Leaving New York behind with a battered credit card and the anticipation of a new adventure we set off for Ecuador.

Ecuador, home to some of the greatest wildlife on the planet, to spectacular scenery courtesy of the Andes and the Amazon and to an amazing culture. We thought it would be worth a visit on our trip but it's fair to say we have been completely blown away by the place.

It's also fair to say that we weren't really prepared for the Ecuador leg. My Spanish extends as far as "dos cerveza por favour" but Tyson's is much better (well he can count beyond the number of fingers anyway). Even still, we were pleased to leave all of the organisation with the fabulous Carlos and offsider Freddy during our Ecuador stint.

We booked a tour with Geckos before we left home and it was a great decision for two people who knew they'd be tired by the time March rolled around. What we got was a week of great company, loads of fun and a memorable adventure.

Our group consisted of six Aussies and a Canadian, a really nice bunch to be on the road with (and I'm not just saying that because I know they'll read this!) and the tour took us in a triangle through the middle of the country.

The first day was spent driving to the Amazon jungle, through small towns and a 'cloud forest' in the mountains. It wasn't your average road trip though, there were stops for the odd mountain top walk and a long soak in some truly spectacular hot springs. Just the thing for two people who had spent the previous day on a long haul flight.

Just as we started to aclimatise to the altitude we descended into the amazon jungle, where we stopped for a couple of days. It was hot, humid, muddy and full of bugs. Walking anywhere involved rubber boots and a lot of sweat, but it was well worth the experience.

At dinner on the first night I announced that I really wanted to see a tarantulla while I was there. Instantly I was guided to a furry mound on the wall near the bar. It moved. It was really big and hairy and moving... Yes, my wish was instantly fulfilled by some bizarre jungle creepy wish granting thing. I made no more wishes.

Actually tarantullas are pretty cool.

The next day was spent mainly in a boat exploring the Napo river system (which eventually becomes the Amazon river). A visit to the local school saw us drinking chicha and dancing with the kids which was a great experience.

A note on chicha. Chicha is one of the seemingly endless array of drinks we have been plied with in Ecuador. Each of them claims to be healing/hallucinagenic/sexual/spiritual. Most tasted pretty bad and all were alcoholic.

After blow dart practice, Tyson and I braved a dip in the river. As we got in Carlos assured us that there were no anacondas...or pihrranas...or fish that swim up your urethra...thanks mate...I feel much better about that now...

That afternoon we were treated to a really special experience. A trip to Amazoonica. This animal sanctuary was chock-a-block with Amazonian wildlife. There were monkeys all over the place, Capybarras (guinea pigs as big as a sheep), Ocelots, Peccarys and beautiful Toucans and Macaws. The sanctuary aims to rescue Amazonian species and release them into the local forest where possible. It was amazing to see all of these wierd and wonderful creatures at such close hand.

In the evening it was Shaman time. A local native Shaman was brought in who had been drinking hallucenegenic homemade hooch all day. He gave us all cleansing ceremonies which consisted of being smacked around the head with a bunch of leaves and then he sucks on your head! I'm not sure i felt cleansed after that experience!

Our Amazon experience ended the next morning as we climbed back into the highlands to the town of Banos. Banos sits at about 2000 meters above sea level and is a tourist playground. Hot springs, waterfalls, mountains, volcanoes, horse riding, quad biking, rafting and canyoning are all on offer here. With such a choice the group decided that the first activity should be getting drunk and salsa dancing. We took to our chosen task with gusto and i (Tyson) was pleased to introduce a version of the Soviet Ice Bomb to the Andean plateau. A group of us ended the night at 3am with a catastrophically bad karaoke version of Toto's "Africa".

The next day despite some sore heads Louise and i hit the trail on horseback. Up mountain passes and across rickety suspension bridges it was quite spectacular. Louise took some time to realise that her horse liked tough love and once she started to beat it within an inch of it's life it performed quite well. It was quite a highlight for both of us to be galloping at speed through the back streets of town (until my stirrup fell off).

