We were all up and out of the hostel by half 6 and on our way down to Invercargill. We had time for a brief stop at a beach to watch the sunrise and then grab a bit of breakfast before going and boarding the ferry. The bus wasn’t coming with us so we’d all packed overnight bags and headed on to the ferry with packed lunches. We arrived on the island a little after 10.30am and split up to head to our respective accommodation. Half the group headed to the host...

I arrived off the plane in Christchurch in the early hours of the 29th April and headed straight on the shuttle bus to my hostel. I had booked ahead online for a place called ‘The Jailhouse’. As I arrived I found it was exactly as described. The new owners had barely changed the building from when it had, really quite recently, been a jail. As I was arriving late I had to let myself in using the code and found my key waiting for me at reception. I walked into...

Where to start on my experiences in Melbourne? Though I did far less travelling and activities than in China the time was no less significant to me, in fact you could say it changed my life. I’d set out to Australia to see what it was like to live in Melbourne, something I’ve thought about since I was last over there in 2001. The idea was that I’d get it out of my system, find it wasn’t all that different or more exciting than Britain and head home happy ...

I'm condensing the last week into one entry to shorten the catching up I need to do! Here's a quick overview on the rest of that trip; After my adventures in Changsha I headed down by bus to Guilin, a picturesque city surrounded by limestone peaks which rise from the flat ground giving the landscape a dreamlike quality. I stayed for a couple of days in which I walked around the city and travelled out to have a go on a dry luge run on the side of a small mountain...

In the morning I awoke early and thankfully only endured a short awkward silence with my bedfellow before Ali arrived to take me to breakfast. I left my bag in the room with the only man I’ve ever slept with without knowing his name and headed down to a local café. I figured if the guy had any intention of robbing me he’d have done it by now. I left it to Ali to order and wolfed down some tasty noodles in a beef broth. In the excitement of the night before I...