Regional Travel Chapter

Oceania

Island hops, working holiday hostels and the best trail access anywhere.

Lake Wakatipu at Queenstown, New Zealand - photo: Avenue (Wikimedia Commons)

Why this region works the way it does

Oceania is expensive to reach and then surprisingly cheap to travel, because the hostel network exists for working holiday travelers and is built for long stays. Weekly rates in Melbourne or Queenstown can cut the nightly price by a third.

New Zealand's South Island is the single best hostel and hiking combination in the world: Queenstown, Te Anau for Milford, Wanaka and Franz Josef are all connected by cheap intercity buses. Australia works better as flights between Sydney SYD, Melbourne MEL and Hobart HBA than as a coastal drive, unless you have a month.

Places worth building a route around

Te Anau. The only sensible base for the Milford Road and Milford Sound.
Hobart and Tasmania. Cradle Mountain and Freycinet within a day's drive.
Fitzroy, Melbourne. Long stay hostels, live music, tram to the CBD.
Yasawa Islands, Fiji. Boat transfer beach dorms, book the Bligh Water boat ahead.

Oceania guides

Regional Travel Chapters

Australia, New Zealand and Fiji: The Real Distances Between the Good Bits

Queenstown, Milford Sound, Tasmania and a Fiji stopover, mapped honestly against the flights and driving distances that actually connect them.

Luca Ferretti8 min readUpdated March 19, 2026

Other regional chapters

Europe by Rail: A Hostel-to-Hostel Route That Actually Works Southeast and East Asia: Where the Classic Backpacker Route Still Holds Up North America on a Hostel Budget: City-to-City Without a Car The Andes Route: Cusco to La Paz Without Flying Every Leg Africa Honestly: What Overlanding Actually Costs in Time and Flights