Where have we been?

It might not be visible from following map, but our main interest has been New Zealand. We spent there 26 days and it was main reason we started to plan our journey. We added South America only later. Thailand and Australia were mostly convenient additions.

Just quick edit to show our route visually. Map was downloaded from True Marble™, rotated and cropped to show important parts.

Thailand

We had very short stop in Bangkok (really it was stopover on our flight to Australia). Still, enough time to realize we want to come back later and see more.

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Grand Palace in Bangkok.

Detail of decoration in The Grand Palace.

Australia

We arrived to Sydney, Australia on New Year Eve to see famous fireworks. Later we returned to Australia again (and again only shortly) to visit Uluru and Kata Tjuta. Australia is too big to travel in limited time so we decided to skip most of it.

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New Zealand

New Zealand was our main reason for this trip. We also spent most of planning time for New Zealand. It was fantastic, but I expected a bit more sunshine. We got lot of rain instead. Rather similar to what we get in Wales :-)

We arrived to Queenstown in south island, rented the car from Apex Car Rentals and finished in Auckland (north island) after 26 days.

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Milford Sound

Geothermal area Orakei Korako

Chile

We made huge mistake to stay in Chile (Santiago de Chile) only shortly. We went there mostly because Oneworld offered us route through Santiago. Our plan was to get some rest after 16 hours flight from Sydney and we were not interested in European style city. But there are so many beautiful places near Santiago we could not see... That's the problem with short round the world trips. After deciding on main attractions some places can be visited only in inadequate time.

Bolivia

Bolivia has been one of main attractions in South America for us. We allocated 15 days to see Bolivia and Peru (inadequate for these countries, again). We planned it only roughly, because it is hard to plan precisely there. And surprises did not avoid us.

Only thing we had booked ahead has been trip to Uyuni at Kanoo Tours. We were not sure we will be able to get there due to rainy season, but we could not afford waiting longer in case no seats were available in the buses. It was good move and we were satisfied. Thus we returned to them later to book trip to Chacaltaya and also to Copacabana. Why to bother with other agencies when Kanoo Tours friendly staff speaks English very well, they are reliable and able to refund without problems if trip is cancelled?

Gateway of the Sun at Tiwanaku.

Herd of Vicuñas at Laguna Hedionda. Day 2 of our Uyuni trip.

Peru

Unfortunately we could not visit Machu Picchu because it was closed due to floodings in January. So we have seen only Lake Titicaca (Puno), Cuzco with nearby historic sites and Lima. We could not see whole Sacred Valley due to unplanned and unwanted complications we had in Bolivia (more later).

Uros, floating islands made from reed at Lake Titicaca.

Local professional model (1 Sol per photo). The photo on the right is from nearby Sacsayhuamán.
    

Argentina

Why should people loving waterfalls go to Argentina? Obvious answer is due to Iguazu Falls!

There are other fantastic attractions in Argentina, but our short trip did not allow us to see more. Next time, or next after next...

Caminito in Buenos Aires

Brazil

Part of Iguazu Falls is in Brazil, it is smaller, but still worth of visiting, because it offers panoramic view of the falls.

Our last stop has been in Rio de Janeiro. Very nice city, but it was very hot there. Just to relax after whole trip and to prepare for returning to normal life.

It is possible to have helicopter flight above falls.