From Nelson I made my way to Queenstown via Greymouth and Franz Joseph and Wanaka. I was only in Greymouth for one night, Franz for two and Wanaka for three. It was a great journey through the west coast of the south island and we got to experience our fair share of the infamous western coast rainfall! Greymouth didn't have a huge amount going for it. It was mainly a stop because the driver couldn't go all the way to Franz in a day. Thankfully the Monteiths brew...

I took the ferry across the Cook Strait and began my travels through the South Island. I have just under a month here until I fly to New York. My first impression of the South Island was that it was bloody busy! A few people hadn't pre booked their bus so they were told to catch an intercity bus because the Magic bus was full. I then tried booking a bed for the night on the journey down because someone said it was quite busy. No joke - I rang 6 hostels and they...

The next major stop for me was Wellington. On the way down from Rotorua I had a couple of stops first, namely Taupo, Tongariro National Park and Palmerston North. Plans changed on the journey south so I only spent one night in both Taupo and National Park. I did manage to squeeze in a 15,000ft skydive the afternoon I arrived in Taupo which was amazing! We had good weather so you could see for quite a way whilst freefalling at 200km/h towards lake Taupo. I was h...

On leaving Auckand, rather than going straight to Rotorua, I took a smaller bus around the Coromandel area. It's not where loads of Backpackers go, it's more of a holiday spot for resident kiwis. So on the first day we stopped off at the hot water beach. If the tides are right you should be able to dig your own hole in the sand and it should fill with hot water because the geothermal activity is so close underground it heats up the water. Unfortunately it wasn't...

Well this is the 6th and penultimate country of my travels - New Zealand! I arrived in Auckand with very very little knowledge of the country. Didn't know how to get to the city from the airport and didn't have any accommodation booked. Turns out you should really book beds in advance in NZ, especially at the hight of summer! Still after a few hostels I managed to find a bed. The first few days were just sorting myself out. Getting transport around the country ...