The North Island has been quite different from the South. Our time in Wellington was a wet one. We had planned to go to the Zoo, but nobody wants to be outside in the rain at the Zoo, especially the animals. So instead we headed for the Te Papa museum. As an added bonus this was free, a backpackers favourite word. From Wellington we arrived in Napier, but along the way made a very important stop at the Tui Brewery. Three pints for $2 (not each, total) is very ha...

From Queenstown we went to Dunedin (Edinburgh of the south). The city is based on Scotland's Edinburgh and even all the streets names are the same. To add to this the weather was a perfect UK summer, and we enjoyed some lovely Blue Cod fish and chips. Leaving Dunedin we traveled to Lake Tekapo. This is one of the stops I was most looking forward to. It is a very small town situated next to a beautiful glacial lake and has some good walking trails. On top of Mt J...

We spent a bit longer in Cairns than we had planned on. To make a very long story short, I came down with a really bad ear infection from our PADI course and eventually was advised not to fly on the day we were supposed to leave. The following day I was cleared, and off we went to try and make our way to Christchurch. Getting there was a very long, hectic, and more difficult than it should be ordeal. To add to this in the meantime Del was coming down with his ow...