From the worlds largest Sand Castle to the Sunshine Coast

And so it continues….

Our generous tour of this part of Australia continued in glorious fashion today.

Starting nice and early with ‘call me Richo…or Richard just not Rick’ the worlds most knowledgeable tour guide ever from Fraser Island Company tours.

Which is just as well as we were off to Fraser Island – the world’s largest sand castle – and there was so much information that Richo just had to get out. 

In fact I began to think that Richardo had skipped the school lesson that taught how full stops worked such was his passion to yabber.

To be honest ordinarily this style of commentary would drive me nuts – but Richardio was saved by the fact that he was just so damn interesting.

There was nothing he didn’t know…..well except maybe for a few of the functions on the brand spanking new 4 wheel drive that was our Island transport.

Bouncing around the Island we visited a lake, were shown trees of interest, learnt all about Dingos and exactly how Richero felt about the government culling of said wild dogs.

We had lunch and then a hoon on a beach to a shipwreck before sadly parting ways and leaving the beach in the most exhilarating way ever.

By Sea plane – taking off we took in the sheer scale of the Island and looked across at the crystal clear waters of Lake Mackenzie.

Cruising at altitude up the coast we had a couple of interesting moments diving in and out of a few clouds and then looking down on Noosa before touching down at the pretty little Sunshine Coast Airport.

Had a bit of a sad moment as we said farewell to our excellent wine drinking TQ host Gemma. We ditched her to pick up another Gemma who came complete with a Brooke.

Our newest best friends then whisked us up the coast back to the charming and relaxed surfy village of Noosa, checking us into a flash room in the French Quarter. Greg walked into the room first so nabbed the giant double overlooking the pool courtyard and spa while I happily settled for the single next door.

No time to debate this though as we were given a five minute warning to don boardies and head off to our next adventure.

Paddle Boarding.

And what a great way to wind out the huge day.

With not a breath of wind on the harbour our instructor Chris soon had us out enjoying some turns and the last of the days sun.

True to form a surge in confidence not backed up by skill soon had me drinking water and scrabbling to climb back on board. …..on more than one occasion.

Chris even let his dog ride shot gun on my board as we worked our way up the harbour. It needs to be said the poor thing looked petrified the whole time as she had been watching my failed turns moments earlier.

Returning the dog to dads board we made our way back, had a quick peek at the beach and then returned to accom to get ready for a dinner out with our new besties tonight. I’m stalking the fridge for something to give me energy to stay awake.

This is losing? – man this ain’t to bad at all…

This being Australia its pretty apt to use the term ‘as the dust settles’ – but that’s exactly what it is doing in the aftermath of being caught up in one of the biggest publicity generating promotions of all time – bigger than the Obama campaign so they are saying.

And I have to say it’s pretty hard to find the silver lining when there doesn’t seem to be any damn clouds in this part of the world today.

However the silver lining under the failed applicant cloud would have to be the incredible site seeing trip that Tourism Queensland has organised for us all separately.

After the final night wrap party wrapped ummm…at…I think….4am….ish – my first media interview was at 5:45am. Thankfully just via telephone, but lets just say by the end of yesterday I was a gibbering sleep deprived mess.

So you can imagine how amazing it was to get a proper nights sleep in the brand new apartments of Whale Cove in Hervey Bay. Then get up fresh and fly in a small plane over to the tiny little island of Lady Elliot Island. One of the only inhabited coral cay islands in the Great Barrier, and just 42 hectare’s with 41 rooms available to stay in.

A doctor couldn’t have ordered it better.

The air strip is the length of the Island and I knew we were somewhere special when upon approach I spotted a manta ray swimming like a slow motion bird down below us. As it turns out Manta Ray spotting is such a common occurrence they’ve made it the Islands Logo

And I’ve just read a whole thesaurus but I still can’t find anything sufficient to describe the snorkelling. Like staggering into a large colourful musical stage performance half way through the finale.  Rainbows of crazy fish all darting about like there lives depended on it. Which turned out to be the case for a small fish I watched get eaten by an aggressive Coral Trout. Boy do those things have some teeth.

