Oceania

The honest verdict

🎂 Best age range

All ages if you build the days around drives, parks, wildlife, water and space to decompress

💰 Cost feel

££££ — beautiful, easy, outdoorsy and absolutely not shy about taking your money

🏆 Our favourite bit

New Zealand campervan chaos, glow-worms, wild roads, Australian beaches, proper wildlife days and the strange feeling of the road becoming home

🙅 We’d skip

Pretending distances are small. In Oceania, “nearby” can mean “pack snacks, charge devices, emotionally prepare.”

Getting around with kids: Oceania worked best when we accepted that the journey was part of the day, not the boring bit before the fun started. New Zealand was made for road-tripping, but campervan life with kids means constant tiny logistics: water, waste, weather, food, sleep and where everyone’s shoes have vanished. Australia is easier in some ways because life is familiar, but the distances and costs are huge. A car makes everything possible, but only if you plan stops like your sanity depends on it. Because it does.