Jerry Jerry Jerry!

Boy was it great to get out of Curitiba the same night of the game. I couldn't bear hanging around with all the Aussies commiserating and congratulating. The perfect place to go was a beach town with nice weather and luckily that's what we had booked!

Jericoacoara (jerry-kwah-kwahra) is an old hippy town about 4 hours west of Fortaleza, right on the north side of Brazil. These days it's a bit like Byron - hippy pretenders, a handful of weed dealers and city slickers who've decided the city is no longer for them.

It's a nice place though - beautiful beaches and minimal development while still having the nicest shopfronts outside of the malls in the bigger cities. The streets are just sand too, so you have to get a 4wd to get you the last 10km.

Aside from some relaxing R&R we joined up with Tyler and the USA crew. Nina and I met Tyler in South Africa at the last world cup and I travelled along the garden route with him for the best part of a week....so it is good to catch up 4 years later!

Jeri is best known for it's sand dunes, beaches and wind sports and it definitely didn't disappoint! If it wasn't so far from Australia, I'd definitely recommend spending a few weeks there for a holiday.

The only downside to our Jeri experience was on the way back to Fortaleza and seeing possibly my first dead guy. He'd been hit on his motorbike and judging by the lack of activity by the onlookers and police, there didn't seem much likliehood he was getting up anytime soon. Definitely brings you back to reality as to how fragile life is.

The beachside town of Jericoacora in Brazil's far north. A 4 hour trip from Fortaleza, including a jeep over the sand dunes just to get there.

All the tourists make a dash for the dune close to Jeri at dusk to watch the sunset directly in front over the ocean.

We stayed at a hostel for the first 2 nights before moving to a Pousada to meet up with Tyler and company. Our hostel dog followed us after we left for the best part of the day to make sure we arrived at our new accommodation safely.

The constant winds at Jeri mean that it is a great location for kiteboarding.....so I took my first lesson with Eddie and Tyler!

My 14 year old kiteboarding instructor who could only speak Portugese managed to get me up on the board successfully!

Nina sipping away on one of her first Caipirinha's as we watch the sunset. This was followed by many, many, many more over the coming weeks until we realised it is comprised of about 1/3 cup of sugar for each drink

Tyler and Eddie enjoying the sunset.

A good night out dancing to a Samba band.

Dinner with live tunes. Jeri had lots of little restaurants with good food and good tunes.

Hi Nina! Notice the crocodile with boobs in the background.

The Chee

We'd heard not so good things about Curitiba (coora-chee-bah) - particulary that it was colder than PA and that the people aren't friendly.

I take my hat off though, we thought it was awesome. It definitely makes the coveted list of places I recommend! Again we were unlucky to only have 1 1/2 days there but we packed in a city hop-on/hop-off bus tour, a visit to a modern art museum, the botanical gardens as well as the Aussie game.

Curitiba was very Melbournish. It has lots of nice parks, a lot of foreign influence, great food, a cool Brunswick st type area in the historical part of town and it was very well organised for the Cup. 

We also experienced local hospitality when we found ourselves arrive at our accommodation after dark in a somewhat sketchy part of town, only to believe this wasn't houses at all but rather closed shop fronts. We went into the chemist to regroup and get some help, which drew a small crowd of generous locals williing to help. One guy went off to see if he could find the place and the residents, while a lovely mum/daughter combo offered up their phone .... Not to mention their place to stay at if all else failed! In the end it all worked out and mum drove us all for dinner at the local mall with Rachaela - the daughter. Thanks again!

The Aussie game was one to forget. I'm not sure what happened with the team, but up front nobody took Tim Cahill's mantle to be the guy wanting to score, the midfield were to timid to push forward or deliver passes that the forwards could run onto and the defensive marking was woeful. The Spanish did not play well, but they were able to cruise like a training run, make some nice passes and put the Aussies to the sword. It was absolutely a bizzare performance as the loss of Cahill and Bresc (well as a starter) seemingly stole the mental confidence from the rest of the team. It was this game where I would have loved to see Archie Thompson and Mark Schwarzer make cameo appearances off the bench to help steady the side. My analysis is that perhaps a few of the old heads being reserves wouldn't have been such a bad idea.

Cocks beyond the Rocks

Winding our way up to Curitiba, we stopped at the beachside town of Balneario Camboriu.....the Vancouver of Brazil.

A nice surprise was that it was much warmer than we expected, as Porto Alegre and Curitiba are pretty much like Melbourne in terms of winter weather. So once the shorts were dug out of the pack, it was an opportunity to take it easy for a few days, see the baby 'disco jesus' - surely Rio's baby brother, plus explore the rainforest along the coast.

One surprise as we were wandering along the park boardwalk a few km's from town, was an odd number of individual blokes or those with a 'mate' loitering beyond a rocky outcrop along the beach....close to dusk.

Nina pointed out that it was unusual for so many dudes to be interested in nature or contemplating life, and that perhaps this was a similar meeting place to that in Stanley Park, Vancouver where dude love in a park is all the rage.

Either that or we just wandered into an outdoor drug lab. Either way I wasn't that keen to see what the night awakened.....

Disco Jesus! Younger brother of Rio Jesus.

Vancouver's brother from another mother.

A nice place in summer I'm sure.

Look they have utes here too! I saw a more typical aussie type ute as well.....we aren't the only ones!

Porto Alegre

Unfortunately we stuck around in Cuiaba a few days too long. The city was not ready for the cup, a bit ho-hum and the Pantanal area just didn't deliver for wildlife, so we were left with not a great deal of highlights - plus a $180 fee for a stone crack in our rentals windscreen. Hint - Don't put Cuiaba on your travel itinery, unless you want to see the Brazillian version of the Calgary Stampede!