Although I’m pleased the little reef fish who bit my arm and then rushed my camera wasn’t similarly equipped. I’m guessing he didn’t like being backed into his corner.

The visibility was incredible.

Long ones, short ones, yellow, silver, multi coloured, snout nosed, long nosed, turtle nosed – just about every single fish you could ever find using google images was out on show.

The half hour roared by.

Back on the island and a decent lunch later, some deck chairs were discovered in the lee of the lighthouse and 3 happy campers sprawled themselves out and promptly went to sleep.

After the chaos, effort and work load of the days prior on Hamilton island I could feel the stress and tension sliding away, and what a perfect Island to do it on.

Departing I was completely jealous of the few people staying on for the night.

But back to Hervey Bay it was where as a kiwi I’m already being heckled about the impending league game this evening. (NZ vs Aussie) – We smashed them last time to take the world cup, fingers crossed a similar upset occurs this evening……although chances not looking to good. There’s nothing like an Aussie backed into the corner – just ask that little fish that had a go at me.

• Nesting sea birds (Nov – May)
• Humpback Whales (June – August)
• Island is a Green Zone Marine reserve
• One of the best spots in the world for diving with Manta Rays

* Internet connection a little slow to load pics – will try later tonight.

A tiny little slice of my adventure on Daydream Island today.

Hi all,

Today was ….well…..um  I just don’t know how to put today into words.

We were chased all round Daydream Island by the media throng, as we count down to the announcement of the Caretaker of Hamilton Island. 

In between taking pics for our blog test I shot a couple of minutes of video which I’ve cut down into a bit of rough montage.

Here we go….

Oh and here is my live cross from the Island on New Zealands TV3 last night with the marvelous John Campbell…

http://www.3news.co.nz/Video/CampbellLive/tabid/367/articleID/102735/cat/221/Default.aspx#video 

 

I’d just like to extend my best wishes to all of the top 16 – Its been a true pleasure to meet and get to know all of you.

 

Finger crossedddddddd.

Dear Best Job in the World Diary…

I’m going to need 3 days to absorb everything we managed to do today.

And as everything is running to a tight schedule here I will deliver today’s experiences whilst ‘channelling’ a PDF file.

5:00 – Awake – no reason just awake listening to a Cockatoo on my rail announcing the obvious – yes its getting light, thanks bird.

5:50 – Hotel phone alarm goes – has a weird personalized message about the highlights of Hamilton Island, not sure how much I take in.

6:30 – Psychometric retesting just to make sure it was us who sat those tests that first time. Still odd, still not sure how they deduce that you’re not an axe murderer.

6:30 – Breakfast served concurrently – foolishly had cup of tea – time it took meant I didn’t finish test – have to do that tomorrow now

7:25 – On bus heading for boat

7:50 – Depart on Fantasea Catamaran out to the Great Barrier Reef– offered seasick medication – girls are watching so refuse to take it.

8:15 – Regret decision not to take seasick pill

8:30 – No colour now present in cheeks, palms sweaty, heart beat erratic – I’ve either fallen in love or am really starting to feel sick.

8:45 – Sit outside on boat deck chewing ice, everyone asks if I’m ok – reply ‘yeah mate sweet as’ – while hating myself for the lies I’m telling.

9:15 – Just when I was about to really regret the extra ham and cheese croissant, we get into the lee of Hardy’s reef – and all goes calm – so all is well…..again…….just.

9:45 – Dressed in full length lyrca (stinger suit) and feeling very Cathy Freeman I take to the water. It’s at this point that it’s reaffirmed to me exactly why I want this job. Fish, Coral, turtles, things and stuff all creating a visual feast before me underwater. Truly magical spot in the world that’s well deserved of its ‘wonder status’ I keep squealing through my snorkel and note that it sounds like a teenage humpback.

11:00 – Out of water and now no longer a GBR virgin. Have started practicing lines like ‘So there I was out alone on the reef when suddenly…..’  Can’t wait to slip into conversation….will save for pub.

