Around-the-world via Oceania

The argument

Bucharest → Doha (overnight) → Tasmania circuit (12 days) → New Zealand end-to-end (32 days, both islands) → Singapore (8 days) → Shanghai layover home. 7,319 photos · 33 hikes · 8,274 m climbed. Spent 30 of 54 nights in some form of national park. Peak day: the Tongariro Crossing, 12 February — 21.7 km, 1,105 m, in a single day.

Trip shape

DOH 1d

TAS 12d

NZ-S 16d

NZ-N 17d

SIN 8d

PVG 1d

Pace · photos per day

The signature

12 February · the Tongariro Alpine Crossing

One day, 21.7 km, 1,105 m climbed — the biggest single hike of the trip, and more vertical than the next two days combined.

Distance: 21.7 km
Ascent: 1,105 m
Park: Tongariro National Park, North Island
Start time: 08:33 NZ local — behind the 07:00 shuttle, ahead of the 10:00 walk-up wave

The geometry suggests an active volcanic crossing: Mangatepopo trailhead → South Crater → Red Crater saddle (the high point) → Emerald Lakes descent → Ketetahi exit. Photo dwell concentrated at the Red Crater and the Emerald Lakes, then thins down the long Ketetahi descent.

Frame data

Duration: 54 days · 53 nights (1 in air)
Continents: Europe → ME → Oceania → SE Asia → E Asia
Countries: 5 (QA · AU · NZ · SG · CN — last two airside)
Real visits: 3 (AU · NZ · SG)
Regions: 18 distinct
Localities: ~95 distinct
Anchors: ~15 (none reused)
Hull area: 3 continents · both hemispheres
Path shape: one-way around-the-world, west → east
Photos: 7,319 (7,310 away · 9 predeparture)
Hikes: 33 logged · 8,274 m total ascent

The six legs

Doha, layover

12 Jan 12:03 → 13 Jan 08:07 · 20 hours

Photos: 124
Shape: transit
Anchor: none — a single airport-hotel point in Doha
Pace: zero-leg

An airport hotel, not a Qatar visit - counted, not seen.

Tasmania, full loop

13 Jan → 25 Jan · 12 days

Photos: 3,261
Hikes: 11 hikes · ~2,287 m ascent
Shape: clockwise circuit from Hobart
Anchor: Hobart · Coles Bay · Cradle Mtn · Strahan · Hobart
Pace: fast · ~272 photos / day

Wineglass Bay (17 Jan, 12.4 km / 516 m) and Cradle Mountain double-day (19–20 Jan).

14 Jan - settling into Hobart with the kunanyi/Mt Wellington summit and Battery Point.
15 Jan - the Bruny Island day, the classic Hobart excursion.
16–17 Jan - Freycinet from a Coles Bay base, the long Wineglass Bay walk over the saddle.
18 Jan - the drive west through the centre, Liffey to Moina, ending at Cradle.
19–20 Jan - the Cradle Mountain double-day, Dove Lake and the Marion’s Lookout climb.
21–22 Jan - the wild West Coast from a Strahan base.
23 Jan - the cross-island drive back via Queenstown and Tarraleah.
24 Jan - the Tasman Peninsula by day, then back up kunanyi/Mt Wellington for a golden-hour summit return.
25 Jan - out via Melbourne to Christchurch, the leg closing.

New Zealand, South Island

25 Jan 23:00 → 9 Feb · 16 days

Photos: 1,932
Hikes: 11 hikes · ~2,890 m ascent
Shape: counter-clockwise — Christchurch → south → west coast → north via Picton
Anchor: Christchurch · Tekapo · Te Anau · Wānaka · Franz Josef · Punakaiki · Tākaka · Picton
Pace: fast / wild

Mt Cook, Milford Sound and Roy’s Peak inside ten days.

26–28 Jan - the Mackenzie Country, Tekapo and Aoraki/Mt Cook, the big Sealy Tarns climb.
29 Jan - a Tekapo rest day that turned into a night under one of the darkest skies in the southern hemisphere.
30 Jan - the transit west through Cromwell and Queenstown into Fiordland.
31 Jan – 1 Feb - Fiordland: the Milford Sound boat day and the Key Summit hike.
2–4 Feb - Wānaka, including the long climb of Roy’s Peak.
5–6 Feb - the West Coast glaciers, Franz Josef and Fox.
7 Feb - the push north up the coast through Punakaiki and Hokitika.
8 Feb - Abel Tasman and Tākaka at the top of the island.
9 Feb - the Picton ferry across the strait to Wellington.

New Zealand, North Island

9 Feb → 26 Feb · 17 days

Photos: 1,558
Hikes: 11 hikes · ~2,870 m ascent
Shape: Wellington → centre → Rotorua → Northland tip → Auckland
Anchor: Wellington · Whakapapa · Rotorua · Bay of Islands · Auckland
Pace: steady / varied

Tongariro Alpine Crossing, 12 Feb · 21.7 km / 1,105 m — the biggest single hike of the whole trip.

9–10 Feb - Wellington and the coast around Porirua and Peka Peka.
11–12 Feb - the drive in to Tongariro, then the day: the Alpine Crossing, the biggest hike of the whole trip.
13–14 Feb - Whanganui across to Taranaki and the twin Dawson Falls walks.
15–17 Feb - the Rotorua geothermal country, Waimangu and Waiotapu.
18–21 Feb - Northland all the way to Cape Reinga at the tip.
22–25 Feb - Auckland, with the Waitākere Ranges and Waiheke.
26 Feb - the flight out to Singapore, the long decompression beginning.

