Itinerary

Emily and I went on a Round the World trip from April 2003 to November 2004. Our original plan was to finish in Mexico for five weeks, but we ended up staying in Sydney longer than planned to earn enough money to visit South America for three months instead. Here’s our adjusted itinerary, written before leaving Sydney. We did make it to Uruguay and Paraguay.

South East Asia (21/4/03 - 21/7/03)

Our route took us on three loops which all started and finished in Bangkok.

  • Loop 1 - South Thailand (Krabi on the West Coast, then Ko Pha Ngan off the East Cost)
  • Loop 2 - Central Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia
  • Loop 3 - Northern Thailand and Northern Laos

We then headed down through Peninsular Malaysia to Singapore to catch our connecting flight to Australia.

Australia (22/7/03 - 8/6/04)

Our visit to Australia can be divided into four sections.

  • 22/7/03 - 13/8/03: East Coast, from Cape Tribulation to Byron Bay
  • 13/8/03 - 30/8/03: Red Centre, from Alice Springs to Adelaide
  • 30/8/03 - 12/5/04: Living / working in Sydney, including trips to Canberra and the Great Ocean Road
  • 12/5/04 - 08/6/04: West Coast, from Perth up to Darwin via the Kimberley Region

New Zealand (9/6/04 - 20/7/04)

New Zealand comprises mainly of two islands.

We arrived in Wellington, picked up a campervan and spent about 10 days exploring the North Island. Highlights included Rotorua, Mt.Tongariro (portrayed as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings films) and Mt.Taranaki before heading across the Cook Straits down to the South Island.

Highlights of the South Island included Laka Wanaka, Milson Sound and Lake Wakatipu / The Remarkables, plus adventure sports around Queenstown. The main adventure sports were skiing, glacier walking, white-water rafting and bungee jumping. We dropped off our campervan in Christchurch, and then headed to Peru.

South America (20/7/04 - 1/11/04)

We visited the following countries in South America, in this order.

  • Peru (main highlights: Inca Trail, Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca) 2-3 weeks
  • Bolivia (main highlights: La Paz, Rurrenabaque Amazon treks and Salar de Uyuni) 2-3 weeks
  • Chile (main highlights: Atacama Desert, Santiago, Easter Island and Torres del Paine) 3-4 weeks
  • Argentina (main highlights: Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia and Buenos Aires) 3 weeks
  • Uruguay (main highlights: Montevideo and Frey Bentos) - 1 week
  • Paraguay (very brief excursion - just a few hours - into Cuidad del Este)
  • Brazil (Highlights: Foz de Iguacu, The Pantanal and Rio de Janeiro) 2 weeks

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Flight number BA246 from Sao Paolo touched down at London Heathrow at 0715, 2 November 2004.