 If you're traveling to Australia or thinking about traveling to Australia or moving to Australia, you're going to want to watch this video. Here we go. If you don't know us, we are a family of six that have moved to New Zealand from the US and have been here for seven years. Check out my website kiwiamericans.com for more information, but let's get right into the video today. So today I'd like to talk about visiting Australia and I'm going to talk about five things. We're going to talk about weather, wildlife, culture, shopping, and the beauty, okay? Because let me just highlight my intent with this video is I get frustrated to be honest that I have so many Americans that I see come through or that visit or just anybody in general. They spend most of their vacation time in Australia and spend like two or three days in New Zealand. Let me just tell you right now, you cannot see New Zealand in two or three days. It's even hard to do in two weeks. So if you are thinking about traveling to Australia, this video I want you to consider. Why not New Zealand? Now, New Zealand travel, government, whatever is not sponsoring this video. These are my actual thoughts on traveling to Australia compared to New Zealand. I live in New Zealand. I have never lived in Australia, so I don't have that comparison, but I have been to Australia like four or five times. I've been to Sydney a couple times, Melbourne, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, lots of traveling around. So I feel like I'm familiar at least with traveling to Australia. I guess my thought is that if you're American and you're traveling all the way to this side of the world, I think that you should consider spending some time in New Zealand. And I'm going to highlight kind of the benefits of visiting New Zealand compared to Australia and then you can decide based on what's important to you. Here we go. Number one, let's talk about the weather. Now, the weather in Australia is going to be better. So if weather is really important, nice, warm, consistent weather, Australia is great. Okay? You can get plenty of nice weather in New Zealand from December through February. It's gorgeous, but it is a little bit more variable. And depending on where you are, warmer or colder, it is not a tropical place to be in New Zealand. So there is wind, there is cooler temperatures, but some people prefer that. I prefer that. Like the 80, 90 degrees Fahrenheit is too hot for me. So like a nice 75 degrees Fahrenheit or 70 is really nice. And you can get that all over New Zealand at least in the summertime. But in Australia, the weather is going to be really great, like all the time. And so if that's important to you, that's a good thing. But here we go. Let's talk about beauty. Okay? So this is the big thing. When I hear people that have come to New Zealand, they are stunned at how beautiful it is here. Like stunned. Like, am I in the Garden of Eden? That's what I've heard many times. And it's just, it's always green all year. There's blooms all year. The mountains, the rivers, the sea, it's stunning. And you can go from the country side to the sea, to the mountains with snow caps, all within a short driving distance. So that's what's also nice. Australia is huge. So you need to take planes in between areas. Whereas New Zealand, you can drive the whole country while taking the ferry between the north and the south island. And you can see all of it. And you can drive it yourself. And it's just, it's all offering different things, depending on what's important to you. But it's just so beautiful. And so I don't want you to miss the opportunity to say, Hey, maybe we should spend a couple extra days in New Zealand, because it is so beautiful. My third point is, let's talk a little bit about culture. So me as an American who lives in New Zealand, when I visit Australia, Australia feels very Americanized to me. Okay, so Australia is very different and similar to New Zealand in a lot of ways. But like the vibe that I'm feeling, although very laid back, very like to chill, really, in my opinion, it's very laid back, but it's just like a lot of Americaness to it. Maybe because it's big, maybe because it's more people. I don't know. I'm just telling you how I feel. When I come to New Zealand, I feel like I'm in a different culture. It's very British, the way that they do things, what they eat, you know, as an American who then goes to visit Australia, I love it because like, there's a lot of American things there that they don't have in New Zealand. You get excited to go to that chain restaurant that you haven't had for years or certain shopping places or different, just different things. And it's just, you know, to me, the transition as an American, like say, if you're moving to Australia, wouldn't be that hard compared to coming to New Zealand. While when you first come, it may seem, oh, it's not that different. It's like the same, but just a little bit different. It's actually quite different in a lot of ways. And we're not going to get into all that. But just speaking about culture in general and the way that you can just experience an actual different culture that speaks English, which is nice compared to a lot of European countries, is really great. So that's just another thing for you to consider when traveling to Australia. Maybe put a couple more days to New Zealand. The fourth thing I want to hit on is the wildlife. Now, the wildlife in Australia is amazing. The kangaroos, the birds, the koalas. I love it. I've been, I've seen most of the common animals and have spent, just, it's just stunning what you can see in Australia. So that's great. And the wildlife in New Zealand, also amazing, amazing things that you can see here in New Zealand. But it's also much more dangerous in Australia, in the water, the snakes, the spiders, you know, scorpions. I don't know. There's just a lot of dangerous insects and animals in Australia compared to New Zealand. New Zealand has none. People walk around this country with bare feet because there's nothing that's going to hurt you plant-wise, animal-wise, okay? So like, you don't even need to worry about anything. We don't, in New Zealand, they don't put even screens on the windows. So there's just not a lot of bugs. You know, there's sand flies. That's probably like their biggest pest and it's really nothing compared to a lot that I've dealt with in the US. So that's another thing to consider when thinking about traveling Australia versus New Zealand. And the fifth thing I'd like to talk about is let's talk about the shopping. Yes, the shopping. The shopping in Australia is so good. So much better than New Zealand, okay? But if you are coming from America, you don't need good shopping. It's not better than America by a long shot, okay? I guess for me, if I'm going to travel and I'm going to a completely different country that's really far away, I would really like something different, something unique, little cute shops, little cute cafes, and they have that also in Australia. But they also have, you know, the big malls and the big shopping centers, which are really nice. And like, you know, all that sort of thing. But like, I don't know, there's just like this quaintness about New Zealand. And it's just, but the shopping isn't great. So if you care about that, then maybe New Zealand isn't for you. I would go to Australia. But yeah, just think about that. Shopping, I think plays a role. A lot of people, when they travel, shopping is a big part of it. So I wanted to mention that. And a couple final last thoughts. Like, this is I guess what I think, when Australia is a very large desert, okay? Even their town, you know, like, it's just brown. It's just brown. Now, most of the people live on the coast, they have amazing beaches. Like I said, amazing weather, rainforest, mountains, they have all of that. But it definitely has a different look to it. And it's, you know, it's just not quite the same. So it's definitely worth going to both countries. I guess my point is, is that maybe split up your time equally, because most people don't do that. Anyway, it all depends, of course, what you're looking for. But just taking consideration, you know, are you looking for a really beach destination? The beaches in Australia are going to be much more packed. You can go to a beach and have nobody on the beach here in New Zealand. That's very common. So it's just all kind of depends what you're looking for. Now, I hope I didn't upset my Australian audience. I feel like I was pretty, you know, fair, I would say. But comment below, let me know your thoughts if you have been to both countries or what you would recommend. Or if you're an American who has traveled between either one of them, make your comments. I would love to hear that. These are just my thoughts on my experience traveling between New Zealand and Australia. I'll see you next week.