Surprisingly, Auckland was slightly warmer than Melbourne as we stepped off the plane, never thought we'd be saying that before we set off. Checking into the hostel, we then bumped into a couple who had spent the previous month driving around New Zealand's two main islands, just as we will; naturally we pumped them for information, before heading off to grab a bite. The guidebook directed us to 'trendy' K Road, which it certainly was not, unless you count a loa...

Opinion was divided between various travellers we had met down the coast; some loved Melbourne, some loved Sydney. Spending around 2 weeks in both cities, we gave both a proper crack of the whip and...............Sydney won. Maybe it was because we were there first, because we spent the only day of sunshine in the past month on Bondi Beach and probably because Sydney's also got the fantastic setting of the harbour. Nevertheless, Melbourne gave us a great final t...

We'd received a few strange looks when telling people we planned on visiting Canberra, but felt it only right to take a trip to the capital city. We were greeted by the rain, which we had hoped to leave behind in Sydney, and this persisted until the following morning. Fortunately, we were impressed with our hostel, despite the large number of odd looking old men who were also residents. On the first morning, we ventured out into the bitter cold for a look at wh...

The guide book had told us that the best way to arrive into Sydney was on a cruise liner into the Harbour. Our arrival on the Greyhound completely trumped that: we drove in over the Harbour Bridge, still slightly groggy from the 13 hour journey, with the Opera House below on our left and a huge ferry sailing under the bridge to then cruise past the Opera House. Wow. Dumping our kit in our room at the hostel in the city centre, we immediately headed up to the har...

We'd been a bit lazy and not booked a hostel before we arrived in Byron, but were soon taken in at The Arts Factory, a hippy retreat slightly out of the main town. We declined all offers for yoga classes and didgeridoo lessons and instead made our way to the beach to enjoy the afternoon sun, before exploring the many tourist shops on offer. The Arts Factory has its own cinema with cow-skin covered comfy sofas that we made use of in the evening, watching the Dyl...