Trying to find San Agustin

We attempt to get to San Agustin today driving on one of the two main routes; we jump in the car, type in San Agustin and press go.  The route looks about right and the distance is also…

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Coffee Colombia

Colombia is working on shaking off its perceived image as a dangerous and risky place to visit; to attract more visitors to its shores, it has adopted a new slogan ‘The only risk is wanting to stay’.  So…

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Salento and the Valle de Cocora

We decide to head west from Bogota to the Zona Cafetera (Coffee Zone) also known as the eje cafetero  (coffee axis) which is a 283km drive away.  Although it is a relatively short distance, it takes 7 and…

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Bogota, Colombia

The Colombian capital of Bogota is such a polar opposite to Villa de Leyva from where we had just come from that it is honestly a bit of a shock to the system!  The sheer amount of…

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Colombia’s Salt Cathedral

13th December
Today we leave for the capital, Bogota, 159kms away along bumpy winding roads through the mountains at 2500m with scenic views overlooking the patchwork green fields in the valley below us.  Driving on the mountain ridge, road work…

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Villa de Leyva, Colonial Colombia

9th December
Leaving Barichara, we head south back towards San Gil late where we stop for a tasty empanada and espresso coffee breakfast at a busy local café on the square.
It’s about a 20km drive out to the Juan…

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Coast of Colombia to Barichara

Its a long hot four and a half hour drive to Santa Marta in the very north of the country, our base for a visit to Tayrona National Park, on good fast roads.  Driving past vast shanty…

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Arriving in Caribbean Colombia

27th November   CARTAGENA
We are in beautiful Colombia, our 6th continent, country number 46 and the start of our South American adventure!!
The ferry conveniently drops us off in the picture perfect Caribbean city of Cartagena and we leave the…

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A brief stop in Panama

13th November
Panama is country number 45 for us and our last in Central America. After crossing the border (we have written a separate border post Costa Rica to Panama – Border Cossing – Paso Canoas Quebrada Grande if you…

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Corcovado & Piedras Blancas National Park

9th November
The drive to one of the most remote national parks in Costa Rica, Corcovado National Park and the Osa peninsula takes us along the coast from Uvita and via a narrow gravel 4×4 track climbing up steep hills,…

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Manuel Antonio National Park

8th November    MANUEL ANTONIO NATIONAL PARK
Having read online about problems with people parking their cars at the national park and safety issues, we weren‘t too sure what the situation would be and if we would be able to visit…

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Tree of Life Rescue Centre

5th November       TREE OF LIFE RESCUE CENTRE
We explore further down the coast, driving to the small village of Manzanillo hoping to go snorkelling. When we get there, we find the waters are really choppy and the beach is deserted…

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Jaguar Rescue Centre

A drive down the coast brings us to Puerto Viejo, sandy beaches, palm trees and an endless amount of boutique hotels, cabinas, sodas, restaurants and tourists riding around on bikes.  We stop at a bakery (with slow bad…

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Caribbean Costa Rica

CARIBBEAN COSTA RICA
The 205km drive to the port city of Puerto Limon takes us around 5 hours on jammed roads, having to continually overtake slow moving trucks and cyclists.  The route takes us via a toll road through Braulio…

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Monteverde Cloud Forest

28th October   MONTEVERDE CLOUD FOREST RESERVE
The towns of Monteverde and Santa Elena sit between two cloud forests which straddle both sides of the Continental Divide.   Warm and humid winds from the Caribbean sweep up the mountain slopes where they…

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Costa Rica – Arenal

27th October      ARENAL
In the morning, the sight of the looming Volcano Arenal is a majestic one, standing like a huge sentinel overlooking the serene waters of Lake Arenal and pastured green hillsides.
The volcano was dormant for hundreds of…

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Northern Costa Rica-Monkeys and baby sloths!

(We have managed to fall behind with the blog, just not having enough hours in the day to do everything, so we are jumping ahead to the present and will try to catch up with the rest in between!)
COSTA…

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New Zealand- The Rainbow Road

5th February     THE RAINBOW ROAD
From the spa fun in Hanmer Springs, we drive via Jacks Pass on a bumpy gravel path to the remote and majestic Lake Tennyson formed from a glacial moraine dam, where we camp up for…

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New Zealand- Molesworth Station

4th February      MOLESWORTH STATION
Molesworth Station is New Zealand’s largest farm, covering almost half a million acres with the country’s largest herd of beef cattle (up to 10,000 in winter) and also its most remote.  At 900metres, it is the…

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NZ Wellington & Around

26th January
As we had already been to Hawkes Bay to the east of the island on a previous trip, we decide to head south 170km and 2 hours to the coast and Himatangi Beach driving the scenic roads out…

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