Torres del Paine

Our AirLan flight touched down with a 60kph tail wind (that's correct - not a misprint a 60kph TAIL wind!). Sitting in theaircraft broadside to the buffeting wind it felt as though we were still flying.Ana Maria met us and it was fabulous to renew friendship with the Queen of Peruvian guides. The first hundred or so k's of our northward journey was a rock 'n roll trip with the wind pushing our small Mercedes bus all over the road. The rolling, windswept steppes were dotted with sheep with lambs nuzzled against their mums for protection. Properties of more than a million hectares are not uncommon and station homesteads were few and far between.

Slowly the undulations became hills. The hill became larger with each bend in the road. Then we sighted distant mountains with menacing snow, capped peaks.

Hosteria Lago Grey did not impress at first sight. This was our accommodation for the next two nights. A dusty gravel road, a rusted battered sign and the relic of a rusted out bus greeted us.

Looking like a cross between an abandoned youth hostel and a Russian re-education camp I wasn't all that inspired. Never judge a book by its cover. Twenty metres to the right of reception I witnessed the

most amazing view from any hotel at any time in my life.

I was surrounded by snow-capped mountains, a

white-capped lake and an awesome glacier of ancient times. If that wasn't enough in

the foreground was a huge, opalescent blue iceberg. It could not have been positioned more if one had tried.

Two hundred frames later I traversed a short boardwalk to our hotel room. This was a room the eco-environmentlaists dream about;

huge picture windows overlooking the lake, glacier and iceberg enveloped in a shroud of the snow-capped Torres del Paine. Artistically designed with two huge beds with fluffy doonas and large overstuffed pillows, changing areas for hikers, centrally heated and wi-fi just for starters.

Peace and quiet, in pristine wilderness and an iceberg on my doorstep. As a photographer I could want for little more.

Chilean Students Revolting

Chilean students have now been on strike for six months. Maria,our guide, suggested excessively high tuition fees at Santiago's 76 universities was the main reason.

It was Friday morning - the day before the long weekend when we set off on our half day tour of Chile's capital. We noticed police with water cannon and heavily armed vehicles and milling students - part of the 150,000 predicted for today's demonstration.

However, what really stood out in my mind was the sheer volume of graffiti. It targeted the Education buildings and the wealthier buildings in the university areas. It was for all the world to see and use.

Long Flight, Long Legs - Santiago, Chile

Long plane journeys are not my favourite cup of tea. Back in 1964 I thought nothing about sitting for 21 hours on an MacRoberston Miller Airlines flight from Perth to Halls Creek. Yes, 21 hours aboard an MMA DC3 flight with nine stops en route and a cold boiled egg as the main meal. But I was 19 years of age, filled with adventure and bullet proof.

But now its 2011 and the 16 hour flight from Sydney to Santiago in Chile on LAN airlines, with a stopover in Auckland knocked the stuffing out of me a bit. I slept a bit, as best I could cramped up in cattle class. At 5'4" I've got a lot of sympathy for passengers with long legs. Two of our group are Peter at 6'2" and Steven at 6'4". But I still enjoyed the flight - I watched 'The Bucket List; with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman and ended up teary in the last ten minutes of this would-be classic.

But the highlight of the trip was the stopover in Auckland. All the Kiwis were celebrating their World Cup Rugby victory. There are banners and signs and lamb chop sized smi

les. A very tall blonde sashayed past several of our group. She had long extremely shapely legs encased patterned black stockings and black stilettos. Her micro-mini black leather skirt made the long legs even more evident. (God, I thought, how would she go in Seat 56J on Flight No M800. All heads turned to follow the legs as they sashayed past. The only problem with this moment of cerebral pleasure was Miss long Legs was not a Miss but a Mr. I had spotted the legs a few minutes before the others and had noticed the shaved, pancaked face and the protruding adam's apple. So much for that fantasy!

We all arrived safely in Santiago. Charles' luggage only just arrived - half an hour after every one elses. We had to pay the US$61 'Reciprocity Fee' to enter Chile and the delay through Customs and Immigration was almost as bad as Australia.

Qantas and God willing

Its like the night before Christmas - only half packed - anticipation building. Got my thermals - hell - I doubt I'm going to make the cover of vogue wearing these.

Qantas have cancelled a few hundred flights so we don't know what our chances are tomorroa but we're following Peter's secret plan and arriving at the airport 3 hours early. God, if those Qantas Security guys catch me in my thermals I doubt I'll ever see the light of day again.

The last frantic scramble

3 sleeps to go - and so much to do! Not even sure which Qantas flight we will be catching so hopefully between us we will have enough Qantas Club passes to get us into a little bit of comfort if we have to wait a while! Looking forward to seeing those penguins!