http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Dan-n-Nic/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Dan n Nic en-us Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:27:36 +0000 Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:27:36 +0000 And so this is it......The final destination of the dream yearA few hours on our final bus ride and we arrived back in Rio de Janeiro on the final day of Carnival. We checked in to our stupidly expensive hostel where we were dumped our bags in the shoebox containing 5 beds 2 bunks one of them 3 stories....this place was over twice the price of the lovely family home we'd just come from an http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-377787.html So where did we leave you....Ah yes Sao Paulo bus station....The 6hr bus ride was pretty uneventful and bleary eyed we arrived at Rio de Janeiro station at 3am found a bench and curled up to catch a few more zs.....were back into the swing of things again now after our cushy month in New Zealand and have now regained the ability to sleep anywhere with any amount of noise around us A cou http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Arraial-do-Cabo/blog-376520.html So this is it the LAST country And as usual took the very hard BUT cheap way First we rose from much needed deep sleep the first in ages at 4.30am in order trek to the bus stop 2 km away to catch the local bus 35km to the international airport The private shuttle cost 40 pesos each and the local bus 2 pesosArrived in Sao Paulo after a four hour flight and then made our way straight to http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Sao-Paulo/S-o-Paulo/blog-376233.html HelloSo its been a while since we last added a blog mainly because weve just been chilling and making the most of our last few days From Iguazu we took a 5 hour bus to a nice small town called Posada and spent a day there in order to break up the journey a little From here we took an overnight bus 15hrs to Argentinas Second City Rosario.We found a lovely hostel right next to the rive http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Fe/Rosario/blog-375335.html So this is it....probably the last major excursion of our trip and possibly one of the most anticipated We both had a pcture of this magnificent natural wonder as our screensavers at work and sat dreaming of when wed finally be miles away around the worldWe began the day early so as to avoid the crowds and in the final seconds before leaving the hostel I eventually managed to convince Dan t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Misiones/Puerto-Iguaz-/blog-373266.html Loved the Film Evita......Anyway greetings from another country So it all started with an emotional evening at the airport in Lima...We managed to find some comfy seats by the arrivals area and bedded down for the night when I assume a couple of jumbo's had touched down and a massive influx of people arrived. Now bare in mind that most South Americans can be very excitable and passionate espec http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-372361.html So weve broken our record and completed the longest journey yet.....Cusco to Lima by bus in 23hours...uurrrrrgggggghhhhhh sore bums or whatThe journey took us from being chilly at high altitiude through the mountains during the night and out onto drier desert mountains where we passed the highestknown Sand dune in the world 2078m and began to sweat We planned to stop off at Nazca after 15h http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Lima/Lima/Lima/blog-371034.html 0650 and our train was pulling out of Cusco on the way to Aguas Calientes the town at the last train stop and where we were to base ourselves for our visit to Machu Picchu. A little groggy but excited for our adventure ahead we gazed out of the windows at the beautiful scenery until we were rudely interupted by the hostof our carriage. He informed us that they were in the process of filming http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Machu-Picchu/blog-369333.html Hello againA 7hr bus ride and we've arrived in Cusco An afternoon of boring logistics was in order and after booking bus tickets and spending an hour changing a flight long winded or what we trapsed around trying to find somewhere to stay the only trouble being that all we wanted was a crpy standard room and everywhere here is just too niceDan So we're sitting there on the bus and a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/Cusco/blog-369326.html HolaSo rose nice and early as we needed to get ourselves across the border to Peru. I had heard stories of hassels Border officials asking for bribes and all kinds of bullsht so was a little apprehensive of the ordeal we faced.But after jumping on a micro full of locals goats and all kinds of cargo we arrived at the border town of Kasani getting stamped out of Bolivia was straight forward tro http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Puno/Lake-Titicaca-/blog-368800.html HelloUuurrrrgh what a journey We last left you in Uyuni in the South of Bolivia and our next destination was to be Copacabana in the far North a trip that was made up of a 13hr bus ride taking us to La Paz and then another 4hr bus ride from there.When our luxury bus arrived in Uyuni we felt quite smug that wed manage to book early enough to get the seats at the very front on the top deck an http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Lake-Titicaca/blog-368791.html HelloSo how long does it take to travel 208km....2hrs max you may think.......Not in Bolivia It took us 8 long bumpy hours crossing flooded roads through almighty hail storms up and down mountains and through some of the most spectacular scenery you could imagineAnother pounding to our already aching behinds and we eventually made it to Uyuni....phew what a flying tour of the country we http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Uyuni/blog-367061.html HolaWe last left you at the bus station in La Paz ready for our 3 hr journey to Oruro Well the journey turned out to be 5 hrs in the end and resulted in a sprint to the train station once we arrived The plan was to arrive and be lucky enough to get train tickets for that evening to Tupiza....20kg pack and 3500m altitude made things a little difficult so it was more of a demented wobble tha http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Tupiza/blog-367017.html Here we are again adding another country to the listDue to our flight leaving Santiago at 6am we as usual decided to cut costs and camp out in the airport....weve seriously had it way too easy in New Zealand and have become soft to noise and activities and so sleep evaded us yet againAnyway after a 4 hr flight we arrived in La Paz almost 4km above sea level. The thin air and lack of slee http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-366141.html After a flying visit of Santiago we jumped on a bus to Valparaiso which is considered to be Chiles cultural capitalWhat can I say...I fell in love with it as soon as we arrived The busy towns main form of transport is the trolley bus which run all through the city on the overhead cables a relic from days gone by along with the ancient acsensors cable cars that run up and down the steep hi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-364721.html HolaAfter a 3 hour delay we finally took off from Aukland and made our way to South America only an 11hour flight to contend withUnfortunately sleep evaded me which is quite unusual as since we began travelling Id learnt to sleep in the most bazarre of places I think the abundance of silent camsites in New Zealand has made me soft and it was a long old flight with a groundhog dayfeelin http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/blog-364702.html So here we are our final blog for New ZealandFrom Tongariro we drove to Napier A unique town built of almost entirely Art Deco style buildings after the majority of it was flattened in a devestating Earthquake in 1931. I really liked it here Dan was bored to tears lovely architecture etc but nothing more to keep us here over an hour So then it was up to the bay of plenty where unfort http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Coromandel/blog-363107.html HelloFrom the Wellington region we headed North via the Whanganui River road and through some beautiful small villages and lush countryside complete with traditional maori maraes Meeting complexes quaint churches and detailed carvings.After a lovely days drive we arrived at yet another DOC campsite this time at the base of the Tongariro mountain range ready to set off the following mornin http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Tongariro-National-Park/blog-363095.html Greetings a short and sweet blog this timeFrom Picton we jumped on the Interislander ferry and naturally Dan fell asleep while I manically tried to plan a speedy route to take us around the North Island Nothing like forward planning ey 1am and we docked in Wellington and with bleary eyes tried to find a campsite.......A bit of a shock to find ourselves on a motorway AND driving in th http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Wellington-Region/blog-361570.html Abel Tasman and Marlborough Sounds.So the beginning of a new year what will it bring Well as usual it brings Dan's Birthday for a start What to do when on a tight budget....No fancy presents here I'm afraid.....a trip to the 2 store was called for I'm sure he was thrilled with his giant foam hand that no doubt will be featuring in quite a few shots from now on I couldn't not get http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Abel-Tasman-National-Park/blog-361561.html