A whole new world (don't you dare close your eyes)

Julie Andrews can keep her bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens (sap) one of MY favourite things is driving along on a sunny day, windows down, power ballads up and Duncan next to me for entertainment. It's always been a fave. Those drives from Brighton to Bournemouth ruled, and now we're doing it all over again. All day. Every day. And I LOVE it. So yeah, on one hand I'm pretty happy - happier than I've been for ages. But then on the other hand it's all a bit depressing.

South America's ruined me. There I was dreading it, thinking I'd hate it and now I just want to be back there. The stuff I saw, the things we did, the way of life - it just doesn't compare to anything else and really unfortunately clean, safe, quiet, wet, expensive New Zealand is baring the brunt of my SA sickness. Right, it's beautiful here. Beautiful. But it's just like being in Cornwall. I feel like I'm at home, just unable to see my friends. It sucks.

Saying that, we've done some pretty cool stuff already. Drove up to Keri Keri (Chloe and Justin's home) and hung out there for 3 days. Met a proper Mauri man called Henry - with a completely tribal tattooed face - who was perhaps the kindest, loveliest man I've ever met. Kinder than Father Christmas. He read our auras. He said Duncan was good natured with a bad streak (who'd have thunk it?), Eve's was orange making her lovely to the core and me... apparently I was too sick to be able to read mine properly. He said it was a bit of a fuzzy mess. But he *could* see my heart of gold shining through. Oh yes. Glad that hasn't been damaged. He also added that wherever Duncan went a guardian angel trotted closely behind. Mine was nowhere to be seen. Probably on the internet or fake tanning somewhere.

What else have we done? More waterfalls (not as good as Iguazu), drove along the 90 mile beach dodging the dangerous quick sand patches which was pretty cool (not as cool as Copacabana), sandboarding on big sand dunes (nowhere near as big as Peru), a boat trip through a hole in a rock (hardly Lake Titikaka), a visit to the most nothern point of the island (try the centre of the world for impressive), saw dolphins do their thing (which I LOVED but they just seemed arrogant and showy compared to the whales) and yeah, that just about brings us up to speed. I'm loving the supermarkets the most though. New World, which just begs to be sung to every time we go there ("every moment red letter") and Countdown. Hmmmm.

Got some pretty cool pictures which I'll litter this blog entry with when I have more time. The internet is expensive here. It was free at hostels in South America...