The latest Journal Entries from sile_kev at Footstops.com en-us Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:19:11 -0700 Copyright 2008, Bryan Rite @ Footstops.com Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:19:11 -0700 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 240 http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/ <p>Temperature wise and hostel wise, Broome was a welcome relief compared to Darwin, it's still very hot here but about 5 degrees less than Darwin and not as humid so its more bearable. We walked from the airport to the hostel called the K... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/6107/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/6107/ Thu, 02 Oct 2008 03:09:10 -0700 <p>We arrived into darwin and the wave of heat struck both of us immediately. You know when you come through a door and you feel a rush of hot air. Well that was what it was like stepping out of Darwin airport expect it wasn't just a bla... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/6068/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/6068/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:18:11 -0700 The awesome night involved loads of singing, lots of drink-most of it free, victory champagne, a bit of bar tending for Sile, plenty of thumbs up, KFC and dawn on St. Kilda beach. Otherwise known the never ending night!! Return of the awesom... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5964/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5964/ Fri, 12 Sep 2008 06:59:49 -0700 We started our 3 day tour to Uluru from Alice Springs. The 1st stop about 250km away was Kings Canyon. Getting there was very strange because there is literally nothing along the roads, no signs of civilisation, just a vast desert with the odd kan... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5928/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5928/ Sun, 31 Aug 2008 05:02:41 -0700 Alice Springs was really hot compared to Melbourne and its a really nice place. We went here for the annual Henley On Todd dry river boat race. Its such a ridiculous idea but great fun. Basically teams of people get into a bottomless boats and run... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5927/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5927/ Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:36:44 -0700 After a hectic 3 months travelling in SA and NZ we arrived into Melbourne airport expecting to meet my cousins for a hassle free lift to their hourse where Sile and I will stay while in Melbourne. However my cousin (Stephen) locked the car keys in... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5916/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5916/ Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:19:52 -0700 Beard in NZ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5186/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5186/ Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:18:28 -0700 ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4694/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4694/ Tue, 06 May 2008 00:16:41 -0700 We are flying out of Christchurch to Melbourne, Australia to begin our next leg of the trip. We only stayed in christchurch for two nights and didnt get up to much. We walked around the city a bit and checked out the Cathedral square and Botanical Ga... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5185/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5185/ Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:53:48 -0700 Lake Takepo is a really scerene place with an excellent view of the glacier lake and the surrounding Southern Alps mountains. We didnt do any activities the first day because it was kind of late when we arrived so we just took it easy and played s... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5184/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5184/ Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:40:10 -0700 Dunedin is a student town and we arrived in time for the towns winter festival, although we didnt get to see too much of it. There was a little parade and then a band playing. We hung around for a bit of that and then went to an Irish pub to watch En... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5183/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5183/ Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:50:06 -0700 We took a day trip to Milford Sound on the West coast. Its a fjord land area where the mountains dramatically enter into the Tasman Sea with loads of stunning waterfalls and surrounding scenery. One of the highlights of the trip was the drive thro... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5121/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5121/ Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:54:08 -0700 Queenstown (aka party central of new zealand) is a really nice spot situated beside a big lake on the base of a few mountains. Its very popular for its ski and snow boarding activities too not to mention a whole range of other stuff on offer.... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5095/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5095/ Sun, 15 Jun 2008 02:55:04 -0700 Wanaka is a very nice small town beside a big lake. We got in there late in the afternoon and were still fairly tired from the hike on the glacier the previous day so we decided to go to the cinema - which is one of the local attractions. Its actu... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5094/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5094/ Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:13:54 -0700 We arrived in Franz Joseph, checked into the hostel then went off quadding! The quad bikes are actually really hard to control! I didn't think this was another dangerous activity until I fell off!! I accidently revved up on a ledge on the mud... