Australia (plus Oceania) is the world’s smallest continent, it has 14 countries, spans a total area of 9,008,500 km2 and forms 5.9% of the landmass of the world. Australasia is a region of Oceania that includes New Zealand, Australia and Melanesia. Many of the Pacific island countries are then located in subregions called Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia. These regions are populated largely around the coastal areas and include some of the most beautiful landscapes the world has to offer. There also exists considerable diversity across, and even within, the countries in Oceania. As a volunteer in Australia, you can discover infinite red desert-like landscapes and beautiful winding coastlines while as a volunteer in New Zealand, you can come across frosted lakes and dramatic snow-tipped mountains. Fiji encapsulates island living with twisting palms and clear ocean waters and Papua New Guinea allows a glance into the truly wild with endless greenery and untouched coastlines.
Wildlife conservation and community volunteer projects and internships worldwide
"I particularly loved meeting all the other volunteers – such lovely, lovely people, and I hope to stay in touch with some of them! I have some fantastic memories of my time and wouldn’t change a single minute of it."
Terry Palmar
Our Projects in Oceania
Kiwi Conservation Volunteer & Internship Project, New Zealand
- Duration 2 Weeks+
- Prices from £780
Volunteer in New Zealand and help to preserve the native forest and kiwi birds of the Kauri Coast. Explore an undiscovered forest while learning about conservation and wilderness skills.
Great Barrier Reef Conservation Project, Australia
- Duration 2-4 Weeks
- Prices from £2075
Join a marine conservation internship in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Help to protect this amazing natural wonder and develop your conservation and research skills alongside experienced marine biologists.
Conservation Volunteering in New Zealand
- Duration 1-12 Weeks
- Prices from £480
Become a conservation volunteer and enjoy beautiful environments across New Zealand, whilst contributing to practical conservation projects.
Looking for a Volunteer Project Abroad?
Try our Project FinderWorkingAbroad is the Go-To Website for Ethical & Responsible Volunteer & Internship Opportunities Abroad
We run volunteer programmes in over 30 countries across the world focusing on wildlife conservation and community development projects and every project we offer adheres to our ethical standards.
"The Nature Sanctuary is a very special place, that attracts like-minded people from all corners of the world. Volunteering at the Sanctuary was a perfect post-university trip for me, and opened my eyes to alternative ways of living, the importance of conservation, and the beauty of New Zealand."
Laura McClintock, Canada
"I particularly loved meeting all the other volunteers – such lovely, lovely people, and I hope to stay in touch with some of them! I have some fantastic memories of my time and wouldn’t change a single minute of it."
Terry Palmar
Interesting Facts
- The smallest country in Oceania is Nauru which spans a total area of just 21 km2 with a population of approximately 11,359 people.
- New Zealand was the first country in the world to allow universal suffrage, allowing women to vote in 1893.
- Fiji’s main commercial export is water, which is bottled from a natural aquifer and sold globally.
- Australia has the longest fence in the world: known as The Dingo Fence, Wild Dog Fence or Border Fence.
- Papua New Guinea is one of the very few places on earth which lie close to the equator where places at higher altitudes experience snowfall.
Wildlife in Oceania
The collection of fauna and flora across Oceania is particularly unique. Due its geographic location and its isolation from other land masses many species have developed appearances and characteristics not found in any other parts of the world. For example in Australia you can find the famous kangaroo (just ‘roos’ to the locals), koala bears or wombats. In New Zealand at our Kiwi Conservation Volunteer Programme, you can find the Kiwi and the Jeweled Gecko as well as the smallest and rarest species of dolphin, Hector’s dolphin. The Kookaburra flies along the coasts of Papua New Guinea and the platypus swims in the shallows waters around Tasmania. A number of interesting species of fruit bats inhabit the island of Fiji and Tonga is home to migrating humpback whales, who bear their young and breed in Tongan waters from June to November.
Conservation Threats
Island habitats are particularly sensitive to climate change and careless tourist habits which tend to destroy important parts of ecosystems, causing negative knock-on effects. Coral reef damage and pollution are often also considerably concerning to environmentalists because of the harmful effects to species both on land and in water.
In New Zealand, forest has been increasingly cleared across generations to make way for agricultural production and our Kiwi Conservation Volunteer Programme is addressing this by getting volunteers involved in protecting the native forest. Other threats to biodiversity are being tackled by our volunteer programmes in Australia and New Zealand where volunteers and staff work on conservation and restoration projects throughout the national parks across the two countries.