That afternoon Louise was too tired to do anything else (turning a fine animal into a quivering pile of mince can really take it out of you) and so i went quad biking on my own. Two locals and i roared off from the hotel all of them unaware that i only have my L plates. The policeman i spoke to at the traffic lights in the centre of town didn't seem to mind. We sped up a corkscrew path on a mountain near town climbing 1000 meters for a great view of the Tacahuagaua (or something like that) volcano which was belching smoke and steam. On the way down my brakes were less than perfect but i returned to our hotel unscathed.

We bade farewell to Banos and headed to what would be a highlight of the whole 10 week world safari. Cotopaxi is the highest volcano in the world reaching an altitude of around 5800 meters (over 19,000 feet). The mountain is basically on the equator but is covered in snow, ice and glaciers all year round. Having been sweltering in the Amazon jungle 3 days earlier the snow and ice was quite a change. The altitude was also quite amazing. Breathing was more difficult but i was okay. The wierdest thing for me was that i could not walk in a straight line. I could walk in a corridor but i would have failed an American sobriety test! We climbed up to 4800 meters (15,700 feet) and observed the glacier creaking and cracking. It was spectacular! On the way down visibility started to decline dramatically and standing on a ridgeline looking down for our vehicle the metal on my jacket zipper started to hum. Clare (a fellow climber standing with me) and i immediately hit the deck and got off of the ridge which was hit by lightening shortly thereafter. Eventually everyone got back to the vehicle safe and sound and we all agreed that Cotopaxi is one of the most amazing places we have ever been. Special mention must go to Susan who has seen a few more seasons come and go than the rest of us. She worked very hard to get up to 4800 meters and did it with style. All of our group were and remain very impressed!

From Cotopaxi we headed back to Quito where it is safe to say we were all shattered but eagerly anticipating our next day which will now be known as The Great Latin American Shop 'til You Drop Fiesta Extravaganza and Rodent Grill.

Otavalo is a well known market town to the north of Quito. It has a whole world of nice things to buy and many of our friends here in Canberra now have trinkets from there. Louise and i, it is fair to say, went a little crazy. T-shirts, chess sets, crochet llamas and alpaca scarves were bought on a scale that should have interested the World Trade Organisation let alone the Australian Customs Service. From here we moved to lunch where i had the long awaited pleasure of sucking down a grilled guinea pig. It's like chicken with crackling! Fantastic. In the afternoon we went to a town that specialises in leather products. Jackets, bags, wallets and so on. I bought a very nice jacket for the princely sum of $80.

Our tour ended that night and we had a big Mongolian BBQ to celebrate. It was a well organised and well led tour and much credit should go to Carlos and Freddy who worked very hard to make sure everyone had a good time. We were very fortunate to have such a good group and Carla, Clare, Graham, Tanya and Susan were the best travel companions to crazy newly weds could wish for. TRUCHA!

Louise and i had a few more days in Quito to see the old city and other sights. The old city is beautiful and we had a lovely relaxed time wandering through the narrow streets inspecting old churchs and lazing in pretty plazas. The gold leaf decorations of the churchs were amazing and the tin soldier guards at the front of the Presidential Palace were (sorry to say it) cute!

Our final day came and we had the dubious pleasure of boarding another Continental flight (for the benefit of Google: Bad Airlines Continental) to Houston and then on to LA. Continental nearly lost our bags (Google: Lost Luggage Continental Airlines) and were generally a bit shit. LAX was it's normal disorganised disaster but after a few hours we were winging toward Fiji on Air Pacific with nice roomy exit row seats.

In Fiji we did little but swim, eat, drink, play golf and get massages. Air Pacific delayed our flight home by a day and eventually chartered a Qantas plane to come and get us. After 10 weeks and 16 countries we were back in Australia. The most amazing adventure i have have ever had was over. I am lucky that my partner in adventure can make anything fun!