Desert fun: Salta to Uyuni salt flats...

Day 18
When bus plans fall through, you take an impromptu road trip! Ended up with a group of four (Linh, Davi, Niklas and myself) hiring a car and driving up north to Purmamarca and Tilcara to see the amazing desert and mountain landscapes. The highlight of this north route from Salta is Cerro de los Siete Colores, a mountain range famous for its many different coloured mountains (different elements in the rocks).

Flying through Argentina: Patagonia, Buenos Aires and Salta...

Day 10
Pretty much a travel day. I was on the 8am bus from Puerto Natales to El Calafate, very much regretting the early morning bus after my four day hike. After about an hour, we approached the border between Chile and Argentina. The process was pretty straight forward. On the Chilean side, they stamped the exit stamp and collected the immigration card. We then drove through no man's land for five minutes before reaching the Argentinean checkpoint and getting the entrance stamp. And contrary to my fears, the bus driver made sure everyone was back on board before driving off.

Hiking Torres del Paine's W-trek...

So last I left off, I was getting ready for my four day hike through Torres del Paine National Park. Right now, I'm back from the wilderness and scrolling through all my photos from the 75km W-trek. I'm still just gobsmacked at how beautiful it was, and just how blue the water was! This is somewhere I'd definitely recommend going. Even if you're not a hiker, you can marvel from a distance. It has to be seen to be believed!

My South American travels begin...

A year in the making (albeit most of the planning occurred in the last month), my South American trip begins!! I had actually booked my flights to South America way back in January when there was a 10% sale on points redeemed for flights. As such, on a whim, I traded in 90,000 of my hard earned Qantas frequent flyer points (plus $750 in taxes) and got myself return flights to Santiago, Chile. Now that the 10 month wait is over, let the South American adventure begin!!

You're OK Boracay...

After the amazing experience of swimming with whale sharks, it was now time to head to the tropical island of Boracay, famous for its pure white sandy beaches and crystal clear blue waters. As with most places in the Philippines, it takes quite a bit of time to get anywhere but after after a taxi, a flight, a van ride, a boat and another van ride, we were finally at our beachfront hotel La Carmela in the heart of the island's busy strip. Boracay Island is split into Stations 1, 2 and 3, with Station 2 being the main hub for all the restaurants, bars, shops and clubs, and conveniently where our hotel was located!

Having a whale (shark) of a time...

Last I left off, I was in Boljoon in preparation for my early morning trip to Oslob which is famous for its whale shark tourism. After an early morning swim, I checked out and waited by the side of the road for a bus to come barrelling towards me. For those wanting to go to Oslob from Cebu, you can catch a Ceres Liner bus (bright yellow) from the South Bus Terminal every half an hour. However if you're trying to get there from anywhere else, you'll just have to flag down a moving one from the road. As such, we were on the side of the road for about an hour waiting since the bus had been delayed by traffic (how typical). Eventually the bus arrived and we were soon barrelling down the narrow coastal roads at speeds which made me scared we would tip over on the bends.

My Filipino adventure begins...

Another post means another overseas trip - this time to the Philippines! After over a year of bussing it back and forth between Canberra and Sydney and being subjected to the billboard at Sydney Airport telling me to go to Philippines, I finally succumbed. And what a great time too with the sales on, I managed to score return tickets to Philippines for $320 return from Sydney including checked baggage on Cebu Pacific Airlines. Throw in three domestic flights (Manila, Cebu, Boracay) and I had a solid ten days of travel around the country for $550 total. I went on this trip with friend from work, but given how busy we were in the lead up, we didn't manage to plan much. As such, this was a very last-minute spontaneous trip.