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An Australia-New Zealand-Oceania Guide

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Australia was originally settled by aboriginis then settled by a bunch of criminals.  It was a penal colony, a dumping ground for Britain’s convicts.

 

It’s a long plane ride regardless of where you’re coming from.  A direct flight from Los Angeles is about eleven to twelve hours.

 

Most of the inland is a vast desert.  Almost all the people live on the coast.  Some parts of the northern coast are jungle-like.  The big draw, in my opinion, are the beach areas south of Sydney.

 

Australia is a huge country.  If you show up without a plan of which part to visit, you'll waste time deciding what to do and possibly waste money by not booking in advance.

 

Australia is in the southern hemisphere so the seasons are opposite to the seasons in the northern hemisphere.  They have winter when North America and Europe have summer and summer when North America and Europe have winter so Christmastime is summer for them.

 

Most of Australia has a temperate climate.  Snow is rare, even in the winter.  The northern part of Australia is quite hot, almost tropical.  The seasons there are rainy, the wet time lasting from November to April and the dry time from May to October.

 

The Australians take their vacations during their summer vacation which is between late November to February.  This is their busy travel time, the worst time for a foreign tourist.  It's much cheaper and less crowded to travel any other time but these months.

 

Australia is expensive.  The air ticket is expensive right off the bat because it's so far away. 

 

Get some Australian cash before you go. 

 

The flight to Australia could be as long as 24 hours.  If you are traveling cheaply, use the hostels that are located everywhere. 

 

Australia's electricity is on a 220-240V system which is different from North America's 110V system.  If you bring electrical products, buy an adapter which converts the plug shape to fit Australian sockets and a converter to regulate the voltage.

 

The outback can be dangerous both for the bad roads and the isolation.  If you break down, the heat can get to you.

 

For emergency fire, police, or medical help, dial 000 on any phone.

 

Most people in Australia live on the coast.  Much of the country is a semi-desert area called the outback full of farms, a few national parks and empty spaces. 

 

Ayer's Rock could be the most famous rock in the world, a big rock in the middle of nowhere that people walk up even though the natives don't want them to.

 

Try onetravel.com for cheap air travel.

 

Try airbnb.com, craigslist.org and tripadvisor.com for places to stay.

 

Australians drive on the left side of the road. If you plan to rent a car, bring your driver's license from your home country and buy an international driver's license through the mail from either a car association, a travel club or a student travel association.  You don't take a test to get it.  You just pay some money, include a picture and they send you one.

 

The Great Barrier Reef in the northeast is a 2000 kilometer long reef in the ocean full of coral and marine life.  The main towns are Cairns, Townsville and Mackay.  There are several islands along the reef.

 

The great barrier reef is the world's largest coral reef located off the coast of Queensland in north-east Australia.  Captain Cook crashed on it over 200 years ago.  It's now a big tourist area.  A lot of Japanese people live there and a lot of Japanese tourists go there.

 

gbrmpa.gov.au

 

The Northern Territory is a big, sparsely populated area that covers much of the outback.  Darwin is the capital. 

 

Alice Springs is a town with some notoriety as a place in the middle of nowhere.

 

Ayers Rock is a big rock in the middle of a plain, Uluru, Australia, ayersrockresort.com.au.

 

voyages.com.au

nttc.com.au

nt.gov.au

ntholidays.com

 

Try #919.46 at the library.

 

adventour.com

800-788-6685

Ats Tours

888-222-7869

 

cartan.com

800-841-1994

 

inta-aussie.com

800-531-9222

 

newmansvacations.com

800-421-3326

 

Qantas Vacations

800-348-8150

 

Swain Tours

800-22swain

swainaustralia.com

 

southeastasia.com

800-642-2742

 

Australia Tourism Offices

Pob E328

Queen Victoria Ter.

Canberra, Act, 2600

Australia

61-6-273-1000

Fax: 61-6-273-4999

australia.com

 

Australia Tourism

Pob 646

King's Cross Nsw

2011, M 650

Australia

61-2-360-3500

Fax: 61-2-360-3500

 

Australia Tourism

2049 Century Pk. E.

#1920

Los Angeles, Ca 90067

310-552-1215

Fax: 310-552-1215

800-Down Under

800-369-6863

800-333-0139

 

New Zealand is in the southwest Pacific, three hours from Sydney, Australia and about 11 hours from Los Angeles by plane.  It is an English speaking country with a population of about four million.  Auckland, the largest city, has a population of around one million.

 

New Zealanders, like the rest of the British Commonwealth, drive on the left of the road.

 

New Zealand is spread over three relatively small islands with modern transportation, air flights and rail.  The people speak English. 

 

New Zealand is made up of two major islands (north and south) and several small islands:

 

Chatham Islands, southeast of NZ.

Cook Islands in the north.

Tokelau, up near Kiribali.

 

Wellington is the capital city but it's much smaller than Auckland with a population of 150,000.  It's at the southern end of North Island.  It's very windy there.

