Mt Glorious

Nice and easy Sunday rainforest circuit at Mt Glorious, then a mint and ginger sparkling drink at the lovely Flying Nun cafe in Samford.

Dinner party

The Spargo family were our special dinner guests. Homemade wontons and curries and some very nice wines followed the dismal Bledisloe Cup game...

Castaways

Rob kindly chauffeured us up to the Costanzo homestead at Castaway Bay in his comfy wheels. Karls, three kids and baby chickens - it was all happening. Beautiful lunch and prosecco by the pool then we headed to the beach for some frisbee and sand boarding. Lovely to see Tara and Willow too after so long. Winter here still takes some getting used to...As in, are you sure this is winter?

Willeroo

Well my London readers (all two of you Megan and Cheryl he he) will like an update of Nana's 80th. On the Saturday night before we squeezed nine of us in the house at Willeroo to make sure there was a smooth set up for the next day. It was a bit of a debacle with a symphony of snoring and then Ryan got up for a ride at 4.30 but had to turn back because it was too cold.

Anyway the Sunday was a truly spectacular winter's day and as chief decorating officer I put Zoe, Chris and Dad to work.

The crowds rolled in right on 11 to celebrate the 80th birthday of one of the kindest and toughest ladies ever...

Teralba Breakfast

I was very lucky that Vanessa, Harvey and Ruby came up from Melbourne for a visit. To celebrate and get everyone together we organised a bbq breakfast down at Teralba Park. Felt like a bit of a trip back in time as the last time I had a bbq down there I am sure I was about 10. There were lots of wee ones running about, lots of bubble blowing, and a delicious breakfast...

Just landed

Bulli stayed on to explore Peru and Bolivia and I took the sweet business class flight to Brisbane (courtesy of my frequent flyer points). Mum, Dad, Kellie and Kay were waiting for me. For about the first week I was getting heart palpitations as it all started sinking in...

Went to Caxton Street and the rugby Saturday night with Rob M, Shane and Carly. The sight of the little XXXX man above the Caxton reminded me I was home again...

Santiago

To wrap up my leg of our South American travels we had a few nights in Santiago, having bussed across from Mendoza.

We stayed at the huge la Casa Roja and Barrio Brasil. I really liked Santiago, but I can see why people don't want to live there long term - a cloud of smog trapped by the Andes really does hang low over the city.

Transport was great, all the neighbourhoods were distinctive. I enjoyed our morning bike tour the most, great summary of the city and fun and easy way to get around. Horse riding in the hills looking back to Santiago was also a really good day out.

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Mendoza streets

Big wide streets, autumn leaves draping over them, five relaxing squares and a beautiful park...

Hostel Lao wine tasting 101

John the winemaker from Oregon took the time to share with us the beginners guide to wine tasting...

Mendoza vines

Words to come...

Across the Andes

View from the bus - switchbacks aplenty. Happy to have three border crossings behind us...today was a breeze compared to the earlier 14 hour melee

Flight of the Malbecs

Getting to Mendoza is a story for another day, but once we got some sleep after our epic border crossing, we tried the Malbec selection at the Vines of Mendoza...

Mmm Valparaiso

Expectations are funny things, especially when they aren't met. We left Pucon feeling a bit virtuous, we were going to night bus ten hours to Santiago, then take the first bus to Mendoza, saving a night s accommodation and time. Good plan, unless the pass across the Andes is closed. So we got the bus from Santiago to Valparaiso, touted as a quaint hilltop place of steep streets and funiculars (or ascensors) overlooking the twinkling ocean. I can't blame a town for not looking its best when the weather is hideous, especially a seaside town. It bucketed like nothing else. But, give me Cinque Terre any day.

We were lucky our hostel man was so lovely and helpful, pointed us in the direction of restaurants we would never have known about, but for me Valparaiso is going to be about the dog that followed me for 5kms and incited other dogs, and jumping at shadows at every alley way.

However, I don't want to be negative so some cool things - the poet Pablo ummm n's house (name to be completed when I google). So whimsical and what a life he must have lived in the 50s, what a cool bar and view he had. The central mercado is certainly no Borough market, but the meal we had there was some pretty good seafood for a pocket full of pounds.

The story of Brit Thomas Cochrane helping the Chileans at sea is fascinating, and even more so how they prepared his 'house' (that he never lived in) for the Queen's visit.

We rode a couple of the famous ascensions,I liked El Peral and the story that goes with it (I don't give a pear what it is called, the mayor said in the end).

I didn't bottom out however why Neil Armstrong takes his place alongside Magellan and Copernicus in the stained glass window map of the world in the Maritime Museum.

So other travellers we have met proclaimed Valpo amazing, awesome- for us it was wrong time, wrong weather, but our hostel guy did his best to help us and we gave it our best shot. I did like my chocolate caliente at cafe con letras a lot.