Tips on round-the-world route.

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Shiraz

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Hi all,

I have a pleasant dilemma which I hope you can help me with.

I have recently got made redundant, and plan to travel around the world for a few months before looking for another job.
I'd plan to go in early Feb for about 4 months.

The route I'm thinking of taking is :
home -> Venezuela -> South Pacific -> New Zealand -> Australia -> Nepal -> home.

I have a couple of questions:
- I plan to spend a month in Australia, and cant decide whether to go to the east or the west coast.
From reading this and other forums, it seems like the east coast (e.g. Frazer Island, the Whitsunday Islands) is more touristy and full of gap year students. Is this the case? I'm over 30, and would prefer to enjoy the nice scenery and experience new stuff, instead of getting drunk with loads of 18 yr olds! Are these places more geared to gap year students?

- I'm planning on going to the south pacific, since from photos it looks like a tropical paradise!, and I'd hope to do loads of scuba diving there. Can anyone recommend one place over another (e.g. Cook Islands, Tahiti, Fiji, Vanuatu etc). I'm doing research and it seem like some of them are geared towards cruiseships and all-in resorts. I'd prefer somewhere which was more natual and unspoilt.


Any other tips you can give me on the route mentioned would be great!
Thanks!
Shiraz
 
I found south sea islands very underwhelming as the amount of time it took to get there and the cost on the islands (especially Cook Islands) was very expensive, I travelled for over a year and honestly think the best ‘pound for pound’ areas to visit are central america (especially guatemala) and south america (Argentina)

OZ did nothing for me, east coast is full of Irish & english, west coast less so but it is harder to find work over there. New Zealand is a great spot just don’t get into rugby arguments with them- you wont win!
 
New Zealand is definitely well worth a visit. The west coast of Australia is far less touristy than the east coast. Perth I really loved & Freemantle, the Pinnacles etc.
Having said that, there are lovely places on the east coast if you steer a bit clear of the obvious. I've said it before & people think I'm nuts but a few days in Sydney is enough. See the Opera House, go out to Bondi & Manley, a boat trip from Circular Quay & go down the rocks. That's it & it's all interesting to see.
Melbourne is well worth a visit - you can also take a trip to Tasmania from here which is definitely not on every backpackers trail. On the way from Melbourne to Sydney there are some lovely places, Batemans Bay & Kiama to name a few.
Skip the Gold Coast it's too commercial alltogether. You can't hardly go in the sea with the rip tides !

Brisbane is quite nice & some good places north of it like Noosa & Agnes waters. My daughters favourite place in all of Australia is Darwin, but you have to go when it's not the hot season.
In short what I'm trying to say is that anywhere is what you make it. If you travel at your own pace & stay where it suits you you'll find lots of really lovely places. You can avoid the over touristy spots & Australia is a fabulous country if you choose wisely where to go.
I envy you......I'd love 6 months off to go travelling ! Oh & by the way I'm older than you & have only travelled in bite size pieces but I've had a great time. You'll have a ball whatever you decide.
 
Thanks a lot Bamboozle and Perplexed,
Bamboozle, I think you have confirmed my fears about the sth pacific and east coast Australia! - I might have to rethink my whole route!
I've already travelled a lot, and agree that south and central america are great.
Perplexed - thanks for all the info. Yes, I definitely plan on only staying a couple of days in Sydney. I'm trying to find out the obvious places in Oz, so that I can avoid them, so I'll read up more on the other places you mention!
 
Shiraz, there is a social networking site called WAYN (where are you now) where people travelling round the world post their experiences and local knowledge - I havent used it myself but have some friends who have used it - it might be worth logging on to see has anyone taken the route you suggest and their experiences?
 
Yeah i'd second south america and new zealand over oz and south pacific.
South america has such a massive range of different landscapes and activities. And the three day inca trail is fantastic and has a wide mix of people.

Is there any activities that you particularly want to do?
 
Seen as you're visiting Venezuela, and nice side trip would be to visit Cartagena and Santa marta (in Colombia). Very safe, very beautiful and very few tourists!
 
you've forgotten about the states and asia!!!

first thing I would say is forgot those one world/star alliance tickets, they're useless. Every flight nowadays can be booked online, there is only one i'd prebook, out of the states for proof to get into the place.

