The distance from Sydney, Australia to Auckland, New Zealand is approximately fifteen hundred miles and can be made by airplane in a little less than three hours. Overseas shipping between the two cities is a daily occurrence and the two nations have excellent relations with each other. Trade is prosperous, the region is at peace, and overseas shipping is well organized and profitable for everyone involved.



So here's a hypothetical situation. Imagine that there's an impenetrable wall between the continent of Australia and the island of New Zealand. You own an overseas shipping company and you need to somehow get your merchandise from Sydney to Auckland but you can't go straight across. What route would you take?

It's a ridiculous question of course but one that can help us look at overseas shipping routes that are currently used by the merchants of Australia to transport cargoes to other nations. Let's start with a departure from Sydney Harbor and travel across the Coral Sea and past Indonesia into the Indian Ocean. We're going in the wrong direction to get to New Zealand but thankfully the world is round and we'll eventually get to Auckland.

As we pass by the coast of India on our right we begin to keep an eye out for the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, which is situated on the African Coast between Oman and Somalia. From here we continue north through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean. From here our overseas shipping venture passes by the countries of southern Europe. Greece, Italy, France and Spain offer panoramic views of mountains, beaches and spectacular cities that have stood since the beginning of civilization.

The Straights of Gibraltar lead us finally into open waters again and we cross the Atlantic following the same course that Columbus took nearly five hundred years ago. His overseas shipping voyage ended in the Caribbean. Ours continues past Jamaica and Venezuela and through the Panama Canal. Finally we come into the Pacific Ocean with a straight shot to New Zealand in front of us.

The stretch of ocean between the Panama Canal and the island of New Zealand is one of the longest expanses of uninterrupted ocean in the world. This portion of the voyage alone consumes nearly half of the overall time it has taken us to make the entire trip. We could break it up by going north and stopping in Hawaii but at this point all we want to do is make it to our final destination.

Arriving at the seaport of Auckland we find out that a wall separating Australia and New Zealand doesn't actually exist so we could have gone the direct route and been here in a few hours. Our overseas shipping voyage was educational but entirely unnecessary. Of course, if we ever have to deliver a cargo to Asia, Africa, Europe or America we know which way to go. And we know which route to take to get home.