12:00 – Leave reef via seaplane, try and act cool like I’ve been on a seaplane ‘plenty of times’. All while containing the little boy jumping up and down inside screaming ‘wow I’ve never been one of these before’

12:04 – Blow cover by letting out girly squeal during take off.

12:30 – Arrive at Hayman Island resort – meet possibly the world’s nicest general manager Mr Roger Wright

1:00 – After a quick squiz at the beach (Ha ‘squizz’ = ‘look’ where I come from) , enjoy a magnificent serving of lunch – 14 dishes representing the 14 different countries from the candidates.

1:30 – Have 16^th helping of delicious meat product, something on a stick something. Have discovered it doesn’t matter what you eat – its all amazing so no guess work needed just grab and gorge.

2:02 – Roll myself towards the desert offerings/ loosen belt.

2:08 – Desert Seconds

2:12 – Desert Thirds

2:18 – Desert Fourths

2:22 – Desert Fifths

2:30 – Asked by member of TQ team to share some deserts with others

2:35 – Narrowly avoid physical confrontation when going for desert sixths

2:43 – Asked by General manager to take a walk.

2:50 – He takes me to kitchen, opens chocolate kitchen vault – says ‘help yourself’

2:52 – Help self

2:55 – Still Helping Self

2:57 – General manager has look of regret on face.

2:58 – Have found more room so keep helping self.

2:59 – Concierge brings baggage trolley, General manager and staff help me onto it so  I can be wheeled to boat.

3:05 – Boat offloads ballast so that the round contestant from NZ can be loaded on.

3:10 – Depart for Hamilton Island on board a 34m mono hull The Sungoddess , Hayman staff members also on board, muttering something about heading back into city to re-stock chocolate.

4:30 – Arrive back, taken into press conference.

4:35 – Stifle laughing as the only question asked to everyone is by a Japanese reporter about Swine flu. Everyone tries to give sincere answer, no one films any of it – and 16 contestants all suddenly become experts giving opinions on how to contain this pandemic.

5:00 – Interviewed by German TV crew – note to self – Sarcasm doesn’t seem to work to well with German reporters – who knew?

5:15 – Shower/change read notes from day

5:45 – Blogging exercise –agghhh its school exams all over – given just under an hour and a half to write up whole days experience and insert photos. Dig myself into a waffly hole and discover I’m still gushing about the boat ride out – with only 30 mins remaining.

6:15 – 15 minutes remaining, writing as fast as I have ever done in my life – curse not being able to touch type, bristle when Eric from Canada next to me announces he has finished.

6:59 – slap in first pics I can find, lament how much dribble I’ve written – curse not managing time better – stress about not knowing the latin name for a Giant trevally – nearly break down trying to spell ‘spanse’…… then discover there is no such word with ‘expanse’ being what I am after.

7:10 – Dinner at Romano’s restaurant, still stressed about blogging disaster.

7:11 – Tempted to drown sorrows in alcohol, but eventually calmed down by lovely dinner companion from Hamilton Island tourism team in Sydney.

10:15 – Discover 6^th wind – head to media centre for interview on Canadian TV

10:30 – meet a real life Canadian – Geoff? Greg? – am dazzled by his ability to retain entire weather report in his head.

10:40 – Have group interview with him, can’t decide what hurts my eyes more – the camera lights or his shirt.

11:00 – BACK IN HOTEL ROOM – so excited to see my bed – am tempted, but no need to document this

11:10 – Cannot actually type/spell or keep eyes open so reitre hurt.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

5:45 – and so it begins – back on air with Newstalk ZB radio interview in NZ, discuss everything  I’ve just written

6:45 – Finished – just need to load photos.

 7:00 – Need to get back to psychometric test (see 6:30am) so will have to post photos later when I can.

 

 

PPPHHHEEEEWWWWWWwwww.

The irresistible lure of a pearl

Ok so we went to ‘The house’ today. Yes you know the house I’m talking about – it’s the one the successful applicant will live in for 6 months as the Caretaker of the island. Blue Pearl House to be precise.

I was hesitant as first, thinking, hang on do I really want to know what a place looks like that I got close to living in but didn’t quite make it? How would I sleep at night knowing what I was missing out on? Is this a wise thing to do?