I'd avoid aus and nz if doing it again. If your budget is say 20,000 for 12 months, you'll spend a severe chunk of that either getting to australasia, or whilst there (its horrendously expensive compared to anywhere outside of europe).

I would go states/canada - central america - south america -asia - japan and get transsiberian back to europe. There is a boat that goes from japan to vladivostok where you can catch a train to moscow and onwards to holyhead in the uk. Much more fun than flying.
 
i was in french polynesia. incredible scenery. avoid tahiti and go to bora bora and huahini and possibly moorea if you have the time and the money. i was back packing and we weren't in a touristy area and those 3 islands are amazing. pure paradise. we booked internal flights around the islands when we arrived in tahiti - very cheap. all take the USD.
 
Hi,

thank you soo much for all these tips - they're just the types of things I was looking for.

Some more background on what i'd like :
I've already travelled a fair bit (to about 60 countries) - all over central and south america, europe, north and east africa, the near east, india, the far east, the states.

So for this trip, for some reason Africa, the Far East and States/Canada are not grabbing me.
Ideally I'd like to travel the middle east (Iran, Iraq etc), but politcally its probably not the best time to go.

So, since I've never been to Australasia, and since it's summer there, I was thinking NZ and Oz.
I also havn't been to Brazil or Venezuela which is why I was thinking I could go there on the way.

The activities I'd like would be : see amazing scenery (especially things you dont get at home - volcanos, mountains, huge waterfalls, rainforests etc), and also the opportunity for scuba diving, and also see local culture as opposed to all-inclusive hotels.

Thanks for all the tips - like the WAYN site, truthseeker. Highly - thanks for recommending Bora Bora over Tahiti - thats gerat to know its less touristy. Ibaraki - yes, would love to dip in Columbia if I'm in Venezuela, but had heard there's a danger of kidnapping. Dieter1 - I was going to get a one world ticket, but from your experience is it cheaper to do it independantly?

I dont have a budget yet - and I'll probably get a shock when I add up the costs!, but am thinking maybe 10k for 4 months.

Cheers!
Shiraz.
 
you could easily and enjoyably spend a month in new zealand especially for scenery the south island is amazing. you could do melbourne and tasmania for a few weeks. not sure if your 10k will last you the 4 months though. i think your best bet would be to pick the one place you have to have to see and then figure out decent places near there. some of the pacific islands might be great for a few weeks chilling time before coming back here and looking for a job. suppose it all depends on what floats your boat.
 
[FONT=&quot]If you are interested in visiting Easter Island this can be done much cheaper as part of a RTW ticket (with the One World group of airlines) than as a standalone trip from Chile. When I did this it was not possible to fly from Tahiti to Easter Island and on to Chile with LANChile on a RTW ticket but it may be possible today. I had to fly to Santiago then backtrack to Easter Island but still as part of the RTW ticket. If you’re in that part of the world you shouldn’t miss out on Easter Island.[/FONT]
 
Your username makes me think you might possibly have an interest in wine? In which case South Australian regions are well regarded for production of Shiraz, and I believe there are a few nice wine regions to visit. No personal experience I'm afraid, but I had a conversation recently with an Irishwoman home on a visit who runs a wine shop in Perth and picked up a tiny bit of info (a dangerous thing, I know!).
 
I loved Brazil but it really is the poor cousin compared to Argentina (I’ll always be biased when it comes to Argentina) I found the iguazu falls on the brazilian side to be so much rougher, people more in your face, and the towns to be more high rise etc, we spent time in the Pantanal which was amazing, and also time in Rio (don’t stray from the main touristy areas on your own) and also hit Florianapolis which is a nice beach area (but no where near as nice as Punto del Diable etc in Uruguay)

From what I’d heard from other backpackers at the time the Amazon was a bit of a disappointment as the trees and vegetation kinda dominated the scenery, any folks I met far preferred the Pantanal.
 
Another great site for travellers is [broken link removed]. You can get recommendations from people who actually reside in thousands of locations around the world - "Browse or search VirtualTourst to find tips and info on more than 2 million travel destinations."
 
Hi all,

thanks for the advice so far. I didnt have internet access over Christmas, so only following up now.

