I went travelling in the mid nineties so things have probably changed somewhat. My advice would be:

1. Go to a specialist travel agent like STA or Trailfinders to get an idea of possible routes and prices.
2. Save as much as you can before you leave.
3. Apply for an Australian travellers working visa so that you can work whilst down under.
4. Try to plan what you want to do / see before you leave otherwise you'll just end up wasting your money on booze.
5. A well trodden path is Hong Kong (including short visit to China), Thailand, overland to Vietnam / Laos, Bali, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Island (I went to Tahiti but I hear that Fiji is better), USA (land on the West coast), overland to East coast, fly home.
6. Join the International Youth Hostel Association before leaving.
7. Try to book you accommodation in your 1st destination before you leave.
8. Always head straight to the Information Booth at Airport arrivals as they will have details of local hostels etc.

Hope that helps.

Been over in Nz for 14 months now, quit my job back home and sold (wrote off) my car to pay for a 1 way ticket to Auckland for the Rugby union World cup.

Done a few different and intresting bits of work since then and just found a job with possible sponsorship for the next 2 years.

If i can help with any questions just give us a shout. not sure if im allowed but a great website i found was travbuddy.

What kind of work did you do out there when you first got there? That would be my goal I think, to end up living and working in NZ or poss Canada...

I picked a bad time to hit Nz (nov-feb) as kiwis like to take extended summer hols around christmas and lots of Businesses even shut down for extended peroids. I Joined an admin agency and found work in feb after arriving in October.

Ive done labouring, working at festivals and bar work at the stadiums as well as the admin ive been doing lately.

I'd advise going for a canadian working visa while your still at home because there are some tight restrictions with that, New Zealand and as are fairly straightforward.

Dont get worried about the savings so much as they dont check at immigration. Plenty of work to be found in Nz and aus as well, ive heard canada is a little more difficult.

Well, taken the plunge and decided I'm gonna do it!! And hopefully following this path if time and money allows

Japan, China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, Bali, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, then into South America starting in Argentina and finishing in Rio, Brazil.

Looking at 3-4 month in each of SE Asia, Oz/NZ and South America. Would like to add a couple of weeks maybe at the end on the west coast of North America before flying home....

I used Trailfinders once and they ruined a very important holiday. Luckily, it was only part of a bigger holiday and we had a good time in the other location. We explained what we wanted but where they sent us to was awful and failed to fulfil in any shape or form the carefully laid out criteria. After one night we insisted that we were driven back to the capital city of the country concerned where we had to pay ouselves to waste the rest of our time there in a nice hotel. Given that our holiday was supposed to be game viewing to say we were annoyed was an understatement. I did not get round to litigating due to time pressure at work. Their excuse (as self-styled "experts"icon_wink.gif was the place was my idea - they'd never heard of it!! In fact I'd never heard of the place they sent us - I told them about the National Park I wanted to go to not the accommodation. If they hadn't heard of the National Park, then they ought to buy an atlas. As a consquence, I would not personally tough them with a doublr-length barge pole.