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5084/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5084/ Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:15:27 -0700 We were in Wellington for one night then left for the South Island.  We then came back to Wellington for the Ireland - New Zealand rugby test match. We had a free day before the match so I went on a Lord Of The Rings tour around Welling... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5045/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5045/ Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:37:25 -0700 Kaikoura was a really nice and relaxing town where we chilled out for a few days before making our way back up to the north island for the Ireland - Kiwi rugby match. We tried to go whale watching and dolphin swimming but the sea was too rough one... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5044/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5044/ Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:39:46 -0700 We got the tranzcoastal train from Greymouth to Christchurch. There was spectacular scenary on the journey. Apparently it's one of the top train journeys in the world. It was lovely to be sitting on a spacious train for 3 hours anyway, nice chan... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5043/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5043/ Sat, 31 May 2008 20:36:56 -0700 We arrived into greymouth after long day on the bus and seen some amazing scenery on the way here. We passed through some fog covered mountains to get to the west coast and emerged into a spectacular day with great views all along the many be... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5042/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/5042/ Fri, 30 May 2008 20:31:54 -0700 Nelson is a really nice town in the centre of New Zealand. The first free day we had here we went to Abel Tasman national park about 2hrs outside of Nelson. We had to get a boat ride to a drop off point before starting a 13km hike. We actually end... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4940/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4940/ Tue, 27 May 2008 20:29:54 -0700 We hiked 18.7 km across the Tongariro Crossing otherwise known as Lord Of The Rings country because your right between two active volcanoes one of which is Mt Doom (Mt Ngauruhoe). The climb itself was pretty intense but the scenery itself inside a... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4880/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4880/ Fri, 23 May 2008 22:39:52 -0700 So in the skydiving capital of the world, Taupo we decided to go for it! (more people throw themselves out of planes here every year then in the rest of the world put together) We just booked it that day so we didn't have time to get nervous whi... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4877/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4877/ Thu, 22 May 2008 02:15:30 -0700 We took a day trip out to Hobbiton, the movie set where the Shire was filmed in The Lord Of The Rings. Only part of the shire remained but it was amazing to see. We seen the areas where Frodo met Gandalf. Bilbo's and Sam's house and the ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4878/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4878/ Wed, 21 May 2008 21:59:19 -0700 Rotoroua is one of New Zealands centres of geothermal activity with steam comming out from the ground in alot of places. It stinks of rotten eggs and sulphur. Many houses and buildings including the hospital use the geothermal vents underground to... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4876/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4876/ Tue, 20 May 2008 00:24:36 -0700 We stayed in a deadly hostel in Waitomo. It had a pool and a hot tub!! The pool was artic so we didn't spend long in there but the hot tub was lovely!! Just took it easy the first day we got in becaue we had to get up early the next day to go bl... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4846/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4846/ Mon, 19 May 2008 00:25:03 -0700 We only stayed here one night but the trip there was pretty cool! We got to stroll along a hot water beach which was a brilliant experience. Everyone from the bus hopped off and headed to the beach and waded out to the hot water area. Its pretty a... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4847/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4847/ Sat, 17 May 2008 23:18:41 -0700 We left Auckland for the Bay Of Islands with Magic Bus. It was an early morning start and we had a few stops along the way, nothing too exciting. We arrived at the hostel around mid-day, just in time to catch the sea cat out to swim with the dolph... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4802/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4802/ Wed, 14 May 2008 03:35:20 -0700 We came into Auckland at 4am NZ tme, We went straight from Thurs to Sat which was a bit weird, still trying to get used to the time difference, what time is it at home etc. The hostel we're staying at is lovely. The kitchen is great. We'... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4801/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4801/ Sat, 10 May 2008 00:09:14 -0700 We,ve just been chilling out in Santiago. Sorting out stuff, getting laundry done, that sort of thing. The hostel we are staying at was good fun and we had a bbq there too but it was not apatch on the argentina bbq's!! Off to New Zea... