Oceania travel tips

14 guides across 5 countries — when to go, how to get around, which ATMs not to use, and what a fair price looks like.

sydney opera house near body of water during daytime

SydneyAustraliaHarbour, beaches, and endless sunshine

buildings near body of water and mountains under clear blue sky and white clouds at daytime

QueenstownNew ZealandThe adventure capital, ringed by mountains and lake

Aerial view of coral and turquoise water on the Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef & CairnsAustraliaThe largest living structure on earth, an hour offshore

Uluru at sunset above the spinifex plain

UluruAustraliaA single rock, 348 metres high, in the middle of a continent

A palm-lined Fijian shoreline over clear shallow water

FijiFijiThree hundred islands and a word for hello you will hear all day

Overwater bungalows in the Bora Bora lagoon below Mount Otemanu

Tahiti & Bora BoraFrench PolynesiaVolcanic peaks straight out of a lagoon, halfway across the Pacific

The Auckland skyline and harbor under a warm low sun in New Zealand

AucklandNew ZealandA city built on fifty volcanoes, with an island ferry from the bottom of the street

gray stone formation under blue sky during daytime

Easter IslandChileThe most remote inhabited island on earth, and nine hundred statues facing inland

The Champagne Pool near Rotorua is a colorful crater lake in the geothermal area of Waiotapu.

RotoruaNew ZealandGeysers, boiling mud and a smell of sulphur, in the centre of Māori New Zealand

man riding on boat on river near city buildings during daytime

MelbourneAustraliaLaneway coffee, street art and the best food in Australia, in a city that changes weather four times a day

a view of a city from across the water

PerthAustraliaThe most isolated big city on earth, with white beaches on its doorstep and quokkas on the island offshore

A stunning view of Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake located in the central highlands of Tasmania. A beautiful 3 hour walk will take you around the glacial lake and through the forest of this pristine wilderness.

TasmaniaAustraliaAn island of temperate rainforest, empty beaches and the cleanest air measured on earth

a body of water with a city on the other side of it

WellingtonNew ZealandA harbour capital wedged between hills and sea, with the best coffee and the worst wind in the country

Mitre Peak, Milford Sound, New Zealand

Fiordland & Milford SoundNew ZealandSheer black walls dropping into deep water, in a place that rains two hundred days a year and is better for it