salt, flamingos and cocaine

Uyuni is a dusty little Bolivian outpost, high up in the Andes Altiplano. Although it is around 3600 metres above sea level and cold, it reminded me of scenes from old spaghetti westerns - wide half-deserted streets surrounded by barren plains stretching to rocky mountain ranges on the horizon.

all roads lead to dot's house

We ride along the track, mostly used by escaped sheep, a few meters in from the fence line. We canter and giggle and grab fistfuls of wattle blossom as we go and throw it at each other like confetti, until we reach the "Top Gate" – which leads from the bush down through a couple of paddocks to Dot’s House.

not so far from home

Our number one favourite summertime holiday spot was the very swish sounding Lake Eildon Country Club. It was only a couple of hours from home but it felt so far away. The nights were always hot and we were pretty much always sunburnt. But we didn’t care, it was summer and we were on holidays.

climbing kili

We must have seemed like absolute cowboys. Everyone else seemed to have ‘the gear’. We on the other hand had mostly packed for the desert and the tropics, and had done zero training to climb Africa's highest mountain.