going to OZ/NEW ZEALAND in 2 weeks. help! - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**LaurieL622** · 03-01-2007, 10:08 AM

so ive finally gotten everything together. i gave my 2 week notice at work and im going to australia and new zealand for the next month-month and a half. now i need advice from anyones that lives/traveled there!

heres my flight details
i leave march 11 los angeles-melb
april 9 syd-christchurch
april 16 auckland-los angeles

im looking at 4 weeks in oz and 1 week in n.z. my main concern seeing the most w the amt of time and money im working with. it seems i'm in a bit of a time crunch!

for oz im looking to go from melb up the way up the e.coast to cairns then go to alice springs. prob will skip everything else. i will prob get a greyhound bus pass good for the e.coast then fly from carins to alice springs. honestly if i see a few beaches i am good. what im really looking forward to doing is camping, seeing some cool animals, being in the outback. i really dont have to hang out in every beachy city (is this what the e.coast is like?) with that in mind does anyone have an itinery change for me?

for n.z. i really dont know what im doing....based on general opinion of the board i would like to skip the north island. but notice my ticket is into christchurch and leaving out of auckland-i can get this changed. i have no idea how im going to get around.

i really need advice on what to do in both countries. i can take more time but bugeting with 80$ per day i cant afford to stay in either country for longer than 5ish weeks. pls help!!!!! i can use any budget/itinerary advice. this will be my first time in either countries...and my first time NOT backpacking through third world/developing countries.

time is really not really an issue except that the longer i stay the less $ i will have.

thanks you guys rock!!