Oceania

Oceania is the world's most remote and naturally beautiful region — a vast oceanic area covering over 8.5 million square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean. The Australian outback is some of the planet's oldest land (over 3 billion years), and over 80% of the continent's fauna is endemic — koalas, kangaroos, and wombats are not found in the wild anywhere else. The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest living structure: a 2,300 km long coral reef system visible from space. New Zealand is the adventure travel capital of the world, where bungee jumping and jetboating were invented. The country's two main islands offer everything from snowy peaks to tropical beaches over a 1,600 km distance. Fiji's 333 islands and French Polynesia's 118 atolls complete Oceania's picture as a tropical paradise. In practice Oceania is far away, so plan a long trip: the flight from Finland takes over 20 hours with connections, and three weeks is a realistic minimum. Seasons are reversed, so a Finnish winter is an Australian summer. Australia and New Zealand both require an electronic travel authorisation, and distances are long enough that domestic flights and a rental car belong in almost every itinerary.