Australia, New Zealand and thousands of Pacific islands spread across a third of the earth's surface. Enormous distances, reversed seasons, and the most expensive flights in this guide.
What it is
Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the island groups of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia — Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, the Solomons, the Cooks, French Polynesia — scattered across an area larger than any other region on earth and almost entirely ocean.
For most travellers it means Australia and New Zealand, with a Pacific island stop attached. Getting here is expensive from almost anywhere, and once here the internal distances are the defining constraint.
Seasons, which are upside down
Southern hemisphere. Summer is December to February, winter June to August.
New Zealand and southern Australia — Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania — are at their best October to April, with December to February peak and expensive.
Tropical northern Australia — Cairns, Darwin, the Kimberley — reverses this. Its dry season is May to September and is the only sensible time to go. The wet season, November to April, brings monsoon, cyclones, extreme humidity, road closures and box jellyfish in the sea.
The Pacific islands are broadly May to October for the dry season, with cyclone risk November to April.
So the country cannot be done in one season: a summer trip to Sydney is a wet-season trip to Darwin.
Australia, practically
The distances are the thing people underestimate every single time. Sydney to Perth is 3,300km and a five-hour flight. Cairns to Uluru is not a drive you do on a whim.
Pick regions: the southeast (Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania, the Great Ocean Road); the tropical northeast (Cairns, the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree); the centre (Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Alice Springs); Western Australia (Perth, Ningaloo, the Kimberley).
Internal flights are the realistic way to cover ground. Campervans are the classic road trip and are the correct way to do the Great Ocean Road or the west coast.
The Great Barrier Reef has suffered repeated mass bleaching events. It is still worth seeing and the northern and outer sections are in better condition than the accessible inshore reefs; choose an operator that goes further out.
Working holiday visas for under-30s (or under-35 for some nationalities) are why a large share of long-term travellers are here, and they are straightforward to obtain.
New Zealand
Two islands, both spectacular, and small enough to drive properly in three weeks. The South Island — Fiordland, the Southern Alps, the West Coast glaciers, Aoraki/Mount Cook — is the scenic heart. The North Island has the volcanic plateau, the Tongariro Crossing, geothermal Rotorua and Māori cultural centres that are genuinely worth the time rather than a performance.
The Great Walks are booked through DOC and the popular ones — Milford, Routeburn, Tongariro — open for booking months ahead and sell out in hours.
Campervanning is close to a national industry and freedom camping rules are strictly enforced; use the designated sites.
The Pacific islands
Fiji is the easiest and the usual stopover. Samoa and Tonga are less developed and more rewarding. French Polynesia is expensive and extraordinary. Vanuatu has an accessible active volcano you can stand on the rim of.
Flights between island groups are limited and expensive; routes often go via Fiji or Auckland regardless of the map.
Costs
Australia and New Zealand are expensive — comparable to Western Europe, with alcohol and eating out higher. Supermarket food, campgrounds and hostels bring it down substantially.
Biosecurity on arrival in both countries is the strictest in the world and enforced with real fines. Declare all food, wooden items, hiking boots with soil on them, and anything organic. Declaring costs nothing; not declaring costs hundreds.
More Regions
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The region that taught a generation how to travel cheaply and is still the easiest place on earth to do it. Warm, connected, and far more varied than the circuit suggests.
The Andes
The longest mountain range on earth, running the length of a continent, with the altitude that shapes every decision you make about travelling in it.
East Africa
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