Oamaru's harbour is where all of its highlights are and despite a pallid sky overhead a small, local market was in full flow. The delicious smells of barbecued sausage were already filling the air, whilst two talented ladies strummed toe-tapping rhythms on their acoustic guitars and sang sailor style songs (which are always filthy and full of life). Sampling locally produced Manuka honey and nosing at all the local delicacies had distracted us from the harbour c...

Spending the night in a horse-racing track's car park was inspiring and we jumped straight back in the saddle for the mane road drive to Dunedin (I couldn't resist). Before leaving we heard an ingenious snippet of information from a potentially overly friendly Spanish girl: 'You should just shower in swimming pools.' What a stroke of brilliance! Following her advice we went to the local swimming pool and used their showers for a meagre two dollars - bargain! How...

As my eyelids grated across my eyesballs at 6:15 in the morning we got ready to head to Manapouri and its strangely named Pearl Harbour. We had a day cruise out onto Doubtful Sound and were looking forward to the exclusivity and the surroundings of the experience. The cruise would eventually end in us meeting the Tasman Sea and being at the most westerly point of NZ and a mere 900 miles from Tasmani. Brushing my teeth in the harbour's toilets while swatting NZ's...

Enthusiastically stopping off in the tourist office again this morning was all too easy in the pristine Queenstown. This time we were enquiring about a Ferry from Picton over to Wellington, on the North Island, for the not too distant future. It seemed that the spaces were being booked up at a ferocious pace so we wanted some assistance just to double check that we were doing everything correctly - $293 was a lot of money to get something wrong! Now the ferry wa...

I've just realised that we've been travelling for over a month; that doesn't actually sound either long or impressive, but it feels like I've been travelling for years! Today was just what the doctor ordered: a chance to recharge the batteries and unwind a little. Queenstown is the perfect tonic for a weary traveller, with its laid back attitude, abundance of alpine air and plentiful eateries - you can't help but feel instantly at home. Browsing the shops for s...