6 Months Travelling New Zealand, Australia & Asia Itinerary

Last Updated on 9th February 2024

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As this post goes live, on the 26th of October 2019, we’ve officially spent 6 months travelling the world (well, at least we’ve made a start!). It’s also been exactly one year since I started writing my “trip around the world X months before posts” (you can see more of those below!).

So far, we’ve spent 3 months in New Zealand, 1 month in Australia, 2 months in Indonesia and we’re now in the Philippines for 1 month. This crazy adventure has gone by in a whirlwind and it doesn’t look like we’ll be slowing down anytime soon either!

We’ve got plans to make our way around South East Asia and beyond in the coming years, with Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong and many more on our near-future travel list.

I can’t believe it’s already been six months since we left our home in the UK; it’s without a doubt been the most incredibly rewarding, albeit insanely challenging 6 months of my life but I wouldn’t change a thing.

In celebration of our 6 months travelling Asia, Australia and New Zealand so far, here are all my best bits so far, split into countries!

Related posts:

• Our Trip Around The World – 6 Months Before
• Our Trip Around The World – 5 Months Before
• Our Trip Around The World – 4 Months Before
• Our Trip Around The World – 3 Months Before
• Our Trip Around The World – 2 Months Before
• Our Trip Around The World – 1 Month Before

New Zealand – 6 Months Travelling

I’ve said it 100 times before but New Zealand is my favourite country in the world (with New York being my favourite city in the world). It’s the place that I called home for 8 months between 2011 and 2012 and it’s the place where we spent three months at the beginning of our trip around the world.

It’s hard to explain just how incredible the country really is and many people have asked me whether I prefer the North or South Island and I honestly couldn’t answer; they’re like different countries within themselves!

Our time in New Zealand was absolutely incredible; we spent 6 weeks on the North Island in a small town called Katikati, not too far from Tauranga, housesitting for the family that I used to live next door to.

We spent those six weeks looking after the house and the livestock on the land (including 4 cats, 1 dog, 5 sheep, 1 goat, 3 ducks, 20 chickens, plus dozens of trees, plants and flowers!). It was such a defining experience in my life as it truly taught me the importance of responsibility and it also showed me how to “live off the land“. It’s an experience that I’ll never forget and one that I’m forever grateful for.

While we were in the North Island, we did plenty of exploring alongside housesitting and we saw so many of New Zealand’s incredible natural wonders.

North Island New Zealand highlights

• Waimangu Volcanic Valley
• Hobbiton
• Bungy Jumping at Velocity Valley
• Wellington (and the food we ate in Wellington!)
• Dining at the top of the Sky Tower in Auckland
• Tongariro National Park

We then flew to the South Island for 5 weeks where we did two road trip loops around the entire island. During that time, we were incredibly lucky enough to collaborate with Escape Rentals and Mad Campers and it was definitely one of the best things I’ve ever done.

If there’s one thing I could recommend to you all from my 6 months travelling so far, it would be to go on a campervan road trip around New Zealand; I guarantee it’ll be one of the most memorable experiences of your life!

South Island New Zealand highlights

• Milford Sound Drive and Cruise
• Seeing Mount Cook for the first time
• Staying in a luxury yurt with Glamping Hub
• Getting a new tattoo in Queenstown
• Staying in free campsites and creating incredible memories

Australia

After living in a campervan for 5 weeks in New Zealand, we flew to Melbourne, Australia and spent 5 nights in a lovely hotel right in the city centre. It was just what we needed after spending 5 weeks camping in a van but we actually missed van life so much, so we picked up another camper in Melbourne and spent the next 4 weeks driving it up to Cairns!

I never really expected to truly love Australia; I’d heard so many great things about it but it just never sat right at the very top of my travel bucket list. However, pretty much as soon as we landed I knew I was obsessed with the place and I slowly fell more in love with it as we made our way up the East Coast.

Those four weeks in the van were phenomenal and we saw so much wildlife, spent time with long-distance relatives of Matt’s, got into a fair few situations with our van and generally had the most remarkable adventure.

As we were only there a short while, I’m already desperate to head back and explore more of the country; particularly the West Coast! And trust me, if you’re wondering whether or not the Land Down Under is worth the hype, I can 110% confirm that it is!

Australia highlights

• Scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef
• Seeing the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge for the first time
• Snorkelling in the Whitsunday Islands
• Staying at a kangaroo campsite
• Seeing the Gold Coast (one of my new favourite places!)

6 months travelling Asia – Indonesia

Unlike Australia, Indonesia, and in particular Bali, was a place that sat pretty much at the top of my bucket list for the last couple of years. And while I don’t personally think it deserves the hype it gets, upon reflection, it really is an incredible place and we had so much fun there.

Our two months in Indonesia were my first proper glimpse into travelling Asia and it was quite a culture shock at first. The way of life over there is vastly different to what I’m used to in the UK and it took a bit of getting used to.

However, I can now safely say that some of the struggles I faced there have taught me so much about myself and the world and I genuinely think I’m a much better person for those experiences.

Bali wasn’t what I expected at all but it was also such a remarkable and different place. It was also the place that housed a reunion between my mum and I after not seeing her for almost 6 months! Those few days that my mum spent with us in Seminyak are so special to me and made my travel adventures even more incredible.

Indonesia highlights

• Seeing my mum for the first time in months
• Visiting the beautiful temples, waterfalls and mosques
• Snorkelling with a turtle in Gili T
• Seeing Diamond Beach and Kelingking Beach in Nusa Penida
• Staying at Trinity Gardens Ubud

Philippines

As this post goes live in October 2020, we’ve actually only been in the Philippines for just over a week but since it fell within the ‘6 months travelling’ bracket, I thought it was only fair to include a brief snippet of it in this post!

So far we’ve been to Coron and El Nido and we’ve done numerous tours where we’ve island hopped, snorkelled, swam in some of the clearest water in the world and met lots of new people!

The Philippines, particularly El Nido, was a place that I really wanted to visit on our trip around the world and so far it’s treating us well! I’m obsessed with the landscapes of islands covered in palm trees, crystal clear waters and scrumptious food!

Philippines highlights

• Tour A in El Nido
• Island hopping in Coron
• Riding a bike around Bohol and Panglao
• Drinking cheap beers in the sun
• Spending time on the beach in Panglao

I can’t wait to see what the rest of our time in the Philippines brings and the rest of Asia in the coming months! Thank you so much for keeping up to date with my world travels so far, I really hope you’re inspired by our adventures!

Updated March 2022 – we spent 11 months in total travelling Asia, New Zealand and Australia before we had to return to the UK due to the Covid-19 pandemic. You can check out more of our trip around NZ, Australia and Asia here.

We’re also travelling full-time again as of October 2022. Keep up with our adventures on Instagram.

Related posts:

• My Top 15 Favourite Experiences In New Zealand
• How Much Money We Spent On A 3 Month Trip Around New Zealand
• My Top 12 Favourite Experiences In Australia
• My Top 13 Favourite Experiences in Indonesia
• Top Things To Do In El Nido, Coron and Bohol/Panglao – Philippines

Pin for later – 6 Months Travelling New Zealand, Australia & Asia

Would you ever spend 6 months travelling Asia and Australia and New Zealand? What’s the longest you’ve been away from home? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter at @imjustagirl_16.