And so the packing begins...

I had been thinking about packing for my 5 months in Australia for quite sometime, making a mental list and eventually a written one. I had planned a trip to Los Angeles, California and various cities in New Zealand before eventually ending up in Australia, so I knew I couldn't bring too much. I settled on 1 large suitcase, a hiking backpack, and a duffle bag (daunting, I know).

I started by investigating what the weather would be like while I was there, and if Australians wore pretty much the same stuff as Americans. I found that they did, and knowing it was going to be the middle of summer when I arrived I knew I would need primarily summer clothes. However, traveling to New Zealand called for some warmer clothes. I noticed the weather while I would be there would fluctuate in the 60s to 80s with the possibility of some rainy days. 

Knowing packing was going to be a challenge, I started early by laying out all the stuff I wanted to bring in a spare bedroom. I then narrowed it down and when it came time to the actual packing I packed what I knew I would need first, and then added items from the "oh I might want this" pile if allowed space. Well, let me tell you. The allowed space wasn't much. I was also fighting a 50 pound bag limit from the airline. Which in the end won, as my suitcase was 14 pounds over and I had to pay a $100 fee... Sorry mom. Although, I did pack pretty much everything I would need there, minus kitchen utensils and bedding. (At least I told myself that to get over the fee). 

Below are some tips I have for packing for an extended period of time with 3 pieces of luggage!

Rolling your clothes. I heard this was a way to keep them from getting extremely wrinkled, and found I was able to squish more clothes into the crevices of my bags. 

You can purchase these on Amazon. This set
was $15 and it came with 2 smaller bags like
the one saying "Every Day is a New Day"
perfect for electronics and toiletries!

PACKING CUBES, need I repeat? I thought of these as an unnecessary purchase until I used them in my backpack for my trip to Los Angeles and New Zealand. I didn't want to have to dive into my suitcase at all until moving in to Australia. So my backpack became strictly LA and NZ essentials only! These were super convenient in that I didn't have to pull out everything in my backpack, and then repack it later, but could just pull out the cube I wanted. 

The large one to the left is shirts for Australia, and I put this in my suitcase.

The medium and small stacked ones to the right are nice clothes and athletic clothes for LA and NZ.

The bags below were filled with undergarments and swimsuits and the far left is a shoe bag.

Finally, don't forget to remind yourself that if you do forget something they will surely have it at a store there.