 

Aotearoa is what the Maoris called New Zealand, the land of the long white cloud.

 

Auckland is in the north of North Island.  The population is over a million.  It's the big NZ city but not the capital city.

 

Rotorua is the site of several craters, volcanoes, geysers and hot springs 135 miles se of Auckland.

 

South Island is colder and more sparsely populated than North Island.  The big city is Christchurch.

 

At the southern tip of South Island, there is an island called Stewart Island which houses Stewart Island National Park.

 

Christchurch city is located midway down the east coast of the South Island with a population of around 350,000.  It is a mix of natural beauty, old charm (big, old buildings patterned after England) and bohemian art.

 

The Chatham Islands are a group of 10 islands east of New Zealand within a 40-kilometre radius.  Chatham Island is the biggest island.

 

The Cook Islands in the South Pacific Ocean is made up of 15 small islands.  The Cook Islands are 3500km (2200 miles) northeast of New Zealand and 1000km (600 miles) southwest of Tahiti.

 

Tokelau is made up of three atolls; Atafu, Fakaofo and Nukunonu.

 

Try onetravel.com for cheap air travel.

 

Try airbnb.com, craigslist.org and tripadvisor.com for places to stay.

 

Try #919.3 at the library.

 

New Zealand Tourism

Pob 95

Wellington

New Zealand

64-4-4728860

Fax: 64-4-4781736

info@ touristpublications.com.nz

newzealand.com

newzealandtourism.com

visitnewzealand.com

newzealandnz.co.nz

tourism.govt.nz

touristpublications.com.nz

nzpages.co.nz

tourism.net.nz

newzealand.com

purenz.com

cbp.govt.nz

mch.govt.nz/ref/enz/index, encyclopedia of new zealand.

nztb.govt.nz

immigration.govt.nz

mft.govt.nz/travel/index.html, ministry of foreign affairs.

 

New Zealand Tourism

501 Santa Monica Blvd.

#300

Santa Monica, Ca 90401

310-395-7480

800-388-5494

866 639 9325

Fax: 310-395-5453

 

activenewzealand.com

800-500-3398

 

Air New Zealand

800-262-1234

 

Embassies in New Zealand

australia.org.nz

britain.org.nz

dfait-maeci.gc.ca/newzealand, canada.

fiji.org.nz

ireland.co.nz

 

Farm New Zealand Tours

12115 100th Ave. Ne

Kirkland, Wa 98034

800-788-6685

 

Kaikoura Information Centre

Pob 6, Kaikoura

New Zealand

01l-64-319-5M1

 

Kaikoura Seafaris

89 S. Bay Parade

Kaikoura, South Island

New Zealand

011-64-513-5145

Marine mammal-watching capital of the southern Pacific.

 

newzealand.com

866 new zealand

 

New Zealand Embassies

nzembassy.com, links to most nz embassies.

nzembassy.com/uk, england.

nzhcottawa.org, canada.

nzemb.org, nzcgla.com, united states.

 

pedaltours.co.nz

888-222-9187

 

purenz.com

800-388-5494

866-639-9325

 

seriousfunnewzealand.com

800-411-5724

 

The South Pacific Islands are sometimes called Oceania. 

 

Naura and Kiribaldi are up north relatively speaking midway between Hawaii and Australia away from most of the Pacific Islands. 

 

Easter Island and Robinson Crusoe Island are owned Chile.  They’re way over on the East Pacific as is the Galapagos owned by Ecuador.

 

Most of the rest of the islands jut down in an archipelago starting at Papaua, New Guinea except for Fiji, Western Samao and Tonga off to the east on their own then further east of that is French Polynesia/ Tahiti off on its own. 

 

Iwo Jima in the north is owned by Japan.

 

The Philippines is about 7007 islands up in the north.

 

Indonesia owns a bunch of islands.

 

The United States owns a number of islands like:

 

American Samoa

Baker Island

Federated States of Micronesia

Guam

Howland Island

Jarvis Island

Kingman Reef

Marshall Islands

Northern Mariana Islands

Palau

Truk Island

Wake Island

Yap

 

Bougainville is technically part of Papua New Guinea although most natives don't think so.

 

East Timor was a Catholic island in Indonesia, a former Portuguese colony, who voted for independence in 1999 whereupon Indonesia invaded and claimed it as its 27th province.  It is now an independent country.  Indonesia is out.  It is a mostly Catholic island.

 

The Marshall Islands is made up of 29 coral atolls.  It is a Micronesian island nation located in the Western Pacific Ocean, north of Nauru and Kiribati.  The population is 60,000.  The capital is Majuro.  You need a passport to enter the Marshall Islands.

 

New Caledonia/ Nouvelle-Calédonie is a French dependency with a main island (Grande-Terre De La Nouvelle-Calédonie) and several smaller islands.

 

The land mass of Niue is 259 square kilometers.

 

The island of New Guinea is divided into two countries.  Papua New Guinea/ PNG is in the east.  Indonesia owns the other side.  They call it Papua province.