But then like a big dopey moth to the back porch light I soon flapped through the doors and into somewhere I will not be forgetting in a hurry. I mean I’d seen pictures online, taken the 360 degree tour, heard the TQ staff talking about it and read the blurb; – but nothing, nothing prepared me for what my eyes soon unravelled.

Like a hungry Labrador I greedily sprinted from room to room consuming it all as fast as I could. And I can say that out of the whole place there was just one thing that disappointed me. That being, the photos I took. I’ve just been through them and decided that none come even close to giving an inkling of how truly next level it was, and this was at night – the potential view looked positively postcard. It was like a real life walk through of one of ‘those’ houses you see on the cover of ‘those’ magazines on your posh friends coffee table.

SO I’m hereby refusing to detract from the experience I had by posting some shabby Clarke photos. To get even a hint of what I witnessed you can visit some professionals covering it here; http://www.whitsundayholidays.com.au/hamilton-island-accommodation-bluepearl-luxury-house.html

And then multiple that by a factor of at least ten.

AND SO…. with accom sorted, our focus switches next to something I’m truly looking forward to – the reef – which I’ll tell you more about tomorrow.

Sand in my pants and guilty gifts

Well what a fantastic day around Brisbane, I mean any city that puts a beach into its downtown area and then maintains it beautifully is alright by me.

If anything like this was tried by my city council back home it would need 20 years of ‘consultation’ and ‘resource consents’. Not to mention the at least six trips overseas by multiple staff members for ‘research’ before deciding to downgrade the original plan and settling on a water fountain…..citing costs.

 

Company wasn’t bad either being accompanied by applicants Ben (UK)and Greg (US/Singapore) Great getting to know them better – ie: Ben is training for a marathon and Greg is particularly fussy about which brand of sunscreen he uses. 

 

Anyway that aside something else has been happening over the last few days between the applicants that I thought I would share. Known as ‘The giving of gifts’, whereby members of our group give small thoughtful gifts from their home country to everyone else. A lovely gesture indeed.

-For example, Mieko from Tokyo gave me this…

 

 

this was from Anjaan of India…

 

 

this delicious chocolate was from Mirjam of Croatia / Germany….

 

Australia’s Hailey handed out these to everyone…

 

 

Whereas Yi from China gave gifts like this…

 

 

Everyone was on board, I mean even the hotel gave me a little something…..well sort of gave.

 

 

Whereas ‘Clarke from New Zealand’ got everyone a little one of these…

 

What a stink guy – clearly I messed the memo.

I now have gift guilt, and it feels like the group is splitting into two alliances. That being those who gave gifts, and ‘The others’ of which I’m a none too proud member.

To make up for this I might try and purchase some little Australian curio’s and pass these off as a gift from New Zealand.   Am thinking plastic boomerang’s maybe, or small Guy Sebastion dolls – or how about just bits cut off Russell Crowe?  No one will know, it could be our little secret.

Bed now, tomorrow is a massive day – off to ‘Hamo’ which I’ve deciphered to mean Hamilton Island – Can’t wait.

Hot towels and nearly there …..

Nearly there…..

Getting closer…

Brisb….hang on… False Alarm…

Ladies and gentleman I give you Brisbane!–….um in there, somewhere …. I promise.

So nice to finally be at business end of this audition process and so unbelievably nice to be upgraded to business class.
I heart you Qantas and whoever you confused me with to give me the nod for that.

I have to say I felt particularly fancy pants in my upmarket plane real estate at the very front. There I was in seat 1D watching those everyday types shuffle forlornly past to their dowdy cargo hold down the back….probably with the chickens.

This pomp and snobbery was unseated in an instant however when a lovely stewardess handed me some sort of heated towel sausage.
Does anyone actually know what to do with those things? Do you rub your face or just your hands? And if you’ve rubbed your hands is it then not cool to rub your face? And um why??
Clearly I didn’t and I just sort of ended up fondling the thing like a 4 year old does playdough ….or poo – it was all very awkward.