Porto Alegre was a refreshing change. It was great to see our friends Carla and Christiano again, who we met in Bonito, and they took us out on a great day to a quaint German town called Gramado, a few hours north of Porto Alegre. Aside from the European feel, the much appreciated fresh air .... I couldn't help but wonder if we'd run into Giselle Bunchen - surely one of brazil's finest German heritage exports!

To top off our stay in Porto Alegre, the Aussies put in a brilliant performance against the very strong Dutch and it was stirring to see how much respect Australian football earned with non-Australians who watched the game. I think Cahill's goal will probably be right up there for being one of the goals of the tournament too.....it may have even welled up a tear in the eye of one Nina Edwards!

Pre-game there were no expectations. Just the hope the Aussies would put up a good fight against the Dutch.

Nina representin'

I was definitely proud of the boys after they had put in a stellar performance, with the only negative being that they made a few rookie mistakes costing a few goals and a win over a great team. The highlight was certainly Tim Cahill's left foot blast from the other end of the game, definitely my pick for goal of the tournament.

There were so many Aussie fans at the game, overall it was probably 70% Aussie, 20% Brazilian and 10% Dutch. A massive change from being hugely outnumbered at the Chile game.

Our local Porto Alegre friends Carla & Cristiano, who we met in Bonito, were lucky enough to go to the game as well.

The day after the game Carla and Cristiano took us to Gramado, a quaint little German town a few hours north of Porto Alegre.

Socceroos - Kwee-ahh-bah!

Game 1. I'm actually pretty nervous for the game and anticipate the Aussies are going to put up a good fight. I really want them too, because there are so many cocky, arrogant Chileans who I want to shut the hell up.

Chi, chi, chi - Ley, Ley, Ley - Viva Chile!!!

At the game the Aussie fans were significantly outnumbered by Chileans, but we were still pretty vocal and made sure the team knows we're there. Strangely the seating allocation is different at this venue and Aussies are scattered everywhere amongst Chilean fans.

The Aussies played well, however were a bit too timid and overawed in the first 30 mins. It was a bit sombre for a while there, but Cahills goal really brought us to life again and I thought the Aussies absolutely dominated the game for the first 25 minutes of the 2nd half and at the end of the day I think we were unlucky to not sneak away with a draw.

On a different day, I think the Aussies could have even won 3-2.....if only Cahill had been 1 step onside for that disallowed goal and Bresciano pulled the trigger a bit earlier!

Still props to Chile and I think they will almost certainly match up against Brazil for the 3rd World Cup in a row in the round of 16. This time I think they will win (unlike 100% of Brazilians) and at least make the quarter finals.

$12 French Fries

As our journey winds closer to the Socceroos first game, we make a pitstop in the holiday town of Bonito, south west Brazil.

Aside from running into the first Chilean fans, the number of Aussies is exponentially growing as well.

So, Bonito. We're starting to learn Brazil is bloody expensive! For a country that seems to have infrastructure/jobs similar to Argentina, prices are similar or more than what we pay at home. Staggeringly some things are way more expensive....such as french fries at most places for the bargain basement price of $12. You're joking!!!!! Needless to say not many potatoes have been consumed on the journey.

Our highlights in Bonito included floating down the river viewing freshwater fish at Rio de Prata, having an entire meal made with Manioc (a root substitute for potato) with some lovely locals from Porto Alegre and seeing the amazing red and green Macaws at Buraco das Araras.

Buraco das Araras - A sinkhole that hosts 250+ Macaw parrots

A wall of tiles on a hotel in Bonito, representing the Mato Grosso do Sul region.

Nina tackling a delish hotdog in a bun treat from a food truck

The Sinkhole with the Macaws. Not much to see with just an iPhone.

Adult Daycare

After the highlight of Iguazu Falls, Campo Grande, a surprisingly city of 800k people, was next stop as the jumping off point for the Pantanal.

The Pantanal is supposedly THE place to see animals, more so than the Amazon. Snoozeville is more like it - well at least when the water level is high.

5 hours from Campo Grande and we settle into our tiny room on a moored boat....not quite the P&O Fairstar. Over the next few days we had planned a jeep safari, jaguar spotting by boat, piranha fishing and wildlife spotting on horse.

Do you remember as a kid doing school holiday programs where you were taken on pointless activities just to keep you busy? Unfortunately this was our tour....not much in the way of wildlife, sticking a piece of bamboo in the water and calling it 'piranha fishing', a 'jeep safari' which was just driving down the main road plus a guide who didn't really talk. What a rip!

Viva la Brazil

Crossing the Brazillian border was a piece of cake compared to the military like grilling you get in Canada or Australia....plus Nina has carried almonds through 4 countries now. In Australia you get prison time for that.

The morning in Brazil was spent on their side of the Igaucu falls, which in my opinion was much better. Nice panoramic views and a viewing platform right in the heart of the falls themselves. A gold star from me. Apparently we missed the bird sanctuary across the road though, which from what I hear was pretty amazing as well.

Following on from the falls we decided the first 18 hour bus ride wasn't painful enough and chose to take a much crappier overnight bus to Campo Grande about 10 hours away. It was my first experience seeing the 'middle america' greyhound patrons of Brazil. Mullets exist hear too.

Puerto Igauzu

After the mammoth 18 hour bus ride (it was late), we spent yesterday exploring Iguazu Falls from Argentina. Fairly impressive set of falls, much better visibility than when we were at Victoria Falls in 2008.

But they could be a little higher, plus where's the microlight flights? That was a very impressive way to view the Vic falls in Zambia. Helicopters just don't do it justice.