I'd recommend Australia and New Zealand for next winter or I'd recommend South America.

If you have 5-6 months, why not do both, since it's summer in both places?

If it were me, I'd spend about one to two months in South America visiting mostly Argentina and then some time in Uruguay and Chile. Then I'd fly to Australia and spend the rest of the time split between Australia and NZ.

All places mentioned are not too bad on the budget, and Argentina is downright cheap.

Candice NYC