Anyway coolness blown I settled into the flight and bar a strange redness around my eyes at the end of ‘Marley and Me’ and an infared camera scan for ‘pig pox’ at customs,  it was all rather awesome.

And now I am here –in my equally awesome hotel room –with an amazing view, not that I’m looking as I’m stressing about the test we have at 7am on Queensland, facts anyone??

So apart from briefly meeting some of the applicants in the foyer – including Hailey who I can report is as lovely and sweet as she has come across in her content – damn it. I’ve snuck up to my room made a chamomile tea, taken my pants off and shared a bit to much information with anyone who has  bothered getting this far.

Proper content, pics and pants tomorrow.

Some examples of my writing styles….

I have start this by saying I’m jumping out of my skin to write a piece and vlog an item about one of the many features and resorts of the Great Barrier Reef.

Maybe a little something about the redevelopment of the Fitzroy Island resort, the thread count on the sheets at Hayman, or about an experience racing to be anchored on time on a self sailed boat in the Whitsundays, or perhaps simply about popping my jandal/flip-flop/thong rubber while white-man dancing on South Molle.

But I believe you can’t comment accurately on an experience unless you’ve been there, tried its clothes, smelled its perfume and had its chewing gum stuck between your toes.

So not like the gentleman who was caught reporting on the Iraq war from a broom cub-board, and to not fall into the trap of passing off a press release as my own experience I’d rather use this post to jot a few words about a couple of places I have been.

And to throw in some light and shade I’ll tell you about several holiday experiences that I’ve been lucky enough to go on, but both being from completely different ends of the travel spectrum.

Spectrum 1 –being the opulent Blanket Bay Lodge in Queenstown which one might liken to an escape at Lizard Island (only much colder)

Spectrum 2 being one moment from an action packed no-budget back-packing adventure in South America which has shades of South Molle Island. (just with less Llama’s…. perhaps?…actually I couldn’t find any accurate info about the Llama population on South Molle –so that is pure speculation)

Blanket Bay, a lodge like no other.

Blanket Bay lodge

Queenstown

South Island

New Zealand

Now it’s a bit of trick locating New Zealand’s premier lodge. As I soon discovered its actually nuzzled quite literally into its surrounds. Being built back into a remote gently sloping hillside its arrived at after a windy 40 minute drive from Queenstown’s airport, up the shores of the magnificent Lake Wakatipu.

And With Peter Jackson choosing nearby locations for several Lord of the Rings scenes, I found myself quite literally in the middle of middle-earth.

In fact the big wizard Sir Ian McKellan himself once stayed here announcing it to be;

‘really the most splendid property, possibly the best in the world and everyone should stay there when visiting New Zealand’

And soon after stepping through its large deliberately aged timber doors it’s easy to understand why the white wizard twitched his staff in delight at what stretched out before him.

I mean if it wasn’t the giant deer antler chandelier swinging above the Great hall, or the lush private guest rooms with heated marble floors and wide shot mountain/lake vistas enjoyed from every window, that took his old man breath away. Then it may well have been The Den, – a room situated deep inside the lodge with an unrivalled collection of tipples for the even the most discerning of palates.

Now I can’t answer for the ‘Sir’, but I can tell you that this humble ‘Mr’ could easily have claimed any one of those outstanding features as ‘thee thing’ that makes this place stand apart from others, I could also easily have been swayed by any of a number of the other amazing features – including;

The helicopter that picked me off the front lawn for a days heliboarding in virgin knee deep powder on a glacier in Mt Aspiring national park.

Or how about the buildings incredible finish, including the purposely-aged timber interior and the 20,000 tonnes of hand laid stone found throughout, even wrapping itself around the outdoor pool and day spa.

But no I ignored these and other details such as ‘Brad and Jen’ once stayed here, to arrive simply at the one thing that I spent my whole stay in vane trying to fault, -the menu.

And what an ever-changing masterpiece it was – hand crafted from selected ingredients aimed at delivering the full spectrum of pleasurable emotions to your taste buds – be it breakfast, lunch, dinner – or perhaps even a meal that you happened to invent in between. They not only had it – but the very best of ‘it’ –  in fact if they didn’t have ‘it’ – someone would be promptly sent to obtain ‘it.’