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4710/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4710/ Tue, 06 May 2008 23:42:45 -0700 We arrived into San Pedro in Chile at the end of the salt flats tour. We all got searched in case we were bringing fruit and things like that in! Luckily all we had was smelly clothes! We stayed in a really nice hostal in San Pedro. Best thing about ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4564/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4564/ Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:49:40 -0700 We got an 18 bus from Salta to Mendoza, longest bus journey yet!! But the seats were really really comfortable. Leather reclinable ones. However the movie was What Women Want so that sucked!! Again we´d now... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4709/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4709/ Fri, 02 May 2008 10:17:59 -0700 We arrived intro Salta at around 10.30pm after an 11 hour bus journey with no local currency and no hostel booked. On top of that the ATMs were all out of cash. Luckily we bumped into an Irish lad who was familiar with the area and brought us to a... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4615/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4615/ Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:14:01 -0700 It took an overnight bus to get to Uyini before the excursion into the vast Salt Flats and surrounding desert. The bus journey was not very comfortable and it was soo cold there was ice forming on the inside of the windows during th... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4563/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4563/ Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:45:53 -0700 We reluctantly decided to do the worlds most dangerous road called "The Death Road". Its a 64 km cycle - most of it down hill and you travelll at ridiculous speeds. Prior to 2003-4 there were a few hundred deaths on this road every yea... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4517/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4517/ Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:19:05 -0700 After one night beside this huge lake we set off for La Paz. The scenery along the way was fantastic and at one point we drove onto a ferry big enough for one vechicle at a time and it took us to a port at the oppisote side of the lake. We got i... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4515/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4515/ Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:58:58 -0700 Crossing the boarder into Bolivia did not take too long. After a short enough time we got to Copacabana and sailed out onto Lake Titicacca to get to Isla Del Sol or "The Island of the Sun". The lake itself is one of the highest fresh water ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4514/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4514/ Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:19:56 -0700 Didnt do much in Puno. Stayed in a nice hostel called the Inca Rest and watched No Country For Old Men with another couple that was staying there. Then next day we got picked up by a tour agency that was bringing us to Bolivia. Puno did not seem to b... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4513/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4513/ Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:44:28 -0700 We arrived in Arequipa after an overnight bus journey and went straight to the main square. We stayed in a nice hostel which did great breakfast - we were sick of bread and jam all the time, this place gave everyone pancakes and eggs. Arequipa i... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4512/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4512/ Sat, 12 Apr 2008 13:42:07 -0700 Only 12 or so hours after finishing the Inca Trail we headed from Cusco to the Jungle in Puerto Maldonado for 4 days. 4 days ended up being too much as the heat and humidity was unreal not to mention the amount of insect bites we suffered despi... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4511/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4511/ Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:25:57 -0700 We were collected at 5am! Very early start!! We picked up everyone else and went onto Ollantaytambo. The drive was really spectacular, we were driving along the edge of a cliff the whole way there nearly. We started the Inca trail from ki... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4443/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4443/ Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:27:03 -0700 We stayed around Cusco for about 5 or 6 days, (days are totally mixed up to me now!) to get used to the high altitude before doing the Inca trail. Just taking our bags from the airport to the taxi outside had us out of breath and then climbing the... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4369/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4369/ Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:52:47 -0700 Arrived in Lima exhausted after 12 hour flight. Got taxi to hostel. Driving in Lima is crazy, I´m sure the drivintest here would include testing your horn Drivers beep going through every intersection, probably to warn other cars they´re going t... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4173/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4173/ Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:23:19 -0700 Stop Over in London... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4158/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4158/ Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:12:16 -0700 Flight from Dublin to London was uneventful. After arriving in London we helped Brandoc move house after she made dinner (she made us work for food - joking). The tube was pretty handy and back in the airport we slept on heathrow airport floor. Fe... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4157/ http://www.footstops.com/sile_kev/blog/4157/ Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:04:21 -0700