On month five I changed continent. After four months I said good bye to Asia and moved on to Australia and New Zealand. Which, of course, was a big change.

The cities are organized and traffic is not crazy. The public transport is efficient and punctual. All kinds of accommodation are clean, have hot water and comfortable beds. The food is not spicy. Everything is expensive. Everybody speaks English.

I have a friend in Australia, the first one I met since I left from India. So Australia was a kind of break. In New Zealand, on the other hand, I encountered new challenges. 

This is a summary of the changes I lived on month 5, the things I learnt, the places I visited, the best moments I had and what’s next.

Australia, living Sydney

I have a friend in Australia which I had not met for years. It felt so good to talk about our time in Sweden and the people we know. Normal chatting, not the travel talk “where are you from – for how long are you traveling”.

I took Australia as a break. I did not write any post. I did not have to pay accommodation so I relaxed on my spending. I wanted to live Sydney. I wanted to spend time with my friend. I wanted to rest from my very-low-budget trip. It was great, and I arrived to New Zealand full of energy.

New Zealand, new challenges

My long dreamt New Zealand received me with new challenges: high cost, rainy weather and peak season. That required some adaptation and change (again) my way of traveling.

Cost 

New Zealand is expensive. Very expensive. Which means that I could no longer afford to sleep in private rooms nor eat outside. So I started sleeping in dorms. I bought a lunch box and started cooking in the hostels’ common kitchens.

Personally, I found it more tiring. I wake up easily with noise so I do not get a good sleep in dorms. I love eating but I really do not like cooking. I also discovered that it is not easy to find food that is at the same time easy to cook, cheap, healthy and comes in small amounts (any ideas?).

Weather

I knew I would be in New Zealand in autumn, but I never guessed it would rain so much! But I will not complain any more about the weather, you might have read a lot about it in the last posts!

Peak season

I did not calculate that I would be traveling in New Zealand during Easter holidays. I planned my trip to avoid the Asian monsoon, and then moved on. Being peak season meant that I had to book accommodation and transport in advance, and I could not stay longer if I liked a place because it was fully booked.

In Asia I got used to move with the flow and my mood, to decide how long I would stay in a place after seeing it, change plans on the last minute. There I could not. I had book.

Random things I have learnt

• Koalas only eat one type of eucalyptus (and nothing else) and sleep 20 hours a day (such a stressed life!).
• Kangaroos are soooo cute but do not know how to cross the roads

• The real meaning of changing weather and four seasons in a day 
• Dry and hot weather gives sweeter wine

• Some glaciers are retreating very fast due to global warming
• The color of water in New Zealand is unreal

• Lower my expectations
• Do not believe in postcards, but believe in people

• Taking photos from a high speed train is difficult
• Paradise exists

Places visited

• Australia: Sydney, Blue Mountains and Jervis Bay.
• New Zealand: Christchurch, Greymouth, Franz Josef glacier, Fox glacier, Wanaka, Queenstown, Glenorchy & around, and Milford Sound.

Favorite places

• Australia: Sydney, Blue Mountains and Jervis Bay
• New Zealand: Queenstown, Glenorchy & around

Special moments

• Sydney: meeting a friend after so many years, eating Spanish food in her birthday party and dancing salsa after so long.
• Blue Mountains: taking the cable car and the skywalk (I love heights!).
• Jervis Bay: finding a B&B that felt like a home, and seeing kangaroos in its garden.
• Fox glacier & lake Matheson: meeting people who offered me a car ride (3 free rides in two days!).
• Glenorchy: going to Lothlorien (LOTR film location – yes, I am a fan!).
• Queenstown: looking at the view after hiking up the skyline gondola hill.

What’s next

Confession: I am three months late in the blog, I have been traveling eight months already!

So a quick update:

• month 6: New Zealand, visiting other parts of the South island and later on the North island.
• month 7: Chile! visiting friends in Santiago and Patagonia.
• month 8: still in Chile, traveling alone from Patagonia to Santiago, passing by Argentina for a few days.

And now… I am in Canada! I will be here for two weeks traveling with my family (which I had not seen for eight months!). After that I am going back to Santiago to continue my trip in South America.

You can also get the latest updates of my trip by following the Facebook page.