To demonstrate, one evening I tested ‘it’ with the following;

“Excuse me sir, -no Crayfish on the menu?”

“I’m really sorry sir, we’ll have some sent up from Kaikoura and have it ready for your dinner tomorrow evening, will that be alright?”

“oh yes that will be very alright thanks….’

Now I’m not much of a food snob, I’m not the type to sit there rubbing truffle on my top lip trying to guess from which hemisphere it was acquired – but in my humble ‘puts tomato sauce on everything’ opinion, this ever revolving menu was as good as it gets.

An opinion further cemented by the knowledge that the sous chef (second in command) was last years New Zealand chef of the year.

Very freaking classy.

To quantify the validity of such a superfluous statement, (and between you and me I don’t throw those at any old joint – oh no.) I need to point out that yes I’ve been spoilt in the past, with work putting me into places that I could never dream of affording to stay.

However with most of ‘those’ places it was as if every person and thing knew that fact from the moment you arrived, staff glaring at you like you would be lucky to even park cars there.

In fact I swear I once flushed a toilet in one such establishment only to hear it grumble ‘how dare you do that in me’

Blanket Bay on the other hand had none of this pomp and hoo-har about it, it oozed class in that confident ‘I know I’ve got it so I have nothing to prove’ sort of a way. Everyone in our group commenting on how instantly comfortable and at home we were made to feel from the moment we arrived.

Eric our host, was nothing but non-judgemental class and elegance as he explained tricky words on the menu to me, showed us how to play the strange game of sliders in the Den or amused my request for yet more tomato sauce. A true French gentleman, and as it turned out a huge rugby fan.

One evening post some 57 course meal extravaganza and aching from the days snowboarding, I found myself slumped in the quicksand like leather chairs facing a growling open fire. Gazing around at the craftsmanship of the interior before me, I found it nigh on impossible to comprehend that this building was a mere 10 years of age.

Everything looked and felt so deliciously worn and comfortable, even the building itself seemed as if it had relaxed back into the hillside, parking its rump firmly into the granite and tussock like grandad taking a rest on a mountain track.

This overwhelming sensation of relaxation that seemed to permeate from every facet in the place proved itself thus by quickly engulfing all who entered. Suddenly I found myself walking slower, speaking softer and lingering longer. In fact at one point while sitting alone I could have sworn I heard it whisper to me, ‘hey buddy if I can be this relaxed then so can you my friend’.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

To learn more about Blanket Bay and its special mid season offers I’d encourage you to go direct to their website or to give them a call.

The staff are more than happy to answer any questions and their website gives excellent information about all it has to offer.

But be careful you may click through for ‘just a look’ but you’ll soon find yourself extending the limit on your credit card to taste its wares – consider yourselves warned.

Peak season is from December through to February -but with the falling New Zealand dollar this place is becoming ever more affordable all the time.

With only a small number of guest rooms and located in one of the most beautiful spots on earth it really is the perfect place for newlyweds looking for an unforgettable start to married life, or to anyone just looking for a bit of specialised peace and relaxation –even Wizards.

Here’s an edited down version of the story I covered for the travel show ~

A special moment in South America

Yesterday I invented a word that I sure was proud of at the time;

Alcotude: verb; -defined as the none to graceful art of drinking alcohol at altitude, its effects similar to being a 16 year old with an empty stomach drinking pre-mixes in a spa.
In other words -dangerous, and 87% more likely to end in tears.

Which is why today the inside of my head is trying to renovate itself by building a new deck out through my temples.

What’s even more odd is that I’m making that discovery while opening the throttle on a 250cc XR dirt bike -on the wrong side of the street -on the back roads (or they could be the main roads for all I currently know) of Cusco – very high in the Andes of Peru, South America.

At this exact point in time I have only 2 priorities in my life…
1: Do not get killed by any of the cars, sheep, chickens, children or trucks hurtling past at speeds whipping them into a blur…..although the blurred effect is possibly from the hangover.
2: Do not for the life of you lose the maniac non english speaking guide disappearing ahead of you at an even faster pace. Because being lost in these parts would significantly increase ones chances of failing priority 1.