Singapore

26 Feb 18:00 → 5 Mar morning · 8 days

Photos: 391
Hikes: 1 hike · 7.6 km · MacRitchie Treetop
Shape: star — no inter-city movement, only intra-city
Anchor: Tanjong Pagar / Outram · a single hotel, never moved
Pace: slow · ~49 photos / day · recovery

Feb 28 - the MacRitchie Treetop Walk, then East Coast Park and Marina Bay - the busiest Singapore day. Marina Bay became the gravity well, returned to almost every day of the stay.

26 Feb - arrival, Changi in and a first Chinatown wander.
27 Feb - the introduction loop: Maxwell, Marina Bay, the Gardens and Bugis.
28 Feb - the leg’s biggest day: the MacRitchie treetop walk and East Coast Park.
1 Mar - a rest day, just the Southern Ridges and Henderson Waves.
2 Mar - back to Marina Bay again.
3 Mar - Tiong Bahru and the Marina Barrage.
4 Mar - Joo Chiat and Katong, with Marina Bay once more.
5 Mar - departure, the airport, the trip turning for home.

Shanghai Pudong, layover

5 Mar 11:00 → 6 Mar 12:46 · 26 hours

Photos: 12
Shape: zero-leg
Anchor: airport
Pace: zero-leg

An airside Shanghai layover mirroring Doha at the other end - counted, not seen, the circle closing.

Cross-leg memory

Facts visible only at trip scale.

Hemispheres: 53 of 54 nights in Southern
National-park nights: 30 of 54
Climbed: 8,274 m across 33 hikes
Vertical concentration: 86% (7,066 m) in the first half
Biggest day: Feb 12 Tongariro · 21.7 km / 1,105 m
Hike days first 30: 24 of 30
Hike days last 24: 9 of 24
Anchor reuse: none — every locality visited once

Off-path · per zone

Doha layover ~0% airport — N/A
Tasmania circuit ~70% West Coast, Liffey, Cradle off-season equivalents
NZ South Island ~40% Mt Cook + Milford + Roy’s Peak are tourist-dense
NZ North Island ~60% Northland tip + Taranaki + Whanganui boost it
Singapore ~30% very photographed city

Time-of-day reframing. The geographic-off-path scores above hide a stronger signal: two specific moves softened the South Island’s tourist-dense coords by going at off-hours. Lake Tekapo, 29 Jan, 21:46-21:58 NZ local - 48 Sony night-shots in a 12-minute window during astronomical twilight at one of only two International Dark Sky Reserves in the southern hemisphere. Tongariro Crossing, 12 Feb, 08:33 NZ local start - a half-hour behind the 07:00-08:00 shuttle wave and ahead of the 10:00-11:00 walk-up crowd. The Mt Cook day (Sealy Tarns, 11:48 NZ local) and Roy’s Peak (4 Feb) were mid-day standard - no time-of-day rescue there. So the time-of-day off-path is two deliberate moves (Tekapo by night, Tongariro by sunrise), not a South-Island-wide pattern.

Hike highlights

#	Day	Where	km	ascent	Likely identity
01	12 Feb	Tongariro National Park	21.7	1105 m	Alpine Crossing
02	28 Jan	Aoraki / Mt Cook	7.8	700 m	Sealy Tarns / Mueller
03	4 Feb	Wānaka / Mt Aspiring NP	11.7	592 m	Roy's Peak (likely)
04	3 Feb	Wānaka	7.8	531 m	Isthmus / Rocky Mountain
05	17 Jan	Freycinet	12.4	516 m	Wineglass Bay / Hazards
06	20 Jan	Cradle Mountain NP	10.8	432 m	Dove Lake + Marion's Lkt
07	23 Feb	Waitākere Ranges	5.3	190 m	one of 3 hikes that day

Negative space

absent MONA (Hobart) Surprising-by-omission for a 3-day stay - no photo cluster at the Berriedale coord.
absent Hobbiton (Matamata) Drove right past on 11 Feb. Zero photos.
absent Te Papa (Wellington) Two Wellington days, no photo near the building.
absent Sky Tower (Auckland) Three Auckland days, no photo from or of the tower.
absent Marina Bay Sands SkyPark Visited adjacent areas every day; no photo from the rooftop.
absent Sentosa Island Seven Singapore days and not a single photo on the island - Universal Studios and the S.E.A. Aquarium completely absent.
absent Little India / Orchard Road Singapore’s other canonical neighborhoods, untouched.

The signature urban monuments get skipped; the landscape gets leaned into. kunanyi/Mt Wellington is the rule, not the exception - climbed twice, once for the summit and once for the sunset, even though a name-only search would wrongly flag it as missed because the geocoder files the summit under Derwent Valley. It’s a signal that recurs across many of our trips: the mountain, not the museum.

Numbers

Photos / day average: 136
Photo peak day: 424 · 19 Jan · Cradle Mountain
Hike peak day: 21.7 km / 1,105 m · 12 Feb · Tongariro
Furthest south: Fiordland · the trip's deepest point south · ~5,300 km from home
Average per hike: 5.4 km · 250 m ascent
First photo: 12 Jan 12:03 · Doha
Last photo: 6 Mar 12:46 · Pudong