Very good suggestion....will definitely consider it. That is usually what we do - when we last went overseas we went to Ireland and had only 1 hotel room booked in advance because my spouse wanted to stay at a particular place. Other than that we just hopped in a car and drove until we decided to stop and usually found a bnb with interesting hosts. It is just such a big trip to get to SYD and with the world being so large I don't know if we will get back there and I have always wanted to see New Zealand. But I am definitely keeping my options opened right now. Just in the planning stages. I was kind of thinking that maybe I was biting off more than I should chew with all the stops.