These two thoughts being about all I could handle at this moment in time, however if a third had presented itself, it would surely have been – ‘Clarke, how the (insert own creative word here) did you end up in this situation sunshine?’

Good question. Lets rewind a little……and I could think of no better place to start than 28hours prior, where I was being woken in my tent at 4am on the last day of our 4 day trek to the lost Incan city of Machu Picchu, which also signified the start of the 24 hour challenge – but I’ll explain that later.

Waking we all hurriedly packed our tents and other heavy camping equipment before guiltily handing these over to the ever diligent man-forklift sherpas, whilst securing our pathetic day packs to our backs and convincing each other that we were still real trampers.
And then with torch on head we were off down the ancient Incan steps carved from stone twisting into the darkness before us.

Now the reason for being so early was so we could time our arrival perfectly with that of the new days sun, aiming to converge with it at an incredible spot called Intipunku – or ‘Gateway of the sun’.
Comprising of several large stone pillars, Intipunku is carved at the highest point of the ridge that was now the only thing standing between us and the lost city somewhere in the mist below.
And it was at this point that something happened that will stick with me for the rest of my life, an experience of which I’ll struggle to find its equal.

Now oddly no one knows the actual name of this lost city. The name ‘Machu Picchu’ being given to it in more recent times and translating roughly as ‘like a sort of an old mountain’
And having remained hidden from even the invading Spanish, it was a fella by the name of Hiram Bingham who in 1911 stumbled accidentally upon the overgrown ruins and presented it to the modern world.
And now here all these hundreds of years later was this rural guy from New Zealand, suddenly getting in touch with emotions he thought had bolted from the stable years prior – wandering towards it with tears running down his face.
Yes that right, tears – big wet salty man ones.

Now I can’t fully explain how this happened, -it may have been exhaustion from the 4 days trek, it might have been the way the mist lifted off as the sun warmed the ancient stone from which it was carved. Or it could have been the worlds best playlist which I had painstakingly created on my ipod for this moment and was now filling my head while blocking out all external sound.
I don’t really know how – it just sort of happened, and it was freaky.

To borrow the well worn – no amount of gazing at pictures moving or stationery, glossy or matte, no written description or spoken word could ever prepare you for what it was actually like to stand there.
Here I was in my own real life National Geographic article. I was mesmerized by features like the human sacrificial altar, the ancient sundial and the intricately carved Incan stone walls that I ran my fingers along as I walked about the place.

And yes while it soon filled up with tourists arriving by the train load it still held me transfixed as I took it all in.

A special moment in a special place, I will take my kids there one day.

And if any of my yet unborn children find this article somewhere in the future and I haven’t – kids print this out and come kick dads ass until he takes you, hopefully he won’t have forgotten the spell it cast over him.

And also hopefully he’s not an alcoholic – although the next few hours might explain where that also began.

The 24 challenge.
As alluded to earlier the other challenge presented that day was that of staying up and partying through until 4am the next morning – hence the ‘24 hours’ -a camp tradition so I was told.

And it was during this on the bus on our way back to the city of Cusco fuelled on the local drink of choice ‘pisco sour’ – or ‘pisco mcnasty’ as captain vernacular here had so ‘cleverly’ renamed it, that I invented the word ‘alcotude’ and then set about suffering its effects in one foul(sic) swoop.

So for the record yes I made it, in fact I think in perhaps some weird subconscious way of making up for my girly tears earlier, I foolishly continued well past it, on until 6am…..it gets worse. You see somehow in all of this (I’m choosing to blame the ‘alcotude’) I stupidly, stupidly forgot that I had signed up and paid for a motorbike adventure into back country Peru starting at 8am.

How I woke for that 2 hours later, let alone survived the SEVEN HOUR ride is as big a mystery as the man tears, especially as at one point I was even stopped by the local police – but I’ll save all that for tomorrows post because right now I have a body that needs at least 6 litres of water and a lie down.

Here’s some snippets from that adventure~