Caught my last ever big green kiwi bus from Rotorua to Auckland. Stopped off at 'Hobbiton' on the way. I've never seen Lord of the Rings so this pretty much went over my head. Arrived into Auckland early afternoon and I was on a mission to get everything sorted before Fiji. Pounded around the shops for some New Zealand tat, sun tan lotion and most importantly a vaccum pack for my warm clothes. Spent the rest of the afternoon trying to cram my clothes into my bag...

Rotorua is the first place in New Zealand that has a strong Maori presence. Partly because one of the girls I got off the bus with got shouted at by a crazy man with the full Maori face tattoos. But mostly because we went to a Maori village 'experience'. It was really good, watched the hakka and ate a feast that had been cooked under ground. The evening was made by the amazing driver of the 70s bus who knew hello in every language going and even managed to crack ...

I've had a niggling urge to sky dive since I landed in New Zealand. I think there's something in the water. On the way into Taupo I put my name on a clip board and literally 10 mins later I was on an airstrip in a skydiving suit. 5 mins later I was in a plane. No chance to debate! The plane trundled along and then U turned back to the centre. We were bailed off due to the wind and left to sit waiting for an hour before being sent home. After being so-so about d...

We left Kaikoura for the journey to the north island. Arrived in Picton at the top of the south island and had to wait to board the interislander ferry. The journey took about 3 hours and was choppy to say the least. Just sat with my head on the table for most of the time to try and block out the noise of vomiting. We arrived into Wellington,New zealand's capital city and checked into our hostel. Didn't make it any further than the kitchen that night. In the ...

Found out, as expected, that my Milford Sound trip had been cancelled due to an avalanche so set off to finish my loop of the south island. This meant heading back to Kaikoura for 3 nights on my own! On the way we drove through yet more beautiful scenery and got to see a snow covered Mount Cook in all it's glory. I'd decided to book onto whale watching seeing as everything else has been a failure. Was dubious having had a lack of whales when whale watching in C...