After discussions with Trailfinders, I´ve changed my destination plans, to fit in with where the round-the-world tickets stop.

So now my plan is :
Home - Bali - Australia - New Zealand - Fiji - Chile - Rio - home.

I´ve got the south american bit planned. Since I´ve already been to Chile, Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, I´m going to fly from Chile up to Quito and see Ecuador, and then fly to Rio and tour around Brazil.
Bamboozle - I was thinking of going to the Pantanal and Amazon. Can you let me know a bit more about what there is to see in the Pantanal?

Since I dont want to be away too long, I was thinking 2 weeks in Oz, 2 weeks in NZ and 10 days in south pacific. I know I´ll be really flying through Oz, but I´m more interested in spending more time in Sth america, and just want to get a flavour of Australasia.

For the south pacific bit, I havn´t researched it yet, but will try to find some not too touristy islands for some diving.
Can anyone recommend anywhere not too touristy in Fiji and the Cook Islands?

For NZ, given I only have 2 weeks, I was planning on spending more time in the South Island. From those who have been there, do you think its too ambitious to go to North Island too (e.g. Bay of Islands and Rototua).

So for Australia, I have no idea where to go for 10 days. Can anyone recommend a quick route? I was thinking of avoiding the east coast, and instead going to :
Darwin and Kakadu (6 days) - Perth (3 days) - Melbourne (2 days) - Sydney (3 days)
Does anyone know how near Kakadu is from Darwin - i.e. can I do a trip to Kakadu straight from Darwin, or do I need to factor in time to get to Kakadu?

Sorry for all the questions! I sound very disorganised, but its like I´m researching 7 holidays at once, and there is loads to research!

Thanks so much for everyones help!
Shiraz.
 
Shiraz said:
Hi all,

For NZ, given I only have 2 weeks, I was planning on spending more time in the South Island. From those who have been there, do you think its too ambitious to go to North Island too (e.g. Bay of Islands and Rototua).

So for Australia, I have no idea where to go for 10 days. Can anyone recommend a quick route? I was thinking of avoiding the east coast, and instead going to :
Darwin and Kakadu (6 days) - Perth (3 days) - Melbourne (2 days) - Sydney (3 days)
Does anyone know how near Kakadu is from Darwin - i.e. can I do a trip to Kakadu straight from Darwin, or do I need to factor in time to get to Kakadu?
Click to expand...

For 2 weeks - you should stick to one Island in NZ.
Your Oz route maximises what you can see in Oz and sounds fine (if a little hectic). There are plenty of tours from Darwin to Kakadu.
I would say due to your limited time in Oz organise Kakadu tour and detailed itinary for what you want to see in Syd/Per/Mel before you leave.
 
Shiraz said:
I´m going to fly from Chile up to Quito and see Ecuador,
Click to expand...
[FONT=&quot]Quito is really nice, but if you are going to Ecuador why not put in a few days in the Galapagos?[/FONT]
Shiraz said:
Does anyone know how near Kakadu is from Darwin - i.e. can I do a trip to Kakadu straight from Darwin, or do I need to factor in time to get to Kakadu?
Click to expand...

There’s not much in Darwin itself, and Kakadu is less than a 1/2 day's drive away.



If you want to go to Kakadu try an organised trip with someone like .

If you go yourself you will need to hire a Landcruiser or equivalent with a high wheelbase and a snorkel to ford some of the rivers.

After Darwin you could self-drive to Ayer’s Rock / Uluru; you could easily spend a few days in the Red Centre with Alice Springs as a base; then fly to Melbourne or Sydney or drive on to Adelaide.

Also, in NZ skip Rotorua - it's a dump.
 
Sounds like a fab trip -lucky you!

Only tip for Australia is that the coasts are fabulous, but not extraordinary (as in you've seen beach and sea before and plan to do your diving elsewhere). I would hit the red centre but take your time getting there, drive up from Adelaide, stopping in Cooper Pedy to meet the strange locals, and do some of the hikes around King's Canyon and KataJuta (sp?), then drive on further to kakadu. It's the long drive through the desert, passing road trains and drinking warm cheap wine by a campfire that gives the lasting memories....

(on the other hand skip that wine and stop in Barossa valley beforehand!)
 
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