Oceania, primarily Australia and New Zealand are one of the farthest destinations to travel to from the United States and Europe. Since living in Japan, it was always a goal of mine to visit both Australia and New Zealand, since it’s relatively close in both distance and time.

For a recent trip, we wanted to spend the majority of the time in New Zealand to see the beautiful nature and of course see some Lord of the Rings sites.

Growing up, I’ve always loved watching Steve Irwin, so when I found out we had a connecting flight in Brisbane, I extended the layover to visit the Australia Zoo and check out the city of Brisbane.

Once landing in New Zealand, we rented a car and took a week to road trip the South Island and spent another week driving around the North Island. New Zealand really is as beautiful as pictures and movies make it out to be!