On leaving Methven, it was already getting on for five in the afternoon so we knew we wouldn't be making it very far before we needed to lay our heads and nor did we want to in case we missed any great views in the dark. We made a rough plan to make our way to Wanaka, arriving late the following day. The first leg took us to the tiny town of Fairlie where we decided to free camp the night after grabbing a take away fish and chips. The following morning we heade...

We had booked a 5 day boarding package through the cheapest company we could find. The downside was that we only had 4 nights accommodation in the deal. We arrived the day before our lift passes started and set ourselves up in a local camp site and got ourselves kitted out with some, not so bad as I expected, rental gear. The next day we jumped on the bus and took the 1hour journey up Mt Hutt. We were one of the first people up the mountain so the two of us too...

We had decided that staying in Auckland would most probably bankrupt us before we knew what was happening so we decided to head towards the South Island where the scenery is nicer and it's allegedly a bit cheaper. New Zealand is not known for its public transport but what train services remain are well worth the trip. With this in mind we booked ourselves on the Overlander which runs from Auckland to Wellington in the south of the North Island. The train was amaz...

It was touch and go getting let into New Zealand. At Apia airport we found that even booking online did not manage to bypass the jobsworths. We were told that our lack of onward tickets and proof of exit from NZ meant that we would not be allowed on to the flight. We tried to convince them that we were joining a yacht in Auckland but still no go. After the airline spent half an hour on the phone to immigration it turned out that Katie could enter the country as s...

After our short 45 minute flight in a little twin prop plane we landed in Samoa or Western Samoa to give it its old name. We were to stay in the capital of Apia on the island of Upolu. Our first impression was how much more expensive things were on the island but that might be because we had to pay for our accommodation and food for the first time in a long while! We booked into a small hostel which just happened to overlook the marina. We couldn't escape the da...