Costs
Planning for costs here means you have to put Australia and New Zealand in one bracket, the tropical isles in another. For the two English-speaking nations mentioned, high season is their summer (our winter), low season their winter (our summer), with prices accordingly. There are terrific bargains from the USA to both nations in our summer, in both airfare and ground arrangements, many noted in our Frommers.com Newsletter on frequent occasions.
In the tropical paradises that range across the entire South Pacific, there are only two seasons, high (half the year) and low (hurricane season), the latter being from mid May through late November. Obviously, the costliest time to travel here is therefore December through mid May.
Weather
Australia is a big place, for sure. In Sydney, the average year round temperature is 64?, but it ranges from a low of 53? in July (their winter) to a high of 73? in February (their summer). In Darwin, on the other hand, the average in this city near the equator is 82?, ranging from a low of 77? in July to a high of 83? in February.
New Zealand, a bit closer to the Antarctic, has an average year round temperature of 60?, with a high of 68? in February and a low of 52? in July for Auckland.
Since Oceania covers such a huge area (from New Guinea in the west to Tahiti in the east, and from Guam in the north to Christmas Island in the south), it’s hard to generalize about the weather, except to say it’s what most people think Paradise should be like. Warm year round (in the 80s), with flashes of hot (the 90s), the whole is moderated by trade winds, tropical breezes that seem to make everything somehow mellow. A few average year round temperatures will give you the idea:
- Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea) 82?
- Papeete (French Polynesia) 79?
- Agana (Guam) 81?
- The Settlement (Christmas Island) 81?
Of course, you may choose to avoid the hurricane season (sometimes called monsoon here), which runs from mid May through the end of November.
Activities
Oceania is said to be the perfect paradise (but that has been said of dozens of other spots around the globe as well). You definitely come here to be outdoors, to let the gentle breezes caress you, to walk into seawater that is the same temperature as the air around you, to lie on the beach, to enjoy an altogether different way of life. You really don’t come here to be indoors, and you shouldn’t unless you visit a spot that helps you understand the wonderful outdoor way of life. (Some museums explaining local culture and attitudes come to mind.) On the beaches of the tropical paradises, as well as those of parts of Australia, you can enjoy every kind of water sport imaginable, with an emphasis on surfing, windsurfing, parasailing and just plain sailing. Forget the beaches in chillier New Zealand, just go boating there, and concentrate on the culture of the so-called “aborigines” (the Maori in particular), and its influence, finally, on the white settlers who stole the country from them.