 

Papua New Guinea also owns numerous offshore islands.  PNG has been called the last frontier by some.  There are still natives living like old times there.  They say there are over a hundred tribes there.  I’ve seen a few documentaries of white guys building nice houses in the jungle using solar panels.  The natives are there.  Some of them speak English but chose to live in grass huts away from civilization.

 

Fiji is a former British colony.  Many natives died from diseases brought over by the Europeans.  In 1970, Fiji became an independent, democratic nation.  There has been some turbulence between native Fijians and Indo-Fijians, immigrants from India but they say everything is fine now and the government is stable. There are 320 islands.  About a hundred are inhabited.  The population is around 900,000. 

 

There are two Samoas, American Samoa governed by the United States and Western Samoa, an independent country.

 

If you go to an American-run island like Guam, you could think you were in Hawaii or in any American town near the ocean.

 

Hong Kong and Macau are Chins-owned islands.  Macau is the Las Vegas of Asia.  See pictures of it on a search engine images feature.

 

Singapore is a wealthy island south of Malaysia which owns several islands.  As a former British colony, it’s very English.

 

Use onetravel.com for cheap air travel.

 

Try airbnb.com, craigslist.org and tripadvisor.com for places to stay.

 

Try #919 at the library.

 This book covers life in the Pacific Islands, particularly Australia and New Zealand, dealing with practical things like travel, immigration, education, jobs, healthcare, law, NGOs, business, art, culture, love and sex. 

 

The 56 volumes are as follows:

 

Volume 1. Australia Travel Guide

Volume 2. Australia Guide

Volume 3. Australia Accommodation Guide

Volume 4. Australia Website Guide from dmoz-odp.org/Regional/Oceania/Australia

Volume 5. An Australia Website Guide at feedspot

Volume 6. New Zealand Travel Guide

Volume 7. New Zealand Life Guide

Volume 8. New Zealand Accommodation Guide

Volume 9. A New Zealand Website Guide at feedspot

Volume 10. A Big List of New Zealand Websites from natlib.govt.nz/files/data/tepunawebdirectory.xml

Volume 11. South Pacific Islands/ Oceania Travel Guide

Volume 12. Oceania Website Guide from dmoz-odp.org/Regional/Oceania

Volume 13. Pacific Islands Media Guide

Volume 14. World Island Guide

Volume 15. Hawaii Guide for Tourists, Citizens and Job-Seekers

Volume 16. U.S. Pacific Territories Guide

Volume 17. Philippines Travel-Expat Guide, includes Nightlife

Volume 18. Australia-Pacific Job Guide

Volume 19. An Australia Job Website Guide

Volume 20. Australia Specific Job Guide

Volume 21. Australia-New Zealand-Pacific Job Guide

Volume 22. New Zealand Job Guide

Volume 23. Oceania Job Website Guide from dmoz-odp.org/Regional/Oceania/Business_and_Economy/Employment

Volume 24. An Australia Business Website Guide at dmoz-odp.org/Regional/Oceania/Australia/Business_and_Economy

Volume 25. Australia NGO Guide

Volume 26. Australia-NZ-Pacific Business, Government, etc.

Volume 27. Find Practical Information on Australia-NZ and the Pacific Islands

Volume 29. An Australia-NZ Education Website Guide

Volume 30. An Australia-New Zealand Education Website Guide at dmoz-odp.org/Regional/Oceania

Volume 31. Australia-New Zealand Grade School-College Guide

Volume 32. Oceania Education Websites at dmoz-odp.org/Regional/Oceania/Education

Volume 33. Oceania/ Pacific Islands Grade School Guide

Volume 34. Asia-Oceania-Pacific Islands Colleges and Universities

Volume 35. Australia-New Zealand Art Guide

Volume 36. Asia-Pacifica Art Guide

Volume 37. Australia-New Zealand-Oceania Medical-Health Guide 1

Volume 38. Australia-New Zealand-Oceania Medical-Health Guide 2

Volume 39. Australia-NZ-Oceania Medical Websites from dmoz-odp.org/Regional/Oceania

Volume 40. Australia Cancer Guide

Volume 41. Australia-NZ-Oceania Law Guide

Volume 42. A List of NZ-Oceania Government and Organization Websites by Country

Volume 43. Australia Love-Sex Guide

Volume 44. Australia-New Zealand-Pacific Islands Gay Guide

Volume 45. New Zealand Love-Sex Guide

Volume 46. Asia Redlight Guide

Volume 47. Thailand Redlight Guide

Volume 48.  A Straight List of Job Websites Country by Country from list-job-sites.com

Volume 49. A Straight List of Job Websites Country by Country from angloinfo.com

Volume 50. allyoucanread.com Provides Job Websites by Country

Volume 51. Country Immigration Website Guide

Volume 52. Working Abroad in General

Volume 53. Expat Website Guide

Volume 54. Expat Website Guide by Country

Volume 55. World Recruiter Guide

Volume 56. World Telephone Information

 Click2Sell is an authorized reseller of this book.


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