Named after the Dutch explorer that founded New Zealand, Abel Tasman national park was pretty nice. We didn't do that much there though as it the weather was pretty miserable. I just did a fairly moderate walk, and took in the fairly nice landscape. It was similar to a lot of places we've stayed really, in that the hostel/campsite lodges were in the middle of nowhere, and the usual typical NZ activities were on offer, such as kayaking, sky diving, and the not a...

Right, where did I leave you hanging in my essay on the Auckland blog? So you want to know about Rotorua? "Rotorua has a nickname sulphur city due to its hydrogen sulphide emissions, which gives the city a "rotten eggs" smell". Regards Wikipedia. We visited Rotorua where I had planned on staying for a day or two, but as it was raining and there wasn't much to do if you don't want to do activities such as Zorbing (rolling down the hill in a...

Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand, but it is minuscule in comparison to cities like Melbourne or Sydney. I arrived in Auckland on St Patricks day so all the beer gardens were packed at around 6pm with everyone pretending they were Irish. It made me chuckle when there was a Japanese lad in the hostel going around with his face painted in an Irish flag. There is a harbour which is very quiet compared to the Sydney one, but walking around, you still get ...