Rotten eggs, if you've been to Rotorua then you'll know that that's the smell that greets you when you enter the city. It sounds grim but you get used to it pretty quickly . As soon as I arrived here I found the world-famous Polynesian spa and had a soak in the lake spas for almost three hours. I'll confess that I fell asleep in the spa while floating and got a little burnt - so much so that when I went to the Te Po cultural experience later that night it was th...

I cannot thank everyone who has put me up, or put up with me enough. My latest hosts were Katie and Jim Davies and were fantastic. They let me have the run of their lovely house, cooked for me and took me round Auckland showing off what a wonderful city that they've made their home. It was great to have some people you could share stories and laughter with and also tales of misdemeanours their eldest son and her girlfriend have got up to (only joking Lynds &a...

So after surviving the flight (I'm not being dramatic honest, well ok maybe a little) I arrived in Auckland and headed to my hotel for the night. I'd booked a hotel close to the airport thankfully so I could head straight off up north in the morning and also so I would be able to climb into bed very shortly after arriving. I had a minor panic when the airport looked pretty closed, but thanked the car hire guy for staying open. I didn't thank him when he said he...

In Sydney Nikki told me Canberra can get pretty windy, I made sure I always carry my jumper with me, but now I realise she probably didn't mean weather windy but lots of broken promises windy! I visited the old and new parliament buildings today, as well as some art galleries. I was amazed by the old parliament building as they've turned it into a national museum for democracy and they've intricately preserved everything and have given those who visit a real ...

The last two weeks have been fab & I've seen some amazing things - the Australian open quarter finals, a back stage tour of the Sydney opera house and some choice sights on the bus from Adelaide city centre to Hallett Cove - wow, the 73 to stoke newington has nothing on that bus journey! I've also been lucky enough to catch up with some friends - Eleisha, Ffion and Lisa in Melbourne, The Todds in Adelaide and Gill and Nikki in Sydney. It was amazing to catch...