crazy Bolivian folk music isnt as great as it sounds but fortunately my brain over time is good at making dyer situations seem humerous and the salt flats more than made up for the God aweful food. Had a nice surprise waiting for me when I returned to semi-civilisation when I found an email from Quantas telling me that they had changed my flights and had effectively given me 1 day to get from the middle of Bolivia to Santiago in Chile. This coupled with their call-centre being "down" did cause me a little panic for a day or so but finally got it sorted.

From Chile I flew out to New Zealand and was greeted by a Kiwi border guard at 4 in the morning asking me whether I had been to Kazahkstan because of the Borat movie, after seeing the visa in my passport. I said yes. New Zealand was astonishingly beautiful but after spending more time in South America then I had planned, I only had 3 weeks to explore.So to make the best use of my time I hired a campervan and toured around seeing lots of sheep and spectacular scenery. Although one Kiwi didnt like me badmouthing the Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers as crap compared to the Moreno, it appeared that suddenly I had become a glacier expert of the course of 4 weeks. I enjoyed my time touring around, sleeping on beaches, by fjords and the like but it did hurt my wallet and so when I flew out to Australia, work became the order of the day.

So far Sydney has been really enjoyable although very expensive and the weather does get bad here which they dont tell you about on their cheesey visit australia commericals! But even working isnt so bad here,I mean there are worse commutes then passing the Opera House and Harbour bridge at sunset every evening. Although I think the 4 month break has probably affected my opinion on work somewhat.

So its work for the next few weeks then i'm planning a diving trip (well not personally planning in the logistical sense)to the great barrier reef and then its off to Africa, which I just cant wait for. Think this really could be the jewel in the crown of my trip. Little worried about flying into Jo'burg after speaking to a South African resident about some of the stories she has heard but apart from that its all good. Think I'll just try and blend in,shouldnt be too hard I've heard there are plently of 6 foot tall, very white, ginger haired africans about.

So probably until Africa, thats all.

P.S I've already got several travellers interested in the Pan Am, now all we have to do is organise the thing.