Its been ages since i last posted and the grand tour of NZ is coming to a close. We have spent the past month in the South Island, which, although beautiful like everyone says, is very very cold. We look like marshmallow men, we have so many layers on at once - we raided the Salvation Army and have a lot of mismatched, nasty, but warm clothing and blankets. For the past 3 weeks we have rented a campervan - thats been hilarious. They say you dont know someone ...

Im writing this onboard the InterIsland Ferry, crossing the Cook Straights from Wellington at the tip of the North Island, into Picton, at the tip of the South Island. So much has been happening, we have driven the length of the North Island and seen and done loads. After leaving Napier and Bex and Nicks fab hospitality we drove south and spent the obligatory couple of days in the capital, Wellington. We stayed in a great hostel that used to be a grand old ...

The drive to Napier was brilliant, with seriously windy roads through the mountains and as I was driving and impatient to see bex, I decided to test my formula 1 skills.This was hampered slightly by the fact that there was a Ford Model T convention going on, and getting stuck in a convoy of those babies at a torturously slow pace of 28km an hour on some of those peaks meant an extra hour on two tacked onto the journey. Napier was super - an art-deco town on ...

Lake Taupo is supposed to be bigger than Singapore, and the lake was indeed huge, but it was also windy and cold and since we have already done most of the extreme sports they offered we stayed one night and b*****ed off fairly sharpish. It was only going to be a brief stop anyhow because were heading south to Napier to spend Easter weekend with Bex (who I met in Vietnam last year) and her boyfriend Nick.Yay, we get to stay in a proper house with a proper bed!!...

We went to a great Maori cultural night which was far from the gimmick I expected it to be.Reuben was appointed chief of our group (ok, he volunteered, egged on by me) - which meant that when we entered the village, he had to make a speech to the Maori chiefletting him know we came in peace.It was bloody intimidating actually, they arrived by torch lit canoe and demonstrated some of their warrior moves in their native dress and tattoos, and stared Reuben down.A...