Our new epic adventure, our fourth “trip of a lifetime,” is soon to begin. Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and New Zealand, here we come!

Steve has been to Australia and New Zealand previously, 44 years ago, but I’ve never visited these countries. The exotic Papua New Guinea and Indonesia are new countries for both of us. We will be away from home for 78 consecutive days (11 weeks) – our longest ever. We are so excited about this incredible adventure! Soon we hope to have first-hand experiences of these lands and to make unforgettable memories.

This big trip has been in the making for more than two years. First, we had a rough plan of what we wanted to see, then we turned to our trusted travel agency, Yampu, for designing a custom trip for us. Previously, we worked with them to visit Easter Island (2005), The Galapagos Islands (2009), and Africa (2018). We knew they would give us all the information we would need: complete picture of the trip, program details, transfers, hotel bookings, flying information, and much more. And, that we would be looked after every step of the way.

The goal for this year’s trip is to see beautiful diverse landscapes, be in the jungle, learn about exotic traditional tribes of Papua New Guinea, see as many different wildlife species as possible, including the Bird of Paradise in Papua New Guinea, and Komodo Dragon in Indonesia. Steve did the majority of the work fine tuning the details with Yampu, he arranged for the visas and medical stuff/vaccinations needed for visiting Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. He also handled the financial aspects, and connected with his friends in Australia and family in New Zealand to plan for those parts of the trip, which were not designed by Yampu, where we will be on our own.

I also did a lot of research, mainly online: reading travel blogs, watching videos, getting ideas from my friends about New Zealand and Australia, mainly Tasmania. (Thank you Kerry and Charlie!) But most importantly, I meticulously designed the packing list for our carry-on only travel.

Throughout the trip, we will be doing a variety of different activities. We will be attending walking and driving tours as members of smaller or bigger groups, driving on our own in Tasmania and New Zealand (both on the North and South Islands), staying with friends and family, seeing the sunrise in Australia’s outback, visiting Uluru, visiting some tribes in Papua New-Guinea, and hiking in New Zealand. We will be flying (with 11 different airlines), be transferred via car, small airplane, or boat. We will be on three different train rides (Indian Pacific Train, The Ghan, Tranz Alpine Train), be on beaches and in cities, visit temples and rice fields in Indonesia. We will be watching wildlife in National Parks and in the jungle. We will be sleeping in hotels, motels, lodges, Bed & Breakfasts, friends’ houses, on trains, on a boat, having our meals there as well as eating packed lunches on tours, dining in restaurants, buying food in grocery stores.

Here is a glimpse into what places we will be visiting.
Australia (41 days): Melbourne, driving tour of Tasmania, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Alice Springs, Brisbane.
Papua New Guinea (7 days): Port Moresby, Sepik region, Tari Valley
Indonesia (8 days): Cruise to Rinca, Kalong, Padar, and Komodo Islands, Ubud on Bali
New Zealand (20 days): Auckland, Mangonui, Cape Reinga, Rotorua, Wellington, Kaikoura, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Greymouth, Christchurch

We will be flying internationally from Seattle to Australia, and because we will be crossing the international dateline, it will take us two days to get to Australia, so will be losing a day. Sound confusing? The good news is, that on the way back home, we will gain the lost day back. How fun!

And somehow, we will even end up in Singapore for a night when we will be flying from Papua New Guinea to Indonesia. More fun!

We can’t wait! Hope you can join us on this adventure by following along on this blog.