Dunedin is the principal city of the region Otago as well as being the second largest city in the South Island. It's name comes from Dun Eideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh. The city stands on the hills and valleys surrounding the head of Otago Harbour; the harbour and hills are the remnants of an extinct volcano. As well as being in the Guiness Book of Records for the town with the steepest street in the World, Dunedin is also home to New Zealand's ...

My first visit to Queenstown has had to be short and sweet; I have had to allow enough time to see the places in between here and Christchurch so that I arrive in time for the Rugby Test Match. I will be returning though as I have a skiing trip booked! From Queenstown I took an excursion to Milford Sound. Milford Sound is a fjord within the Fiordland National Park. It runs 15 kilometres inland from the Tasman Sea and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise a...

The Franz Josef township is home to the 12km Franz Josef Glacier. It is quite unique in the fact that it descends from the Southern Alps to less than 300 metres above sea level admist the greenery of a temperate rainforest. It is one of three glaciers in the world to come so close to a coastline and I am going to climb it... At first I was debating whether to do the full or half day climb, partly due to my recent lack of exercise (the leaflet said that climbers ...

The next stop for me on the Magic Bus was Nelson. I plan to walk around Abel Tasman National Park - apparantly the views are stunning and well worth the four hour tramp. I completed the four hour walk in three hours and it was really pretty but I can't help resenting the fact that I had been made to pay for this outing when I had seen it all before for free in Australia, in warmer weather conditions, at Noosa National Park. However, looking on the brightside, it...

I can't believe that my time to leave wonderful Australia has now come. I have had such a brilliant time with, I can honestly say, not one bad day. I feel so sad to be going. No time for sadness though as my next stop is New Zealand for which I am so excited. The flight from Sydney took me over the Tasman Sea and west coast of New Zealand, over the Southern Alps, finally landing in Christchurch. I spent one night here before joining 'The Magic Bus' - my transpor...